Evaluation, culture, communication and an intercultural anecdote: does an Australian “Good job, mate!” really mean the same thing as “You did a great job” in French?

In this new episode of Intercultural Surprises, I take you to France, where I met a young English-speaking Canadian whose experience at school made me reflect on the way we evaluate other people’s work… and on the cultural meaning behind both our compliments and our criticism.

When she arrived in France, Adeline was surprised to see her grades drop even though she felt that the quality of her work was comparable to what she had produced in Canada. But what really unsettled her were her teachers’ comments: whereas she was used to hearing “Great job!” or “Keep it up!”, she was now more likely to hear things like “You can do better” or “You need to develop this further.”

So can the same quality of work be evaluated differently depending on the country? And, more importantly, does a compliment or a positive comment necessarily have the same impact everywhere?

From school to the workplace, and from France and Canada to the United States, Australia and Colombia, I explore grades, feedback, encouragement, comparison, and, above all, those little words that do not always carry the same message from one culture to another.

Because in an intercultural context, translating the words is not enough. We also need to understand the intention behind them, the implicit messages they carry, and how they are likely to be interpreted.

In this episode: 🎓 evaluation and education, 🇨🇦 Canadian culture, 🇫🇷 French culture, 💬 feedback and communication, 🌍 intercultural differences, and 🧠 the cultural meaning of words.

An episode to help you better decode what people are saying to you… and to think about what your own words actually communicate to others.

Whether you like travelling comfortably, or a backpacker, an expat/immigrant, an HR professional or simply passionate about international mobility, this podcast is for you and anyone who is curious about the world and its people!

Enjoy!

To find out more about my background and my other activities, visit:

👉 My website: charlotte-courtois.com/en/
👉 My NGO, Konstelacio: konstelacio.org
👉 My LinkedIn profile: LinkedIn

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.