Hey! Mitt namn är Macy. Valkommen till min tredje blogg. Here’s my Swedish update – I have a 41-day streak on Duolingo. We’re still learning all about food – this is a common theme!

According to Google’s AI overview, “Swedish cuisine centers on fresh, hearty, and simple home-cooked meals (husmanskost), heavily featuring potatoes, fish (salmon, herring), dairy, berries, and meatballs.”

New Swedish words unlocked!

  • Mums – yummy
  • Ost – cheese
  • Meny – menu
  • Hungrig – hungry
  • En tårta – a cake
  • Ursäkta – excuse me
  • Mer – more
  • Kött – meat (pronounced like Shot)
  • En sallad – a salad (which I don’t think I’ll be ordering much, haha!)

Remember how my second driving question centered around the differences and similarities between Swedish and Canadian culture? I don’t want to neglect this aspect of my free inquiry, because I think it’s equally – if not more – important than my language learning journey.

Recently, I attended a workshop at UVic on cultural intelligence, or “CQ.” It makes me mad that the acronym isn’t CI, but I understand that CQ is borrowing from the “Q” of “IQ”, eating stands for intelligence quotient. Something similar happened when psychologists studying personality and cognition coined the term emotional intelligence (also EQ, not EI). The CQ workshop was fantastic and I learned a lot.

The cultural intelligence framework UVic follows breaks intercultural contentment into four practical parts:

Elements of Cultural Intelligence (CQ)

  1. Drive
  2. Knowledge
  3. Strategy
  4. Action

Cultural Intelligence (CQ)

Drive – intercultural motivation

To succeed in a new culture, you need to be motivated to learn about where you are, who you’re around, and basically what’s going on in the world. This comes from more than just being “open-minded” – you can build intercultural motivation by exploring your environment and talking to people from different backgrounds.

Knowledge – awareness of different cultures

Intercultural knowledge is the understanding piece. When I first started my inquiry project, my intercultural motivation was high. I chose to do an international practicum because I want (very badly!!!) to explore the world outside of my context and immerse myself in a new culture. However, my intercultural knowledge was admittedly lower. Intercultural knowledge means recognizing and understanding how things like communication styles and workplace norms vary across cultures. Knowing the language of the place you’re visiting also falls under here – or at least, some language basics. This is why I chose to inquire into Swedish language and culture. I had NO IDEA what the norms and expectations were in Sweden – I didn’t grow up with Swedish friends, I’ve never been to Scandinavia in general, and I really only had a stereotypical understanding of Sweden – hockey, IKEA, meatballs, and ABBA!

“Take a Chance on Me” by ABBA. I plan on visiting the ABBA museum in Stockholm if I get some free time during my practicum. I grew up listening to ABBA and I think that they are the most popular musicians to ever come from Sweden – although pop star Zara Larsson is blowing up globally today!

Strategy – planning ahead for intercultural experiences

This aspect of CQ focuses on self-awareness and planning. Travellers/people interacting with those from other cultures need to be aware of their own assumptions and shed light on them. That’s like me realizing that I don’t know much about Swedish identity and daily life, just what I’ve seen in the media – hockey, ABBA, etcetera. Instead of just showing up in Stockholm with no understanding, I’ve made a plan to approach intercultural interactions with curiosity and background knowledge – which I’m gaining through my inquiry project!

Action – acting appropriately

This is the part of CQ that you can see. Appropriate behaviour is flexible and culturally responsive. Here’s an example – I learned in one of my social psychology classes in undergrad that certain cultures have larger “personal bubbles” than others. Generally, Western cultures (e.g., Canada, UK, USA) prefer more physical space when interacting with others (2-3 feet). Latin American, Middle Eastern, and Mediterranean cultures are sometimes called “low-distance cultures” because they typically have smaller, more flexible personal bubbles, allowing for closer conversation and more physical contact. So, it might come off as rude for me as a Canadian to visit Belize and stand very far away from someone I’m conversing with. Vice versa, my friend Fernanda, whose family is from Mexico, has noticed that her touchiness (e.g., a pat on the arm) is sometimes misinterpreted in Canada as romantic interest or a violation of personal space, even though it’s just part of how she communicates with friends. Someone with high cultural intelligence is able to recognize these differences in appropriate behaviour and show flexibility, adjusting how they interact accordingly.

You can read more about cultural intelligence (CQ) on this UVic webpage: https://www.uvic.ca/career-services/build-your-career/using-competencies/cultural-intelligence-competencies/index.php

Stay tuned for my next blog post, where I will continue developing my cultural intelligence in preparation for my international travels!