ARE YOU A PREJUDICE?

Hi! We meet again..Hope all of us are doing well today.

Have a look at the video below..Have fun watching it!

Take a look at the audiences' and one of the judges expression. They must have "what can these old men do?" kind of thinking.

In our last class in week 4, we were discussing about stereotype, prejudice and discrimination.

What comes to your mind when these words, are to you? I bet that every one of us cannot avoid on being skeptical or prejudice towards others.

 For example, you’ve known this one guy from region A, who tends to cheat you several times and you meet another guy from the same region and you assume him to have the same attitude as the first guy?  I might say yes if I did know him well. However, all these can be avoided by having a positive mind. Take a look  the video below..

What do you think about that? That guy was being skeptical and he discriminated a black guy just because of his past experience? huh..such a childish man..

I would like to share my experience as a "victim" of  discrimination. My father was known as an outspoken person. Whenever he saw something wrong, he would correct it immediately.

The event happened through my school years. Every time the meeting of Parent Teacher Organization was held, he will point out any matters that were not being organized well by the administration for instance.

Some teachers looked at it as a threat instead of trying to accept parents opinions or advised. ( I am not making this up, one of the teacher from my former school told my father).

So instead of facing up to my father, they made us the victim. I remember when I was in primary 3, there was this one "ustaz" called my brother "gemuk macam babi" (you're fat as a pig) and he said something about my father because at that time the teachers were having a big fight with my father. 

When I was in high school, this one teacher called us (me and my sister) and said  harsh things about my father. At that time, I had the gut to voiced out and said," Madam, if you have problems with my father, just go and meet him personally and please..do not get us involve in this! "

"It is between you and my father! Please be professional!". I was not intended to be rude but I just could not stand it anymore.

So people! If you are being discriminated, do not fear! Stand up and voice out! I know it takes a long time to build the strength but you just got to do it!

I do not blame my father for being an outspoken person (never!) because it is our task as a human being to enjoin good and forbid evil! (Oh God! I am emotional while typing this out!) 

Yeah that is from me..What about you Dayah??

If you ask me..personally, I will describe stereotyping as thinking of something negatively or in Islamic term, we call it as su'uzzon.

Actually, we should avoid being stereotype as it can influence our social life, like what happened to Zuk but I have to admit that it is hard to get rid of those stereotypes as me too, I have my own stereotypes of something or someone.

Being grow up in a family consist of six brothers, makes me think that men are lazy and they need to rely on their mother if it is regarding on their daily needs such as food and washing the clothes.

But I have to admit that when they are free, they would help my mum but... the ' free time' is hard to have.




Have I been prejudiced before?

I would say yes. No one will be freed from being stereotyped by others,right?



When I was in form one, I always wore slipper wherever I wanted to go including the night market.

It was similar to this one.

For me, there was nothing wrong with it but... like I said earlier, no one will be freed from stereotypes.



One day, I went to the night market, wearing the slipper as usual and when I was walking, there was a man who sat nearby the street was talking about me and I heard his sentence..

The guy: eh... dia pakai selipar je (she only wears the slipper)?




I was shocked and asked my friend;

Me: Is it wrong for me to wear slipper?
My friend: No, it is not. Just ignore him





The way he talked about me wearing those slipper as if I have done something wrong and big to him

Now, whenever I go out, I will always look at myself and ask my friend if anything wrong with my clothes.


Why?



Because I am afraid that people will look at me and say something negatively regarding on my clothes and look down at me

DRAW OURSELVES!

Hello readers!!

We meet again! On the last entry we have introduce our International friend from Pattani,Thailand. How was it? Is there any new things that you have learnt? 

In this entry I want to share something about self-perception. In my last class we were told by our lecturer to draw our face without even looking to a mirror! At first I was  worried as I do not have any basic in drawings! But, by using my wonderful imagination, I manage to draw my own face! yeayyy!!

Not that bad huh?

zuk!!!! Can I speak too?

Horrayyyyy!!! It is my turn now...






when we were told to draw ourselves, my reaction was..

Of course I would shock. Can you imagine, drawing something beautiful (my face, hahahahha) but with zero knowledge on the drawing? 

but I still drew the drawing and started it with the shape of my face. My imagination is not good as the others as I do not look at the mirror regularly. So, I was imagining it through the pictures that I've seen in the Facebook.

this is the result!!

Good job Hidayah! We were also told to write a poem about ourselves. Honestly, I am not a good writer.. here is mine...Have fun reading it!!!

I AM

I am the third of a triplet

I am a part time baker

I am afraid of silent people, but when I asked them what are

their first impression on me? They said I am arrogant..

I think I need a new smile

Don't judge me if you do not know me

I am who I am

How was it? Really need to improve my writing skills.. (huh)

Now its Hidayah's turn!

Who I am?

When people first get to know me,

They thought,

I am a snobbish girl

Maybe...

It was because of my face,

or my attitude,

or it could be because of my body language.

However..

I am just an ordinary girl,

with an ordinary face,

with moderate behavior,

and no experiences.

Yes..

I am a girl,

with an ordinary beauty

with no great intelligence

But...

Those speculations were not going to change

my spirit,

my motivation,

and my wish.

                                          

LOVE: HIDAYAH RAZALI

Wow Dayah! You've really touched me!! What do you think? 

Till we meet in the next post!

Don't forget to comment and subscribe!!

WOMEN VS HOUSE CHORES

On our previous class, one of our classmates did mention on what stereotypes that he had in a character of a wife and he said, women should know how to cook.

Well, you are right. We, women should know how to cook. But we are not slaves. We, women cook because people love our food and they love to eat, not because we need to.

If the reason is to feed the family, then what is the point of cooking if they do not eat our cooking and instead, eat outside?

My friend, she used to tell me that her father always complaint if her mother did not cook. But, the reason why her mother did not cook is because whenever she cook, her husband rarely eat it. Her father would go out and eat at the stall or we, Malay call as 'Kedai kopi' (coffee shop).

Some people may think that the house chores should be done by the wife. But the stereotypes at least should be changed and the husband should help their wife instead of letting their wives do the chores alone.


 *You should watch the video and don't skip it..It is a good message.






I agreed with Hidayah.. We cook because it our responsibility and it is for the one that we love. I am not against my own culture, ( as my aunties and grandmother always told me that, even if you have your Phd, at the end your place will be the kitchen )but sometimes men need to help their lady to do the house chores rather than chilling around. I am not saying you need to do it everyday.. Men..sometimes your wives needs her time, they need to rest.  It does not makes you look girly to do something that your wives usually do.

No hard feelings man! These are just our opinions based on the discussions we had in the class. I think that this thing has to do with culture. Different culture, different perspectives. What do you think?

Don't forget to give us your comment and subscribe to our blog! Byee!

THE LAND OF SMILES

What comes across on your mind when you see the title above? Land of Smiles..... these are the word that came out when I tried to search what Thailand is known for. When we are writing this post, Zuk and I, were discussing on what should we put as the tittle for this entry. 

I would love to put our title as 'THE NEVER COLONIZED LAND' meanwhile,Zuk would love to put it as 'THE ELEPHANT LAND'.

But when we tried to google it, we have different result. So, we name our post as 'THE LAND OF SMILES'.

Sirampuj’s painting works off Thailand’s slogan “land of smiles .

But.... why would we search for Thailand information in our blog?

buffering....

Oh Yes!!! We are talking about Thailand because our international friend is from there!!!

Have you ever heard the Malay phrase "Tak Kenal Maka Tak Cinta" (You Can't Love What You Don't Know) ?

So, now we are going to introduce our international friend to you.

And...... she is a girl (same with me and Zuk). Hehehe

Let us start with her name.

Her name is Rusnanee Kareema and you may call her as Nani.


She said that the culture in Thailand is when they are greeting, they should say Sawaddika/kad.

                                         





She also added that at 6 am and 8 pm, they must stand for the National Anthem.

Now, let us talk about food.

 What do you think their famous food there?



She mentioned that the most famous food in Thailand are Somtom, Tomyam and Padthai.

Somtom 

Padthai

Tomyam

They have interesting food and cultures, right? But.. what did she find Malaysia interesting enough which make her to further study here?

Her answer why she chose to come here because she wants to practice English and change herself and become better. She also said that she loves environment and society here.

Inshaallah, in the next entry, we will travel through the cultures of Thailand

INTERCULTURAL MISCOMMUNICATION

HOW TO COUNTER INTERCULTURAL MISCOMMUNICATION

Hi guys,

As for Pellegrino Riccardi , an Italian based in the UK, people expect him to be an average Italian men that talk fast and talkative. However they did not know that Mr. Riccardi was raised in the UK and adapt more UK culture than Italian. 

He quoted that "people see what they want to see,but they don't always see what we see". Based on his speech, we can say that people tend to have their own perception and this sometimes can lead to misunderstanding between two communicators. 

This situation is related to what Pellegrino said about misperception. Let me give an analogy, its between me and this person called as an A. For me, "hae?" is used when i don't understand about something but she misinterpreted it and think that I was making fun of her.

Therefore, this situation made me curious on why did she think that I was making fun of her? In the video,Pellegrino encouraged us to be curious when we are communicating with people from other culture. 

Why? It is because when are curious, we tend look more about the culture. If we notice, in the video,he did give examples on the economy of language by different cultures.






For example:

English: Excuse me, may I just interrupt you for a second?

Norwegian: Du??






* Economy of language = Some culture might say something in 10 words while others with only just one word.

THE SCOLLON

"People often don't say what they mean and they often don't mean what they say?"

Not all of us will learn psychology in their life and this is why we cannot interpret people by listening to what they say. Who knows, the speaker might say something different from their true meaning as they are trying not to hurt others feelings. 

As we Malay, we are taught by our parents since we are small, not to hurt others’ feelings and this is why when we speak, we tend to say differently from our own meaning. This is because in Malay culture, we have high context of dimensions and we are rich in values and every single thing that we do, it has values in it. 

Culture differences are not only between different country or region, it can also be between gender. Based on what Scollon stated above, when a man in a relationship sees or reads it, they would say that this is how women communicate or think. Most of women would deny it, but it might be true. The video below shows what women say and what they really meant.. 

Have fun watching the video!

                                   

                               What do you think about the video? Is it true?

                                                   How about this one?

                                 

Moreover the quote above had us thought about hand gestures around the world. Different countries may have different meaning in hand gestures.

 If you are planning to travel around the world, make sure you do some research about the country and the culture so that you would not use hand gestures that is forbidden in certain countries.

Understanding "Intercultural Communication"

 Have you ever wonder how can a culture be seen differently from various perspectives? Do you want to explore more?

           " Intercultural communication". What would you think on this topic? Thinking… is all what we did to gain more knowledge on certain subject. However, with our thoughts only, we will not go far from our circle.

Whereby, in this blog, we will go beyond our culture in Malaysia and explore more on the diversity of existed culture. 

Throughout your journey on this blog, we will make you experience the culture yourself.

Sometimes in our daily conversation with people from a different culture would bring confusion to us. Let say, person A is from northern part of  country D and person B came from southern part. They speak with the same language but person A did not understand certain words that person B say to him. Why is this happening? This is because they might choose different choice of words and deliver it with different accent as they come from different region . The link below is about the different choice of words used between two person that speak the same language and the differences of social system in their own culture.

(British vs America : How We Do It?) 

Intercultural is not only depends on communication. It also include  attitude, appearance, action and every little aspect in your social system . As you can see on the picture above, the woman is offering a handshake while the man is bowing down instead of receiving the handshake. The video below explain on the culture of handshaking and bowing.

(Asian Culture : Handshakes and Bowing)