The cultural observation is a perfect opportunity to get to know other people from a totally different point of view. At times, when everything urges you to disregard the cultural differences and navigate towards mutual acceptance and tolerance, putting these differences in bold is quite a courageous move. To complete this assignment, I have chosen an Austrian family of my friend, Hans Zimmer, who has recently settled in the nearby area. Both his parents are freelance workers, and they have chosen the USA to be their new home for a couple of years while their children are studying at the US universities. I have been previously contacting with Germans, and I thought it would be a great opportunity to learn more about the life of these people, whose country and culture are somehow familiar, but distinct at the same time. I believe there are many nuances, which are unique for Austrians and which differentiate them from the German population. In addition, I was willing to find out about the manner, in which Europe managed to overturn the barriers on the way to integration and unity. Originally, they are the Tyroleans, the representatives of the small, yet distinctive region in Austria, which is known for specific yodel music https://best-writing-service.com/

This case is specific, considering the closure of Tyrolean region to other countries and cultures, such as German or Italian. In the course of observation, I aim to look at the symbolic manifestations of both cultures. Despite the growing globalization of markets and removal of barriers in the interpersonal communications, I am sure we all can find the manifestations of the culture that we belong to in our dwellings and everyday life rituals. The feeling of belonging and its display in artifacts, as well as behavioral patterns, still play a crucial role for everyone. At the same time, I believe that Austrians have undergone the cultural assimilation throughout their history, despite their great past, where Austria was a rich and influential empire.

During my observations, I plan to record all the conversations on my phone and then write the transcript, which I will use later for analysis purposes. This is the most convenient way of collecting data, as well as checking it whenever some doubts emerge. Apart from that, this is an extremely objective source for storing and retrieving information. Unfortunately, the perception might be distorted by many factors, such as mood, physical conditions, thoughts, and others. The records help to minimize the effects of emotions and consider all the aspects thoughtfully.

Observation plan and objectives require frequent meetings with the family members within the different contexts. I guess, I will partly disclose my plans to my friend in order to make this cultural observation as true and authentic as possible, as I am also interested in the assimilation that the family members go through, as they move to the new places. Therefore, I would like to notice different cultural patterns by myself and do not want to be exposed to the staged cultural performance, which have no place in their real lives. For that purpose, I plan to appear twice per week at their home as well as participate in a family holiday - the birthday party. Additionally, I have asked the permission to attend a wedding ceremony that this family is invited to in order to witness it and to communicate with other representatives of this culture. In my opinion, the diversity of these experiences, as well as the total duration of our communications, will help me to draw a unique portrait of this culture and understand some of its visible and invisible aspects. The observation will mainly take part at Hans Zimmer family’ house.

Overall, this paper will aim to investigate the distinctive features of the Austrian culture and its symbolic manifestations in everyday life and holiday occasions. At the same time, it will focus on the noticed assimilation patterns, which the family members have acquired or dropped, as they have moved to another cultural context. I hope that this project will train my eye to notice the different cultural nuances and take them in consideration while communicating with other representatives of this culture. Furthermore, it will provide me with the understanding of the impact that the cultures might have on one another within the same territory. All in all, I believe, it will somehow change my perception of the world and its diversity and make me more efficient in approaching others.

The field cultural observation concerned the family members of my Austrian friend, who has recently moved in the nearby apartment. The plan aimed to spot the symbolic aspects of the Austrian culture, together with the patterns that could have suggested cultural assimilation experienced by this family as they moved to the USA. The data should have been collected in the course of frequent personal meetings and common activities in spare time. Apart from that, I planned to attend the birthday party of one family member and a wedding ceremony. The recorder on my phone was to be used to note the information and check it after a while, reflecting on the cultural patterns revealed.

The project turned out to be rather insightful in terms of applying theory to practice. I discovered that some of the concepts discussed in the book are controversial, and can be combined in everyday life. At the same time, despite the globalized markets, Austrians still remain loyal to their culture even when being distanced from their motherland. In other words, they do not abandon their cultural patterns and allow these to stream through them in everyday rituals, including meals, communication with others and decorating their houses. In other words, some people are still ready to stand under the flags of their country and, if needed, protect its culture and authenticity. On the other hand, cultural assimilation mainly concerns the behavioral patterns, which are not critical for preserving their culture.

The paper will mainly dwell on the intercultural experience and reflections on the culture-related terms and their interpretation in regard to the cultural settings and various situations. The initial remarks as to the research plan provided by professor have been addressed in the course of research project implementation.

Though I am a good friend of the family, they still treated me as outsider. At the same time, I was soon honored to find out that Austrians do not let everyone in - only the closest people. The research plan was implemented in most part, as I visited all the venues that I planned. However, I could not visit them frequently, as it was not polite and the family could start suspecting me in having something on my mind. Nevertheless, my transcripts were rather rich and vivid and took me nearly twenty pages. The interactions were rather smooth, though I frequently felt some invisible fettered reactions, which might be inherent for conservative Austrian culture. I attended the wedding and was amazed by tiny details that actually exhibited the bride’s relation to Austrian culture; in particular, it was filled with elements referring to Hapsburg Empire, which were known by me. They possess the differentiating features, which are inevitable from their representatives and frequently unnoticeable to them. As Ting-Toomey & Chung assert, “on the most surface level, we often learn about another culture via the representation of its popular culture”. Despite its volume and the number of guests invited, the celebrating still kept the warmth of a family holiday and sensitivity.

The cultural assimilation has been quite important for me in this project, as this family has been living within the different context, and their original culture might have been transformed. In this regard, Ting-Toomey & Chung assert that “the main effect of the “cultural assimilation” stance demands that strangers conform to the host environment”. Capturing the idea of nationalism and its rise in Europe in the recent months, as well as overall harm that it might cause to the idea of unity, Hans’ father, Arnold, mentioned that being a Tyrolean native, he hates Vienna in a way, similar to the one in which provincial Europeans hate Brussels. However, to overcome misunderstandings and discomfort that frequently occur due to the differences in dialects, Austrians use German as Lingua Franca to find common ground. A peaceful living and wellbeing of all the residents with drastic differences can only be reached through the balancing mechanisms and compromising decisions, which are rarely favored by all, whether it goes about tiny Austria or giant European Union. Similarly, while in the USA, all the family members can abandon some of the non-critical elements of their culture to find common ground with the local residents. Ting-Toomey & Chung assert that “cultural distance factors can include differences in cultural values, language, verbal styles, nonverbal gestures, learning styles, decision-making styles, and conflict negotiation styles, as well as in religious, sociopolitical, and economic systems”. Cultural assimilation is the strategy that is used by many migrants with the slight or gross variations - to the extent to which they become similar to the local population. Yet, an assimilation strategy is frequently applied in various cultural contexts to avoid conflicts and tensions.

At the same time, through this experience I noted other important nuance about culture, related to its invisible dimension. While preparing lunch, Hans’ mother prepared the American meal along with the Austrian one. She decorated the table with roses, thus demonstrating her attitude to interior beauty. At the same time, she mentioned that red carnations, lilies, or chrysanthemums are taboos in Austrian culture, and that this belief roots back to the ancestries. Obviously, these prohibited flowers symbolized all the worse that could happen to a family, for instance, an illness or a car accident. As Ting-Toomey & Chung assert, “a symbol is a sign, artifact, word(s), gesture, or nonverbal behavior that stands for or reflects something meaningful “. Culture, therefore, might also be defined through the lack of certain features or symbols. In fact, this demonstrates that the culture does not only manifest itself in certain artifacts located around the house; in fact, it is also revealed in the absence of certain items.

In conclusion, the immersion into someone’s culture is a tremendous experience producing many insights. Due to this project, I have learned about the culture other than mine and managed to spot on the symbolic meanings and their value for the Austrians. Apart from that, I learned much about assimilation on practice, which is, in fact, an individual experience. Yet, it seems, that despite the rise of globalism, conformation and uniformity of markets, there are the individuals, who are still willing to protect the tiniest manifestations of their culture and pass them on to future generations, thus preserving the variety and diversity of the world. In the future, I will apply the insights that I have gained to other intercultural occasions, and I believe I would handle them better than I did in the past. Practicing intercultural experience is important for the ever-globalizing world, where cultures are being mixed. This results in the synergetic efforts and collaborations. I consider I would be more proficient at breaking the communication barriers with the representatives of other cultures as well as note the most important nuance and dimensions of their cultures.