Last Friday lesson got me thinking back on a phone call which I made to a new friend.
Currently I’m taking Bahasa Indonesia 5 and there is an exchange student in this class. His name is Mark and he is from Germany. I’m currently attached together with him for a Class project presentation. For our current project, it requires me to call and meet up with him whenever free for some discussion. For the past 5 weeks, we have been meeting once a week on Friday
So, most of the time, our phone call will be something like this;
Summons: Ringing (Me calling Mark)
Mark (Answer) : Hello, Mark here
Ghaff : Hey dude, it’s me. You free later at 2pm?
Summons: Ringing (Mark calling me)
Ghaff (Answer): Hello
Mark : Hello Ghaff. Mark here
Ghaff : Hey, what’s up
Mark : Nothing. Just the usual (means meeting up later). By the way, how’s your day
Ghaff : Stressful like always
Mark : I see, you should relax a bit. So you free later at 3pm?
Here’s the thing, I didn’t realise that there was something out of the ordinary until last lecture. Whenever I called Mark, the first sentence is always self identify. I then replied ‘It’s me” assuming he know me by my voice also because his HP has got IDD. I would normally go straight to the topic without any greetings because it’s Friday and I want to be quick in arranging a meeting and would like to go home early.
For Mark, when he calls, he would usually identify me and then himself. For most of his calls, he would usually have a greeting by asking me how my day was.
It is his way or culture I would say to always self identify and identify the person he is calling. He would also have a greeting before he goes to topic. Unlike me, like many of my other phone calls, I do not identify myself nor would I identify the person I’m calling to. Unless his voice is not familiar to me then I will be thinking that I might have dialled the wrong number. The reason I don’t identify myself is because the person I’m calling to would have my IDD saved in the phone so that person would know I’m calling.
Last lecture gave me awareness that this is a spoken discourse. I suddenly realised that I might have been rude for not identifying myself whenever Mark calls and have not provide any greetings whenever I call. Mark might not understand why I answer phone call or make a call in such a way because it my culture or the way I do it here. From the way I’m seeing it, he’s answering and making calls the same way as in Germany. After last lecture, from now onward whenever I call Mark, I would identify myself and at least have a nice greeting before I go straight to the topic.
Currently I’m taking Bahasa Indonesia 5 and there is an exchange student in this class. His name is Mark and he is from Germany. I’m currently attached together with him for a Class project presentation. For our current project, it requires me to call and meet up with him whenever free for some discussion. For the past 5 weeks, we have been meeting once a week on Friday
So, most of the time, our phone call will be something like this;
Summons: Ringing (Me calling Mark)
Mark (Answer) : Hello, Mark here
Ghaff : Hey dude, it’s me. You free later at 2pm?
Summons: Ringing (Mark calling me)
Ghaff (Answer): Hello
Mark : Hello Ghaff. Mark here
Ghaff : Hey, what’s up
Mark : Nothing. Just the usual (means meeting up later). By the way, how’s your day
Ghaff : Stressful like always
Mark : I see, you should relax a bit. So you free later at 3pm?
Here’s the thing, I didn’t realise that there was something out of the ordinary until last lecture. Whenever I called Mark, the first sentence is always self identify. I then replied ‘It’s me” assuming he know me by my voice also because his HP has got IDD. I would normally go straight to the topic without any greetings because it’s Friday and I want to be quick in arranging a meeting and would like to go home early.
For Mark, when he calls, he would usually identify me and then himself. For most of his calls, he would usually have a greeting by asking me how my day was.
It is his way or culture I would say to always self identify and identify the person he is calling. He would also have a greeting before he goes to topic. Unlike me, like many of my other phone calls, I do not identify myself nor would I identify the person I’m calling to. Unless his voice is not familiar to me then I will be thinking that I might have dialled the wrong number. The reason I don’t identify myself is because the person I’m calling to would have my IDD saved in the phone so that person would know I’m calling.
Last lecture gave me awareness that this is a spoken discourse. I suddenly realised that I might have been rude for not identifying myself whenever Mark calls and have not provide any greetings whenever I call. Mark might not understand why I answer phone call or make a call in such a way because it my culture or the way I do it here. From the way I’m seeing it, he’s answering and making calls the same way as in Germany. After last lecture, from now onward whenever I call Mark, I would identify myself and at least have a nice greeting before I go straight to the topic.
Well, you can ask him whether he has sensed anything amiss before and whether he has noticed your change of phone opening strategies. It'll be interesting to know how he perceives this nuanced difference and whether it is of any significance at all.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to see this happening to you Ghaff! No doubt, cultural differences play a huge part in determining how a certain phone opening would go and now that we know, you should go ask him how he felt about the phone opening both of you have.
ReplyDelete