Here are some more areas of contrast between Cambodian and American cultures. The first is a difference that causes a lot of frustration among western tourists to the Kingdom. You make arrangements to meet up and they turn up – late, and with little explanation other than “Cambodian time.” Time in Cambodia is more like a river and sometimes it just flows more slowly.
The second area of difference lies in the conversational rules that we automatically observe. Americans tend when in a group to take turns in conversation – whereas Cambodians jointly construct a dialogue cutting over the others if they have something to add or sharing periods of silence and lulls in the conversation. Westerners can feel quite uncomfortable about shared silence, and will tend to fill the gaps. even at the risk of moving the topic to more prosaic matters. “That’s quite some rain we’ve been having…”
- For more on cultural differences check out these links that are peppered throughout this Blog.
- More American and Cambodian cultural differences.
- Lost in translation. A cultural mystery involving a giant chicken.
- And while we on the subject of Chickens, here’s a little cultural test that reveals cultural differences.
Savong School Cambodia 