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8 WHEN CULTURES COLLIDE

understanding of other peoples’ customs, societies and culture. Many binational

and international bodies have been created to further this aim, and the personnel
and training departments of many large companies have invested substantial
sums of money in cross-cultural and internationalization programs and briefings
for those staff members who will represent them abroad.
The question I would like to raise is whether or not cross-cultural training
and a willingness to adapt will achieve anything at the end of the day, in view of
the interlocking nature of our own language and thought. I am not necessarily
suggesting that cross-cultural training might eventually be seen to be in vain—I
believe the contrary to be true—but I would like to play devil’s advocate for a
little while and consider how powerful mental blocks may hinder our ability to
change our attitudes or adopt new approaches. From infancy we are conditioned
by various factors and influences—not least by the behavior and guidance of our
parents, teachers and society. But they and we are subjected at every turn to that
dominating and pervasive “conditioner”—our common language.
Many linguists adhere to anthropologist Benjamin Whorf ’s hypothesis, which
states that the language we speak largely determines our way of thinking, as dis-
tinct from merely expressing it. In other words, Germans and Japanese behave in
a certain manner because the way they think is governed by the language in which
they think. A Spaniard and a Briton see the world in different ways because one is
thinking in Spanish and the other in English. People in the British Isles act and
live in a certain way because their thoughts are channeled along Anglo-Saxon
grooves which are different from neo-Latin, Japanese or Chinese grooves.
The Briton, the German and the Inuit may share a common experience, but it
appears to each as a kaleidoscopic flux of impressions that has to be organized by
the mind. The mind does this largely by means of language. Thus the three indi-
viduals end up seeing three different things. What is fair play to the Briton may
be something else to the German, who needs to translate the concept into differ-
ent words, and it may mean nothing at all in a society where there are no organ-
ized games.

English and Zulu

If you think the notion of fair play is rather abstract, let us go to another instance
where a very basic concept is seen in completely different ways by two people of
diverse origins. My example involves an Englishman and a Zulu. While the cul-
tural chasm is clear, it is the linguistic factor that dominates this instance.
As mentioned earlier, the Zulu language has 39 words for green. I was inter-
ested in how the Zulus could build up 39 one-word concepts for green, while