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Corpcom Services Sdn. Bhd. 2009
Here are some
tips to get more local friends and hospitality, and post-internship long-lasting
warm ties with locals:
The rule is simple: Don’t do unto
others what you don’t want others to do unto you.
· Keep highest confidentiality of local political situations mentioned by the locals. Openly blogging about it or listing names of the locals who give you the information will pose potential trouble for them. Keep the learning to yourself and take the locals’ fear of the ISA (Internal Security Act) VERY seriously.
· Keep mum, smile and be non-committal when locals especially strangers openly discuss local racial/religious/political issues.
· Remember reciprocity and not take locals’ hospitality for granted. Your homestay family, local friends and eH staff may take you out to restaurants, festivals, visits to tourist sites, short local trips where they pay for your accommodation and foods. Bring a gift, express gratitude with a call or an email, or take them out to the restaurants when you can.
· When locals take you out for trips, make them feel appreciated as your great hosts instead of your unpaid drivers and guides. Being too task-oriented, reading while they drive, stopping the car frequently for you to snap photos regardless of their time constraints will not gain you friends. ‘Missing in action’ and make them search for you everywhere, or making them wait under the hot sun so you can take pictures or browse around, are not advisable. Stay by your hosts and listen to the stories/histories of the place, make small talks, and most of all treat them with respect. Offer to pay for your meal when the bill comes. Or pay for a meal for everyone.
· Asian cultures value relationship-building with harmony for all over task-orientation, beware of not appearing as a tourist who just wants to get things for himself or herself at other people’s costs.
· Aggressive and rude behaviours especially towards someone older than you or of higher status than you are unappreciated. Call them by the right titles, do the appropriate greetings and non-verbal gestures besides showing respect with polite talks and interactions. Keeping mum or smile when you don’t agree with something is better than hotly arguing with the locals to prove that you are right.
· Show up on time and bring a gift for the family when you are invited for dinners especially when there are elders. Even if others are late, do not compare their behaviours to yours.
· If you are invited for functions weeks ahead of the date, call the day before to check if the locals are indeed bringing you to the functions. Do not wait for them to call you as they can be very buzy people who forget about their invitations to you.
· If you read a lot in the university and feel that you are more knowledgeable than them, you can explain some points if you are asked but do refrain from lecturing them for hours especially on issues they live with such as their religions and cultures. No one in the world likes to mix with someone who keeps ranting about things as if he/she is the ‘know-all’. Listening and finding out more about the locals will make you more friends.
· Keep mum about bad spoken English, do not correct them unless you are requested to do so. Even so, do it politely or humorously. Embarrassing people in the public and showing that you are better than them will not earn you friends.
· Keep highest confidentiality of local political situations mentioned by the locals. Openly blogging about it or listing names of the locals who give you the information will pose potential trouble for them. Keep the learning to yourself and take the locals’ fear of the ISA (Internal Security Act) VERY seriously.
· Keep mum, smile and be non-committal when locals especially strangers openly discuss local racial/religious/political issues.
· Remember reciprocity and not take locals’ hospitality for granted. Your homestay family, local friends and eH staff may take you out to restaurants, festivals, visits to tourist sites, short local trips where they pay for your accommodation and foods. Bring a gift, express gratitude with a call or an email, or take them out to the restaurants when you can.
· When locals take you out for trips, make them feel appreciated as your great hosts instead of your unpaid drivers and guides. Being too task-oriented, reading while they drive, stopping the car frequently for you to snap photos regardless of their time constraints will not gain you friends. ‘Missing in action’ and make them search for you everywhere, or making them wait under the hot sun so you can take pictures or browse around, are not advisable. Stay by your hosts and listen to the stories/histories of the place, make small talks, and most of all treat them with respect. Offer to pay for your meal when the bill comes. Or pay for a meal for everyone.
· Asian cultures value relationship-building with harmony for all over task-orientation, beware of not appearing as a tourist who just wants to get things for himself or herself at other people’s costs.
· Aggressive and rude behaviours especially towards someone older than you or of higher status than you are unappreciated. Call them by the right titles, do the appropriate greetings and non-verbal gestures besides showing respect with polite talks and interactions. Keeping mum or smile when you don’t agree with something is better than hotly arguing with the locals to prove that you are right.
· Show up on time and bring a gift for the family when you are invited for dinners especially when there are elders. Even if others are late, do not compare their behaviours to yours.
· If you are invited for functions weeks ahead of the date, call the day before to check if the locals are indeed bringing you to the functions. Do not wait for them to call you as they can be very buzy people who forget about their invitations to you.
· If you read a lot in the university and feel that you are more knowledgeable than them, you can explain some points if you are asked but do refrain from lecturing them for hours especially on issues they live with such as their religions and cultures. No one in the world likes to mix with someone who keeps ranting about things as if he/she is the ‘know-all’. Listening and finding out more about the locals will make you more friends.
· Keep mum about bad spoken English, do not correct them unless you are requested to do so. Even so, do it politely or humorously. Embarrassing people in the public and showing that you are better than them will not earn you friends.
