Ali Syarief — A Lifelong Journey Across Cultures
An updated reflection on cultural competence, communication, and the human journey across cultures
In December 2011, The Mascara Report published a profile of me under the title “Listen, Learn and Live: Ali Syarief, Farside’s Cultural Guide to Indonesia.”
At the time, I was working as an Indonesian cultural advisor and speaking about cross-cultural management, communication, and cultural awareness in various forums.
More than fifteen years have passed.
Looking back today, I realize that what I was discussing in 2011 was not simply a professional subject. It became a way of life.
I have come to understand culture not merely as something we study, teach, or explain.
Culture is something we live.
And if I had to summarize my philosophy of cross-cultural understanding in three words, they would remain the same:
Look. Listen. Learn. Live.
Look and Listen
The first step toward understanding another culture is not speaking.
It is listening.
And before listening, we must learn how to look.
Not simply to observe what people do, but to ask ourselves why they do it.
Why does a Japanese family communicate differently from an Indonesian family?
Why can the same gesture be polite in one society and inappropriate in another?
Why can silence mean respect in one culture and uncertainty in another?
Why can a business proposal that appears perfectly reasonable to us create discomfort for someone from another cultural background?
These questions remind us that human behavior is always shaped by context.
We often make the mistake of judging other people according to the standards of our own culture.
That is where misunderstanding begins.
Learn
Learning another culture does not mean abandoning our own.
It means becoming sufficiently open to recognize that our way of seeing the world is not the only possible way.
Indonesia itself provides a remarkable example.
Our history has been shaped by layers of cultural interaction: indigenous traditions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Chinese influences, European influences, and many others.
Javanese culture, in particular, has demonstrated a remarkable ability to absorb outside influences while transforming them into something locally meaningful.
We do not simply copy.
We adapt.
We negotiate.
We select.
We make something new.
That is one reason I believe Indonesians have a natural capacity for cross-cultural interaction.
But natural capacity is not enough.
It must be accompanied by awareness.
Live
The third and fourth stages are where cultural understanding becomes real:
Learn — and then live.
You cannot truly understand another culture simply by reading a book about it.
You have to spend time with people.
Eat together.
Travel together.
Stay in their homes.
Listen to their stories.
Observe how families interact.
Experience their celebrations and their ordinary days.
This is one reason I have become increasingly interested in people-to-people exchange and homestay programs.
My relationship with Japan, for example, has developed through many years of direct experience with Japanese families, communities, educators, and cultural organizations.
My work with LEX Hippo Family Club has reinforced something I have believed for a long time:
Language is not only a communication tool. It is a doorway into another way of seeing the world.
When people live together, even without perfect language, something important happens.
They begin to understand one another beyond words.
The Cultural Interpreter
Years ago, during an exploration involving the Korowai people of West Papua, I experienced a powerful lesson in cultural interpretation.
We arrived without adequate understanding of the local context and were initially met with arrows.
The situation could easily have been interpreted simply as hostility.
But we had someone who understood both worlds.
He was able to communicate with the local community, explain our intentions, and help establish trust.
He did not merely translate words.
He translated meaning.
That distinction is fundamental.
A cultural interpreter is not simply someone who knows two languages.
A cultural interpreter understands two systems of meaning.
He or she understands what may cause concern, what creates trust, what signals respect, and what may unintentionally cause offense.
In today’s increasingly interconnected world, we need more people who can perform this role.
Culture Is My Business
I once said:
“In some ways, you could say culture is my business.”
More than a decade later, I still believe it.
But today I would put it differently.
Culture is not simply my business. Culture has become my lifelong field of learning.
My work has taken me through journalism, communication, education, cross-cultural training, international exchange, Japan–Indonesia relations, homestay programs, and community-based cultural activities.
Through all of these experiences, I have repeatedly returned to the same question:
How can human beings understand one another better?
That question is more important today than it was in 2011.
The world has become more connected, but connectivity does not automatically create understanding.
We can communicate instantly with someone thousands of kilometers away, yet still misunderstand the person sitting across the table.
Technology has made communication faster.
It has not necessarily made communication deeper.
The Three Fingers
There is an Indonesian saying:
When you point one finger at someone, three fingers point back at you.
I have always liked this saying because it is more than a moral lesson.
It is a lesson in cultural awareness.
Whenever we encounter another culture, we are looking into a mirror.
We think we are examining them.
But we are also examining ourselves.
Why do we consider our way normal?
Why do we assume our values are universal?
Why do we regard another person’s behavior as strange simply because it differs from ours?
Cross-cultural understanding begins when we are willing to question ourselves.
From Business to Human Relationships
When I first presented these ideas in professional forums, much of the discussion centered on cross-cultural management.
The business case remains important.
A company operating internationally must understand its customers, employees, partners, and communities.
It must understand cultural expectations.
It must train its people.
It must avoid assumptions.
It must know how to apologize when mistakes occur.
And most importantly, it must build relationships based on trust.
But over the years I have come to believe that this principle applies far beyond business.
It applies to diplomacy.
Education.
Journalism.
Tourism.
International exchange.
Friendship.
Marriage.
And ordinary human interaction.
In the end, every relationship is cross-cultural in some way.
Even people from the same country may come from different generations, regions, religions, professions, families, and experiences.
Understanding difference is therefore not a specialized skill.
It is a human skill.
Japan and the Long Journey
Japan has played an especially important role in my own journey.
My relationship with Japan began decades ago and has continued through education, travel, friendship, cultural exchange, homestay programs, and my continuing engagement with Japanese communities.
Japan taught me that culture is often best understood not through monuments, but through everyday life.
Sit with a family.
Share a meal.
Take part in a community activity.
Listen to people.
Experience their routines.
That is when the country begins to reveal itself.
My continuing relationship with LEX Hippo Family Club has deepened this understanding.
Hippo’s philosophy of multilingual and multicultural experience has reinforced my belief that language learning should not be separated from human relationships.
We do not learn languages only to speak.
We learn languages to connect.
From 2011 to Today
When The Mascara Report published its profile of me in 2011, I was already speaking about cultural competence and the importance of understanding cultural differences.
Since then, the world has changed dramatically.
So has my own journey.
I have continued to write, teach, travel, work in journalism, develop cross-cultural programs, and build relationships between Indonesia and other societies.
I founded and developed Cross Culture Institute, while continuing my work in journalism and public communication.
My work with Indonesia–Japan exchange programs has brought Japanese families and Indonesian communities together through homestay and cultural experiences.
And through all these years, the central idea has remained remarkably simple:
People understand people when they spend time with one another.
Not through stereotypes.
Not through assumptions.
Not merely through textbooks.
But through experience.
What Comes Next
Looking back, I no longer see cross-cultural understanding as a professional specialty.
I see it as a lifelong journey.
The world does not need people who simply know more about other cultures.
It needs people who are willing to listen before judging, learn before assuming, and live alongside people who are different from themselves.
That is why my three Ls have become four:
Look.
Listen.
Learn.
Live.
Look carefully.
Listen deeply.
Learn humbly.
And live together.
Because culture is ultimately not about countries.
It is about people.
And the greatest lesson I have learned through a lifetime of crossing cultures is this:
The distance between two cultures becomes smaller when two human beings are willing to sit down, listen, and learn from each other.
