My First Impression of Culture differences

My first impression of Berlin was based on my experience in the airport. When I arrived at baggage claim my luggage had not yet reached my destination. I walked to the help desk with the assistance of another passenger. The woman at the desk was not rude however, she was not as friendly as I would have expected of someone who worked in customer service. When she asked me for my home address, she repeated the name of the street back and replied, “that’s strange”. Initially, I thought that making an outward remark like that with someone you are unfamiliar with was unusual.

After arriving at the hostel and taking some rest, my classmate Walter and I decided to take a walk and explore the street the hostel is located on-Prinzenallee. As I walked past parents with their children the first thing I did was smile. However, instead of smiling back most of the parents would look directly at me, expressionless. This occurred several times on our walk and was very surprising to me. The looks on the parents’ faces were almost like they were not sure why I was looking at their children or even smiling.

Although, countries in Europe are considered a low context culture-meaning that verbally conversations are very direct and people do not necessarily rely on body language or cues. In America, it is not usual to smile at a stranger. If I smile at someone back home and they do not return the gesture then I assume that person is unfriendly. In low-context cultures tone of voice or body language are taken into account. Due to the fact that Germany is considered a low context culture but their facial cues are different than other low context cultures, advertisers may gain a skewed perception. Although, they came across as unfriendly because they do not smile at the start the students at the IMK Institute were actually helpful and welcoming. Advertisers need to be cautious when targeting Germans because simply following the idea that they are a low context culture will not be sufficient. Further research such as ethnographies and focus groups would provide more in depth insight about communicating with these consumers.

I chose the following picture because it represents the facial expressions that I mentioned above. People show very little emotional on their faces. It seems that until you intervene in conversation, you cannot gauge factors such as friendliness. Most of the time they come across as very reserved and seem like they prefer not to communicate with strangers. After, a group discussion at the IMK institute and carrying out actual conversations the students did not seem as reserved as I initially thought. However, a difference is present between greeting people in the States and in Berlin. People in Berlin are less forward about expressing emotions initially.