Focus on cultural differences

Each culture has its own way to treat time. Taking our own time system for granted and projecting it onto other cultures can prevent us from seeing hidden messages in the foreign time system and interpreting them properly. Treatment of time can also be a powerful form of revealing your attitude towards others.

A popular rationalistic structural approach distinguishes between monochronic (M) and polychronic (P) cultures; the former emphasizes doing one thing at a time while the latter – many things at the same time. In British and American M-cultures time is strictly segmented; distancing manifests itself in the existence of zones similar to those in space. Communication is also compartmentalized and regulated as time is a kind of property to be protected (cf. time is money). This reglamentation is revealed, e.g. in the choice of topics for conversation, and raising professional issues (talking shop) at a private family gathering or discussing personal matters at a business meeting would be equally inappropriate. Schedules should be kept and tardiness is unforgivable. Coming 10 minutes late for an appointment demands a serious excuse or a telephone call. People in P-cultures are less preoccupied with schedules and punctuality, and their plans are flexible; they are less formal and pragmatic as the value of time is often determined by human relations.

By answering the following questions identify to which time-oriented culture you belong (monochronic/polychronic). Discuss your answers in small groups.

• Do you often feel that your life is aimless, with no definite purpose?

• Do you ever have trouble organising the things you have to do?

• Do you have a daily routine that you follow?

• Do you spend time thinking about what your future might be like?

• Once you’ve started an activity, do you persist at it until you’ve completed it?

A student is going to take a course of lectures in a foreign country. Is it essential for him/her to identify themselves as polychronic vs monochronic individuals? Read the text and make a list of tips to help a student adapt in a foreign environment.

For study abroad students to avoid constant frustration, it is essential for them to have some idea about how a culture is likely to view time. If what you define as "chronic lateness" is perceived in the host culture as "reasonably on time," it is clear that you will need to adjust your expectations of how long things will take to accomplish. It would also be advisable that you prepare to ease up a bit, if you are a monochronic type, on obsessing over maintaining strict schedules in cultures with a more relaxed approach towards timetables and punctuality. On the other hand, you might be a polychronic person even though you have grown up in US-American culture where the majority is not. In that case, going to, say, Argentina or Mexico would be relatively easy and suit your personal preferences, while going to Germany, France, or England might be somewhat more of a challenge.

Obviously, no culture is exclusively one way or the other in time preferences, but understanding the general approach that local people will take towards management of time will help in reducing frustration in everyday life. Time is going to have a fairly immediate impact upon every study abroad student, including how classes are scheduled, and when and how long they meet; how long (and when) stores will be open for business; when meals are scheduled; office hours of governmental and administrative offices; local transportation schedules, and hundreds of other common circumstances.

Vocabulary

avoid constant frustration – уникати постійного розчарування

to ease up — послабити; зменшити; вповільнити

be obsessed over (with) sth. - захоплюватись чим-н.; бути одержимим чим-н.