Hello and welcome!

I am a third year student Office Management, Management Assistant, at the University College of Ghent. One of the courses I am taking this semester is "Intercultural Business Communication", for which we had to keep a cross cultural diary. So, on this blog you can find several things I experienced during this semester. I hope you enjoy reading this and that it will enrich your view of other cultures.

In November this semester we had various spare days, so I was able to visit my Dutch friend, Bianca. We met each other in 2005. So I took off together with 2 other Belgian friends for 2 days to Venray in the Netherlands.

Some experiences were that although they speak the same language and ‘culture’, they differ so much from us, Belgians! They are more open and spontaneous. When I entered her home, her family was so welcoming, I already felt home. It is a normal house, like in Belgium. But their bathroom, it is so small; it wasn’t bigger than our toilet but it did contain a bath, shower and washbasin. You could hardly move in there.

But a thing which I found less is that they are more direct and often talk big. You can really see that they have a low-context language, their message is explicit. They often say what they think, for example my two friends and I are (by coincidence) blond, redhead and brunette, and when Bianca introduced us to some of her friends, the first thing they said was “hey, K3.”, with a strange tone. When I am introduced to someone I usually would be more ‘polite’ and say ‘Hello’ or ‘Welcome’. So I think their openness has advantages but also disadvantages.

Another thing that is typical for them is of course their Holland accent. Although we speak the same language, various words have another meaning, for example we say ‘wiet’ not only for ‘drugs’ but also for ‘onkruid’. They found these funny and said things like “jij rookt onkruid”. Another thing is, although they learned French at school, they are almost unable to say one word in French.

She told us several things, for example, secondary school is already done at sometimes 2, 3 and exceptionally 4 p.m. It is more relaxed there. While in Belgium we had to stay at school until 4 and sometimes 5 p.m. (except for Wednesday).

Further we had a drink, went to the cinema, and got a ‘guided tour’ throughout Venray… We had a pleasant time over there!

As I live near the border between Belgium and France, I sometimes get in touch with French people. Some experiences are good, some are less.

Language

For example, I went to the butchery in my village this weekend (in October), which is run by a fairly “old” couple. The man is Belgian and the woman French. Although their run this butchery for more than 20 years at least, she hardly wants to speak Dutch although I know she is able to do so. When I order something in Dutch, she repeats in French also the price I have to pay. This is rather impolite to my opinion. Sometimes this can get me angry, because when we go to France, we have to speak French, but this lady runs a business in Belgium, so she actually has to speak Flemish but it is like she refuses to speak Flemish. For me, this is rather a sign of lack of respect. Also in a shop in Poperinge, a shop-assistant spoke to me in French, and I was thinking like ‘Come on, we’re in Belgium, speak Flemish’.

When we go to France, we speak French, because we find it normal to adapt ourselves to the country we visit. Vice versa, when the French come to Flanders, they expect us to speak French, and so we have to adapt ourselves to them in our own country. They (most of them, but not all) will hardly try to speak Flemish.

Attitude

Subsequently you can read in our course that “French people are individualists and have a sense of pride that is sometimes interpreted as supremacy”. This is true, they are inhabitants of a large and powerful nation and they act often like that. On the contrary we, Belgians, are just inhabitants a small country. Of course not all the French behave themselves like this but many do so, for example the butcher's wife who doesn't want to speak Flemish.

Friendship

Friendship is difficult to make with the French, but once you are his/ her friend, they take this comradeship very seriously and appreciate it very much. For example my father has a very good French ‘friend’, and he knew that my father was looking for a sprinkler irrigation system for on the fields. This friend speaks normally French, but also the West-Flemish dialect we use our regions. He knew a French farmer who sold his system because the farmer retired. This comrade immediately informed my father and told him about this and he also made some spare time to accompany my father to this farmer and to be the interpreter.

Greeting

When a French man visited my parents, he also greeted my brothers and me; he gave us a quick handshake and 4 kisses on the cheek (also to my brothers). My brothers were surprised by this way of greeting, because here in Belgium, we find it weird that 2 men give each other kisses on the cheek, a handshake between men is enough. We noticed that apparently this is something normal to the French. In general the French are very friendly in greeting and like to have first a bit of chitchat (asking how you are doing…). Also when this person left, he gave everyone a handshake again, but that is something we also do.