If I were a Swede…
Food for Thought : If you were a Swede living in China and looking at the countries around you, how would you communicate across national, cultural, linguistic and technological boundaries?
Looking at this question from a personal perspective, as a ‘partial-foreigner’ myself in Singapore (I came over in primary 2), I understand the pain that one has to deal with when it comes to a new environment. To put it simply, let’s break them down into 3 main challenges.
Speak thy language
Interestingly, the very first obstacle that comes to everyone’s minds is probably the language factor – which I won’t deny that it’s going to be a huge issue if you can’t even utilize the language that the country you’re residing is using. However, I believe that language can be easily picked up and with the help of technology and tools such as NJStar CJK Viewer and Firefox plugins that makes things easier.
Power of Weak Ties
We’re lucky that Singapore is a country that supports multiculturalism. China is known for its strong nationalism which unified the people and its culture. It is important to understand one’s culture, be it via blogs that fellow foreigners living in China share or researching via travelling sites from a tourist’s point of view or even finding fellow Swedes in China via social networking sites. Do your homework ! At the same time, it is important to keep an open mind to other’s opinions as it may differ from your own experience. Embrace and respect one’s culture and you’ll learn that it is not too difficult to be welcomed into the community.
The Great Firewall
As much as censorship is concerned in China, I won’t say that China is not open up to technological advancement but perhaps in their own ways. Looking at the list of ’60 Best Blogs on China in English, it may seem like Google-China case is not going to affect the social media scene as much as the outsiders would assume. Who are we (or Google) to claim that China is wrong ? Instead, I think we should start exploring their internal networks and reach out to the various target audience from there. It’s all about connecting with the right people.
From a business pespective, in several decades to come, China or just in general – Asia will emerge as the primary growth market for the world. Looking at this economic reality, how do one or a company position himself/itself better in Asia? I believe that there’s no tailored solution or template to follow as how Professor Dan Ryun Chang puts it and having a Pan-Asian Strategy might hurt your business in the long run.
To sum it up, it is about an open mind, basic respect and mutual understanding.
Find out more about communicating across Asia, click here !
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Note : If you’re wondering why the sudden post after annoucing a ‘Time Out’, this is an assignment for my Digital Media Across Asia Module. Thank You !
Tags: blog, boundaries, censorship, challenges, comm215, community, connection, cultural, firefox plugins, foreigner, google, great firewall, iammyy, language, linguistic, national, njstarcky viewer, pan-asian strategy, swede living in china, synotrip, target audience, technological, travellerspoint, weak ties, wetpaint, wiki
A friend replied to my earlier tweet :
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