Lost in translation despite language mastering

Spending another research trip in beloved Shanghai, yet feel as lonely as one can feel. Arriving in the city, the central business airport and I’m the only western person passing migration. Such an experience is very interesting, yet l certainly challenging, lonely, and lost in translation, despite the language proficiency. There is something difficult to put the finger on, but it’s a small mutual nominator that’s just not present. Therefore it’s very challenging to make oneself understood, even if speaking the same language. Especially, this doesn’t only apply to China, but places and countries, where the optical look of the person speaking the language don’t overlap. People per default don’t assume someone like me, a white woman speaking fluent Mandarin. It’s our inner stereotypes that mess with us. These stereotypes have been established over our lifetime and are short cuts for the brain to handle the vast information we’re exposed to. Nothing, a child learns earlier, then recognising the parents’ faces. Even the slightest changes have a profound effect on the facial recognition. It is potentially therefore, I wonder, that people have a harder time placing language and look, when it’s not matching their inner mental map. Many small interaction components are quite different, depending on the culture, such as minimal responses, gestures, and gazes. These components can all contribute to miss understandings and miss-interpretations. Then in addition, it depends on face values and how important it is to save face, a cultural difference among East and West. It refers to the ease of whether to dare to try and communicate even if the consequence is loosing face in public. @drschwank @unesurcent

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