Observing People of Different Cultures - Essay Example

Observing people of different cultures may help a person to expand knowledge of cultures and assess personal biases. In this paper, I tackle how my observations of three different people reveal the way I see and judge different cultures. The venue that I chose was an international airport. The first man I observed was a tall, young man of average built. His hair was blonde; he sat at a cafe near the airport lobby. He was wearing fitted jeans and sandals. He seemed untidy because his hair was quite long and uncombed.

From the way he looked, I could tell that he is an Australian. I usually have this thinking that Australians look untidy based on their history as a people. In the high school, I learned that some British outlaws were sent to Australia in the 1700s (Australia.gov.au, “European Discovery”). These people later made their own living and succeeded to make their land useful. Nevertheless, their background affected the way they carried themselves in society. Unlike the educated English people who dress up formally in front of others, the Australian settlers dress up ruggedly, in consideration of their socio-political status.

Thus, when I saw the man at the airport, I sensed that he is an Australian, seeing that he is white and blonde yet dressed up ruggedly. My knowledge of Australians is truly affected by the knowledge of their history. To confirm my observation, I approached the man and inquired about his nationality and I was correct. He is Australian. The second man I observed is English. Like the first man, he is blonde, of middle age, wearing long-sleeved polo shirt, long pants, leather shoes, and carried a neat and sleek suitcase.

In fact, he approached me and asked direction. I noted from his accent and clothes that he is English. Aside from having a neat outfit, he has a smoother skin, which connotes less exposure to the sun and in turn means that the man lives in a cold place. Based on my observation of the second man, I realized that first and foremost I consider the person’s clothes to identify to which culture he/she belongs. Second, I look at the person’s skin tone and color. I easily recognize wrinkles, and wonder what could have caused them.

In the case of the first man, I noticed the deep wrinkles on his face, which suggested too much exposure to the sun. In contrast, the fineness of the second man’s skin made me think he is from England. Again, to confirm my thoughts, I asked the man if he is English and he said he is. The third man I observed was an American. Unlike the other two, it was difficult to guess to which culture he belongs. At first, I thought he is Canadian because he was somewhat serious. He wore a long-sleeved shirt with collar and some sneakers.

I realized that he is American when he talked over the phone. His accent is not the same as the English man or the Australian. He spoke clearly and smiled a lot. Once again, to confirm my observation, I asked the man and he said he is American. The people I observed made me realize the way I determine and judge other cultures. Based on this observation, I learned that I usually make use of my knowledge of people’s history. As I have illustrated in my observation of the Australian, I judge people by the way they dress up use my knowledge of their history to know why they dress up in a certain manner.

Moreover, I judge people by their skin tone and color. I often look at the person’s skin and tend to use this aspect to guess the climate in their home country. For example, if I see