Culture is everywhere

 

If I hear the word culture, I automatically think about the way of life of people who don’t live in Austria. But not only in other countries there are different cultures, even in Austria I would say that there’s a difference in behaviour, beliefs, tradition and so on. In a few of aspects of culture the Austrian people act/think the same way, but in some aspects the culture varies in the single states. If you compare for example the people from Vienna (Eastern Austria) with the people from Tyrol (Western Austria) or Vorarlberg you will see that there’s a difference. The most significant thing, you will recognize first, is the language. When people from Tyrol or Vorarlberg talk with their dialect I couldn’t understand them. So in my opinion language is also an aspect of culture. As the official mother tongue in Austria is German, there are so many dialects, which varies different parts of the country and an accent/dialect can show where you come from exactly.

Culture is everywhere, when you go on vacation to another country as well as in your own country. Characteristics, values, knowledge, traditions, attitude, religion, education and so on - that is what culture is about. There are a lot of definitions and interpretations, because it is a widely interpreted topic. It is a fact that culture is dynamic and not static. The globalization is a reason why a lot of things related to culture change. The Internet for example makes communication all over the globe very easy. It makes it possible to be informed about everything that happens in the world, because it allows you to have access to this information. Caused by the fact that we are everywhere confronted by culture, intercultural communication is very important. Intercultural communication is the exchange of information between well-defined groups with significantly different cultures.

The fact, that there are a lot of different cultures on our earth is the reason why people, who immigrate have to adapt to the country, in which they decided to live. Sometimes it’s quite easy to adapt to the way of life in other countries, but sometimes it’s really hard, because the behaviour, values and all the other aspects of culture are totally different compared to your own one. 

When I think about myself: even the way how the garbage disposal works here in Belgium is different compared to Austria. In Austria every Block or some family houses have their own rubbish bins, where they put their rubbish in – of course we have different rubbish bins for the different waste. So it is very strange for me to put the rubbish in plastic bags (which have to be from the city of Mechelen) and to just place it next to your entrance door. There are so many little things that can be totally different than in your own country, which makes it even more difficult integrate into a society.
Also important are clichés about other cultures. They may influence the way of thinking about a culture or they can be the reason why someone has a certain image of one culture. Austria is well known for its mountains and also for the fact that they are good in skiing competitions. So I think that most of the people first think of the mountains when they hear “Austria”. Everywhere I go and say where I come from, the people tell me that they have been skiing in Austria or that they are planning to go there for skiing and to be honest I can’t hear that any more. In Vienna (my home town) for example, there are no mountains and you don’t have the possibility to go skiing. I have the impression that Austria is very often reduced to its mountains. 

So if we talk about culture we should not think of the stereotypes we have in our heads. Some of them may be true, but another person can be offended if you reduce their culture or country on one thing you used to know about it. So what I think the most important thing is when you have to deal with other cultures is respect, even when you don’t understand the way they may act, it is important to treat others respectfully and not excoriate what they do, without knowing why they do it that way.