Culture matters 10: ATTITUDE TOWARDS FORMALITY

There are many differences between American and Austrian attitudes towards formality and it would take too long to go into every detail. Therefore I decided that I will pick only one part of this field, namely “Using first names with people you’ve just met”. The Peace Corps article says that in America people tend to do this, however, this isn’t true in Austria. There are many unwritten rules concerning how to address people and that is why I would like to tell everybody who’s not from a German-speaking culture more about those rules.

Background information: German does separate the personal pronoun “you” into a formal “Sie” (goes with the last name) and a more informal “du” (goes with the first name).

Adult +adult
An adult would use the polite and distanced “Sie”-form to address another adult he/she doesn’t know too well. At some point one of the two might offer the other person the more informal “Du”, unless they only meet because of occupational interests. For example, parents are unlikely to call a teacher “du” and especially higher ranked teachers (like “Professoren”) are unlikely to ever offer the “du”.

How to offer the informal “Du”: If you’re not used to the customs you better wait until the other person offers the informal pronoun, since you have to have a feeling for how long it takes to do that. If you offer the “du” to early, Austrians might think you’re too intrusive and if you ask later than usual here, people might assume you’re cagey. If you’re confident that you already know when to do so then you can use many different ways to ask. The most common way is to reintroduce yourself by using the first name only. It’s common to start with a small introduction (one sentence is sufficient) in which you explain why you find it appropriate to use the “du” now. For example, you could say, “Jetzt kennen wir uns schon so lange und siezen uns immer noch. Ich bin die Eva/…”. However, as I told you before, don’t do that if you’re not familiar with the customs.

Adult + teenager
Adults normally use the informal pronoun to address teenagers, but legally they would have to say “Sie” to them as soon as they are 14 or older. Therefore, teachers in Austria ask them at that age which form they prefer, but most classes agree that they want to stay with the “du”. At the university, however, all lecturers use the impersonal form.

Adult+child
All children are addressed with “du”, of course, even if those adults don’t know the child.

Teenager and adult
Teenagers are supposed to use the “Sie”-form with adults they don’t know well. And yet, many teenagers say “du” to adults unless they are their teachers or in other jobs of high hierarchAll young people use the informal pronoun to refer to each other. y. For example, I noticed that sales clerks are often addressed with “du”, even if they are much older, which is, of course, highly impolite.

Teenager/child+ child/teenager
All young people use the informal pronoun to refer to each other.

Anyone + pet
Since many people who have pets speak to their darlings, I thought it might also be worth mentioning that Austrians use the "du"-form to do so.

To sum up, there are much more rules concerning formality in Austria than in America- this is just one example. Just think of the importance of titels in Austria or of the way people visit each other (you need at least an oral invitation). That, however doesn't mean people are not as open as in America, that we don't want to see our friends etc. There are just more rituals around all those actions, which we consider normal.

Culture matters 9: CONCEPT OF EQUALITY

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

For all who do not know these lines: It is the opening of the American Declaration of Independence. Nowadays all people from the leading industrial nations agree that egalitarianism has to be a political and moral priority, though many people, especially minorities realize that there is still a long way to go. However, it is obvious that some nations have managed better than others to create an equal society. So let us compare, once again the American and the Austrian culture when it comes to this concept of equality.

People in the North America always depended a great deal on teamwork and in successful teams everyone has to be respected equally. When the first British settlers came to America everyone had to make their contribution to create that target “city upon a hill”. Of course, it was not easy to keep up this ideal, since in a community it is likely that there are people who feel superior to others. Just think of the witch trials, slavery and other social evils that took place in the US. But people seem to have overcome those difficulties, to put it euphemistically. Was not the Revolutionary war some kind of struggle against the monarchical structures prevalent in Europe? They wanted to have a more democratic system and what else is democracy than giving all people the right to be heard. That history may explain why Americans emphasize the importance of egalitarianism so much.

Compared to America, Europe has a tradition of monarchies, totalitarian states etc. Europe’s history was always a history of conquering, ruling and suppression, but that just means that we may had to struggle a little harder. People in Europe, too, always longed for egalitarianism, which especially shows in all the revolutions there were. That is why, despite Europe’s cruel history, we also managed to create states in which people are considered to be equal.

However, both concepts are very idealistic ones. There are still people who are discriminated, there are still people who are not heard and there are still people who are assumed to be inferior. Even whole countries are assumed to be below our wonderful industrial nations. When it comes to America such nations are to be found in the Axis of Evil, while Austrians (and let’s be honest here) regard east European countries to be inferior.

Certainly no one would put it like that, but you can see such attitudes every day. Just think of people talking to immigrants or, to give another example, look at some attorney who buys something in a supermarket chain. They speak with the sales clerks as if they were kind of nuts. The reason why I’m getting a bit emotional here is that I also do such blue-collar jobs from time to time and I experienced that some well-off people not even notice what hard work it is to do such jobs.

As you can see there are still many problems in both systems, although it could be so easy if we all just believed in the simple and, according to Jefferson, self-evident phrase “all men are created equal”.

Culture matters 8: SOURCE OF SELF-ESTEEM/ WORTH

According to the LDOCE self-esteem can be understood as “the feeling of being satisfied with your own abilities, and that you deserve to be liked or respected”. However, this is not a complete explanation, since self-esteem is not only being proud of your abilities, but even more how one uses those talents. So what is it exactly that builds our sense of self-esteem? Are there differences between America and Austria?

Once more I consulted the Peace Corps website on the American vantage point. It says- unsurprisingly- that Americans tend to build their self-esteem on the jobs they have and the money they earn. The self-worth of a person is not received “by virtue of birth, position, seniority, or longevity”, though I suppose there are exceptions. Just think of Paris Hilton, who is just famous for partying, or world’s oldest people, who are also treated with respect just for being old. In addition, I think Americans are actually not only after money, like the website claims, but merely want a job that is satisfying even if it is badly paid and laborious. At least, that is what I have learned from the book “Gig”.

Austrians also tend to judge people on what they are doing, that is, a doctor is certainly ranked higher than some Spar-employee. However, the self-esteem is also build on the friends one has, which is especially true for younger people. The more acquaintances/ friends the better! And yet, self-worth has not always to be created by oneself. In Austria, for example, the wives of doctors are also called doctor and people in higher positions surely respect others more if they, too, come from affluent families. People with a low-income, on the other hand, do not respect people more just for having more money, but tend to judge them more on the basis of their character, friends and so on.

By and large, I came to the conclusion that there are many causes for self-esteem and self-worth. It depends on your social class, on education, job etc. Being an American, however, certainly means emphazising jobs

Culture matters 7: CONCEPT OF FACE

A little shocked I realized today that the semester draws to the close. So let’s get on with the cultural categories, since I don’t want to deprive you of the last seven ones.

Today I’d like to discuss the concept of face. How direct are Americans/ Austrians? What if we know that such honesty will lead to arguments? Are we still that honest or do we accept a white lie in this case?

According to the Peace Corps website, Americans tend to be baffling frank with each other. They assume that one should be always straight with people, even if that causes disagreement- at least that will clear the air. Living in an individualist culture, what other people think is not so vital, since everybody can take care of himself/herself. Hence, honesty is the best policy for Americans.

In Austria honesty is officially regarded as being absolutely important. However, in practice it depends on who you are talking to. Sure, Austrians are frank with their friends and family. We tell them what we like and don’t like about them, even if that involves an argument. All the same, we are not always honest, especially when we think the truth would unnecessarily hurt the people we love. In this case we’d resort to a white lie.

And yet, Austrians tend to talk in a very roundabout way with strangers or people they don’t know well. Therefore, one sometimes has to read between the lines to find out what people try to express. For example, if a shopkeeper asks you, “May I help you?” most people think, “No! And now leave me alone and let me shop in peace!” Instead, they say, “Thanks, I’ll just have a look around.” Still, when provoked, Austrians are not that polite anymore. Just listen to an Austrian who tries to get rid of pushy promoters and you’ll know what I’m talking about.

In short, I think Austrians are honest as long as they feel they are not being rude. I just can take a guess here, since the Peace Corps website does not go into it, but Americans are probably similar. I don’t think they absolutely refuse to tell a white lie if that means not hurting someone.

Culture matters 6: CONCEPT OF SUFFERING AND MISFORTUNE

Today it’s dark and unfriendly outside. The chilly, rainy weather doesn’t make one especially cheerful, so why not writing about a topic that fits the weather? Let’s talk about the different opinions of Americans and Austrians when it comes to suffering and misfortune.

In America, people feel sorry for someone who is suffering and so they’d do everything to cheer this person up. That is, they’d only help as long as the depressed person tries to do something against their mood. If they keep moaning without getting active Americans would feel it’s their own fault. They could at least take a pill or see a psychiatrist, couldn’t they?

Austrians are similar concerning the cheer-up part. The difference is, in my opinion, that Austrians have more tolerance for complaints, since they love complaining themselves. Admittedly, at some point we are close to the end of our rope as well, but still we’d never advice someone to go to see a mental doctor. Backward as that may be, most Austrians assume that only absolute nutters would go to see a psychiatrist.

Here again, we can see that Americans are more active when gets to solving problems, whereas Austrians are more the passive one’s. Yeah, that’s our dear serene Austria, where people are strong enough to shrug problems off ;)

Still, I agree with the Austrian attitude that doctors can't cure everything. Moreover, isn't it everybody' s right to moan from time to time (especially when the weather is as lousy as today)? Phony happiness doesn't solve any problems!

Culture matters 5: ATTITUDE TOWARDS TAKING RISKS

In order to produce a readable piece of writing for you, I googled both the terms “taking risks” and “Risikos eingehen”. Interestingly, in English I got much advice to take risks, since life won’t get better without taking risks. In German most headings had the phrase “Kein Risiko eingehen” in them, because this would end in a disaster. Why is that?

The Peace Corps website claims that Americans are very willing to take risks. They think it’s always possible to start all over again and even if they fail, there will be new chances to get happy again. Failure is assumed to be an important part of life you can learn from. That’s one of the reasons, why people don’t save too much and there is a high level of personal bankruptcies.

Austrians, on the other hand, love to save their money. I had my first encounter with a bank employee at elementary school. Every year at the “Weltspartag” a man would come to school, open our piggybanks and count the money in such a speed that we were truly impressed. Then he’d write the amount into our bankbook and give it back to us with a “Sparefroh” present. What a day! And since then I knew that I had to save money, because “Spare in der Zeit, dann hast du in der Not”, right mom?

Overall, taking risks just doesn’t seem appealing to Austrians. We prefer to have a secure working place, a nice brick house and a supporting family. I’ve already told you about the Austrians’ opinion about change, which is similar to this topic. To sum up, taking risks is a big no-no, change is a big no-no and if we’re not sure about something new it’s probably the biggest no-no ever. It’s not that Austrians were cowards, but we are definitely highly skeptical towards taking risks, since that can make things worse. Nothing ventured, nothing lost!

Culture matters 4: ATTITUDE TOWARDS CHANGE

All things have to change to something new, to something strange.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American poet

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If we look back at the world’s history, the first thing we’ll notice is how everything has changed- not only the beings on Earth, but also the Earth itself. There is land where there wasn’t, there were plants that aren’t anymore… The world keeps changing and that’s also true for our whole lives. And although change is such a central part of life, not all people feel comfortable with it. Today I’ll examine the American and the Austrian attitudes towards change when it comes to changing things and people.

Changing things means mostly improving technologies and optics. The American point of view is according to the Peace Corps site “New is better”. I think the same is true for Austrians. We enjoy having smaller cell phones, new modern clothes, new cafeterias etc. As you see it’s not only about things, but about everything around us. If it’s new it’s considered to be better and sells like hotcakes. However not everyone is happy with the things around changing. The elderly, for example, keep moaning about the good old days, when they had their old washing machine that worked so much better than this new one their children bought for them. And it’s not only senior citizens who aren’t always content with changes. Just think about the new cover child of “Kinderschokolade”. I know so many people of my age who got so angry about it. Some even refuse to buy any more “Kinderschokolade”… So all in all, in Austria change is obviously assumed to be a mixed blessing.

Now for changing people and their lifestyles, Americans think also very positive about any changes. They think by changing, they can become better people and improve their lives drastically. Things are not better, just because they’ve always been done like that. That shows for example in the high turn-over rate in American workplaces and also in their mobility. Austrians, in comparison, don’t like changing their lifestyles. They feel strong bonds with the place they where raised and don’t easily leave that places. I’m not sure, but I think very often that has to do with fear. People don’t think life could be better somewhere else, so what’s the point of moving? And why changing jobs if the one they have isn’t absolutely horrible. Maybe they hate what they’ve got to do every day and they’re miserably paid, but other jobs might be much worse. Don’t ask me about the logic behind this, but it’s the way a lot of Austrians think.

To sum up Americans are pro-change in nearly every way, whereas Austrians aren’t too fond of change. I guess our problem is that we start to like things too easily. I'm a perfect example for that behavior. When I moved into my new apartment I immediately noticed that odd door handle, that you have to turn upwards to open the door. At first I thought we’ll certainly fix that, but after a week or so I got used to it and now I really like it. In fact I absolutely adore our dear incorrectly assembled door handle. Here is it:

Culture matters 3: VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE

I do know that it’s not easy to generalize opinions about the human nature, since most people don’t agree on that. However, I think it’s possible to give a vague impression about the most common attitudes towards the human nature in Austria. That’s also what the Peace Corps culture site tried to do, with the difference that they described the American point of view.

According to the website, Americans strongly believe that men are basically good. If left alone, people will do the right thing and therefore can be trusted. Consequently, courts consider a person innocent until there are proves against him/her. If people don’t fit this pattern and do something evil, an explanation for that behavior is searched.

The official Austrian opinion is essentially the same, though in practice people certainly tend to mistrust others. People from other cultures and homeless are considered to be especially dangerous (not to mention homeless people from other cultures!). While pedagogues claim that there are certain influences that make people bad, the rest of us knows that they are just evil and should be locked up for eternity.

Broadly speaking Austrians are pretty suspicious, but if they get to know other people better and get to like them they behave differently, of course. If we can trust Peace Corps, Americans have a far better opinion about the human nature, but I’m not sure if they, too, aren’t only speaking of the official opinion. Mistrusting (Austrian) me…

Culture matters 2: FATE AND DESTINY

The outlook on fate and destiny is a very interesting topic to examine, for it reveals a lot about people. Sure, it would also be fascinating to explore how people came to those opinions, but that would go back too far, since in America this way of thinking starts with the Puritans and in Austria probably even earlier. Interesting as this might be, it would be too time consuming to go deeper into that, so I’ll concentrate, again, on comparing and contrasting the American and the Austrian point of view.

Americans are quite optimistic about the future. They think they have every opportunity to become as successful as they want. It’s the, for America so characteristic, from rags-to-rich dream I’m talking about. The general opinion is that unsuccessful people only have themselves to blame. The motto of the Americans is undoubtedly “Where there’s a will there’s a way”. In short, the site obviously comes to the same conclusion as the book “Gig”, in which people talk about their jobs. Many of them didn’t like what they were doing, so they just changed their jobs or even moved until they felt comfortable with the way they lived.

In Austria that’s absolutely different. People seem to be more serene here when it comes to changing their future. They don’t think everyone can do everything they want. Mind you, they wouldn’t tell a child explicitly that they can’t become everything, but they would certainly not encourage them if they dreamed about becoming famous, rich or anything. If Austrians are unsuccessful, though they have tried, the public opinion would be “Why…He/She is probably not meant for that…”. Actually, it doesn’t even matter a lot how hard they tried. Imagine for example an unemployed Austrian, who doesn’t get a job in or near his hometown. It’s very unlikely that this person would move in order to get hired. Our motto is more like “Do kau ma hoit nix doa…”

In comparison to the topic “age” I’ve already covered, there’s a great difference between the American and Austrian attitude towards fate and destiny. Americans are obviously more active in changing their future, although that certainly differs from region to region too. Just think of the first page of Bill Bryson’s book “The lost Continent”, where he writes about his hometown:

“When you come from Des Moines you either accept the fact without question and settle with a local girl named Bobbi and get a job at the firestone factory and live there for ever and ever, or you spend your adolescence moaning at length about what a dump it is and how you can’t wait to get out, and then you settle down with a local girl named Bobbi and get a job at the firestone factory and live there for ever and ever.”

Culture matters 1: AGE

The first cultural category discussed at the website is about age. In every culture people treat each other differently, which shows especially in the way people treat the elder generation. Native Americans, for instance, regard them as very wise, whereas other cultures don’t treat them that respectful. I’d like to examine the American behaviour, when it comes to senior citizens and compare it to Austrian behaviour.

According to the Peace Corps culture website, in America there is an emphasize on physical beauty and youth. The same is true for Austria, but there are certainly differences. For example, in most people won’t accept plastic surgery to look younger. I don’t think that Austrians are more self-confident, they are just more conservative. The only kind of plastic surgery we do accept is reconstructive surgery. So if a woman looses one breast due to cancer, no-one would mind her having such a surgery done. But when it comes to cosmetic surgery people would certainly backbite.

In addition, the site claims that for Americans physical activity plays a vital role, since that’s the key to work and therefore to production. Elder people aren’t so fit anymore and as a result less productive. That’s why they are fired and younger, in many cases even cheaper, people are hired. In Austria, work isn’t assumed to be that important. Elder people are supposed to retire and in fact most of them are looking forward to this time. However, problems occur, when older people are fired before they are in retirement. That happens for the same reasons as in America, namely because younger people are often cheaper and more productive.

The site continues, explaining that for Americans new is principally better, and the elderly aren’t too much concerned about what’s new. In Austria it’s not so much the problem that elder people aren’t in touch with what’s new, but they aren’t taken serious. I can’t say why, but there are those clichés of slow driving men -in the Austrian’s opinion they are always wearing a hat- and of old women, all having the same short haircut, usually a permanent made by Klipp (an Austrian hairdresser chain).

Overall, it’s a very negative vantage point the article reveals and it’s not better in Austria as I’ve pointed out. However, that’s only the general opinion about elder people. When it comes to real people, like our grannies, neighbours etc Austrians love elder people. In fact we love them so much, that we hire illegal east European caregivers to look after them. Well, I guess that’s another topic…

Peace Corps News

I’ve just read an interesting article at the “USA today” website that fits the Peace Corps topic. It’s about the probable kidnapping of a Peace Corps volunteer. Here’s a short summary:

According to “USA today”, the Peace Corps volunteer Julia Campbell, 40, is missed in the Philippines. She has been working there since March 2005 as a teacher. On April the 8th she planned to hike in a beautiful area North of Manila, though it’s known that the New People’s Army operate there. The last case the NPA seized a Peace Corps Volunteer in 1990 they released him unharmed thanks to the Roman Catholic Bishop Antonio Fortich.

The Peace Corps

The website I talked about in my last entry is set up by the so-called Peace Corps. But who are they and why do they bother to discuss cultural issues on a whole website? Since it’s important to know who and why people publish information I wanted to find out more about that governmental agency called Peace Corps. Here are my results.

The history is short and easy. In 1960 Senator John F Kennedy encouraged students at the University of Michigan to live and work in developing countries. That started the ball rolling and an agency working for world peace was founded. The Peace Corps Volunteers try to help people in 139 countries with issues like AIDS education or environmental preservation for example.

The Peace Corps mission statement consists of three aims. Firstly, They want to help willing countries and their people. Secondly, they want the people in the counties they serve to get a better understanding of Americans. And lastly, they want Americans to get a better understanding of the countries they work for.

So what’s the website about culture matters for? The Peace Corps Culture website is meant as a workbook for students, to realize what culture means and to compare the own, American culture to foreign ones. It’s an interesting project and in my opinion a valuable website for anyone interested in culture.

Introduction to my teeny weeny comparison project

At this website American culture is examined, using thirteen cultural categories. They deal with people's attitude towards

1. age,
2. fate and destiny,
3. the human nature,
4. change,
5. taking risks,
6. suffering and misfortune,
7. face,
8. self-esteem and self worth,
9. equality,
10. formality,
11. realism,
12. doing and
13. the natural world.

As an Austrian I’ll try to compare the American vantage point with our vantage point in order to show, where the main differences and similarities lie. However, I think it’s to large a topic to write about in one essay, so I’ll analyse those categories one by one. But first of all, let's find out more about this website! (see next entry)