Culture and Time

15 October 2020 Week 5: Cultural Differences Concerning Time

In an article by BYUI. I was able to dive deep into the preferences that cultures have as far as how they respect their time and others time. In some cultures their lives are not as structured as someone who works in a business. There are not daily and weekly deadlines. There are things that need to get done, but many things are dependent on others. If someone was in need of help and you can find the time then you would help them. It wouldn’t matter what was going on or what was excepted by others.

This sight about time is a polychronic thinking. This is not the normal for the United States who is a very monochronic thinker. This can been seen as many times if its not on the schedule it doesn’t happen. Appointments are made and not missed. Many Americans feel bad if they miss or forget an appointment.

I was able to serve my mission on San Jose, California within the Hispanic community. After reading this article I was able to better understand why people would not be there or wouldn’t answer the door. Many cultures see that giving you a time to talk later is more polite than telling to you no you don’t want to talk. In the American culture that can be seen as impolite as time is very important.

When teaching culture in a TESOL classroom this should be an important topic to remember, because being polite is something everyone wants to be. You do not want your students to feel as though others think they are being rude when that is a normal aspect of there culture.