There are multiple cultural impacts that can effect the success of the our project, Air Quality in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The most important one I believe is language. Without clear communication with the citizens in Kazakhstan, it will be difficult to fully understand their culture and provide help. Furthermore, because our venture involves developing an application for the community at Almaty so its important to have a basic understanding of their language. For example, we, common US citizens, are reluctant to use APPs in a different language. Similarly, the Kazakhstani will be reluctant to use the application if they cannot understand the language. Nonetheless, with only a basic language skill is not enough to provide exactly what Kazakhstani needs and will create some difficulty for our product to be accepted. It is also necessary to learn about their lifestyle, religious belief, economy, and etc. For example, coal burning is one of the main contributor to air pollution but coal mining is the main contributor to Kazakhstan’s economy. So it would be unacceptable for Kazakhstan to stop coal mining as it will be detrimental to their economy. In addition, there are other sources of pollutants that we can control and alleviate. For instance, how does Kazakhstani’s lifestyle contribute to air pollution? Is it the same as in United States? The fossil fuels powering the cars, which are necessary for day to day travel and work in United States, are one of the main sources of carbon dioxide. Likewise, we need to understand how important are pollutant related sources (such as car usage, emission from factory & plants, heater, and etc.) relevant to Kazakhstani’s everyday life. We can achieve this by conducting thorough research and communication with Kazakhstani.
I come from an Chinese immigrant family and my parents and relatives have minimal knowledge of the language and other cultural aspects of United States. Although with limited cultural knowledge, they make a living by running a small business. However, they often encounter difficulties while communicating with customers and providing what the customers need. This can be frustrating for both my relatives and the customers as my relatives can loss potential customers by leaves the customer unsatisfied. Furthermore, since everything now is made easier with the help of technology, many local business uses popular social media Apps to attract customers. However, my relatives refrain from those Apps and remain outdated. This is not only because of the language barrier but also the lack of understanding of mass media/Apps culture in US. Definitely, the language barrier is one of the reasons and prevents them from casually communicating with the customers or using web search engines to learn about these cultures. Nonetheless, they are very adaptable to new Apps in Chinese. Despite that, they gradually gain cultural aspects as they spend more time in the US. Another interesting instance was saying “god bless you” to someone who had just sneezed. I had no prior cultural knowledge about the US before I came when I was ten years old; and in China, no one follow up with an expression like “god bless you” after a sneeze. I learned that it is rude and impolite to not say the expression to the sneezer in the US.
A clear understanding of one’s traditional background is important to avoid any upsetting situations. For example, Kazakhs are very superstitious and have many taboos on food/drinks. They do not eat pork due to traditional reasons and it will cause adverse effect if these taboos are not clearly understood. It is disrespectful to waste food in Kazakhstan and common to find people eating with hands. Understanding these food cultures can help to better address any problems regarding food without being considered disrespectful to the community. In addition, there’s a strong division between the power of men and women in different countries. For instance, in Kazakhstan, men has higher position in society while women may have more qualification for that job; and women is generally not allowed to smoke as it is considered inappropriate. Additionally, cultural decorum is very different among countries and neglecting those decorum can be unfavorable while trying to resolve community problems. Other than prohibited smoking for women in Kazakhstan, shoes needs to be removed before entering one’s house and whistling inside the house is considered bad luck. Furthermore, it is considered normal for friends to hold hands or hook their arms around each other publicly in Asian countries. Any negligence or misunderstanding of these cultural aspects can result in more disagreement and problems in Kazakhstan or other parts of Asia. Lastly, I referenced the website, https://www.everyculture.com/Ja-Ma/Kazakhstan.html, for cultural practices in Kazakhstan.
