MALAY VS CHINESE CULTURAL VALUE
1. Discuss any differences in cultural values or nonverbal communication that you are aware of between your culture and your friend’s culture.
Culture is defined as the complex whole that includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, customs and any other capabilities and habits acquired by humans as members of society. Now, we look at the meaning of nonverbal communication. Non-verbal communication means communication without the use of spoken language. Nonverbal communication includes gestures, facial expressions, and body positions (known collectively as “body language”).In this essay, I would like to share my experience having a Chinese friend when I joined the National Services (PLKN) in year 2010. I had found that there were a few differences between my cultural values or nonverbal communication as Malay and her cultural values or nonverbal communication as Chinese. Firstly, Even the Malays and the Chinese hold the similar citizenship in one nation, but due to the religion, they in fact have their own unique and distinctive cultural identities. For instance, the Malays mostly are Muslims and they do not eat pork, whereas most of the Chinese in our country are not prohibited to eat pork unless some of them are abide by the rules of the religion of Buddhism. In addition,the Chinese people generally do not like the number “four”, as it sounds like “death” in Mandarin and some Chinese dialects such as Cantonese and Hokkien. However, there is no such taboo in Malays’ culture. The Malays prefer to have repeated “four” for their vehicle number plates while the Chinese refrain to deal with the number “four” due to the immense influence of ancestors.
One of the significant differences between nonverbal practices in both Malay’s and Chinese’s culture is the way of greeting people. Malay women shake hands with men is forbidden, and vice versa. But Malay women may shake hands with members of the same sex. However, the handshake is also the way of greeting in Chinese
Culture is defined as the complex whole that includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, customs and any other capabilities and habits acquired by humans as members of society. Now, we look at the meaning of nonverbal communication. Non-verbal communication means communication without the use of spoken language. Nonverbal communication includes gestures, facial expressions, and body positions (known collectively as “body language”).In this essay, I would like to share my experience having a Chinese friend when I joined the National Services (PLKN) in year 2010. I had found that there were a few differences between my cultural values or nonverbal communication as Malay and her cultural values or nonverbal communication as Chinese. Firstly, Even the Malays and the Chinese hold the similar citizenship in one nation, but due to the religion, they in fact have their own unique and distinctive cultural identities. For instance, the Malays mostly are Muslims and they do not eat pork, whereas most of the Chinese in our country are not prohibited to eat pork unless some of them are abide by the rules of the religion of Buddhism. In addition,the Chinese people generally do not like the number “four”, as it sounds like “death” in Mandarin and some Chinese dialects such as Cantonese and Hokkien. However, there is no such taboo in Malays’ culture. The Malays prefer to have repeated “four” for their vehicle number plates while the Chinese refrain to deal with the number “four” due to the immense influence of ancestors.
One of the significant differences between nonverbal practices in both Malay’s and Chinese’s culture is the way of greeting people. Malay women shake hands with men is forbidden, and vice versa. But Malay women may shake hands with members of the same sex. However, the handshake is also the way of greeting in Chinese