SDLC-105 journal #7

[Yian Xu]

Reflect on “Communicative competence”: the author stated that have a good understanding of the culture background is the same important as learning the grammatical concepts, because the communication is not only about the language but also the culture behind it. It was the same as what we discussed in class and I got the same feeling from my Cantonese learning experience. There is a lot of interesting two-part allegorical sayings Cantonese. For example, when a girl couldn't find a boyfriend, Cantonese speakers usually say “Yama’s daughter is getting married”. People living in Cantonese-speaking areas are usually strong believers of Buddhism. Yama is the King of the Hell in Buddhism, so Yama’s daughter can only marry a ghost since she is not a human being. Thus the next sentence of “Yama’s daughter is getting married” is “only ghosts want to marry her”, which means no one wants to marry her. As you can see, if you know nothing about Cantonese culture, it is hard to understand this.