This week’s reading investigated the meaning of the terms “language” and “communication”and how they affect human activity. The two senses most integral to languageare sight and sound, especially for their roles in written and spoken language,respectively. There is also the subtler body language, but this introductionfocused mainly on spoken modes of communication.
Visual cues in language are important to take into consideration when learning a foreign language, in orderto learn not only words but also the method used to communicate. For example,some cultures are more demonstrative with their arms or faces when they speak.Additionally, it is very important to know what certain gestures can meanacross cultural divides, since something in one culture could mean nothing orsomething completely different in another. Keeping track of these disconnectswould be instrumental in avoiding offending someone with whom you’re trying tocommunicate.
It’s also about the time to start thinking about a cultural project to do. One of thethings that I find very interesting, given my background in other languages, isthe huge Turkish minority in Germany. I’ve studied German for the last severalyears, and it’s a familiar topic that Turkish guest workers (Gastarbeiter) whocame several decades ago are now a sizeable and distinct minority insideGermany. There are about 3.5 million ethnic Turks in Germany, as the largest minority, concentrated mainly in urban centers.
Europe as a whole has been experiencing some social upheaval, because for thousands of years Europe remained ethnically homogenous, and citizenship was based primarily on jus sanguinis (or citizenship by blood). Now, though, most countries are experiencing a huge influx of foreigners, often from the Middle East or Africa, and many keep their own cultures and don't assimilate into their host country. This generally creates a conservative backlash by the country's original residents. I'll look into changes in citizenship rights, as well as Turkish cultural enclaves and political trends by Turks in Germany.
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