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The new immigrant in lands unknown
The old saying goes that we don’t know what we have until it’s gone. For the local, confronted by a strange new neighbour, possibly speaking an unfathomable tongue, the same feeling of helplessness can often represent an insurmountable barrier. Internalizing, as we all do, the cognitive, emotional and behavioural processes that make us who we are, it can often be that the wish to welcome a new stranger finds itself being challenged by a barrier of diverging realities.
If, as Ted Geertz believes [1], culture is at heart little more than a system of orientations and representations linked to a particular group and based on specific values which are then translated into different behaviours, it is incumbent on both the new immigrant and the society which welcomes him or her to strive towards a basis of mutual comprehension so that a fluid process of integration may take place. It is almost a truism to state that the act of living outside of one’s native country is rarely an easy task. Like the stereotypical only son scared to face the world alone without the aid of his family, the bosom of the national family acts, for most of us at least, as a sort of crutch, a veritable mama italiana which we tenaciously hold to, often without realizing it.
If and when one is removed from this comfort zone (and for the new immigrant, the experience is often quite a shock), the result may, if one does not pay attention, end up in an accentuated sense of disenchantment. If that was not enough, imagine the challenges of say, a Scot, freshly disembarked in North America discovering for the first time a vast landmass where many unfamiliar languages are spoken, where people behave quite differently, and where (in Quebec at least) it snows for what seems like half the year. Easy indeed to get discouraged!
Yet, even if one manages to surmount all of the above, the next challenging step will be to negotiate the labyrinth-like complexities of a region, of a ‘’distinct society’’ even, where the question of independence and conflicts surrounding identity are never far from the surface. The discoveries for a new immigrant to Quebec are numerous: the road signs are green, the cars are big, the temperatures are extreme and the people are…..well quite logically they are idiosyncratically ‘’Québécois’’.
Here, French is the dominant language but the spectre of the North American English behemoth is ever bubbling underneath. For the European French speaker, Quebec can be a curious discovery. Here, what the French would call a car breakdown recovery technician is actually the word for a corner shop (dépanneur). Even English is not left untouched, Quebec English speakers can regularly be heard asking each other to ‘’close the light’’, amongst other such regional peculiarities. Montreal, as one might expect, breathes diversity and difference.
One of the first things a new visitor will notice is the divided nature of the city. It is not Belfast or Nicosia but one can see that, upon scratching the top layer shielding the surface, feelings surrounding identity might not be too much different. The Western quadrant of Montreal Island is where English is king, there, the Maple Leaf Flag commands the horizon. Further east, it is French which dominates, with the concurrent drop in Canadian flags and rise in Québec fleurdelisés rounding out the canvas. Even the street signs mark difference. You will be asked to ‘’Stop’’ in Westmount, but obliged to perform an ‘’Arrêt’’ in Outremont. Such are the totems which the new observer cannot help but notice.
For almost any new immigrant in, dare I say, any country, the first few days constitute what immigration consultant Michael Cohn calls the ‘’honeymoon period’’ [2]. One is enthusiastic and open to discovery. The treasures the country holds are yet to be discovered. One looks at how people behave. Are they reserved or animated, warm or cold? How should they be approached? One examines the dress sense of the natives. The style is different here. The architecture is a discovery of joy expressing all the history of the country in question inside its edifices. Getting to grips with a new currency is a struggle, how many euros make a dollar, how many dollars make a euro? If the new immigrant wishes to survive in such an emotional whirlpool of questions, the learning period must be necessarily quick. Ever so gradually, roots get laid down, new ways are adapted to.
The new arrival to Montreal quickly remarks upon the buses that are almost never late, the accents that at first seem wildly incomprehensible, the city centre (always referred to as ‘’downtown’’) which extends beyond the horizon, the waiting lines which form almost organically without the least bit of discord being noted; no pushing and shoving to get a seat here! Quebec, and Canada in general, is a society based on a classically Germanic sense of rigour and timing. At times, such organization can awe even the most casual observer. And yet, at the end of the day, the fascination phase must come to an end. Desires to return home resurface, the idea of returning back into the comforting bosom of familial warmth is much longed for. Home cooked breakfasts start to be missed, local shows no longer available on TV are thought of, far, far away friends are rued. We often find ourselves asking questions like ‘’why don’t they do it like we do back home?’’, irritation sets in when we don’t understand something or, conversely, when we cannot succeed in making ourselves understood. Some might even say ‘’if only they saw things like I do, they’d see how it should be done!’’ But they won’t see it your way. The ‘’culture shock’’ phase is in full flight.
At this stage, an immigrant has two choices: surmount the barrier or return home, if not physically, at least metaphorically. All any reasonable country demands from a new arrival is integration, not, as some might think, assimilation. The immigrant who finds themselves at this cross-roads of possible options may, as he or she wishes, choose to accept local norms, or to reject them. If the latter option is chosen, then he or she must be ready to assume the realities of the choice: live isolated from the majority or take the first means of transport home. If one belongs to a long existing community, such as the Italian or Korean ones, it is possible to succeed in splendid isolation; otherwise, such a route will be difficult indeed to follow.
Fortunately, for most of us, it is the former choice which wins out. Local values are integrated even if all are not necessarily accepted. We understand why things function as they do. Friends are made; the logic of things which once brought only confusion, begins to make sense. The new immigrant eventually becomes what I call the ‘’localized foreigner’’.
That being said, integration does not, and cannot, end there. Even if the first steps have been taken, questions, often remaining locked in the realm of unconscious feeling, remain. How am I to manage the conflict that I feel at work or in private? How do I share my particular points of view, my cultural system of orientations and representations which help translate my reality, into a foreign culture without offending a counterpart?
Finding answers to such questions is rarely easy. Professor and intercultural management consultant, Christophe Barmeyer, raises the illustrative case of a German worker in multinational European aeronautics group EADS. A new French manager, recently graduated from a prestigious Gallic ‘’grande école’’, decided to delegate an important task to his German colleague: elaborate a new integrative Human Resource Management framework for an upcoming presentation. The German, as was his wont, worked for a few weeks on the presentation without consulting his superior.
A few days before the presentation, he went to see the French manager in order to present his recently finished work. However things did not turn out as he had expected. The French manager seemed rather unsatisfied with the work proffered and suggested several changes all the while remaining pointedly vague in his criticism.
The German then became furious, commenting: ‘‘I could not understand the strange behavior of my new French superior. He wanted me to elaborate a concept, what I did (sic). He has no knowledge or experience of the German working context, he has not the authority to tell me what is right or wrong’’. [3]
In comparison, the reaction of the Gallic graduate was quite different: ‘‘I was shocked by the individualistic and uncooperative attitude of the German HR manager. He worked on the concept on his own without having an exchange with me. He is not even interested in my opinion. I am aware that he has the experience, but it should be clear that I am responsible for what he does.’’ [4]
The Frenchman who wishes to express his gravitas in order to justify his position and the German who gets upset due to this same behaviour have both reached an intercultural impasse. In this example we equally see the French ‘’logic of honour’’ (logique d’honneur) hurtling against the ‘’logic of consensus’’ which pervades in Germany, and it ending in catastrophe. The French manager, unsurprisingly given the cultural context, saw the German as ‘’individualistic and uncooperative’’ while the German couldn’t understand why his French colleague corrected his work in such an ‘’arrogant’’ and abrasive fashion.
It is clear that if, as was the case here, one does not grasp the unspoken cultural codes that rule our relations with one another, the risk of sparking off a misunderstanding, or even a conflict situation, skyrocket. Cogent conflict management and the art of successfully expressing oneself in an intercultural context depend on a sharpened understanding of the other’s norms, as well as a will to adapt, both on a personal and a professional level. If this is ignored, or worse, goes unlearnt, disaster, such as that showcased in our Franco-German case above, can and will result.
Conclusion
Arrival in a new country promises to be a difficult experience for anyone, no matter what the experiences or aptitudes developed previously. The same difficulty is equally present in most host countries where the integration of new arrivals is usually seen as desirable, but in practice, filled with challenges. The friction which may result from this contorted mix – the immigrant struggling to adapt, the native recoiling in astonishment at the strange habits and customs of the newcomer – often leads to an intercultural barrier being constructed, or worse. Cast your eyes, for example, toward the current situation in Europe in relation to Muslim and African immigrants (often of the second and third generation), or even to Scotland where Catholics of Irish origin still feel (after perhaps 100 or 150 years presence) ‘’different’’. The infamous, and habitually riotous, Old Firm soccer derby between Glasgow Rangers and Glasgow Celtic is but one manifestation of this melancholy phenomenon.
This article has striven to underline the difficulties that even the ‘’highly educated’’ can experience in intercultural relations; the German irritated by the French manager who ‘’doesn’t have the right to tell me what is correct or not’’. The French manager who is left flabbergasted by the ‘’arrogance’’ and ‘’selfish’’ approach of his German subordinate. Yet, these are two professionals who, logically, should be more than capable of working fluidly together. Unfortunately, high education generally provides no guarantee of increased cross-cultural mastery. Culture in its most basic sense is nothing other than a means of translating reality, a manner of inducing specific behaviours, a manner of dictating our perception of the exterior world. If one wishes to succeed in the area of cross-cultural relations, whether that be in the role of a simple immigrant or a high-flying manager, one must try to remove the unicultural glasses which we all carry to one extent or another, and learn to view the world in a more holistic manner, all the while remaining conscious of the fact that the foreign interlocutor across the table may still be wearing his own unicultural glasses, similar to the ones you have just managed to remove. Failing to take account of this, our Franco-German team got bogged down in a veritable morass of intercultural miscommunications.
It is only via the road of mutual comprehension that the cross-cultural obstacles raised here, and so strikingly present in an ever globalizing world, can be recognized for what they are and dealt with to the satisfaction of all concerned. Let us finish then with the timeless words of advice from Lebanese master poet Khalil Gibran:
"The reality of the other person lies not in what he reveals to you, but in what he cannot reveal to you. Therefore, if you would understand him, listen not to what he says but rather to what he does not say."
Gavin Murphy holds a Bachelor of Business Studies (Lang.) degree from Trinity College, Dublin. He is currently completing an internship in management consulting at RHRE Consulting, Montreal, as part of his Masters degree in Intercultural Management at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques d’Aix-en-Provence (Université Paul Cézanne), France.
14 June, 2011
[1] Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures. New York: Basic.
[2] http://www.lossesintranslation.com/stages-of-immigration.php
[3] C. Barmeyer, U. Mayrhofer / International Business Review 17 (2008) 28–38
[4] C. Barmeyer, U. Mayrhofer / International Business Review 17 (2008) 28–38 |
