Tarock culture blog
How culture shapes the way we talk, trust and show up.
Short, honest essays on feedback, time, trust and personality across cultures. Built on Erin Meyer, Edward T. Hall and cross-cultural research, written for real conversations rather than stereotypes.
Articles
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- Why your honest feedback landed like a slap.
Direct vs indirect communication explained: why blunt feedback reads as honest to some and rude to others, with examples and tips for giving feedback across cultures.
- Some people say it. Others expect you to hear it.
High context vs low context culture in plain language: Edward T. Hall’s idea, everyday examples, country tendencies and how to communicate across both styles.
- You moved countries. Did your type move too?
How culture affects personality: why your MBTI result can change after moving abroad or switching languages, and what actually shifts versus what stays stable.
- Late, early or exactly right? It depends who is counting.
Monochronic vs polychronic time explained: Hall’s chronemics, why “on time” means different things across cultures, examples and how to plan across both.
- Do they trust your work, or do they trust you?
Cognitive vs affective trust and task-based vs relationship-based trust: how different cultures build trust at work, with practical ways to earn both.
- You sound different on the phone with your mum. That has a name.
Code switching explained: what it means, everyday examples at work and home, why people do it, what it costs, and how it shows up in personality tests.
- “Where are you from?” should not be a hard question. For you, it is.
What is a third culture kid? The meaning of TCK, common signs, the upsides and challenges of growing up between cultures, and how it shapes personality.
- Six questions every culture quietly answers.
Hofstede’s cultural dimensions in plain language: power distance, individualism, motivation, uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation and indulgence, with examples and limits.
- Is your story about you, or about your people?
Individualism vs collectivism explained: what each means, examples in families and workplaces, how it shapes the self, and why most people mix both.
- Knowing about cultures is not the same as working well across them.
Cultural intelligence (CQ) explained: the four capabilities of drive, knowledge, strategy and action, examples, and practical ways to build CQ at work and in life.
- Your normal is someone else’s strange.
Ethnocentrism and cultural relativism explained: definitions, everyday examples, why both matter, their limits, and how to notice your own cultural lens.
- Moving countries changes you. The question is how.
Acculturation explained: meaning, John Berry’s four strategies (integration, assimilation, separation, marginalisation), acculturative stress and identity after moving.
- You will never finish learning someone’s culture. That is the point.
Cultural humility explained: its meaning, origins in healthcare, how it differs from cultural competence, everyday examples and how to practise it.
- Planners, talkers and listeners.
The Lewis Model explained: Richard Lewis’s linear-active, multi-active and reactive culture types, everyday examples, and how to use it without stereotyping.
- What is culture shock, and why does it hit in month three?
What is culture shock? A plain-language definition, the four stages, common signs and examples, reverse culture shock, and what actually helps you cope.
- Culture shock: your questions, answered plainly.
Answers to the most common culture shock questions: what it means, how long it lasts, whether it is normal, symptoms, reverse culture shock and how to cope.