Symbol of your Culture: Literature

For the post due on Monday, please write about a symbol of your culture from literature. You can write about a famous genre (or type) of literature, for example, haiku is a type of poetry from Japan. Or you can write about a famous author or book that represents your culture. Try to give examples of the literature and explain its significance for your country and culture.

How do you determine what culture is?

"Never judge a culture by one man and never judge a man by popular culture." (Anonymous, from http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Culture)

The quote above describes the situation of cross-cultural awareness and judgment. Now that you are in America, people will learn about your culture from you. You are, in a sense, a cultural ambassador for your country. Everything you say and do will reflect on you as an individual, but it will also reflect on you as a citizen of your country. Likewise, as you meet Americans, you will form beliefs about American culture based on individual encounters.

Is this a fair way to define the culture of a foreign country? How is it fair? How is it unfair? Can you think of a better way to define a country's culture? How must you be careful when generalizing or stereotyping American culture? Likewise, how do you want Americans to understand your culture when you are probably the sole ambassador they know?

Topic for Thursday, July 29, 2009

For tmorrow, write about a cultural tradition of your country that you have shared with someone since you have arrived in the United States. If you haven't shared one with someone yet, write about a cultural tradition that you would share. Explain its significance and why you want to share it with someone.

If you have already shared a tradition, describe how the exchange occurred.

Are you aware?

What does it mean to be culturally aware?

For me, I would say that language is generally the first thing I consciously notice about someone. I love languages. As soon as I meet someone new, I immediately notice language. Even when meeting other Americans or people from Oxford, I try to notice language. What do I mean by language? Well, that's a bit involved.

Language can mean many things. Language can be words or word choice. What words does the person I've encountered use? For native speakers, I immediately notice words that I'm not accustomed to. Or I notice words that I am accustomed to. Does he or she use ain't? y'all? Or anything else that makes them sound like me? Those are the most common words to listen to in order to determine if someone might be from the South. There are many more examples. If the person's speech sounds 'local', then I don't really pay as much attention to where they are from. It's usually just the speech that I identify as non-local that makes me pay closer attention to what and how the person speaks.

Language can also be intonation, idioms, and many other things. When the speaker is a non-native speaker of English, then I always wonder what their native language is. Sometimes I try to see if I can guess. Sometimes I'm right; sometimes I'm not. When I meet new people, then I usually forget about the customary niceties and focus on their language, especially if it's a language I've never encountered before.

As a teacher of English and a person interested in languages, I somehow feel that it is important for me to learn something about your language or your culture. Even with Spanish, which is taught widely in the United States and which is the language of many immigrants here, I'm still fascinated by the differences between different dialects of Spanish. Each country (and sometimes each region of each country) uses language differently, for example, someone from the capital of Mexico might speak differently from someone from a place far away from the capital.

So, while I teach you this intersession, I hope I get to learn something about your language and your culture. The most dear thing I can say about another language is sharing the concept of naming. Friends of mine have given me names in other languages, and I feel like those are my names now too.


Here you can see how some former Korean students showed me how to write my name in the Korean script. They also gave me a Korean name, but I don't remember if this is how to write it: 철순. I think it's Chul-Soon. Do you like that name? As we continue, I'll share more of the names friends have given me, and I hope you will share with the class what your name means and how it reflects your culture.