Advice for An American in Spain Based on Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions

You may have heard before that you’re going to eventually experience some degree of culture shock after living in a foreign country. But if you’ve never experienced it before, what does that even mean? After all, western nations aren’t all that different right? Well, believe it or not, even though differences may seem relatively small, they still can add up to create cultural clashes, confusions and miscommunications that have a greater impact on you than you’d realize. For the most part, bracing yourself to live in another culture can be something difficult to prepare for, but thankfully, Geert Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions can provide some insight on how culture can lead things to be lost in translation. Geert Hofestde is a Dutch professor and former IBM employee who developed cultural dimensions theory based around how values in the workplace are influenced by culture. The very controversial and recently developed spectrum is an introspective tool for understanding other countries’ value systems and how those value systems are manifested in the workplace and through communication styles.  Even though there are many academics critical of his work on the methodological level, it is still one of the most comprehensive studies done on culture that exists, and in my opinion still quite useful. As long as you take this theory with a grain of salt and remember that when it comes down to it, people are still people, I think you always stand to gain a lot by educating yourself as much as you can to be prepared for a new living situation.  The six dimensions of the study are; Power Distance, Individualism, Uncertainty avoidance, Masculinity, Long Term Orientation and Indulgence. These are the basic factors by which you can determine similarities and differences in cultures. Here is the summary provided by the official Geert Hofstede website:

When I studied this in school, I was interested to find that each country varied widely, even if they were geographically or demographically similar otherwise. Certain things like “High Individualism” for Americans seemed obvious to me, but as a whole the results for every country were difficult to guess. After poking around more on his website, I saw his Cultural Compass survey. You fill out a questionnaire based on your personal cultural values and it compares them to your country of origin and your “country of interest.” Much to my chagrin I admit I did pay about $8 to fill out the survey to see what advice they had for an American in Spain. But, I don’t regret it one bit! I satiated my inner nerd and I got some really cool feedback which I am now bestowing upon you, my fair reader!

Before you read further, I think you should make sure to read the above snapshot. There were many blurbs like this throughout the Hofstede official website, and I liked how they included a lot of disclaimers. Usually I don’t, but in this case it is definitely appropriate. Hofstede’s cultural dimension theory makes swooping generalizations that don’t take into account the wide variation of people under the umbrella of one culture. The theory painstakingly creates generalizations about each country, which for their purposes is used to predict misunderstandings and miscommunications between cultures, but if erroneously applied to a different context this information could be used to make untrue generalizations that unfairly pigeonhole a group of people. Its a fine line to walk, and I can see how people would get their knickers in a twist about the whole thing to be honest, so I’m glad they’re taking the proper steps to explain that individuals and cultures are complex and that these are not scientific facts. Good work, Geert.

I was surprised and pleased the survey produced such specific examples. They are definitely all good to be aware of! I related to some more than others. Since I have already spent 5 months living in Spain, I could pinpoint the ones I found most applicable to me and therefore may be most likely for you to encounter upon your arrival to Spain. The advice I most related to in the big chance category was that I may underestimate how much time it would take to create trust between me and Spaniards. If you look back to the Harvard review article I talked about, some cultures are “peach” cultures while others are “coconuts.” Peach cultures open up easily and get to know each other quickly, but even if you know them really well they guard their “pit” and it is difficult to gain their trust and acceptance into their intimate inner circle. Coconut cultures are the opposite, they are difficult to get to know and don’t open up easily, but once you get them to open up it means they truly consider you a close friend.  As an American I definitely say I can relate to being a peach, and have experienced the coconut attitude of other cultures while I did my study abroad in college. Americans typically cluster on the peach end of the spectrum, and while Spain isn’t exactly your stereotypical coconut culture (like, say, Germany), there still will be an overall difference on the group scale. I saw a related warning in the small chance category, there is a small chance I perceive the people around me as cold and aloof, they may literally try to keep you at a distance. When we all get there, we should remember not to be discouraged if we don’t find our new Spanish butt-buddies right away, these things take time! I had a harder time getting to know the Spanish students while I studied abroad, and too quickly gave up and instead quickly stepped in with the friendlier Erasmus students who were also in a position where they were looking for new friends. That’s not to say all Spaniards are unfriendly, or even could be considered so on the whole, quite the opposite! I thought Oviedo was an incredibly warm place, even in the north where they are supposedly “colder” than in the south. I had people go out of their way to help me dozens of times, classmates reached out to speak with me outside of class, and I like to think I was a hit with little old ladies I chatted with at the bus stop, but in comparison to what I am accustomed to, it did take longer to be completely accepted by my Spanish friends in relative terms. Maybe that’s a cop out, but regardless I sincerely regret not getting to know more Spaniards (I was in Spain after all!) and understanding where I may have gone wrong last time will surly help me out this time around.

Another note on the small chance section, I related to the post that said “you may translate the need for emotional safety valves, such as long lunches to get rid of the tension built up during the work hours in the morning, wrongly as a sign of laziness.” Spain and the United States do things differently, but different isn’t wrong. I really appreciated this feedback because I didn’t even realize I was unintentionally (and moderately I swear!) stigmatizing a Spanish custom with a negative lens based on my own culture, a classic case of ethnocentrism. I thought that because I enjoyed this part of their culture it meant I automatically wasn’t seeing it in a negative way, but now that I read this feedback I realize I did unconsciously characterize it as a lazy activity even if I didn’t actively label it so. Understanding the cultural reasons behind why Spain does things helps me respect these differences and see them in a positive light through and through. I love the laid-back Spanish approach to things, it is one of the reasons I am so dead-set on returning back to Spain, so I want be sure I fully respect the parts of their culture that are different than my home country in addition to merely enjoying myself while I am there.

Something I have not experienced personally but have seen with American friends living with families while in Spain was related to the advice that warned, “you may become upset when your host checks up with you too often to your liking whether everything is okay or not.” I am having difficulty logically explaining why this would ever even bother someone, but when I read this advice I automatically understood how this reaction could come to be. I’m sure anyone who read this analysis and HAS already experienced this emotion would feel like an asshole reading it, how could you be annoyed that someone cares too much that you’re doing alright? But it just comes down to cultural differences! Who knew they could impact such a small interaction between host family and foreigner? But apparently it is frequent enough to make note of, so anyone planning on being an au pair or even babysitting at all should heed this warning and prepare themselves.

The last note I am going to comment on is regard to the warning, “you may be perceived as arrogant by not taking the hierarchical order into account.” This is SO important because we are not on the receiving end of this cultural clash, so we wouldn’t even know if this issue has already ever come up and may not know if it is becoming a problem for somebody else. I am used to working in environments where superiors and subordinates coordinate together as a team, and I can definitely foresee myself accidentally stepping on some toes by not adequately respecting a hierarchy. I appreciate this warning even though I don’t think I have ever had trouble with it in the past, because it is now something I am going to be more sensitive to when I start working with teachers and administrators in my new school.

This chart compares my personal values to average US and Spanish values. At first I found it HILARIOUS that I deviated largely in comparison to Spain in the uncertainty avoidance category, “The extent to which people feel threatened by uncertainty and ambiguity and try to avoid such situations.” I specifically remember when we were discussing this in class I laughed at the idea that Spain had very high uncertainty avoidance and thought it was ludicrous. Spain avoids uncertain situations? HA! Good one! I never know what to expect in Spain! But then I had a revelation. I suppose thats just it, I don’t know what to expect in Spain. Me, the guiri. Whoa, talk about insight dude. I perceive Spain as highly tolerant of uncertainty just because as a foreigner I have to be highly tolerant of uncertainty while I am there. Mind. Blown. I had no idea my own culture impacted how I saw Spain so much, which is textbook cultural relativism. Cultural relativism is the belief that the concepts and values of one culture cannot be fully translated into, or fully understood in/by, other languages or cultures. As much as we try, we can only understand cultures relative to our own.

This last feedback was the least informative/helpful but I still loved it just for funsies. It’s like the official online quiz “What Country Should You Really Live In????” The five countries I scored most similarly to were Finland, Luxembourg, Canada, Netherlands and Malta, while the three most different were China, Guatemala, and Iraq. (Now I have one more reason on top of the bloody ISIS to add to the list of why I never want to move to Iraq, eh?) Now I don’t really think this list is good for much else except to help brainstorm for new dream travel locations to lust about on pintrest (time to start drooling over houseboats in the Netherlands!), but I do want to point one last thing out. Even though I am American, tried and true, born and raised, I still got scores pretty significantly different from my home country. The numbers these countries scored don’t define the individuals inside of them. That just goes to show, like the disclaimer said, you can’t generalize one country, because when it comes down to it people and cultures are far too complex to be generalized by something as simplistic as a number!

What did you think about this? Bunch-o-bullshit, or legitimate cultural comparisons? Please, share your insight below!