Evaluating Intercultural Behaviour

As a foreigner here, I would like to share and compare some of my experiences ever since I reached to Singapore.

The very first intercultural situation was my name. My full name is Ye Thu Win. My parents simply call me “son”; my relatives call me “Ye Thu”; most of my Burmese friends call me “Ye Thu Win”. In Myanmar, we do not have family name or first name system. Nobody has to change a name when getting married. A name is just a name. It is that simple. During the orientation camp in my hall, I was introduced my name, and everyone started calling me “Thu Win”. When somebody said “Thu Win” to me the first time, I did not feel like he was calling me, I had some sort of disconcerting feeing. I tried to introduce them as “Ye Thu Win” or “Ye Thu”. But it turned out that “Thu Win” is very easy to remember. Just need to remember “to win”. Since I did not have any preference, “Thu Win” became my given name.

The family name system may become a problem for us when we need fill in a form or buy a plane ticket. In a form, it states that underline your family name. Since I do not have a family name, I only write down my name. Then miscommunication starts to occur! If you buy a plane ticket online, you have to fill in as first name, last name and sometimes it turns out that my name on a plane ticket becomes “Thu Win Ye”. Nowadays it becomes less problem. But sometimes, the officer complains that the name on the passport is different from on the plane ticket. I really wish that there was a third option “No family name system” whenever there is a form.

One of my friends asked me that “How do we maintain family line since we do not have a family name?” How would you think if you were me? Let me know your opinion if you do not have a family name system?

Another common problem for me is acronym. In my opinion, Singaporeans love acronyms. They try to abbreviate most of the words! I have to ask back so many times what a particular acronym stands for. For example “OTOT”, do you know what does it stand for? There are some misunderstanding situations because of acronyms. And so are for sms language. I feel that relatively many acronyms make us less effective to communicate. On the other hand, one of my friends adopts an acronym to his name. His name is “Aung Khant”. Since it is difficult to call, he addresses himself as “a.k”. And people become easy to remember it. This is a good point of acronym.

Well, the post becomes longer than expected, so I stop here though I have some other issues to share.

Have a nice recess week to everyone and be happy, healthy and prosperous in new year!

Application Letter Draft 2

Block: AA, Level: B, Room:C
Prince George’s Park
27 Prince George’s Park
Singapore 111111
February 3rd, 2010
Saipem Singapore Pte Ltd
73 Science Park Drive,
#01-03/22 Cintech I Building,
Singapore 118254

Dear Sir/Madam,

Trainee Engineer in Mechanical Engineering Field

I would like to apply as the trainee engineer in Saipen Singapore Pte Ltd. I am enclosing my resume in response to your advertisement which was posted at eJob center under NUS carrier services on January 5, 2010.

I am currently pursuing a Bachelor of Engineering with Honors in Mechanical Engineering, specializing in Offshore Oil and Gas Technology (OOGT) at the National University of Singapore. I hope that my interest in OOGT could contribute innovation and creativity in a conducive environment of Saipen. The company’s mission to tackle each challenge with safe, reliable and innovative solutions has motivated me to apply for the position.

My career objective is to pursue a position in a dynamically challenging environment with ample opportunities to learn and contribute to continued development of professional skills. This is in line with the challenges and core values which Saipen Singapore Pte Ltd in OOGT field embraces.

My administrative supportive skills are reflected through my extracurricular activities. I helped as a Myanmar facilitator during the operation of Project Nargis to systematically distribute donated stuff. I also involved in a Youth Expedition project, known as Project Pinnya Tazaung, to help develop service and learning skills in both Singapore and Myanmar communities. Lastly, I was one of the program heads who organized the Dharma Camp 2009 of NUSBS.

I strongly believe that my passion for OOGT, positive attitude, collaborative and self-management skills would help in Saipen Singapore Pte Ltd. I am willing not only to pursue continual development of technologies but also to improve more on interpersonal skills which would help achieve Saipen Singapore Pte Ltd’s organizational goals.

I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,

Mr. Ye Thu Win
(+65)8xxxxxx
u07*****@nus.edu.sg

Application Letter Draft 1

(I have changed the personal information to avoid disclosure online )

Block: AA, Level: B, Room: C
Prince George’s Park
27 Prince George’s Park
Singapore 11xxxx
February 3rd, 2010

73 Science Park Drive,
#01-03/22 Cintech I Building,
Singapore 118254

To whom it may concern,

Trainee Engineer in Mechanical Engineering Field

I would like to apply as the trainee engineer in Saipen Singapore Pte Ltd. I am enclosing my resume in response to your advertisement which is posted at eJob center under NUS carrier services in January 5, 2010.

I am currently pursuing Bachelor of Engineering with Honors in Mechanical Engineering, specialized in Offshore Oil and Gas Technology (OOGT) at the National University of Singapore. I hope that my interest in OOGT could contribute innovation and creativity in a conducive environment of Saipen. The company’s mission to tackle each challenge with safe, reliable and innovative solutions has motivated me to apply for the position.

My career objective is to strive to pursue a position in a dynamically challenging environment with ample opportunities to learn and contribute continued development of professional skills which is in line with challenges and core values of Saipen Singapore Pte Ltd in OOGT field.

My administrative supportive skills are reflected through extracurricular activities. I helped as a Myanmar facilitator during the operation of Project Nargis to distribute donated stuff systematically. I also involved in a Youth Expedition project, known as Project Pinnya Tazaung, to help to develop service and learning skills of both Singapore and Myanmar communities. I was one of the program heads to organize Dharma Camp 2009 of NUSBS.

I strongly believe that my passion in OOGT, my positive attitude, collaborative and self-management skills would help to pursue a career in Saipen Singapore Pte Ltd. I am willing not only to pursue continual development of technologies but also to improve more on interpersonal skills and these will help to achieve Saipen Singapore Pte Ltd’s organizational goals.

I look forward to hearing from you.


Yours sincerely,
Mr. Ye Thu Win
(+65)8*******
u07*****@nus.edu.sg

(Job link
http://ejobcentre.nus.edu.sg/Jobs/jobdesc.asp?type=0&eid=4763291&jid=2049898&did=41&its=0&src=8&itn= )

Resolving Interpersonal Conflict

In the Burmese culture, teachers are the same level as parents. Students love, respect and frighten their teachers especially in primary and middle school level. Parents give teachers the trust for their children in school time.
There is a student ‘z’ who is studying at Grade 6 (start of middle school level). ‘z’ ‘s parents are rich enough that they give their child private tuition on English language, even with a native speaker!
During one of the English classes in school, ‘z’ ’s teacher, “Mr.A” ,is trying to explain his pupils on a particular topic. When “Mr.A” is pronouncing an English word, he hears a soft laughing sound. He continues explaining others English words and hears some kind of laughing sound. He tries to find out during his teaching and finally spots that ‘z’ is making chuckle. Mr.A blames ‘z’ for making chuckle and not paying attention to his teaching. The similar situation happens again in next class and this time, Mr.A gets so upset and presumes that ‘z’ is disrespectful and demands ‘z’ to bring his parents to school and meet up with him.
What happens to ‘z’ is that he is not disrespectful. He just cannot control himself when he hears Mr.A’s pronunciation of some English words. Mr.A, who has more exposure to Burmese language and come from a rural village, sometimes cannot pronounce some English words correctly. His temperament is some sort of impatient type.
When ‘z’ ’s parents finally finds out what has happened at school after carefully asking out their child, they try to carefully think how to resolve the problem. If you were a parent of ‘z’, what and how would you do to resolve the problem? What and how would you say to your child? You are also afraid that if you tell the teacher directly about his wrong pronunciation, he would feel ashamed, and in later classes, he would not be careful to your son or scold and blame your son all the times whenever there is a chance. Should the third party, such as another colleague teacher or even a headmaster/headmistress be involved in this matter to resolve?

Effective Communication Skills

In the 21^st century, people say that “the world becomes a village”. This implies that we are in the age of information technology (IT) and it is within our range to be accessible to any type of information, news and media. The challenge is how to communicate each other (from small committees to multinational corporations across different countries) using modernized technologies. Effective communication becomes of paramount importance to be successful in different areas; from volunteer community service to international organization, especially in the IT age.
In my opinion, effective communication skills are the most basic foundation to be successful in a way as to have more useful and good friends, to increase and gain the interested knowledge and to make prosperous of the population and hence the country.  If you can deliver a message clearly, concisely and in an attractive way, the receiver will be able to do things without confusion and this can make to increase the efficiency of the productivity.  Effective communication can make us to build good relationship not only in organizations but also in family to make the bond stronger.
If two countries want to negotiate on a particular topic, the way the two countries communicate impact a lot on becoming fruitful of the negotiation. When the leaders fail to communicate effectively, the more unresolved problems are occurred. Hence, people are trying to be a more effective communicator nowadays. And I also want to possess more effective communications skills so that to get a better chance of both a successful career and building up and raising my country better in a professional way.