Can’t take a joke
Imagine this situation: An American businessman is giving a speech in Germany.
He doesn’t speak German, so he is using an interpreter.
In the introduction to his speech, he tells a little joke.
Everyone laughs. He’s happy.
His joke worked, right?
Not so fast. In fact, they never heard his joke.
The interpreter did not translate it.
Why not? He knew that the joke was offensive in German culture.
So why did everyone laugh?
The interpreter told them to.
He said, “The speaker has just told a joke. Please laugh.”
Most interpreters would have done the same thing.
That’s because jokes do not translate well from one culture to another.
Different cultures find different things humorous.
For example, Americans often make fun of themselves or others in their jokes.
But people from China, Japan, and other cultures in the Far East do not find that kind of joke funny.
They don’t think it is humorous to laugh at their own or other people’s mistakes.
Even worse, They might feel offended by such a joke.
That’s why we should be careful about using humor in cross-cultural situations.
But isn’t there even one joke that can make people from any culture laugh?
Probably not.
However, there are similarities in what makes jokes funny.
A good joke in any culture ends in a surprising way.
You cannot imagine the ending.
It is the surprise that makes us laugh.
Physical humor also works in every culture.
That’s why clowns are popular all over the world.
They use their bodies, not their worlds, to make people laugh.
People from all cultures seem to enjoy that kind of humor.