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Issues with intercultural communication
Issues with intercultural communication
Issues with intercultural communication
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1. Discuss the difference between Big 'C' culture, and little 'c' culture. Give examples from the culture you are from or the one you are currently living in. Big ‘C’ culture and little ‘c’ culture are opposite from each other. First, according to Dr. Ruth big ‘C’ is observable or obvious and Bennett description is that it’s an objective culture. The three sources, Dr. Ruth, Bennett and the lesson from University of Texas at Austin agree that Big ‘C’ is information we were exposed to during our studies. Second, little ‘c’ is “verbal behavior, people engagement (language competent), non-verbal behavior, communication style (translation habitual) and cultural value” (Beneett, 2016). I understood little ‘c’ from Dr. Ruth as a hidden message, for example, what does this mean, when someone expresses a certain feeling through a specific face expression. Also, as Dr. Ruth states, “It’s the smaller things you do that you didn’t study. It’s the stuff you pick up unconsciously through …show more content…
The hidden stuff we pick up after hanging out with a specific culture has made us unique. According to Winter & McVeigh, a person can belong to more than one identity category (p. 174). Having more than one identity is part of the little ‘c.’ Little ‘c’ are the “categories we carry with us subjectively and how does that influence our everyday behavior” (Benette, 2016). As an American, living in a diversity culture city, is easy to adapt to others communication or eating style. I haven’t noticed, but my family has, that now I order my subway with jalapenos. Its so funny because my friend, Mexican, she eats everything with spice and I am constantly asking her “why do you eat everything with chili”. Her response is that unless she adds spice she can’t find flavor on the food. Its unbelievable that now I think that my subway is flavorless without adding
In Lavanya Ramanathan’s Washington Post article published in 2015 titled “Why everyone should stop calling immigrant food ‘ethnic’”, she discusses about people’s preconceptions on the type of food that should be labelled ethnic. Ashlie Stevens also touched on a similar topic in her Guardian article published in 2015 titled “Stop thinking and just eat: when ‘food adventuring’ trivializes culture”. She talks about how people assume that just by eating food from a certain culture, they are able relate to the culture as a whole. Both authors acknowledge the importance of appreciating authentic cuisines, but takes different approaches to convince the audience. Both authors establish credibility by using a wide range of substantiated evidences. While,
In the writing “If You Are What You Eat, Then What Am I?” Geeta Kothari describes the differences in the American and Indian cultures through her unique description of the food differences. As a little Indian-American girl, Kothari curiously wanted to eat what of kids her age ate, tuna salad sandwich, hot dogs, and foods of such nature. Kothari describes her first encounter with a can of tuna fish as it looks “pink and shiny, like an internal organ” (947). As Kothari ages, it becomes clear that she sees American food much the way her parents saw it- “repugnant… meat byproducts… glued together by chemicals and fat” (947). Even though Kothari describes American food as strange, disgusting, and foreign; it was also “infidelity” to eat it (951).
People in different countries still have the high culture or low context culture. (High vs. low context culture mean that low culture relies more on explicit verbal communication. High context culture is more collectivist, it values more interpersonal relationships.) In the case study Shame and Making Truth Cameron has relied on high context culture values to solve the case. He ignores their cultural beliefs and focuses more on his.
Culture often means an appreciation of the finer things in life; however, culture brings members of a society together. We have a sense of belonging because we share similar beliefs, values, and attitudes about what’s right and wrong. As a result, culture changes as people adapt to their surroundings. According to Bishop Donald, “let it begin with me and my children and grandchildren” (211). Among other things, culture influences what you eat; how you were raised and will raise your own children? If, when, and whom you will marry; how you make and spend money. Truth is culture is adaptive and always changing over time because
One of the most influential concepts that Watson brings up is that “transnational is the local”. Through this argument Watson proposes that the local environment is a culturally diverse concoction of multiple nations. In the case of Hong Kong, McDonalds is not the only American fad that they are familiar with. People, especially the younger generations are culturally versed on cuisine from all over the world. They have knowledge of multiple nation’s music, fashion, entertainment, and customs. There is no ...
In Michael Pollan’s “The End of Cooking” shares the message of what we are losing something important in this day and age because of all our pre-made and processed foods. This can be compared with Kothari’s “If You Are What You Eat, What Am I?” and her argument that food is part of one’s own identity. By using the examples from these two texts you can analyze the state of food and culture in the United States today. All of the processed and pre-made foods are causing people all across America to lose their sense of Culture. We no longer know what it’s like to make one of our cultures specialty dishes from scratch which can help people identify with their culture. This process helped newer generations see what it was like for those before them to cook on a daily basis and could help them identify your sense of culture.
The United States is often referred to as a melting pot since it is made up of people from different cultures. Individuals might differ in their skin color, ethnicity, and beliefs, but we are united by various factors, including food. With immigrants coming to the United States from all over the world, Americans are exposed to new cuisines. As these cuisines spread across the country becoming more and more popular, Americans develop a strong liking towards them, which affects the growth of the economy. For example, the increased number of Asian immigrants exposes more Americans to various Asian cuisines and causes the number of Asian restaurants to “[mushroom] and the variety of cuisines [to multiply]” (Yang 169). The proliferation of ethnic restaurants has flourished the economy, and Chinese restaurants alone produce “$17 billion in annual sales” (Yang 170). But the introduction of new cultures and cuisines transforms the unhealthy American lifestyle into a nutritious one. Since countries around the world have healthier staple foods and rely on “grains, vegetables, and fruits rather than meat and dairy products,” they have decreased rates of health implications like obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure, which are all prevalent in America (Yang 170). When more Americans make the
There are multitude definitions of culture available in the literature and each definition relies on the context of one’s field of study. It was variedly defined that each
Food and eating are two key social and cultural identity indicators that bring people of the same culture closer together. Food and eating are viewed as cultural and social symbols, and deviating from these norms may be harmful to an outsider’s ability to fit in (Crouch & O’Neill, 2000, pp. 182-183; Cornejo Happel, 2012, pp. 175-176). For example, Buddy drinks Coca-Cola directly from the bottle, instead of asking for a glass, which is seen as inappropriate by the family (Berg et al., 2003, 44:01). When Buddy joins Walter’s family for dinner, Buddy asks for maple syrup to put on his meal; the family is taken aback because, in their culture, it is atypical for maple syrup to be put onto spaghetti (44:16). This is normal for Buddy and those of the Elf culture, who believe that “the four main food groups [are] candy, candy canes, candy corns, and syrup” (44:40). This is seen as strange and repulsive to Americans who, albeit consume sugary foods, try to consume a more balanced diet. Food norms are important to follow in order to fit into a new culture. Even where shared foods across cultures exist, there are often norms around how and when to consume these foods (Cornejo Happel, 2012, pp. 175-176). Instead of bonding over shared food products like maple syrup or Coca-Cola, Buddy alienates himself from his family by the ways in which he consumes these foods. Through adaptation and acculturation, one’s food preferences may change and thus one’s identity may shift (Ishak, Zahari & Othman, 2013, pp. 439-440). If Buddy were to adapt to the local food customs, he may find it easier to fit in with his family and those around
Culture is the substance of who we essentially are in life. It identifies the kind of values and practices that are learned from church, home and even the surrounding community. In addition to these learned beliefs and values, we also learn from music, food, health remedies, and sports which symbolizes something unique in a culture. Furthermore, our culture is the key to how we view and perceive the world as well. A lot of times we don’t realize that our culture can be subsequently be used as a tool to communicate and socialize with others. In recent, it has been brought to my understanding that people determine who are by examining which side of the city you come from. Having an awareness of one’s own culture gives an individual sense of pride and understanding of their life.
The United States is a country with a diverse existing population today; this country is known as a melting pot of different cultures, each one unique in its own respect. Culture; differentiate one societal group from another by identification beliefs, behaviors, language, traditions, Art, fashion styles, food, religion, politics, and economic systems. Through lifelong, ever changing processes of learning, creativity, and sharing culture shapes our patterns of behavior as well thinking. The Culture’s significance is so intense that it touches almost every aspect of who and what we are. Culture becomes the telescope through which we perceive and evaluate what is going on around us. Trying to define the perplexing term of culture with varying component of distinguishable characteristics is difficult to restrict. Presenly, culture is viewed as consisting primarily of the symbolic, untouched and conception aspects of human societies.
Coming from Guam, a place that is considered a territory with so much different cultures and people, it opened my eyes to how other people see things. Although there are differences, there were many similarities and I realized that there were more to diversity, and cultures when I moved from the island to the mainland. The move exposed me to other definitions of diversity like region of the U.S populated with one culture over another, and the different types of food people shared and enjoyed. According to Bucher (2015), “diversity refers to the ways in which people are different” (p. 2); and I took a lot out of the experience from a new place other than
Two of my favorite foods are sushi and REAL Mexican food. I have one sister that happens to be eleven years older than me. Considering the big age difference shes always been someone I've looked up to. My sister has always been a fan of sushi, however my parents not so much. I often was too scared to try it until my sister finally talked me into it. Surprisingly I loved it and still to this day it's one of my favorites. After realizing I like the sushi I felt that I was just like my sister, which made me feel socially accepted. This is an example of Enculturation.This is the way people their native culture. I've dated a Hispanic for four years now and have learned to love his family's homemade Mexican food. At first I was skeptical
American culture is changing dramatically. In some areas it’s a good thing, but in other areas, like our food culture, it can have negative affects. It is almost as if our eating habits are devolving, from a moral and traditional point of view. The great America, the land of the free and brave. The land of great things and being successful, “living the good life.” These attributes highlight some irony, especially in our food culture. Is the American food culture successful? Does it coincide with “good living”? What about fast and processed foods? These industries are flourishing today, making record sales all over the globe. People keep going back for more, time after time. Why? The answer is interestingly simple. Time, or in other words, efficiency. As people are so caught up in their jobs, schooling, sports, or whatever it may be, the fast/processed food industries are rapidly taking over the American food culture, giving people the choice of hot
As it was mentioned above, there are different definitions of culture. These views have relied on the different language acquisition theories and teaching approaches that have emerged in the history of foreign language teaching. (Hinkel, 1999) Until the mid-twentieth century, culture was seen as the transmission of factual information about the target language, which consisted of statistical information about history, literature, arts, and geography among others. This View of teaching culture was known as “big C” or “achievement culture” and it was criticized because it only provided information rather than understanding of attitudes and values of the target language, (Kramsch, 1993 ; Tomalin and Stempleski, 1993; Kumaravadivelu, 2008).From this point of view, the teaching of culture is limited to the teaching of encyclopedic information about another country without recognizing the variability of behavior within the community of the target culture, or the participation of the individual in the creation of culture, or the interaction of language and culture in the construction of meaning, (Moore, 1996).