Jocelyne Rodriguez
Journal Entry 3
How would you qualify or describe different aspects of your target culture?
My target language is spoken in multiple countries. I have been learning a little about both Portuguese and Brazilian culture, although I have been emphasizing Brazilian culture even more. It is a little difficult to qualify different aspects of Brazilian culture since it shares many aspects of Latin or Iberean culture shared by many other countries in Latin America that I was already familiar with. Therefore, it is difficult to point at differences because in a way I can still identify with them because they reflect my own based on my personal ethnic background.
Reflect and your own experiences and expectations of the culture in question. How does your culture reflect various qualitative Hofstede dimensions of culture explored in class, e.g., body language, how people talk about time, etc.
When it comes to time, the Brazilian concept of time is more fluid. While in American culture punctuality is more emphasize in Brazilian culture, time is more flexible. Furthermore, like many Romance languages, Brazilian culture incorporates many hand gestures with language. Many of these gestures are present within more than one Romance languages and so I am somewhat familiar with them based on my prior knowledge of Spanish, French, and Italian. This provides useful clues regarding meaning (especially when I am watching a show and the characters start speaking really fast but I do not want to read the subtitles).
Another thing I have notice is that even though many times I cannot hear certain differences in sound in my target language, I can distinguish different face movements and expressions that normally accompany certain sounds.
Also, have you ever experienced culture shock? If so, describe.
I would not say I have experienced culture shock but there have been times when I am working on excersices for Portuguese or listening to Portuguese music and people interrupt me to talk to me and I have answered using Portuguese words. Also, there was a time when a friend used the Italian expression ‘Ciao’ (goodbye) and I thought he had said ‘Tchau’ in Portuguese which also means goodbye. I was confused for a minute that he had used Portuguese until I realize he had used an Italian expression instead.
Comments