|
|
|
|
General Behaviour
In most urban areas it is an offence to make loud noise after 11.00pm.
Try not to telephone Australians before 9.00am or after 9.00pm unless it is unavoidable.
Always be punctual to all types of appointments.
If you have to cancel an appointment or will be late, it is courteous to call and explain to the person waiting for you.
Smoking is not permitted in public transport, government offices, restaurants and many shopping centres Also do not assume that it is acceptable to smoke in someone else's house or car - always ask first.
Bargaining and Tipping
Bargaining is not practised in Australian shops and shopping centres. The prices marked are generally the prices at which products are sold.
Bargaining is often acceptable when purchasing second hand goods, particularly at 'garage sales' or through classified advertisements in the daily newspaper.
Tipping is not a general practice. Australians wages do not to take into account that tips that may be received. Australians will generally only leave a tip if they feel the service has been exceptional.
Taxis in Australia will not expect a tip, though it is common to leave small change, or to 'round up' the fare for the Taxi driver. It is important NOT to offer to tip a public official in Australia, including police officers or any Government employees. It is against the law, and may be considered as an attempt to offer a bribe.
Dress
Australians tend to dress casually in almost all situations. Students in particular will wear jeans, t-shirts, shorts and other casual clothes. There are very few occasions when you will need to wear formal clothes.
If you receive an invitation to a more formal occasion the mode of dress will often be indicated on the invitation. If you are unsure of how to dress in a particular situation ask either your host or friends what they would consider appropriate.
Individualism
Australians generally believe that the ideal person is an autonomous, self-reliant individual. Most Australians see themselves as separate individuals, not as representatives of a family, community, or other group. They dislike being dependent on other people, or having others dependent on them. Some people from other countries view this attitude as "selfishness." Others view it as a healthy freedom from the constraints of ties to family, clan, or social class.
Common Misjudgements
Many misjudgements and misunderstandings can arise from interactions between people who have different communicative styles. Here are some examples:
- Foreign visitors in Australia might hear little but "small talk" among Australians, and conclude that Australians are not intellectually capable of anything more than simple talk about such subjects as the weather, sports, teachers, or their own social lives. The conclusion that Australians are intellectually inferior is also reached by many people who regard argument as a favourite form of interaction, and who find that Australians are often not very adept at arguing.
- Australians often conclude that internationals who speak rarely or quietly are too shy, too formal.
- Vigorous arguing (with raised voices and much use of hands and arms, and perhaps more than one person talking at a time) of the kind that is "natural" to some people may alarm Australians, who expect violence, or at least long-lasting anger, to follow from loud disagreements.
- What Australians might regard favourably as "keeping cool" -- that is, not being drawn into an argument, not raising the voice, looking always for the "facts" -- might be seen by others as coldness and a sort of lack of humanness. Conversely, Australians are likely to see those who do not "keep cool" as being "too emotional."
Nonverbal Communication
When we speak of communication difficulties for international students, we usually are referring to spoken and written language. Many of the most significant differences between Australians and foreign students are in nonverbal communication, or body language.
Eye Contact
When they are talking to someone, Australians alternate between looking briefly into the listener's eyes and looking slightly away. When they are listening to another person, they look almost constantly at the speaker's eyes. Australians tend to distrust people who do not look into their eyes while talking to them.
Touching
In some cultures people touch their conversation partners far more frequently than Australians do; people in still other countries touch each other even less often than Australians do. Australian men rarely touch each other, except when shaking hands. Women touch each other somewhat more often, but with rare exceptions they do not walk hand-in-hand or arm-in-arm the way women in many countries do. Australians usually get nervous if another person stand closer than about an arm's length away, unless the other person is a partner or family member in a romantic relationship. They stand a bit closer if they are side-to-side rather than face-to-face.
This is not to say that there is a taboo on touching conversation partners. There is not. Some Australians periodically touch their conversation partners lightly on the arm or shoulder while talking. If one does so with you, you can do likewise. You may notice on our campus that hearing impared may touch each other often to gain attention.
Hygiene
As you can readily tell from television commercials, Australians have been taught that the natural smells of people's bodies and breath are unpleasant. Most Australians bathe or shower daily (or more often if they engage in vigorous exercise during the day), use an underarm deodorant to counteract the odour of perspiration, and brush their teeth with toothpaste at least once daily and perhaps more often than that. In addition, they may rinse their mouths with a mouthwash or chew mints in order to be sure their breath is free of food odours. It is very common for women to shave their legs and underarms and to use a small quantity of perfume each day; many men use a scented cologne or after-shave lotion to impart what they believe is a pleasant smell. Most Australians will quickly back away from a person who has "body odour" or "bad breath." This backing away may be the only signal that they are "offended" by another person's breath or body odour. The topic of these odours is so sensitive that most Australians will not tell another person that he or she has "bad breath" or "body odour."
Some foreign students come from places where the human body's natural odours are considered quite acceptable, and where efforts to overcome those odours, at least on the part of men, are considered unnatural. Still other students and scholars come from places where personal cleanliness is considered more important than Australians consider it to be, and they may view most Australians as "dirty."
Other Guidelines
- Australians have no taboo of any kind associated with the left hand; they are as likely to touch you or to hand you objects with the left hand as with the right hand.
- Australians have no negative association with the soles of the feet or the bottom of the shoes; they do not feel it necessary to prevent others from seeing them.
- A common way to greet small children in Australia is to pat them on the top of the head.
- People in Australia often point with their index finger and wave it around in the air as they make especially important points in conversation.
- One beckons to another person to come closer by holding the hand with the palm and fingers up, not down.
- Australians show respect and deference for another person by looking him or her in the face, not by looking down.
- Informal, relaxed postures are commonly assumed by Australian people when they are standing or sitting, even when they are conversing with others; lack of formal posture is not a sign of inattention or disrespect.
- In Australia, the doors of rooms usually are left open unless there is a specific reason to close them.
- Punctuality -- being on time -- is important to many Australian people; they are likely to become quite annoyed if forced to wait more than 15 minutes beyond the scheduled time for meetings or appointments. This is particularly true with employers and teachers!
|
|
|
