1. CULTURE OF ASIA & LATIN
AMERICA
NOR AIN ZAINAL

2. • The history between Asia and the Americas dates back to
the 19th century large-scale migrations of Asian laborers and
traders to Latin America and the Caribbean.
• Today – China among the top three trading partners of most
countries in the region, and increasing.
• India, Korea, Japan, and other Asian countries are following
closely behind.
• Resulted > spanning trade, investment, technology transfer,
development forums, immigration, and cross-cultural
exchange, are re-shaping Latin American economic and
social realities.
• Regional policymakers and businesspeople look across the
Pacific with a blend of intrigue, competitive anxiety, and
interest in learning from Asia’s economic success.

3. ASIA

4. Harmony
• Harmony is important in Asia
• “Feng Shui” is an ancient Chinese system used to create harmony with the
environment to gain peace, health and good fortune.
• Most Asian cultures place a high value on balance, harmony and order.
• Group interests come before the individual.
• The individual in Asia, will not be able to make an important decision on
their own – need to consult with the group to reach a consensus, creating
harmony within the group, before progress can be made
• Takes more time than would be necessary in a Western setting, where the
responsible individual has been authorized to make decisions on their own,
based upon pre-set guidelines.
• In Asia, “group think,” is dominate, as opposed to individualism in a
Western setting.
• These differences, Western individualism and Asian group mentality can
offer lead to clashing, and the Westerner is the one that will need to adapt,
because Asians not going to change their ways any time soon.

5. Confrontation
• Asians tend to avoid confrontation at all costs.
– Once the group has made a decision and "harmony" is
established, anyone seen as disagreeing with the
decision, regardless of any unforeseen problems that
arose, will be considered disrupting the harmony.
• Westerners usually don't have a problem with
confronting a problem head on, getting all the
issues out on the table, finding a solution and
moving ahead.
– Disagreements are not considered a personal issue.

6. Emotions
• Asians, in general, won't reveal their emotions.
– consider it a sign of weakness to show their feelings, particularly
in business dealings.
• Westerners tend to show their emotions more readily, what
they like or dislike, and often with their facial expressions.
– more open
• Except in closer personal settings, Asians tend not to show
their emotions, and are thus more "closed."
• When dealing with Asians, Westerners have to learn to
keep their emotions under control.
• In Thailand Westerners raise their voice when things are
not going their way. Raising ones voice in Thai culture only
makes things worse. Although they won’t show it
outwardly, Thai people respond negatively to this type of
behavior.

7. Critical Thinking
• Asians are linear in their thinking, going step-by-step,
dealing with one issue at a time.
• When disagreements arise, say over contract terms or
meanings, Asians tend to see things one way.
• There is a tendency for them to not see how other issues
affect the issue under consideration.
• This contradiction – being concerned with harmony and yet
not recognizing the relationships of the issues – can be a
source of great frustration for the Westerner, as they can
see the cause and effect relationship very clearly, while the
Asian remains oblivious to the very same interconnections.
• This inability to see these relationships may be because
Asians have difficulty thinking in the abstract, thinking
"outside the box." ( Asians Can't Think by Satoshi
Kanazawa) .

8. Ethnocentricity
• Westerners have been conditioned to accept the idea
that "all people are created equal,"
• Asians aren't, and are under no false set of beliefs.
Japan is a racially homogeneous society, and South
Korea, even more so.
• This racial centricity means making friends within Asian
society a difficult if not impossible task for Westerners,
and can lead to some lonely times spent in the region.
• Most local “friends” Westerners make in Asia are with
those individuals who have spent a certain amount of
time in a Western country, and have adopted at least
some of Western culture as their own.

9. Language
• Asian has many difficult languages.
• Mandarin Chinese is one of the most difficult
languages for Westerners
– it is a tonal system
– over 40,000 word-symbols
– 2500 which are commonly used
• The Thai language is also tonal and a challenging
language
– Japanese is a difficult language to learn
– one of the most complex character systems in the
world
– mish-mash of three different systems

10. LATIN-AMERICA

11. • Latin American countries are much more closely related to
their Western counterparts when it comes to property
laws.
• The Spaniards, from Western Europe, brought their culture,
their customs, their legal systems, their architecture, their
language and for better or worse, their religion to Central
and South America. The Portugese did the same in Brazil.
• The influence of Christianity, distinctly a Western concept,
is prevalent over the entire Spanish speaking Americas,
from Mexico to Argentina.
• There are few Buddhists in Central or South America. Or
Buddhist temples. Or Hindus and Hindi temples for that
matter.

12. Spanish Pillars
• The architecture, the language and the religion,
are three dominate pillars of Spanish influence
that help make the Western expat feel more at
home in Latin America than in Asia.
• Americans, and Europeans who have traveled to
Spain, are familiar with Spanish architecture.
• The Southwestern United States has many
examples of Spanish style homes, for example
Texas and California.
• Spanish is the easiest language to learn.

13. Culinary Differences
• Comparing the differences between Asian and
Latin countries, Westerners find it easier to
adapt to a breakfast of flour tortillas, beans,
fried eggs, fruit and coffee for breakfast, than
to say, kimchi, seaweed, fish, rice and tea.
• Therefore, they did not worry to offend the
other person.

14. Learning Spanish
• Traveling in Latin America is much easier when
it comes to language
• Spanish is understood from most of Latin
countries.
• A traveler in Asia goes from Japanese, to
Korean, to different dialects of Chinese, to
Vietnamese, to Laotian, Khmer, Thai, Malay,
Burmese and many others.

15. Purchasing Real Estate
• Owning land in Central and South America is
much easier and legally secure than in Asia.
• Any foreigner in Ecuador with a valid visa is
guaranteed by the Ecuadorian Constitution the
same legal rights as Ecuadorian citizens.
• The same can be said for Mexico. Lake Chapalla
just south of Guadalajara, Cabo San Lucas on the
Baja Peninsula and Playa del Carmen are
examples of locations where foreigners have
moved in and drove up local property prices.

16. REFERENCES

17. IDB and ADB look at future of Asia-Latin America relations
http://www.iadb.org/en/topics/trade/idb-and-adb-look-at-future-of-asia-latin-
america-relations,6688.html
The Culture in Latin America
http://www.bizymoms.com/vacationsandtravel/latin-america/latin-america-
culture.html
Latin America and Asia Contrastedhttp://fleeamerica.com/latin-america-and-asia-
contrasted FleeAmerica.com
. Transferability of Asian Experiences to Africa and Latin America
http://www.fao.org/docrep/006/y5098e/y5098e09.htm
http://www.apa.org/monitor/feb03/intelligence.aspx Intelligence across cultures
Research in Africa, Asia and Latin America is showing how culture and intelligence
interact.
By ETIENNE BENSON
Monitor Staff
February 2003, Vol 34, No. 2
Print version: page 56
American Phychological Association