Humour Across Cultures
It is generally accepted wisdom that what may be funny in one culture is not necessarily so in another.
A Toastmaster from Singapore, Eric Feng, wrote an article for a blog for Americans. Read it here.
He's talking about speaking to Singaporeans from the perspective of a 'foreigner' speaking to a homogeneous group of Mandarin speakers. That would almost never happen - either in Singapore or in Hong Kong!
,
Unfortunately, it's very easy but dangerous to make assumptions about your audience. We don't know what languages they speak, whether they are foreign, local, married, divorced, straight or gay.
Anyway, reading that article prompted me to reflect on the quirks of "Hong Kong Humour". As I see it:
Physical humour is more effective than verbal humour. Word play, sarcasm, irony, satire and the like do not go down so well. Costumes, props, exaggerated body language and drama do get lots of laughs.
Humour in the context of boy/girl relationships is funny. Most speakers choose to situate their story in a torrid love affair or a failing relationship. If not, the boss/employee partnership comes in second.
And, as mentioned in previous posts, speakers sometimes pokes fun at others because of their differences - in looks, origin, sex, etc, which, to my astonishment, often gets the audience laughing.
Going back to Eric's article, we have to remember that humour is culturally bound. And, therefore, to be funny when speaking to an audience outside of Hong Kong, or even Asia, requires knowledge of their culture and, ideally, experience.
What do you think?
A Toastmaster from Singapore, Eric Feng, wrote an article for a blog for Americans. Read it here.
He's talking about speaking to Singaporeans from the perspective of a 'foreigner' speaking to a homogeneous group of Mandarin speakers. That would almost never happen - either in Singapore or in Hong Kong!
,
Unfortunately, it's very easy but dangerous to make assumptions about your audience. We don't know what languages they speak, whether they are foreign, local, married, divorced, straight or gay.
Anyway, reading that article prompted me to reflect on the quirks of "Hong Kong Humour". As I see it:
Physical humour is more effective than verbal humour. Word play, sarcasm, irony, satire and the like do not go down so well. Costumes, props, exaggerated body language and drama do get lots of laughs.
Humour in the context of boy/girl relationships is funny. Most speakers choose to situate their story in a torrid love affair or a failing relationship. If not, the boss/employee partnership comes in second.
And, as mentioned in previous posts, speakers sometimes pokes fun at others because of their differences - in looks, origin, sex, etc, which, to my astonishment, often gets the audience laughing.
Going back to Eric's article, we have to remember that humour is culturally bound. And, therefore, to be funny when speaking to an audience outside of Hong Kong, or even Asia, requires knowledge of their culture and, ideally, experience.
What do you think?
