Adapting to Culture

Adapting to another culture is never easy. Simply trying to decipher what is considered normal in a culture can be challenging, let alone adjusting your own behaviour to the new norms. I’ve also noticed that the more time you spend living in a different culture, the more subtleties and nuances you discover, and I’m think in many cases a lifetime may not be long enough to adapt to all the subtleties of a different culture.

Culture provides the framework for how we interact and behave in relationships, especially between people with different levels of authority. As with most foreign languages, german distinguishes between “formal you” and “informal you” which is difficult for me as an English speaker. But language is only the beginning: knowing when to use formal and informal language is something very cultural, and getting it right (and I frequently don’t) requires a keen sense of observation. Trying to adapt to this, I find myself analyzing relationships a lot more, and making liberal use of formal language, which isn’t usually my style in Canada.

The general flexibility or rigidity of society is another important cultural element. In my experience flexibility varies a great deal in Canada, but I think we are somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. Austria is in many ways is very flexible. People set their own working hours, there are hardly any restrictions on alcohol and tabacco, trains are very often late, and people tend to be laid-back. I’m convinced that the Austrian economy comes to a stand-still in the summer, since vacation has taken on a nearly sacred status (the average Austrian gets about 6 weeks/year, on top of the like 20 statutory holidays), but of course the economy is saved by those two beautiful industries: tourism and construction. I have adapted to this (please note Larissa, that this is not a reflection of my consistently robust work ethic, it is only cultural adaptation) by adopting my own work hours (work starts tenish . . . or so), allowing enough time to miss a connection while travelling by train, and actually asking to take a weeks vacation. The challenge though is to have enough discipline to work as hard as you would in a more structured environment, which took some getting used to.

In the global context though, Canada and Austria are both western countries, and though there are important and clear differences, they are comparatively similar cultures, and many things from cutlery to gender roles are very similar.