This past weekend, I had a chance to visit one of the purveyors of global goodwill and unity. Yes, I finally felt well enough to go outside and found myself in line at a busy Starbucks. As I waited to order a cup of tea, I noticed the young couple behind me. I say couple, but they may have been siblings, friends, or husband and wife – I have no idea, but there were two of them. Unlike myself, they were fashionably dressed and debating what to order. By the time I got to the register, I was fairly certain they were from Israel, but I’ve seen this kind of thing happen with people from all over the world.

As I ordered and paid for my beverage speaking the little Chinese I know, the young woman in line asked me if I speak English. “Yes,” I replied. She then asked if I could help her order. I asked what she wanted and she told me a mocha. Having overheard, the man at the register asked her in English, “Mocha – what size?” Our intrepid traveler looked to me with beseeching eyes and asked, “What did he say?” I pointed to the sample cups and asked what size she wanted. She indicated the medium one that Starbucks quaintly calls a grande. Not missing a beat, the employee said, “Grande mocha.” Again, the young woman looked to me for interpretation. I “translated” for her, “A grande mocha.” She nodded her agreement with the order. Looking at the pair in line, the employee went for gold by asking, “Just one?” Again, all eyes turned to me. “Anything else?” I asked. The young woman said no and her order was made and paid for.

This comedy of expectations on the international stage of human communication never fails to make me chuckle. I’ve seen this play out many times in China, but also in numerous other countries. Faced with the unknown, it is easy for a traveler to latch onto their own expectations of misunderstanding and completely miss the actual words coming out of a person’s mouth. For the one confused, I know it can be frustrating, but hopefully they take it in stride. For the rest of us, it is a chance for a good laugh over a nice hot mocha. Whatever size you please.

Photo: Dawn Endico (Flickr)

An article in the Guardian recently asked, “Why aren’t Chinese students at UK universities getting top degrees?” A recent study of undergraduate students found that compared to 52% of students from outside the European Union who scored a 2:1 or higher (2:1 is the second highest degree you can achieve under the British undergraduate degree classification), only 42% of students from China did. And this is compared to an overall 68% of students who achieved a 2:1 or higher.

Why is this? Zhiqi Wang and Ian Crawford — authors of a study that compared the average marks and final degree classification of just over 100 British and Chinese accounting and finance first-degree students who enrolled in 2008 — cites two factors:

First, Chinese students fail to adapt their approaches to learning and so their performance declines in the later years of a degree when the complexity of the work increases. And, second, while the UK and Chinese education systems are not that different, the strong focus in China on study and achieving qualifications means many young people enrol in higher education due to pressure from family or the jobs market rather than their own motivation.

There’s no question that studying overseas is difficult. This is why we believe adjustment is so important and why we wrote a guide to help parents and students understand what to expect of the overseas study experience. Whether socially or academically, knowing what others will expect of you will be crucial to helping you perform better, if not well. As Cristina Iannelli, professor of education and social stratification at the University of Edinburgh, observes “we accept all these students but we don’t know much about them. "I see some of them struggling because they really don’t know before coming here exactly what is expected of them."

Find out more here.

This blog first appeared in Prep Beijing on December 4 and was written by Alicia Lui.

Alicia Lui is a co-founder at Prep Beijing!, a coaching company focusing on core soft skills such as effective communication, social and emotional skills, etiquette, critical thinking and leadership skills. Prior to founding Prep Beijing! She has worked in management consulting and in banking. She holds and MBA from INSEAD and Bachelor’s from University of Chicago

Photo courtesy of wikimedia commons.