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Culture Shock was an older video, but one that has a theme that's still evident on campus. This theme is of international students having a tough time transitioning at the University of Richmond and because of this, leading to other issues such as homesickness, sticking with only other international students, and simply not feeling welcomed. This was interesting because I believed that I will be facing a lot of these issues in the future when I study abroad in the Spring of 2015 in Taiwan. I liked the video because it focused on first-hand experiences. Basically exchange/ international student agreed that one of the major differences in education is role of participation in class. A lot of the students expressed how back in their native country, participation never really counted, but then here in the U.S participation is a large portion of your grade. Some of the things that people said regarding this was that they were "afraid to say something dumb" in class or that they simply could not keep up with what the professor was saying. I interpreted the quote as simply the fact that many of the students are used to only raising their hands if they have something truly genius or important to say. This is something that I can relate to. Here in the U.S I've realized that since participation is a grade, students often feel pressure to say just about anything with lack of consideration for quality comments. In terms of not keeping up with the professor and language, this is a challenge that cannot be avoided unless you are a native speaker. To get over this hump, I think that international students should definitely befriend American students as well as the professor in order to ask for help when needed.

As I head to Taiwan, I will look to keep all of these things in mind. I already know that I will run into problems with keeping up with the language and possibly homesickness, but things I can avoid are being passive and ignorant to cultural norms. I will look to avoid being passive in order to be immersed in the culture and learn as much about Taiwan as possible. To avoid cultural ignorance, I will look to do as much research as possible about Taiwan before going to the country. This will allow me to gain some knowledge about the culture and allow me to have a general idea of what to expect. I think if I keep these things in mind, I can avoid "Culture Shock".

I wasn't able to make it for the presentations; however, I presented on professional and meeting etiquette in Korea. Some of the things I highlighted included timeliness, collectivism, the role of women, and social standing. I found it interesting how a lot of the customs are unique to American culture, but are pretty similar to other Asian cultures. Some of the things I that I do at home that are the same in Korean culture include how the younger person must pour the tea for the older person(s), bowing during greetings, and even bad and lucky numbers are the same (4 and 7/8). 

I read that Sam presented on some shopping elements in Korean culture. It sounded very interesting to me and I wonder if it is as superficial as what the internet depicts it as. The internet displays very unique styles and colorful styles, but are also very expensive brands. I also wonder if bargaining is a custom in Korea as it is in China.

Greeting.m4a

Translation in English

NN: Hello, nice to meet you.

SN: Hello, nice to meet you.

NN:  (How are you doing?)

SN: I'am good. How about you?

NN: Good, thank you.

SN: Where are you from? 

NN: I'm from China. What about yourself?

SN:I’m from Korea. How old are you? 

NN: I am 20 years old. How old are you?

SN: I am 23 years old. 

NN: Oh really? It's great to meet you. 

SN:Me too!

For my Culture Presentation, I will discuss Indian music, from classical sitar, tabla, and violin to contemporary Bollywood and Tollywood music. I hope to do research on the different ragas, or types of music, that classical musicians play. I also hope to research the history of Bollywood and Tollywood so that I can trace the changes that have been made in contemporary Indian music since these industries began. I also hope to find out the importance of these two types of music in Indian culture today, and whether people prefer one type over another.

To discuss this topic thoroughly, I'll need to learn vocabulary relating to classical music:

names of instruments

words for song, melody, harmony, rhythm, etc.

names of different types of songs

verbs like to play, to improvise

I will also need to learn vocabulary to describe contemporary music:

words for song, movie, dance, actor/actress, singer

names of famous singers

names of some famous songs

verbs like to sing, to dance, to perform

The content of this artifact is a conversation between Arnanto and I. This task was chosen with the goal to develop formal communication skills. It is meant to achieve the goal through understanding how one must address seniors, demonstrating diplomacy by carefully choosing neutral words and probing the complex world of office culture. These skills are not only valuable survival skills but are also specifically relevant to me. This is because the majority of my knowledge about Bhasa Indonesia comes from casual interactions in informal settings. Therefore, by learning formal communication I can best compensate for my lack of formal language training.

I provide a transcript in english of this fictionalized conversation. Upon reading it, one learns that this task is a conversation between myself and my boss. The setting is an office in Jakarta, the political and economic capital of Indonesia. My boss has called me to his/her office because he/she wants to send me to the Singapore office. However, I respectfully decline because I have just settled into Jakarta. Upon learning this my boss offers me a promotion and I say: “Your offer sounds good sir, but for now I still must refuse your offer because my wife is pregnant. Maybe in the future I will accept your offer.”

I evaluate this task to be very successful at accomplishing its objective in two different ways. Firstly, in the process of creating it I learned new words and phrases such as dengan segala hormat (with all due respect), anda (you in formal context) and pak (sir) that are the staple of formal conversation when addressing seniors. Secondly, in the reply quoted above, which was necessary after my boss became pushy about the offer, I demonstrate diplomacy by complimenting my refusal with a reason, crediting his/her offer and adding showing interest in it under different circumstances. However, this task also allowed me to learn about things that I was not expecting. Arnanto and I had conversations about the grammar rules surrounding the use of words kita (we) and kami (our), the prefixes men- and ber-, the suffix nya and the word bapak. Artifact1.mp3Transcript.doc

Hindi%20Greetings.m4a

Hindi%20Artifact%20One.m4a

The presentations from last week opened my eyes to some big cultural differences from cultures around the world. I learned that in Hindi they use a causative verb tense to describe actions that had been done upon them, similar to how we would describe getting our hair cut in english. But instead of saying “I got a haircut” it translates more closely to “I had my hair cut.” I found it interesting that the Caste system in India actually manifests itself in some formalities regarding body language. Indian people tend to view the body as being similar to a Caste system in that the head is the holiest part, and the bottom of your feet are seen as dirty. Younger people will even bow their head to the feet of their elders to show respect, showing that the holiest part of their bodies belong near the feet of their elders. Conversely, showing someone the bottom of your feet is an act of disrespect.

I also enjoyed the presentations on Korean culture which focused somewhat on the materialistic culture that exists and how it differs from American culture. These differences can be seen at the governmental level, with the Korean government requiring that every store accept credit cards, and also at the individual level with Korean women holding the value of always looking their best. I’m not sure if that is the reason why Koreans tend to brush their teeth more often after every meal, or if it is more because of a value for oral health.

My first artifact was an audio recording of me reciting a common conversation that I would have with someone on the street if I were to ask how to find the Taj Mahal. The "conversation" only consisted of my half of the dialogue, but I tried to include some possible answers to my questions by repeating what a stranger might say in response. Because this was our first artifact, I also tried to include a few things that I learned in past weeks, such as a short greeting because these phrases might be necessary in this context.

I believe I reached most of my goals for Weeks 4 and 5. I learned almost all of the questions that I listed in the first section of my goals and how they could be answered by a stranger, auto driver, etc. I also learned numbers 1-10 as well as some common numbers in 5's, 10's, and 100's that could be used for money and price.

The one part that I did not learn as well as I would have liked was the second part of my goals for Weeks 4 and 5, which involved describing a place that I would like to go. I hope to add this task to a later week if I have time. I also did not practice as much as I had hoped to these past two weeks, so I have scheduled specific times in my calendar that I will use to study my vocabulary and conversation skills. Hopefully this will help me focus more on Hindi during the weeks when I feel too busy with other work.