Say what, mate??

After slightly over a month in Sydney I think it appropriate to deal with the “language/culture barrier” issue, not that there is an issue, or have I encountered much difficulty in being understood, or understanding. Here are some of my observations of the Aussies:

1. They are very friendly people. When I approach strangers for help, or sales people in shops, more often then not, I’ve been asked “How’s your day coming along” or “How are you” or “How are we doing today”. No doubt it is superficial, perfunctory formality, but you can’t deny their sincerity and genuine willingness to help.

I give customer service in Australia 5/5 stars, and Singapore 2/5. We’ve got a lot to learn from them.

2. They are very laid back people. “Laid-back-ness” is synonymous with Aussie culture. People are generally unfazed when faced with situations like slow service in check-out queues because cashiers are making small talk with customers, or mix ups/clashes in timetable, eating food off the ground (seriously), walking bare foot on public streets, to name a few. Their common response to such situations is to remark off-handedly “no worries, mate”!

Saying “no worries” is something I’ve grown accustomed to. Good training for patience. Heh.

3. They are very non-judgmental people. Aussies tend to let you be what/who you want to be, without judging you or alienating you. You can be gay, transvestite, Christian, a resident nerd, a single mom, or whatever, but people generally just let you be.

Its good in a way as people are tolerant towards each other. They may not be particularly friendly, but they are tolerant. It’s bad however (from a Christian perspective) as the lines of right and wrong are blurred and the benchmark of morality is subjective - the unfortunate result of a postmodern era I guess.



On a separate note, one thing that I had to get use to was the nuances in Aussie English, though English should be English regardless of where you are.

For example:

When picking up the phone/greeting friends, I’ve heard countless people say “G’day” instead of “Hello”. Seriously. I use to think it was a joke that people would say “G’day mate!” but they really say that. And you have to say it quick too, not deliberately pronouncing “good” and “day”, but kinda like “gooday”. It’s funny.

When asking “how you doing” (like what I’m use to) they say “how’s it goin’ ”. Why I don’t know, but they just do.

When asking you sign the receipt after paying for your goods they say “Can I just get you to sign the docket please”. Yeah, docket = receipt. I’ve never heard of any other brand of English using docket in place of receipt.

And lastly, my favourite, I was in the mall and walked past two girls who were talking. One girl said to the other “Man, my new thongs are really hurting me”. My eyes widened as I stared at them.

In lecture, this random guy went up to my Canadian friend and said, “Hey I really like your thong”. We looked at each other in horror.

After some time we realized that thong = slippers, sandals, tevas, havanas, etc…



D’oh!