I was really interested in reading the packet about the differences in language expression by social cues and expressions because it's not something I've had a lot of experience with. With the exception of traveling through Jordan for six weeks and stopping in Egypt and Jerusalem, the majority of my travel has been in countries in Western Europe, like the UK and France and Germany, which are very similar to English in how people interact socially. However, I think Turkish would be very different than English, from what I've heard. I've never been to Turkey, but we talked about it in class, and as an Muslim nation located near if not in the Middle East, Turkey seems like it would be closer to Mediterranean or Eastern social norms.
When we went over it in class, we said the Turkish would be an Indirect/High Context language, with more emphasis on implications and shared experiences forming one's context of understanding. English is the opposite, as a language of societies with more emphasis on individualism and saying things explicitly. I'd also expect Turkish and English to be opposite in their treatment of time. English is about efficiency and showing up on time, but from my experience, Mediterranean cultures tend to be more lackadaisical about deadlines and punctuality. The handout also explores the differences between Individualist and Collectivist, of which English is definitely individualist. People in America and also in much of Europe focus on independence and self-reliance and personal freedom. I don't know as much about Turkish, but I'd assume it's more collectivist than here, since it seems like more of a traditional society with emphasis on the family and group membership.
I'd also expect there to be some dramatic differences in nonverbal cues. And that would definitely be something to look into before traveling there.
The book explored dialects and how they relate to languages. Dialects don't seem to be as firmly engrained in America as in some other countries, but I think that's because we're so socially mobile and also a much much younger country than many others. I remember when I was in Britain I could start to tell where someone was from by their accent, though that's probably starting to break up now that people aren't living their whole lives where they grew up. American dialects are pretty limited to one basic accent, and then some variation in very distinct areas, like Boston or northern Midwest or deep South or Jersey. Actually I think there's more of a difference (at least on the East Coast) between rural and urban areas than between geographical regions.
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