The movie Culture Shock showed us how language functions in the context of the University of Richmond. While we are all able to leave the school we are all here now in an external environment that we have no control over. For foreigners this is a nightmare initially, when in the absence of a “host family” to cry to, they have a gut-feeling to “fight or flight.”
The German woman had difficulty communicating maxims or jokes to Americans since they didn’t get them after she translated them. One woman mentioned how American men were cold and disrespectful. Another woman mentioned the creative activities that Richmond Campus had to offer. Crystal mentions that some people are right handed and some left handed with corresponding dominance. “In over 60% the left hemisphere is very involved in language or left-side dominant” 173. Crystal mentions that some people are right side dominant possess “spatial orientation, musical patterns, and emotional expression” 174. One professor mentioned that it was three times as difficult for writing speaking and reading in another language than for Americans. Exner’s center and the front fissure of Rolando are involved in motor skills like writing. Another area, Heschl’s gyri is used to understand speech, while yet another is used to comprehend it called Wernicke’s area 175. On a “deeper level of speech comprehension, the parietal lobe may play a role” which may explain that knowing the words might be insufficient to comprehend but may identify the contextual cues. This “multi-functional view” means that many parts of the brain are working simultaneously with ramifications for language learners. Just like people having personality preferences or learning styles, certain learners will use different parts of the brain to see things differently. In addition to receiving information, there is a step-by step process of thought articulation that requires teamwork with various parts of the brain. Thoughts begin in Wernicke’s area then go to Broca’s area “for encoding” then the motor area for sound.
The criticism of being cold might apply to unmet demand for reciprocity from American students. I suspect that it is not silence that is being used to overpower the woman complaining, but that Americans might have completely suppressed basic cognitive interpersonal skills when they are around her and in a classroom setting. Instead, she sees only cognitive academic language proficiency which forces more rule-following and reasoning that may appear as more silent than an organic natural flow. The use of embedded context and context reduced is harder to distinguish for language and culture learners because every learning experience seems new at first 219. Even though body language is easier to comprehend in informal embedded context situations, it is another body language and another context than the one with which we are familiar. Perhaps the affection communicated in another language is not body language but is a cultural trait that wasn’t assimilated or preserved in America. Brown distinguished between the rules of intercourse that differ by culture. Although children can keep attention by screaming, they learn to be receptive to other people and follow rules of etiquette. While each culture has rules of etiquette, not every nation-member has learned the appropriate conduct. In some cultures there is very little emotion communicated traditionally. In these cultures opinions are also not expressed and people are forced to be a group member, learn about some distinct history, or even care about other people. Empathy may be a learned feature that diminishes with isolation from other people. Being around empathetic people may increase empathy.
What is so striking to many people in the video Culture Shock is that they have never been in this kind of academic setting. They are unfamiliar expressing opinions, taking time to think for themselves, and analyze between the lines. They are initially uncomfortable but then they learn to see the “meaning behind the words” and come to appreciate a new culture. Illocutionary force is when words have a meaning that is sometimes lost to new language learners because of a problem communicating 233. This setting is more professional so it is not “intimate,” yet students aren’t addressing “large audiences” so they are between “consultative and casual” 236. International students expressed complaints with fellow exchange students and shared common feelings that were uncommon with Americans. The bond was casual and close for some international students to other international students. Other students said they got along just as well with Americans because of common “universals.” Winfred P. Lehmann (1983) noted that “absolute universals can be found in all languages” 2. The student may be communicating their shared values in an open environment displacing ignorance, contempt and hatred that might have arisen at any point for whatever reason. The fact that universals exist supports the monogenesis hypothesis that a parent proto-language bestowed common traits to ancestor languages 3. Contrariwise, Sharon Begely notes that different cultures understand events differently based on the word they use:
while English says "she broke the bowl" even if it smashed accidentally (she dropped something on it, say), Spanish and Japanese describe the same event more like "the bowl broke itself." "When we show people video of the same event," says Boroditsky, "English speakers remember who was to blame even in an accident, but Spanish and Japanese speakers remember it less well than they do intentional actions. It raises questions about whether language affects even something as basic as how we construct our ideas of causality."
I suspect that the fact that some individuals are more collectivist than others is easily digested as being cold and unaffectionate. In America silence is seen as rude and offensive when in the presence of others as in Turkey it means yes and sitting silently is a sign of being happy with each other. In Figuring Foreigners Out we learned that history is a matter of interpretation because “behavior doesn’t have an inherent meaning (meaning that automatically comes with it), but only the meaning people assign to it. The funny story is that we send messages to others without even knowing about it (ibid). The misunderstandings can be paved over in sustained relations and “self-disclosure at an equal level” as someone said in the movie.
Though uncomfortable at first, international students learn to burrow less and fight more making the experience more meaningful. The ignorance, contempt and hatred that might have existed was questioned by the once confused student. With people willing to help and other international students with similar feelings, they learn to know “why we do what we do.”
"Communicative Competence" H.D. Brown: Principles of Language Learning and Teaching
Newsweek: Language May Shape OurThoughts http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2009/07/08/what-s-in-a-word.html)
"How the brain handles language" D. Crystal:How Language Works (2005)
Comments