Brazzil
March 2002
Culltures
"Know ourselves", I think this is the first and most important thing all of us should do. One of the ways to understand ourselves is to understand the culture of our country and our own people, in order to find out the way it has shaped us. As Ortega y Gasset said: "Yo soy yo y mi circunstancia". Living in another country with a different culture is a good way to understand and see clearer how relative the truths we have learned are, and to comprehend and relate to people who were brought up in another environment and culture than ours. It is pointless to argue which one is better, for there is no such thing as a "superior" culture. They are just different, but as an individual it is really difficult for me to see them as equally right and equally good.
I arrived in Stockholm almost one year ago, during the Swedish spring, which for me felt colder than a Brazilian winter. I was impressed. Stockholm is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen. The city is extremely organized and clean. It is a well-planned city and, since I come from São Paulo, it is totally different from what I am used to. Nature is everywhere. Parks, lakes and rivers are all over the city.
For four years, I have worked in a Swedish company before deciding to come here. It helped me understand the Swedish management style, which differs in many ways from the Brazilian one. During this time I got acquainted with many Swedes and also made really good friends, who gave me some insights about life here and briefed me on the Swedish way of living. This helped me prepare myself and avoid some basic gaffes that are common when dealing with a culture where silence is the golden rule.
Swedes speak in a low voice, slowly, with long pauses and they make little use of body language. Their answers are laconic. If you compare it with sports, a Swedish discussion is more like a ping-pong game, where you have to wait till it is your time to play. A Brazilian discussion on the other hand is a soccer game, where everybody plays at the same time and wants to participate. Both of them probably will get to the bottom and to the solution. People from a more temperamental culture, like us from a Latin country, just enjoy a more heated discussion that Swedes are careful to avoid. If you tie the Brazilian hands together, he probably won't be able to talk anymore. They may see this as pretentious, vulgar, immature or unintelligent. On the other side we may interpret their way as a sign of arrogance, superiority, shyness or less intelligence. Possibly we, Swedes and Brazilians, just think each other as "way out of it". It is funny how we can misjudge people, if we base ourselves only on our cultural values and this may cause a lot of confusion and frustration.
To keep cool, no matter what happens, is a common Swedish behavior. A good example is the subway. Sometimes when the subway breaks down and stops unexpectedly a message is read over the public address system. They just keep cool and stay silent minding their own business. They remain calm since for them the situation is perfectly clear. No animated discussions among the passengers, no complains, no swearing, not a single joke to loosen up, just a placid and untroubled atmosphere. Displaying emotions, especially as we Brazilians do, has a very low status for them.
The other day a Brazilian, who has been living in Stockholm for few years, was carrying a big and heavy box. He dropped it on his foot. In a few minutes his foot became blue and swollen, really painful. Someone took him to the hospital and after waiting for a couple of hours the doctor came to see him. The doctor examined it, confirmed that it was broken and told him to go home. Really surprised by the way he was being treated, like any other Brazilian in his position, he got excited and demanded for a better treatment, at least for an X-ray to confirm whether his foot was really broken or not.
The doctor remained cool and stressed that there was no reason to be aggressive, explained again that the X-ray was not necessary and told him once more to go home and rest. I still can't understand how a doctor can send someone home with a broken foot. It is amazing how we can adapt without noticing it. Few days ago I caught myself acting like a Swede. The bus driver closed the door on my face when I was getting in; as for them punctuality is regarded as something of noble quality, proof of rationality and efficiency. My reaction was just to turn around and walk to work instead without even getting angry. After all it was a perfectly clear situation. I was two seconds late. I still can't believe it!!
In Brazil, during the week, we usually spend more time with work colleagues than with our own friends. We like to relate to people we work with. For us, personal relationship is the base for a good work environment. At a Negotiation Skills course, the instructor told me that when he books a meeting with a Brazilian he always adds some extra time for a small talk. It is important for us to know the people we are doing business with. Like Plato once remarked: "You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation".
Swedes don't like to talk about personal matters, but in contrast when applying for a job in Sweden, personal questions are the main ones. After getting the job, no more chitchat. They put a strong emphasis on independence, which explains the positive attitude they have when being alone, working and living alone. Joking and teasing at work in Brazil is most of the time a good way to make friends and influence meetings or company relationships.
If you try this in Sweden you will probably face some disappointment since this lively cheerfulness doesn't work very well here. There is a strict line between work life and personal life. You are not expected to reveal anything about yourself as an individual, but they usually enjoy technical discussions and can spend hours on it. This creates a difficult environment for us where friendship comes before business.
Silence is worth gold here. Swedes are reflective and introvert. It is amazing how they can sit for hours without saying a word. When I touch this subject with a Brazilian friend of mine, he always remembers when he spent six hours in an airport, during a business trip, together with a Swede waiting for the connection. Not a single word was spoken! This is almost an offence for some of us.
If you manage to get them on a conversation, it will probably be very difficult to keep it up. You are going to realize that it wasn't a good idea, if you try to tell a story that you spiced up a little bit. The Swede probably will correct you as your story deviates from what really happened or will ask annoying questions about every detail. When the subject is work, they wait until you finish the explanation to give their comments.
Honesty is important and Swedes hold a stereotype of themselves as honest people. In the company where I am currently working, some employees bring sandwiches to sell. They leave them near the coffee machine together with a small box where you should put the money for the sandwich you take. Oddly enough, most of them don't cheat. They pay for what they take, even though nobody is looking.
There was a game that, together with some friends from other Latin countries, I liked to play. We called it tempting the Swedes. Everyday one of us would leave a coin on the coffee room's table of our company. The idea was to find out how many coins we could leave there before someone would take them. It was a complete failure, as after some time some of us started cheating, taking instead of adding.
But they are not as virtuous as they think they are. Swedes have their own malandragem too. It is really difficult to find a good translation for malandragem. The way I see it, malandragem is the application of our jeitinho, the way we try to bend rules, use our charisma, adaptability and personal connections in order to get things done faster. They do like to joyride on the subway and jumping queues is a major sport. When caught they look at you as an innocent child.
Rousseau in his work The Social Contract described how the climate affects the needs and consumption behavior of the people. I believe that the weather also influences how we socialize with others. In Brazil it is common and expected that kids should spend their childhood outside playing with friends. After all, almost everyday is sunny and too warm to stay inside. We go out and meet other kids. It is expected that we learn as early as then to make friends as fast as possible and it becomes natural for us.
Friends come and go so fast that we don't have the time and the capability to get attached to all of them for a long time. We can start a new friendship in five minutes, but it doesn't mean that it will last forever. As once I was told: "If you want to be remembered, make yourself present". Usually, this kind of friendship is too superficial to last, but we still call and treat the new "friend" as a real friend. Of course, we Brazilians have real friends; possibly they are quite few compared to the total amount of people we call friends. Swedes on the other hand have a much clearer distinction between colleagues and friends, it is really hard to make friends with Swedes, but if you manage to do it possibly it will last a long time.
Brazilians are internationally known for their sensuality and sexuality. Once one American told me, "The amazing thing with you, Brazilians, is that you love sex". I took that as a compliment. Swedes also like sex; they talk about it openly and freely. They talk about sex among each other as if they were talking about the weather. It is easier for them to explain to their children what sex is and the pros and cons of it. This is a kind of taboo for us; even though sex is taken as an everyday happening, we have some difficulties to talk about it as freely as they do.
For them there is nothing to be ashamed of, but they are not sensual. At least they are not as sensual as we are. We like to be sensual and behave in a sensual way. In their sensual behavior Swedes are almost puritanical, if compared to us. Our sensual behavior: light talks, an affectionate gesture and sometimes a simple look can be misinterpreted and in certain cases as abusive.
But things are changing. Globalization, influences from immigration, foreign travel and international mass media are closing the cultural gap between Brazil and Sweden. The old cultural boundaries are being swept away. Global entertainment companies are shaping the behavior and dreams of ordinary citizens, wherever they live. In a near future the gap between Brazil and Sweden will be much smaller. This is already visible in younger generations.
Some Brazilians and Swedes genuinely characteristics are still going to be untouched. Swedes probably will keep their solitariness, independence, control of emotions and love for silence. We, Brazilians, will preserve our sensuality, jeitinho, flexibility, adaptability and our dreams.
Most of all, Brazilians will continue saying that God is Brazilian and Brazil is the country of the future. And I'll keep telling everyone that it is true and I am proud of being a Brazilian!
Roberto da Silva Vaz was born in São Paulo and has been living in Sweden since the beginning of 2001. Before that, he lived in Mexico and Canada. He has visited more than 30 different countries in the last 10 years. Currently he is working for a Swedish Company in Stockholm. His email: rsvaz@yahoo.com