Today’s Word: bridge

August 2, 2018      =========

☆  bridge  架け橋となる

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Something that bridges the gap between two people or things, reduces or gets rid of that gap. For example, the useful phrase this week is, “We need skills to help us bridge the cultural gap.” Do you know what kinds of skills you could use to bridge a cultural gap between you and someone you know or work with?

One idea is to learn the “cultural grammar.” This means the basic greetings for social interactions. So, if you are traveling to France or China, knowing how to say things such as “hello” or “thank you” in French or Chinese will help you bridge the gap. If you are working with people from different cultures, you can bridge the cultural gap by learning more about that person’s culture. You learned Japanese culture from your family and the community around you. In order to learn about another culture, you can do the same – look at the everyday customs and situations of that culture, and take time to think about how your interpretation of something might be different from a person in that culture.

What else could you do to bridge a cultural gap?

Bye,

Chris