Customs And Cultures Into The Australian Society example essay topic

Multiculturalism is one of the many factors which makes Australia unique, contributing to our rich history and character. About 27% of Australians have at least one parent born overseas, 23% themselves were born overseas, and 16% speak a language other than English at home. The Chinese, Greek, Italian, Arabic, Vietnamese, plus many other cultures have contributed to ethnicity of Australian society today. These ethnic groups come to Australia and are required to fit into a completely different way of life, but it would be unrealistic to expect that ethnic communities should "leave their ethnic identity behind". These groups give Australia a better appreciation of other cultures and bring aspects of material culture (food, houses, and other things used in day-to-day life) and non-material culture (elements of life which are not common day-to-day, but are still very important, for example, religion, language and values). The relationship between ethnic groups and traditional Australian communities is growing stronger.

Although there is still conflict between ethnic and Australian identities, Australians are becoming more and more tolerant and valuing everyone for themselves and their contributions. People from other cultures often come to Australia and learn English as their second language, bridging the cultural gap and allowing them to communicate in Australian society. If they choose not to adopt the English language, this can often result in a breakdown in communication, making both people unable to get their message across. Some ethnic groups often stay to themselves, having their same cultural background in common.

This ensures that they can relate and communicate with each other. This is called "intra-cultural communication". People also use their body to make symbols to get the message across. These are used worldwide, although can differ from country to country. These can include gestures, facial expressions, and many other non-verbal symbols.

It is very common to see people from other ethnic backgrounds using their own countries gestures, such as the Japanese bow, while still adopting the Australian ones such and the hand shake to communicate in Australian society. This occurs because of the person's socialisation into the society they were born into. They learn the society's ways of thinking, feeling and acting and adopt this way of behaving throughout their life, considering it the normal way of acting. What is considered normal in one culture may be considered very rude and invasive in another. For example, in the Japanese culture it is considered rude to blow your nose in public, where as in Australia it is normal. In Japan the normality is to sniff until in private, while in Australia sniffing is irritating for others.

If a Japanese person was to come to Australia for the first time and experience someone in a public place with a cold blowing their nose, it would be a shock as it is not part of their culture. Another example is that in Middle Eastern countries women are required to not communicate directly within men after a certain age, while in Australia both genders are considered equal. If a Middle Eastern woman of traditional customs were to arrive in Australia after not being educated of the difference in cultures, it would be hard to adjust to communicating freely with men. Since the woman grew up learning this socialisation component, she would most likely still avoid speaking to men like Australian women do, while still trying to adjust to the Australian culture.

In conclusion - Australia - being one of the most culturally diverse nations in the world, has been successful in breaking most communication barriers between anglo-saxon Australian's and ethnic Australian's by accepting different beliefs, customs and cultures into the Australian society.