Figuring Foreigners Out details Individualist vs. Collectivist societies. This means societies where the focus is put on personal gain and growth vs. doing things at the benefit of your entire community. It also then goes on to talk about Non-Verbal communication--the unspoken body language. It also talks about Monochronic vs. Polychronic cultures, which is essentially how cultures treat time. (Is it limitless or do we have strict constraints?)
The Hofstede Dimensions of culture include four primary dimensions that differentiate cultures from each other. These are: Power Distance Index (PDI) which focuses on degree of social equality/inequality; Individualism (IDV) which focuses on a society's stress of an individualistic vs collectivist society; Masculinity (MAS) which focuses on the emphasis of traditional roles of masculinity; Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI) which focuses on the level of tolerance of uncertainty.
I found these readings and findings to be very fascinating. After surfing the web and using the Culture Factor website, I got to really see these dimensions and factors in action. I never really thought about individualist vs. collectivist societies, and I got to apply this new knowledge when reading about the United States. I agree with many of the findings, but it's interesting because I never really thought about my own American culture's factors before. We take our own societies for granted and know more about ourselves than we often think about! So many civilizations across the world are vastly different than us. Reading about these little facts might not make us experts on certain cultures, but it certainly broadens our understanding of them.
My own culture and the culture of my target language are very comparable (according to the Culture Factor website tool), which I wonder if helps when learning a language? Does comparable culture, even though maybe language may not be similar, help make learning any language easier? Do values and customs influence language? These readings have left me with new questions that I'm excited to explore.
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