Intercultural communication pt. 9: Joachim Gögel
Hello again, yes our Women’s testimonies are over but the fight will continue until we are all treated as equal!
We are getting back to our Intercultural stories, and today Joachim was the chosen CASAFARIAN!
Joachim Gögel, Account Executive at CASAFARI
Joachim started to say that for 33 years of his life he wouldn’t have had any story to tell us, as he said “Really not any at all. I grew up in Germany, on holidays we went to Austria and languages were my least-liked topic in school.”
The change started when he became the coach of a Paralympic athlete who played in many international tournaments.
In 2006, he started to travel to international tournaments and eventually work with international coaches.
In 2008 Joachim and his player organised a training camp in Germany in preparation for the Beijing Paralympic Games. Participating was also the Brazilian team and as a part of it, his present wife. This started big changes in his life.
After visiting his wife in Brazil in 2008, he moved to Brazil in 2009. That was most probably one of the biggest cultural changes possible.
“From a typical german apartment to a Brazilian house with high walls around the plot, from big german supermarkets closing so much (especially on Sunday) to having a small supermarket on the corner of our street open 7 days a week 8 to 8 and big supermarkets till midnight, German weather to 12 months warm weather with the permanent sun.” But two changes definitely had the biggest impact on Joachim: He didn’t know Portuguese at the time and all kinds of social life were completely different from what he was used to. So he learned Portuguese, street Portuguese.
“Having a dictionary with me and learning word by word. It took me about 2 years to really understand everything (or nearly everything).”
In Brazil, especially where he lived, no one knew English. Even so, he really loved the Brazilian way of life.
“People are more open, relaxed and friendly, I mean you all know Germans, right?”
For Joachim learning the language was nothing compared with learning the Brazilian culture and the Brazilian way of communication.
“Germans communicate in a very direct way, addressing topics directly with not too much social interaction around it.”
For foreigners, this may seem very often harsh or even rude but it is a very effective way to communicate, especially in business.
Brazilian culture is quite the opposite, they talk a lot of small talk before discussing business, they are quickly friends with anyone and conversations are nearly always very nice and friendly. This even reflects in the language.
“Brazilian Portuguese sounds very nice and inviting, while German sounds like a constant fight between two angry people.”
He had to learn to communicate with Brazilians and this went far beyond knowing the language. It took many more years for him to understand how Brazilian communication worked.
What is offensive to Brazilians while it would be totally normal for Germans.
What does “you are my friend now” mean in Brazil and how it is not the same as in Germany and how you socially and culturally develop and build conversations that lead to a certain result.
It was a very long, hard learning process, it tackled his ego sometimes and challenged beliefs he had, but in the end, it was most probably the best and most valuable lesson he ever had in his life.
If you want to have a very brief summary of what Joachim had to learn, he left a great video about the topic.
Joachim faced a lot of challenges while living in Brazil but he also had some funny episodes, we are leaving you here one funny episode (1) and a less funny one (2) that made him change countries again.
1- “If you google German bus stops you will find photos of typical German bus stops. Some simple seats with a roof. In 2008 I also visited Dubai on my way back from the Beijing Paralympic Games and If you google Dubai bus stop, you will see exactly what I saw, small houses with air conditioning.
In Goiânia, where I lived in Brazil, I’ve learned that a black line on a light post is a typical bus stop.
When I asked how people know which bus stops were there and what time, my wife told me that people knew it and if not they ask anyone around and they will get the information.”
For a German guy, this sounded absurd. Can you imagine his 1st trip? He told us that instead of going south to where he should have gone he ended up in the North.
Joachim the explorer!!
2- “I loved living in Brazil, but unfortunately, things turned around.
I always considered our city a calm and safe place. But in 2016, just a few months before the Paralympic Games, we had an assault in our house. 4 young men entered the house with a gun and took us as hostages. They robbed everything, including my wife’s sports equipment.
In the end they took me with them, telling us they would kill me and put my wife and her two kids in a room where they would be locked.”
They ended up releasing Joachim a few streets away. They were not hurt but after that traumatic experience they decided to move to another country. First, they looked for opportunities in the US. But they didn’t find any. He would get a job there if he had a VISA and he would get a VISA if he had a job… Dead end.
So they chose Portugal. The language would be easy and it would also be a good mix of German and Brazilian culture. The climate would be better than in Germany but not as good as in Goiânia.
So in November 2017 he traveled to Portugal, prepared everything and in February 2018 they arrived in Portugal with all they had.
“This time cultural adaptation was quite easy for me, but my wife still has some struggles. Even so, Brazil and Portugal have a lot in common, it is not the same and you have to adapt. Even though the language is the same, it is hard to understand Portuguese from Portugal. Sometimes even my Brazilian wife struggles to understand Portuguese.”
In conclusion Joachim was able to adapt to every cultural barrier he encountered but only by being open and experiencing a bit of each one of them!
