An intercultural experience

Csilla PUSKAS comes from a Hungarian family from Central Europe who found themselves in many countries in the region after the dislocation of the three empires Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian and Soviet, and the reorganization of the borders. It is in this turbulent and multicultural context that she learned to observe the behavioral mechanisms of individuals and peoples. She came to France after the fall of the Soviet Union as a university teacher. She was then struck by the universality of cultural differences and tells us how she “fell” into Interculturalism.

What is intercultural for?

Can you tell us about your beginnings in France?

I had a good command of the French language and speaking French posed no problem for me; on the other hand, I was challenged by the impact of the non-verbal dimension on human relationships. I was dressed differently, I behaved differently, the structure of my courses at university was different,…

Difference in behavior

Gradually, I realized that to better integrate, it was not enough to speak French, to know French history, literature, philosophy, but that it was also necessary to develop behaviors that were sometimes radically opposed. to those who came from "my world".

In the communist world where I grew up, where private property did not exist and where attempts were made to build a world without social class, I had to be very careful with all my actions so as not to attract attention. pay attention to me, to my family, to my name: the more humble I was, the better I was tolerated in a society which advocated the eradication of the past.

How did you discover interculturality?

At the University, my courses focused on world civilizations, cultural anthropology, the logic of peoples, semiology, languages ​​and communications, disciplines linked to human behavior and mentalities.

Observation of French socio-cultural environments

The behavioral mechanisms developed for my survival in Central Europe were very different from the behaviors of the French people I encountered in my new life. I wanted to understand if there were behavioral mechanisms delimiting sociocultural environments in France or if French society was more homogeneous than my "old world".

I quickly discovered that in France too there were differences in backgrounds and I sought to understand the ins and outs of all these circles, going so far as to explore their linguistic, behavioral and non-verbal codes.

Impact on personal and professional careers

I then noticed that these differences did not only enrich French societal "folklore", but also had an impact on the personal and professional careers of individuals, on their integration into the company, on their ability to negotiate in varied contexts.

Driven by a love of human genius that triumphs in all circumstances and by an intellectual curiosity, I listed several French worlds until the day I was asked to give a corporate conference on the countries of Europe from ballast.

My life as an interculturalist then began when I was then asked to prepare several days of training to help the French company establish itself in Central and Eastern Europe.

What do you remember from this intercultural experience?

Work for pleasure!

I had no concept of money, knew nothing about financial mechanisms and did not know how the customer-supplier relationship worked in the West and, even less, in France. So I led ten days of training without there ever being a question of money or remuneration.

Three months later, my sponsors asked for my invoice. I told them that it really gave me pleasure to prepare and lead these training days and that I didn't really know how to manage the financial question.

They then called me and I think they had fun discovering a “human prototype” that they had never met before and who worked for pleasure without daring to be paid.

How to pay for work?

After sincerely admitting my inability to assess the value of my work, they asked me to estimate the time - not lost in misunderstandings and potential failures - that the people trained would gain in their professional lives thanks to my teaching . I told them “maybe about an hour a day.” They then made calculations based on the annual salary of the participants and offered me an exorbitant price to pay for my service.

In all my life, I had never imagined that so much money could be given to someone and I replied that I could not accept such an amount. I suggested they redo the calculation considering that the impact of my training was only 5 minutes per day at most. I ended up agreeing to be paid on that basis, not without some discomfort because it was, for me, a substantial sum.

Concept of free

I remember that I had a big case of conscience for having accepted all this money even though the managers seemed very satisfied with the rate thus calculated and obviously wanted to remunerate my work.

But for me, what an adventure! It was difficult for me to pay for the pleasure of working and the joy that being able to help them understand and approach people from the East gave me. For me, coming from this world where we did not work for money, but out of professional conscience, the fact of also working with pleasure was enough of a reward for me.

So I had to learn to put things aside, get rid of a negative representation and a certain guilt about receiving money.

What lesson did you learn from it?

Influence of communist programming

It wasn't just Catholic guilt over money that was at work in me, but more than that, the communist programming I was born into.

In communism, money did not exist, no one made invoices, everything was state property. We didn't have to worry about it since we had a roof over our heads, guaranteed work, and roughly equal pay for everyone; this salary served to feed us in a society without commerce, without shopping, without excess, without tourism where everyone had free access to culture, sport, health.

Whether people worked more or less well depended solely on their professional conscience.

The benefit of a humble posture

The fact of not having asked for money and of having had a humble posture was decoded by these French managers in a particular way.

I understood much later that humility could be an advantage when negotiating with French people and that it could be counterproductive in French culture to display too much self-confidence and impose financial demands.

Since that time, I have gone from discovery to discovery and enriched myself through contact with other cultures. The intercultural approach opened up new horizons and exciting perspectives for me.