Multicultural You

Multicultural You

My story

multiculturalyou

 Hello, I am Nadia Plamadeala

I was born in a small country in Eastern Europe divided between East and West. My mother tongues are Russian and Moldovan – a dialect of Romanian.

I started to study Italian and English when I was seven years old.

As you can see, I was exposed to cross-culturalism since I was a child.

During the last years of high school, I decided to make my passion my profession. I relocated to Italy to study Cross-Cultural Mediation and Translation in Rome.

I knew the language perfectly, so what could go wrong, right?

I was quite shocked when I realized I was struggling with some of the Italian cultural aspects…

The baby Jesus is put in the nativity scene crib only on December 25th?

You don’t drink cappuccino after lunch?

Why do Italians say “permesso” (with your permit) when entering an empty room?

Those are now funny stories from my personal integration process but they were not always perceived this way. 

The aim of this blog and my projects is to get you more cross-cultural knowledge and to help you become a happy multicultural person in Italy or anywhere in the world!

Me in one of my favorite places in Rome

 

Why cross-cultural awareness?

 
In the globalized world, many of us dress the same way and look the same. So, when we travel to another country or choose it as our next relocation destination, we don’t often realize that the rules of interaction and the core beliefs there might be different and it may impact us a lot.
 
From personal distance and perception of time to eye contact, smile, or small talk, we experience social interactions differently. It depends on our culture. Not being aware of this, might cause culture shock, especially severe in countries that are not perceived as different or culturally distant.
 
If you have to deal with people that represent other cultures on a daily basis, you are in the right place.
 
My aim is to help you to be aware of your cultural bias and assumptions and of those of other nations in order to improve your cross-cultural communication and your experience in a foreign country as an expat or as a businessperson.
 
Read my interview to Expatfocus from a couple of years ago, the Insider article about Rome that featured me or my answers on Quora to Italy-related questions.

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