October 13th/2020 - Week 5 - Cultural differences concerning time
Cultural differences concerning time
As I watched Brother Ivers' video from his BYU Idaho class,
I learned the concept of monochromic and polychronic societies. I do
believe Brother Ivers’ view does not apply to all Latin American cultures, and
of course, not all people. Being a Latin American myself, I come from
Argentina, I have always tried to be a very punctual person. It is true though,
that Latin Americans, in general, maybe more relaxed about time than other
cultures.
I have had two experiences that had left a mark on me,
and both of them happened, while I was serving a mission in the USA. The first
one happened on my very first day of class at the Missionary Training Center in
Provo, Utah. For our training, we had been divided into small classes of 6 to 8
missionaries. We had classes at 9 A.M, so I showed up for class 10 minutes
earlier. Some other missionaries got there a few minutes before class start,
but by 9, only half the class was in the classroom. At 9.10 the missing
missionaries arrived. I have a vivid memory of our instructor, a very short
sister, stopping the class, letting my companions sit down, and telling them:
“You are 10 minutes late, this is not your country, here people are punctual,
and if classes are at 9, you should be here before that”. I thought she was a
bit hard since it was the first day, but she was right, my companions were
late. The second experience happened while I was serving in Virginia, USA. A
member had scheduled to go with us to an appointment. We agreed to meet at a
certain place at 7 PM. That day, we were behind schedule and we arrived at the
place at 7.03 PM, but we couldn’t find the brother. My companion and I talked
about how weird that was because members were always on time. We waited for 5
minutes and called this member. When he answered the phone, I told him if he
remembered the appointment, and he told me: "Yes, I did. I was at the
place from 6.50 to 7. When the clock hit 7, I left". The member was right,
we had been late, so I apologized for that.
I have had many other experiences that have helped me
see the importance of being punctual. I think being punctual is a way to show
respect for others. As a future TESOL educator, I will have to teach my
students about these important cultural differences because they will help them
understand other cultures better and gain a broader view of the world.
Hello Pablo, I agree with you not all Latin are unpunctual, but in generally speaking yes we are, but as you said, we as teachers should teach our students to change that bad habit of being late, I've learned that concept, from my father, my grandfather, and of course my English teacher. My father has an ambition, and that is change the culture of being late, he is working hard with my brothers because I love time, and I hate being late, so he did a great job at least with me. From my grand father I've learned how to calculate how much time it can take to arrive to a place by bus, because he worked as a bus inspector, so he taught me how much time before I should be at the bus stop. And the last my English teacher taught me the culture of being early if I travel to the U.K. because he lived there, and he taught us how will be their reaction if you show late to an appointment.
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