Before I started teaching English online, I had lived in five countries, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, the United States, and Costa Rica - mostly English-speaking Western cultures. While I enjoyed learning about each culture, it was when I began teaching that I truly immersed myself in the factoids that were being presented daily.
Very few things make me as happy as collecting new information. When I was younger, I stored what many deemed “useless information,” mainly entertainment knowledge and pop culture references. Despite being thought of as inane facts, I sure was used as an encyclopedia enough times for there to be some use in it all.
My knowledge of how people think and act has increased with each nugget bestowed upon me. Some readers may already be familiar with a few of these gems, some may not. Whichever group you fall into, I hope you enjoy my fascination with them.
Turkey
Coffee
Among other things, Turkey is well-known for its food. Turkish breakfast is an event, a ritual replete with exquisite beauty and artistry.
Coffee (kahve in Turkish) is never served before breakfast, only afterwards.
The Turkish word for breakfast is Kahvaltı, broken down kahve + altı which means “just before coffee.”
I start every morning with a coffee. Stumbling towards my coffee machine with eyes barely open is a daily ritual for this fifty-one-year-old woman. With each passing year, a shot or two of caffeine becomes more vital to jumpstart my body and brain as I greet each new day.
Coffee first thing in the morning has been considered completely acceptable in almost every country I have lived or visited — that is, until my three-month journey through the Mediterranean country.
As I prepared to indulge in an incredible breakfast made for me by a friend in Istanbul, I asked for some coffee before we ate and was politely informed that it would be coming at the end of the meal. Çay (Turkish for tea) would be served first.
Case closed.
A few weeks later as I sat in a restaurant with another friend preparing to order some breakfast, I asked again for kahve and was asked, rather forcefully, to please wait until the end of the meal to indulge in my addiction. I complied, although quite begrudgingly.
Another case closed.
I returned to Canada and continued hanging out with Turkish friends. It is here that I made the second of my cultural faux pas.
You don’t try to give Turks money.
My friend paid for something when I had no cash on me and a couple of days later, I tried to give it back.
“You don’t give Turks money,” he said without any room for rebuttal.
“But I owe it to you, it’s yours,” I said holding the Canadian dollars in my outstretched hand.
“You can pay for something,” he said, “or give it back in a gift, but you don’t give Turks money.”
Lesson learned.
Brazil
Speed Bumps
While the next point may not necessarily be a cultural difference but merely an infrastructural choice, Brazil is the only place I have ever noticed it, possibly due to their need for speed.
Speed bumps are EVERYWHERE in the South American country. When I say everywhere, I mean everywhere!
Driving down a quiet country road? Speed bumps. Driving through city streets? Speed bumps. Driving down a byway? Speed bumps. The only place I didn’t come across them was on the highway.
If my spine wasn’t lose before I visited the beautiful country, it was after I left!
Valentine’s Day
Did you also know that Valentine’s Day in Brazil is in June?
You could have blown me over with a feather. Father’s Day can change. Most countries I have been in celebrate fathers in June but Australia and New Zealand celebrate in September. Mother’s Day has remained fairly consistent, popping up in May despite Mexico celebrating in March. But Valentine’s Day?
Call me ignorant but I never thought I’d see that one change.
For another enjoyable Brazilian tradition, please click here.
Belarus
Santas Getting Lit
One of my favourite factoids comes from Belarus. I have a wonderful student there who I have been teaching for almost five years and I revelled in glee when he informed me of the following.
Santa Claus wanders around drunk every Christmas.
In Slavik mythology, the Santa Claus character is Ded Moroz, known in English as Father Frost.
As Belarus follows the Julian calendar, Father Frost comes out on New Year’s Eve to celebrate something akin to our traditional Christmas. It is common for parents to hire a representation of the iconic character to come to the house and meet the kids.
One of the traditions of Father Frost is to have a tipple with each family, however, some don’t drink within their limits and often show up to gigs drunk, making for very angry customers.
On any given New Year’s Eve, the streets of Minsk may be filled with drunk Christmas tidings.
South Korea
Traditional Age
South Koreans have the same birthday, at least officially. Regardless of the day you are born, all Koreans become another year older on January 1st every year. As time in the womb is also regarded as time “served,” you are considered one year old when you are born.
As such, a South Korean’s age can be between one to two years older than their international age.
I learned this fact many years ago but recent legal changes in South Korea has now brought age into alignment with the rest of the globe.
Respect
Another tidbit that blew my mind was the relationship between age and respect in the Southeast Asian country.
Regardless of whether you are one day or twenty years older than another, rules of respect need to be adhered to. Deferring to the opinions or waiting for the input of an "elder" is important, as well as lowering your gaze so as not to be seen as challenging authority.
While your best childhood friend may only be a few months older than you, culture requires you to observe the expected etiquette that those few months bring, especially in the workplace.
Japan
The Language
Recently, I found out that every word in the Japanese language ends in a vowel sound.
If you don’t believe me, think of the cities you know: Tokyo, Osaka, Hiroshima, Kyoto, and Yokohama, to name a few. Let’s look at some of the words we may have heard through TV shows or movies: konnichiwa (hello), arigatou (thank you) or sayōnara (goodbye).
The only exception to the rule is the letter N.
People familiar with the 1984 film that impacted a generation of Gen Xers, “The Karate Kid,” may have found themselves using the term Danielsan when palling around with friends. Putting “san” on the end of names for both people or places gives them a level of respect. For example, Mt. Fuji is often referred to as Fujisan.
Let’s Party
Perhaps, one of the most astounding cultural facts I’ve learned over the last few years comes from the Land of the Rising Sun.
Japanese workers have to party with clients multiple times a week. Drinking and karaoke are vital elements to relationship building with clients and many of my students have lamented about fatigue and time away from their families as they sing songs into the wee hours, sporting hangovers in the morning.
Refusing to sing is tantamount to treason and you will definitely lose the client to a rival business if you don’t.
In addition, when entertaining an older crowd, you MUST choose songs they like to sing.
China
Phonetics
This nugget is my most recent acquisition and I found it incredible: Chinese computer keyboards use the twenty-six letters of the English alphabet.
“What?” I asked incredulously. “Why?”
As a student eloquently explained to me, there are over a thousand characters in Mandarin, far too many to fit on a keyboard, so in 1958 the Chinese government officially adopted the Pinyin system as a method of written communication.
Basically, Pinyin transcribes Mandarin Chinese sounds into a Latin alphabet using a system of syllables. Each Chinese character has one syllable.
Without getting technical (as I am not qualified to do so), each sound is represented by a Latin letter and words are typed out utilizing those sounds. As such, Chinese speakers can write out Mandarin words phonetically in “our” alphabet.
For example, Ni hao, the greeting for hello, can be typed as such on the computer keyboard and the system will render it in the correct Mandarin characters on the screen: 你好.
Children learn this system at school before they learn to write Chinese characters as the crude system of writing we are all so familiar with is far less complicated than the artistry and mastery of Mandarin characters.
I hope you’ve enjoyed my wander down diversity lane and maybe picked up a few fun factoids for yourselves.
The world is an oyster, find the pearls.
Please feel free to buy me a coffee if you like what you read.