The Difference in Indonesia

495 Words2 Pages
The Differences in Indonesia There are many nationalities around the world, and each nationality has a different culture. Beliefs about time and communication styles are different from culture to culture. In the reading, “ Time Talks, with and Accent,” Robert Levine maintains that there are differences how people value their time in different cultures, so if we try to adjust a new culture, we need to understand it. Also in the reading, “ Polite but Thristy, “ Yaping Tang writes about differences and stages of cultural adjustment that she experienced when she immigrated from China to the United States. There are two cultural patterns in my country, Indonesia, that are related with both readings, and they are different from Western people, the way Indonesian value their time and their communication style. A foreign visitor should be aware of those differences in order to adjust more easily and avoid intercultural conflict misunderstanding. According to Jeremy Rifkin, “ Every culture has its own unique set of temporal fingerprints. To know a people is to know the time values they live by.” Indonesians are different from Western people who believe “ Time is Money.” Indonesians always come late, at least thirty minutes. There is a belief that time is required to allow universe to reveal itself. They believe that the universe will arrange everything that will happen in the future. The higher the status of a person, the more people put him or her to the superior’s schedule. The way Indonesians value their time might become a reason for an intercultural conflict. It takes a lot of effort for foreigner to understand Indonesian culture. They have to be willing and compromising to accept the differences. Another difference, Western people are very direct. According to Yaping Tang,“ When they want something they say “yes” and when they don’t they say ”no”. Furthermore, if

More about The Difference in Indonesia

Open Document