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Interviewer: Bahar Aydogan
Interviewee: Ly Pham
Interview topic: Future
Date: November 29
Place: Basecamp
Time: 11:00

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1. If you could travel anywhere, where would you go and why?

I would travel to Japan because I have been dreaming of visiting Japan for a long time. I first fell in love with Japan through its language, I find the sound of it very pleasant and beautiful in their simplicity– there are really no harsh sounds. Besides, Japan has so many nice traditional ceremonies and art forms such as Japanese calligraphy, flower arrangement, martial arts, haiku… During the year, there are many festivals when people put on traditional clothes and go out to celebrate

2. If you had one month left to live what would you do?

I would spend my time with my family and friends so that when I left I will have no regret. We would go on a short trip for example and create many beautiful memories. I would go to Korea and Japan to participate in all the music concerts that I had always want to join. I would like to create as much beautiful memory as possible so that I could leave without regret.

3. What’s your biggest dream?
My biggest dream is that when I graduate, I will get a good job and make enough money to build a house for my family. And then I will travel with them around the world

3. What is a skill that you would like to learn and why?
I would like to learn communication skills since i’m not a person who good at communnicating with the others. Sometimes i find it hard to express my ideas and feelings so that it is quite hard for me to get along well with friends and people around. Besides, I think I lack some confidence . For example, I always get nervous when I am presenting even though i have prepared thoroughly. All-in all these are all the things that I want to learn and improve

4. Are you planning on working or do you want to continue studying after you’ve graduated from ABS?

I haven’t decided what to do after I graduate yet. My temporary plan is that I will apply for a job when I graduate. And then after 1 or 2 years working, I will apply for Master program

5. What kind of career/function would you like to have in the future?

I’m not sure about that but I want to be a manager in the field of logistics. Because I like organizing, making sure that everything is done properly and so on

6. What would you be or do if this career(the career that you mentioned above) doesn’t work out?

I would spend time to find out why it doesn’t work out for me, what the problem is. I would assess myself and ask others who know me about it. When I find out the problem, I would try to fix it and continue pursuing what I have chosen.

7. As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

When I was a kid, I used to want to be a teacher. My teacher in primary school is an intelligent and warm-hearted person. She taught me a lot of precious lessons not only about academic study but also about real life, which I still remember until now. Therefore I thought that teaching is really interesting and cool, I wanted to be an English teacher. But when I grew up, I taught my brother English and it was totally a mess. I found out that teaching is not suitable for me at all. That’s when I started to choose another career for my future.

8. In what country would you like to live in the future and why?

I’m not sure which country I want to live in the future most. I prefer living in some developed countries like Germany, Netherlands, Japan … In these countries, the environment is well protected; therefore the air and food are really clean so your health will not be affected. In addition, the government really cares about their citizens and they provide a lot of services to meet the needs of the citizens.

9. Where do you see yourself in five  years, family wise?

In five years time, I will be working for a company in Europe. I will travel around the world with my family, my friends and by my own. I will meet many new friends and I get along well with my colleagues so I will have my social network.

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Answer the reflection questions and explain each answer.

1.     Which role did you have in the balloon factory?

2.     How did you experience to be in this role (feelings, thoughts, behavior)?

3.     How were you approached by the other group members (feelings, thoughts, behavior)?

4.     What did you learn from this simulation game?

5.     Take a personal real life cross-cultural example, in which you were wondering, confused or frustrated about someone else’s behavior. Apply the four steps of responding appropriately to culturally different people in this situation. What does it tell you?

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1.     Apply the DIE- method. Observe ALL your BSP team members in a Business Plan team meeting and describe their individual behavior first. Then give your own interpretation to this behavior. Afterwards, you ask your group members if your interpretation is in line with their intention (check).

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4. Business dinner customs

In Vietnamese deal-making process, a formal banquet is essential: In the dinner, businesspeople will built relationships, trust and unwind together. It is usually held in s private room in restaurant. For some foreigner who are not used to this kind of custom, they can be confused. Besides, giving gifts the host a gift is appropriate after signing a deal or finishing a tough negotiation.

5.Vietnamese people live in harmony with the nature

Vietnam is an agricultural country so most of our populations make their living by taking advantage of the nature. They grow crops, go fishing, make silk,… However, in some season, they are suffered from the power of nature, such as storm, drought … They have caused many damages to people, crops,…

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Describe your cultural background and make an iceberg of your culture(s) with at least 5 items in each layer and explain each item so that it is understandable, also for outsiders.

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Formulate two personal goals with specific, measurable and time-framed activities for the next semester to improve your intercultural competences.
Goal

1.    My first goal is that I will improve my communication skills by speaking English more with my peers. I will discuss with them about diverse topics such as daily life activities, study stream and so on. This approach can be maintained frequently so I will do it everyday. In group meeting, I will try to participate in group discussion and take more initiative when doing the given tasks. After an amount of time, for example, a month, I will ask my classmates feedbacks as well as whether they realizes any change in my communications skills and then I will reflect on my effort.

2.    2. In the next semester, I will make a clear plan for myself. I will set deadline for each task and commit to finish it in time. Based on the timetable, I will make a to do list to prepare for the lecture before class. After class, I will make a summary of the lecture. I also can ask my friend to study in group so that we can check each other’s progress. I think I will do group studying twice a week. This will help me to be more organized and save me much time before the exam period.

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Determine for yourself two personal strengths and two challenges in dealing with different cultures.

My two strengths:

1.    Active listening:

In a different culture, I tend to stay in the middle ground. I prefer to listen to other’s story and share mine. By exchanging our stories, we can avoid confliction and misunderstandings. Moreover, I pay close attention to what the teacher say about the tasks and then inform my group members about them.

2.    Open-minded:

I consider myself to be open-minded and easygoing. I feel easy when adapting to new culture and accepting the way people behave differently from me. I understand that is a part of their culture and find a way to cope with it. In addition, I am enthusiastic in gaining knowledge on different cultures and learning how to make use of them properly.

My two challenge:

3.    Communication

My communication skills are not really good so sometimes I find it hard to get along with people from different cultures. For instance, in group work, it might be hard for me to explain my ideas thoroughly to other members.

4.    Organizing

I’m not really an organized person as I sometimes can’t follow the plan that I make. I try to finish my homework as soon as possible but I am easily distracted. Consequently, I usually finish my work right ahead the deadline. At that time I can easily lost my patience and get stressed out.

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Mention two topics, which you found less relevant and explain why.
Topics that I found less relevant:

1.    The iceberg

In this lesson, I need to reflect about my culture as well as explain our norms and beliefs. However, I don’t this is relevant in the intercultural environment as it doesn’t help me to cope with people from different backgrounds.

2.    The balloon factory

I find this activity less relevant is that the collectivism culture is not really clear in the stimulation activities. And the way students apply the DIE method was not really clear so it created confusion for me. Consequently, I don’t think I learnt many new things in this activity.

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Mention at least two topics, which you experienced as helpful in your learning on intercultural management and explain why.

1.    Hall and Kluckhohn’s model

I think this model is very helpful to me especially the high and low context communication. As I come from Asian culture, people try to communicate in the way that will affect other’s feelings. My classmates come from different cultures, many of them are in low context culture where people are more direct and straightforward. At first i was not used to it and I thought that their actions are quite rude. However; when I studied the Hall and Kluckhohn’s model, I learnt how to adapt to the situation and I become more open as I received feedbacks from peers. I try to communicate more with members in my BSP group and took more initiative in group work to improve our results.

2.    DIE model

The DIE model is also a good method not only for myself but also for my friends to avoid misunderstanding in communication. As we all have different culture backgrounds, we have different styles of communication. Sometimes, we misunderstand each other and cause a lot of problems. When I applied the DIE model into the context, I can look at the situation in both perspectives : mine and my friend’s. Therefore, we can avoid confliction and hurting other’s feeling.

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1. Evaluate your own learning in this module by reflecting on all the intercultural trainings and lectures.

All the topics and training I have learned :

1.     Cultural awareness – the iceberg

2.     Hall and Kluckhohn’s dimensions of cultural differences

3.     DIE Model

4.     The balloon factory simulation training activity

5.     Making interview to know more about classmate’s culture

6.     Hofstede ‘s 6 dimensions of culture

7.     Trompenaars’ 7 dimensions and cultural reconciliation

8.     Cultural identity – personal identity

9.     Thomas Kilman’ s conflict – the individual questionnaire profile

10.  The practice of non-violent communication

11.   Cuture shock

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Include your Thomas Kilmann profile. Describe a conflicting situation in your own life and analyze which conflict style(s) of Thomas Killmann were used by you and the other people involved.

When I was a senior in high school, I had to prepare for the university entrance exam, which is the most important exam in every student’s life. Although it sounds weird, many Vietnamese still consider it as the door to one person’s bright future. If a person fails the test, people around will look down on him or her. Therefore, each high school student need to spend at least one to two years to prepare for the exam period which lasts for 5 days. Aside from school, it is common that students need to attend the private-tutoring class that usually starts from 18:00 to 21:00. At that time, there were only four months left and my results in school weren’t not really good in comparison to my classmates. As a result, my parents got worried and doubted whether I could get into one of the best universities in Vietnam. My mother’s friends in parents associations recommend that she should send me to a private- tutoring class after school in order that my results would be improved. My parents were persuaded and they try to talk me into taking extra class after school. But I didn’t like the idea of private- tutoring with a small number of other students after school, as I prefer self-studying.

At first, I use the Competing strategy that I try to resist the idea by arguing with my parents. Other people thought I was strange and even showed me as a bad example for their children. This is an obvious indication of a collective society where people define themselves as a member of a community. They act in a way that create harmony among each other. If one person act differently, he or she will be regarded as strange and misfit.

After one week, I thought keeping arguing with my parents is not a good thing. Thus, I changed to the Accommodating strategy, which means that I attended the private-tutoring class. In one month, I was really stressful about studying. Everyday, I went to school at 7a.m and came back home at 8p.m. Besides I had to do a lot of homework both from school as well as from the extra class. But I found this way of studying not suitable for me, as my results didn’t improve much.

So I quitted the class and change to the Collaborating strategy. I showed my parents my commitments that I could study by myself and improve my results without any help from tutors. At the end, they were persuaded successfully and realized what I said was right.

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Propose an effective strategy to reconcile the conflict described in the case, by using the conflict styles of Kilmann.

In this case, I think the compromising and collaborating strategy should be used since they both have equal power and they are also want to cooperate for making a deal for their own business.

On Mr.Philip’s perspective, I think he should do some research about Vietnamese people culture and how Vietnamese businessmen make deal to avoid uncertainty. With this strategy, Mr.Philip can have a deeper insights into Mr.Đinh behaviors on their business collaboration so as that he can choose the situation go better for him. For further understanding, an email of further information which provides an overview of the company and the intention to collaborate  should be sent to create good impression on Mr. Đinh. Moreover, they started having a bond with mutual interest for better understanding by having a dinner together in specific time. On Mr. Đinh’s side, the strategy he should use is that he should propose his problem more clearly by giving detailed information about what his intention or the specific date of his visit to avoid confusion for his partner .

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Which 5 dimensions influence people’s behaviors and thoughts most? Explain how and when each dimension comes in. Use the lecture book, internet and

a.     Uncertainty avoidance

“Uncertainty avoidance is expressed in stress, and the need for predictability is expressed in the form of having a strict formal and informal rules”.  These two people came from distinctive cultures, which have opposing perspective on uncertainty.

Mr.Kilman came from Germany which is relatively high in uncertainty avoidance. In the convention, Mr.Kilman and Mr. Dinh discussed their mutual business and see possibility of collaborating between two companies in order to expand the business. Upon leaving they all agreed to inform the other further information about the business. He got really confused when he didn’t heard anything from Mr.Dinh after that even though they had reached agreement for the potential business. He wanted everything to be clear and would rather to have a formal evidence such as a letter of intent so as to make sure that Mr. Dinh’s company is interested in the business. Thus, Mr.Kilman became irritated by the uncertainty of the deal as Mr.Dinh didn’t reply him properly. He didn’t inform Mr. Kilman set date for his visit to Germany that created much confusion for the other.

In Mr.Dinh’s perspective, Vietnam is not a country where people are certain about their work, sometimes even in the business field. There are cases when businessmen make the deal during a dinner as long as the two company have close relationship.

b.     Specific and Diffuse

Firstly, in Mr.Đinh’s side, he ia from diffuse culture, where people are usually deal with other diffusely. In other words, before doing business with Mr.Philip, Mr. Đinh want to built the relationship with the partner and get to know more about his partner’s company. Thus, by gathering more information about the other, Mr. Dind could built a truth worthy bond and propose a long-term collaboration. Despite he was also  interested in their contract, he would require time to think about it considerably in all aspects on behalf of the whole cooperation.

Meanwhile, Mr.Philip’s perspective, he values specific –oriented cultures where an one’s private life is seperated from working performance and working environment. Hence, he found his talk with Mr.Dinh clear enough to express his intention for cooperation.

c.      Hall’s High and low context

The context here is that there are two different styles of communication which can be regarded as cross-culture communication. Therefore problems arise because “ how little the meaning is communicated through the contest itself differs from culture to culture”.

At first, both of them used English as a way of communication. They shared their stories and interests in the convention and there seemed to be no language barrier between them. But when it came to doing business, it came out to be a totally different situation.

This can be understandable as we look back to their culture backgrounds.

Mr.Kilman came from a low context culture where information is communicated explicitly. As a result, when they meet each other, they require specific and detailed information to make sure about the possibility of the business. When Mr. Kilman met Mr.Dinh, he was fascinated in collaborating between the two companies. He started with the main points which are his ideas and willingness for company expansion. Basically, what he said was what he really intended and there was no different interpretation for his words. And then he thought after the agreement they would have more discussion about detailed information of the deal. He considered what they said in the convention as an verbal agreement.

Otherwise, Mr. Đinh , although studying abroad, he is still affected by Vietnamese high context culture. Importantly, the meaning was also based on the context they were in. For instance, in the convention, he might have meant for further collaboration between two companies.  Mr. Đinh was also interested in the business deal but since he considered the company as a whole cooperation, he wouldlike to inform later in order to have more discussion and research with his colleagues in Vietnam. Moreover, in Vietnamese culture, people prefer not to act rapidly when they find something potential, instead they will show gradually commitment through words and direct visit.

d.   The concept of  time

e.     Long term orientation

Mr. Dinh focus more on long term orientation while Mr. Kilman is more on Short-term orientation which he prefers take immediate actions.

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1. Analyze the cultural elements in the case by using Hofstede, Trompenaars, Hall and Kluckhohn.

Although they come from two different countries, they still have many things in common such as their concern and interest, their age, marital status. During the evening they got along well with each other and shared their stories about the other’s culture.

Mr.Kolman came from Germany – the country that is known for the individual society. In this culture, they define themselves with personal achievement and are raised to develop as individual rather than a member of a larger group. There is not much power distance within the community as people are equally both at work or in real life. Germany is also a doing culture which people are task-oriented and “live to work”. They prefer short-term orientation as they set goals and take immediate actions. Mr.Kolman is considered to be a representative from this culture.

On the other hand, Mr.Dinh is Vietnamese. Vietnam is more like a collective society where interdependence on each other is highly appreciated. People pay more attention to harmony and how a person contributes to the society. They need to live up to some standards that considered to be common. Moreover, there is wide power distance among people in Vietnam, for instance between boss and their employees. They also prefer long-term orientation and detail-oriented when doing business. In addition Mr.Dinh did his business education in Switzerland that means he had experienced the Western culture. While keeping the original Asian culture, he might have been affected by the new culture so he can be regarded as a mixture of two different cultures.

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c.    What did you learn from conducting an interview?

The most memorable lesson I learnt is that even though we come from totally different backgrounds, there are still some intersections between our cultures. And in each culture, there is the number of exceptions. No matter which country, culture the family belongs to, each family has their own way of lifestyles, values and beliefs. Finally, some points can be perceived as global-wide instead of cultural ones.

I think an interview provides a lot of valuable information if it is conducted properly. By both taking roles as interviewer and interviewee, I learnt a lot of things on how to make a good interview.

After the interview, in my opinion, the most significant part is making the list of questions. They need to be related to the topic, clear and carefully conducted. The type of questions is also important: Both open questions and closed questions should be included. Moreover, they need being orderly organized from general questions to specific ones so that the interviewee would feel more easy to answer based on their logical thinking. I used to be in some interviews and some of them have questions that are poorly conducted and organized. As a result, it created many difficulties for me to answer.

Besides, the interviewer also plays an essential part in conducting an interview. The interviewer need to find a place that is quiet and comfortable for the interviewee to feel relaxed while having interview. Keeping a lively atmosphere is important as well. In addition, when the interviewee had difficulty in understanding the questions, interviewer should be able to explain them or ask some sub questions to make them clearer.

In addition, taking note during the interview is important as well because it is useful for the interviewer to get an overview of the answers. In the interview, I still had to rely on my phone to record the answers of my partner. This will not be efficient if I need to interview a number of people. Thus I need to practice taking note while interviewing.

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b.  What is similar and what is different between you and your interviewee?
·      Similarity:

o   We both live in extended family. My family has 3 generations which are my grandparents, my parents, I and my siblings

o   We both have close relationship with our families and a lot of precious memories during our lives.

o   Our families both play an important role in building our personalities, affecting the people we are today.

o   We have similar viewpoints about the way parents discipline children. We think that parents should use words rather than punishment to educate their kids. At the early age children should be taught what is wrong and what is right. Besides, parents need to pay attention to their behaviors and act as a role model for their children so that they can learn good things from adults.

o   When our parents get older, we both have the intention to take care of them by ourselves rather than leave them in a nursing home since we all regard our families as the most important in our lives. In Asia, the children were born with the responsibility to take care of their families, especially theirs parents in the whole life even when they leave home and get married. Therefore, when I came to Europe, I saw many old people doing grocery alone that really surprised me. In my country, if we let our parents do grocery or cook alone despite they would like to do so, we will be considered undutiful. First, I thought it would be the same for Andreea who also comes from an European country. But her answer turned out to be similar as mine.

o   Moreover, our family is open in letting us make our decisions about life.

·      Difference

o   First, the most obvious difference is that my family’s members are all Vietnamese and hers are Romanian. One family suffers from Asian’s culture while the other is in European culture.

o   The type of family

§  Me: I prefer to live in an extended family whereas she likes nuclear family more. Because I am used to living in a family with many members. I like the atmosphere in the extended family that is lively and full of energy. For sure, there might be some problems when living in a big family but I think I can cope with that.

§  Andréa: She would rather to live in a nuclear family where the bonds among members are clear.

o   The relationship with family

§  Me: Although my family’s members are close but actually we didn’t have many activities together. This is because when I was in Vietnam, I was always busy with my heavy study stream and my parents are around the clock with my family’s business the whole week. We seldom hang out together or even have meal all together.

§  Andréa: As she mentioned in the answer, her family had a lot of activities together both indoors and outdoors.

o   Family background: Andréa grew up in a family with deafness and hearing impairment. It wasn’t easy for her but she still managed it well. And it contributed to building her personality as a person who is strong and always takes care of the others.

o   How to discipline children? Is spanking a good way to discipline children?

§  Me: I don’t think that it is a good way to educate children. Nevertheless, in my family, my father sometimes use spanking to discipline my brother when he was too naughty or make him stand in the corner of the room to reflect about what he had done. And this kind of punishment is also quite common in some Asian countries such as Vietnam, China, …

§  Andréa: In her family, her parents never use spanking to discipline children. They think that having a serious conversation with their kids and explaining whether his actions are right or wrong is enough.

o   Decisions in life:

§  Me: My family encourages me to develop as an individual and do everything by myself. Nonetheless, since we live in Asia where harmony in the community is praised, my family oriented me to act in some way considered to be good and common. Parents compare their children with other children. If their children perform not as well as their peers, they will get more lessons and be pushed so as to catch up with the others.

§  Andréa: Her family always support and encourage her to make her own decisions in life rather than force her to act in the way that they want.

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a.  How did you experience interviewing your classmate (behaviour, thoughts, feelings)?
a.     It took us about 20 minutes - a little bit longer than I expected - to finish the interview. At first, I felt a little bit pressured because that was the second time I had interviewed other people. But, the interview was really interesting and it went well without any problems. Since I chose family topic, I had the opportunity to get an insight into my partner’s personal life and culture background. I discovered many new things about the meaning of family in her culture and she did, too. It was really nice to have a chat with my classmate that we shared each other’s stories. At first I didn’t know much about Romania but after the interview, I got to know more about Andréa’s culture. I was quite surprised when we found out many similarities between our families as well as our viewpoints about them. Through the interview, I have learnt so many things from my friend's culture as well as her opinions about some circumstances in daily life.

All in all, the interview helps me to gather many interesting stories and get closer to my classmate as we shared a lot of commons.

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5.     How did your family affect your personality ?

My family made me the person I am today. Definitely, they affected my personality by creating it, growing up in a family with deafness and hearing impairment wasn’t easy, but we helped each other.

6.     Are you pressured by your family to act in certain ways?

Never, they are always supporting me, no matter what decision I take, they let me go the way I think is better and they are by my side.

7.     How should parents discipline children?

I think that parents should be his children’s friends to discipline them. This is the most easy way to have a good relationship with the child and discipline them, by explaining what is wrong and what is good, by supporting the child.

8.     Is spanking a good way to discipline children?

No, definitely no! As I said before, a good way to discipline your children is by talking in a nice way to the child and explain what is good and wrong.

9.     How would you feel about your parents getting older? If they could no longer take care of themselves, would you let them live with you or put them in a nursing home?
I feel sad thinking they are getting older and I am getting older too, but I promised to them I’ll never leave them alone. Never I would put them in a nursing home, I just would live with them and help them walk through the live, no matter what. They are the most important thing in my life and I will never let them alone.

10.     When you have children, what will you teach them (What values, beliefs, hobbies, skills, …)?

I’ll let them choose what they want to do, as hobby. But I will teach them the difference between good and wrong, the danger in life, I’ll talk to them and explain my beliefs, what values are important for a good lifestyle, but I’ll never choose for them what to do, because it is their choice and I will let them choose what they want to do in life. But, if they like to draw, I’ll help them to develop the drawing skills as I like to draw and I have such good skills at drawing and this is my hobby.

11.     Can you think of an example of a country that has different culture values regarding the importance of family?

Well, I can’t think about an example of a country, because no matter the country, there are different family, different ways of lifestyle, discipline and so on. It depends on the parents and the child what values they want to have, culture and the importance they accord to the family. This means that the country doesn’t matter, the family is the only thing that can choose what type of relationship they have, the importance of the family and so on.

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1.     Do you live in a nuclear family or extended family?

I live in an extended family, I have one brother and 3 cousins.

2.     What are the advantages and disadvantages of these kinds of family?

I think the that the advantage of a nuclear family is that the child is more close to the parents and can have more free and frank discussion about their problems with parents which helps for the better development of their personality. The disadvantage of a nuclear family is that, if the family is widowed, old or divorced, it is really hard if you don’t have a brother or sister to support each other.

The advantage of extended family is that family members can help out and look for each other, but the disadvantage is the lack of privacy.

3.     What kind of things do you usually do with your family?

Well, I have a good relationship with my parents and my brother, we are like best friends, we spend a lot of time togheter doing things togheter, such as playing games, helping each other with the necessities, homework for my brother, cleaning the room with my mother, cooking with my father or simply just hang out togheter, walking in park, going to cinema, shopping, getting out with friends.

4.  What are some fondest memories of childhood you have with your family?

I have a lot of memories from my childhood with my family, the best one was when my brother was born, the second one is when I graduated last year and they were by my side, another fondest memory can be our birthdays, we make every year a surprise for the person who celebrates his/her birthday and we enjoy the time togheter, and also the moments when we are travelling the world together.

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Interviewer: Ly Pham
Interviewee: Andreea Stingaciu
Interview topic: Family
Date: November 29
Place: Basecamp
Time: 12:30

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2)
a.      The factors that I am not in line with my national culture are Communication, Time and Orientation. There are many reasons why I chose different level in these three dimensions with my culture. First, for the Communication dimension, Vietnamese people, like other Asians, tend to say anything implicitly and often nonverbally. Sometimes, when they discuss about a topic, they start with the context and then circle towards the main point; unlike the Westerns who focus on the main point at the beginning. Moreover, we try to be indirect when saying to others in order to create consensus and not hurt people’s feeling. But sometimes this might cause problems as others misinterpret the message given.

Secondly, for the Time dimension, time factor is quite flexible in Vietnam. Many people usually show up about 10 minutes late for the meeting and I think it is not professional, especially in business environment. Thus , I would rather to be more monochronic.
Finally, for the Orientation dimension, although I really like the way Vietnamese people focus on the results , sometimes it might be really rigid. I would love to work in more flexibility environment where can enhance creativity.

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5.Differences Between Northern and Southern Vietnamese

There are for sure some cultural differences between northern and southern Vietnam, even though they are less evident now as the society is constantly changing.

Southerners have a reputation for being more open-minded and willing to spend money than the northerners. After the Vietnam War the South got richer quicker and more investment went south. At first foreign investors were more comfortable dealing with southerners rather than dealing with the northerners.

Northern part of Vietnam is heavily influenced by the Chinese culture so Northern people are more pretentious, and opportunistic. They are very polite and courteous but sometimes quite insincere.

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The 4 steps of responding appropriately to culturally different people.

1.     Neutrally describe

In Japan, when I am on the bus, I see an old woman coming and there is no seat left. As normal, I stand up and offer them my seat. But she gets uncomfortable and feels that you are disrespectful to her.

2.     Wonder about cultures

Japanese have high reputation for their formality, politeness and discipline. They have many norms that affect the way they treat each other. For example, for the first time they greet the others, instead of using hand sake, they bowing to each other to show their respect. So there might be some norms that foreigners are unaware of and sometimes it can cause unfortunate problem.

3.     Inquire first, then interpret

When I asked her about it offer them a seat in the bus or train, she would come up with the thought: “Ah~ Am I becoming so old that I need a young girl to give me priority?” This would remind her, “You’re getting old!” As a result, they will think that the other is looking down on them because of their age.

4.     Explore new responses and behavior

Through this experience, I learn that some behavior might different from one to another culture.
When being exposed to a new culture like Japan, I need to adapt to it so as to avoid conflict. The best solution for this situation is that I leave the chair and stand in different place. Therefore, I show my respect to the older without offending them.

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1. I played the role of Richlander - an employee working in the balloon factory

2. Since I'm Asian, I found this role having some characteristics that are quite similar to Asian. For example, in most case, we always try to avoid directness. When we give feedback to others, we will soften the tone in order not to hurt their feeling. We appreciate harmony and put the benefit of organization ahead of individual's benefit. Thus, in the balloon factory, when we were asked about the problem happening, we didn't say anything. Although there might be some problems in the factory, overall, we still found our job was a good one. But, it was quite award when we only can look at Romanier 's stomach and shoulder while talking with them. I felt like I was disrespectful to them and paid no attention to what they said.

3. In the first time they went to the factory, they just stood in front of me and directly asked me: " What is the problem in the system?". They also feel uncomfortable when we didn't look at them as we talked. And they were getting more frustrated as they didn’t get any valuable information. In the second time, they tried to be friendlier with the workers. Some of them even sat on the ground to talk to the workers. They asked about some normal things in our daily life to help us be more comfortable as if we were close friends. They thought that might give the more information they needed but it didn’t work either.

4. From this stimulation game, I learnt that each region has its own culture and it affects the way their people behave. We need to be aware of these differences to avoid unfortunate cultural conflict.

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a.  What did you learn in this exercise about your observations and interpretations?

When I make observation about others, I'll spontaneously make an interpretation about it. But it is only from my perspective so that interpretation may be correct or incorrect. Cultural difference makes it more difficult to make the right interpretation.
Before I take any action to others based on these interpretations, i need to make sure that all of them are correct. Otherwise, I will offend the others albeit I don't mean it.

b. What did you learn about your group members?

Each member has his own way of dealing with team work. This might result from their personalities, backgrounds or culture. Therefore, we need to balance among each other to accomplish all the tasks. Some members need more help to get along more with the group.

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1) BSP team members Observation and Interpretation

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1) BSP team members Observation and Interpretation

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3)
a. In Nature and Orientation dimensions, we have the same choice

b. We  have the biggest gap on Communication and Personal space dimensions. 4 members of my group are European so they belong to low context culture. Some of my team members want to have a little bit closer personal space than average.

c. In my group, there are four European students so the way they share their idea and give feedback is direct. But I still find it acceptable for me since I'm an optimistic person. I try to be more open-minded because i am aware that other members give me feedback just in order to help me realize my weakness. So that I can improve myself and even better the result of the group work.
My strategies are still effective and our group work really well together without any big conflict.

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3)   Have a BSP meeting and compare personal scores of all your BSP group members by making a group profile, adding it to this portfolio. Answer the following questions in your BSP group meeting:

a.     On which two dimensions you have the biggest similarities?

b.     On which two dimensions you have the biggest ‘gap’ to bridge?

c.      How do you deal with those differences in your group? Are your strategies effective until now?

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2)
b.      The factors that I am in line with my national culture are Personal space and Nature. For the personal space, in Vietnam, we keep the average space when talking to others so that everyone is comfortable. Therefore, I am satisfied about it. For the Nature dimension, like the example mentioned in question 1, Vietnam has many nature resources and people exploit them to make profits. I think it is still suitable for my country although the technology-based industry is developing. Living in harmony with the nature is considered to be a symbol of Vietnamese culture.

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1) Examples:

-        Communication: When giving feedback, as an Asian, I tend to give feedback to others in an indirect way. So I want to say it more directly, or else other students might misunderstand my opinion.

-        Time: In the BSP meetings, I always try to be in time because punctuality is an important characteristic, which everyone should have, especially in business.
-        Nature: Many Vietnamese people make their living by going fishing in the sea or growing crops in lowlands.

-        Orientation: I set my goals that I’ll master Dutch in 2 years and now I’m working really hard to achieve it. But I also want in the future I will be motivated by friendly colleagues and active working environment.

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1)   Make your personal profile of the dimensions we discussed in class of Hall and Kluckhohn (by putting an “I” where you prefer to be). You can use the format below. Justify each dimension with your own real-life examples.
2)   Put in the same personal profile the scores for your country (with a “C”) Reflect on the following questions:

a.     Where are you not in line with your national culture? Reflect why you differ.

b.     Where are you in line with your national culture? Reflect why you are in line.

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3.Vietnamese Fighting Spirit

The Vietnamese are a fierce and independent people. They have a long history of warfare.They fought Americans for 10 years, French for 100 years and Chinese for 1000 years to overcome all the attempts by foreigners to conquer or subjugate them. These historical events have built a strong characteristic for Vietnamese people. They always try their utmost to solve the problem and work all together to overcome any obstacles.

4.Vietnamese concept of harmony

The Vietnamese value modesty and humility about one's accomplishments, and harmonious relations with others. In    order to avoid conflict in relationships, they often prefer to speak about sensitive subjects indirectly. Besides, they also try to think positive when being in an organization. Although there might be some problems, they still consider it good for the sake of the organization. Similarly, Vietnamese usually speak in a low tone.

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1. Family Allegiance

The most important factor in Vietnamese values, apparently, is the family. The family is the center of the Vietnamese common man's preoccupation and the core of society.

The child is expected to be grateful to his parents for the debt of birth, rearing and education. It affects the child’s upbringing so he strives to be the pride of his family.Vietnamese people who are not responsible for their family are looked down upon and critized not only by their own family but also by the community.

2. Vietnamese society the emphasis is more on respect.

It is undoubted that respect is the core of interpersonal relationship in Vietnamese society, whether in the family or in social lives, whether in the working place or between friends and lovers. This is particularly evident in the attitude towards older people. Respect and consideration for old age no doubt derive from family allegiance that requires young people to respect and love their parents and parent-like members of the family. Vietnamese also consider the elders to be the carriers of traditional customs and the symbol of knowledge and experience. Unlike Western societies that put a premium on youth, Vietnamese society is proud of its old members.

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1.The elder give children lucky money in the first day of New Year.

Giving lucky money  (or called “li xi”) is one of the most anticipated Tet customs, especially by the children. The older give the children a little new money put in a red envelop in the hope of happiness and prosperity for their loved ones in the New Year.

The “li xi” custom has changed a little bit to keep up with evolving Vietnamese society. However, whether in the past or now, “li xi” stays as one of the most important customs of Vietnamese people.

2. Teacher’s day

In Vietnam, 20 November is regarded as the day for teachers in every region. Students will have the chance to express their thankfulness to their teachers for all the effort they made to educate all generations of students. They give their teachers presents as a way to show their respect. This might sound strange in many cultures but it is common in Vietnam and many other Asian countries. Last year, we present our teacher a clock and a card contained 45 messages from each members of our class that we wanted to send to our teacher.

3. Tet holiday

Tet is the most important holiday in Vietnam. There is no definite day for the New Year eve. It depends on the orbit of the moon. In Tet holiday, people have a week off and members of the family will gather to celebrate the holiday

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6. Rice is the symbol of Vietnamese culture
Vietnam is an agricultural country with eight out of ten Vietnamese living in rural areas and making their living by growing rice. We are the world 's second biggest rice exporter. Most of our lowland ares, with an exception of big cities like Ho Chi Minh city, are used to grow rice and other type of tree as well as fruits.

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4. Ethnic minority people with unique culture

Vietnam has 54 ethnic groups; of which the Viet (Kinh) is the largest. Kinh people live in lowlands while the ethnic minorities inhabit the majority of Vietnam's region (but the least fertile parts of the country). Some groups have their own language and culture; however, they still have some similarities with other Vietnamese ethnic groups.

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5. Ao dai

The Ao dai is Vietnamese national costume, which is in the form of tight-fitting silk tunic worn over pants. The ao dai is now standard for weddings, for celebrating Tết and for other formal occasions. It's also uniform for female teacher (mostly from high school to below) and female student in common high school in the South.

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Name : Ly Pham
Student number: 586814
Email address: phamluuly1998@gmail.com
My trainer: Linda Merkens
My group : Group 4
Class: IFA03

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3. Fresh seafood

Vietnam has a coastline of 3,260 kilometers with many inland rivers and lakes. Therefore, my country is famous for fresh seafood which fishermen catch during night. Every morning in the market, fishermen gather and sell a variety of seafood such as fish, shrimps, crabs, squids and so on.

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2. Street food

One of the most favorite attractions in Vietnam is street food. When foreigners first come to Vietnam, they are all surprised by the variety of traditional foods sold in many markets, streets in Hanoi or HCM City

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1. People usually use motorbikes when going out

In Vietnam, motorbikes are the most frequently used transportation. Many Vietnamese aging from 18 to 65 take their motorbikes to go to school or working place. One of the reasons for this is that motorbikes in Vietnam are quite cheap and most people can easily afford one to serve their need.