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Over 80 percent of Indians practice Hinduism.  The idea of reincarnation is one of the central beliefs of this religion.  As described in the Bhagavad gita, "Just as man discards worn out clothes and puts on new clothes, the soul discards worn out bodies and wears new ones."  According to Hinduism, a soul reincarnates again and again until it becomes perfect.  People may also be liberated from the cycle of reincarnation by dying or being cremated in Varanasi.  Varanasi, also called Benares, or Kashi, "city of light", is located in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India.  The genesis of the universe is believed to have occurred here at the beginning of time.  Many people come to Varanasi to die and have their ashes scattered into the holy Ganges River.  The first born son of the deceased traditionally has his head shaved along the banks of the river.  The body of the deceased is submerged in the Ganges to purify it.  Logs are assembled for the cremation fire along the river by members of the Untouchable caste.  The first born son circles the pyre and lights the cremation fire in the mouth of the deceased from an eternally lit flame.  He must walk away without looking back.   The body burns for several hours.  When cremation is completed, ashes and remaining bones may be scattered in the river.

There are five groups of people who cannot be cremated and scattered in the Ganges.  These are Holy Men, pregnant women, children under the age of five, all believed to be pure already, as well as lepers and people bitten by snakes, for fear of infection.  These people are, instead, weighted down with stones and placed in the Ganges.  

The cremation rituals take place in the middle of the bustle of everyday life along the ghats.  When I was in Varanasi, children were flying kites, women selling jewelry, holy men praying, and people washing clothes just around the burning ghat.  I was encouraged to watch a cremation; as one of the cremation workers told me, "Burning is learning about the life."  There was no great sense of sadness surrounding the ceremony, rather an acceptance that death is simply a part of life which all of us will face.  Though it at first seemed strange, after some time I actually began to wonder what was more strange, the Hindu culture's way of publicly embracing death, or the way we distance ourselves from death.

Israel is a democratic republic with a parliamentary system modeled after the UK. The "Basic Laws of Israel" serve as a constitution, although uncodified. Because it is uncodified the relationship between the Basic Laws and other legislation is not concrete, and the judicial system makes those decisions which then may become precedents. The judicial system is three-tiered (magistrate, district, and Supreme court respectively and in that order lowest to highest). Israeli law comes from English common law, civil law, and Jewish law traditions.

I would need to do more research to know for sure, but I suspect, based on observations and study of the UK legal system, states with uncodified constitutions tend to create different legal cultures. The "spirit of the law" is put above the letter of the law, where as in the U.S. the "letter of the law" is usually held higher.

The beginning of this reading talked a lot about dialects and accents.  I had always noticed that there was a difference in the two words' definitions, but had never really stopped to think about what this difference was.  As I learned from the reading, accent refers to distinct pronunciation whereas dialect refers to spoken grammar and vocabulary.  Additionally, people of the same dialect can have different accents.  What I found to be interesting from this part of the reading was the part about the chain of dialects.  In studying different languages, I have noticed the similarities that exist between them, and have often wondered if people who spoke similar languages would be able to understand one another.  As the reading pointed out, people who live in adjacent areas will usually speak dialects of the same language or different languages, so, someone who lives on the border of Spain and Portugal may speak a dialect of Spanish that is similar to a dialect of Portuguese spoken by a neighbor so that, although the two speak different languages, they would be able to verbally communicate.   

This reading also talked about the connections because nationalism, ethnicity, and language.  In particular it discussed the case of the Basque language and its role in forming a national identity. 

This week I worked on learning different parts of the body and names of family members, as well as some simple verb conjugations.  With this new vocabulary and grammar I am able to form some simple sentences, such as saying "I have a brother" or "My father's name is Jeff".  I am still finding that my language learning has slowed a bit, and this has been very frustrating for me.  In the beginning of the semester, it was easier to go to the global studio and spend a few hours on Rosetta Stone, but I've found that as the semester has progressed, my other classes have become more consuming and so it's harder to actually find the time to go to the studio.  I really wish that I would have been able to use Rosetta Stone from my own laptop in my room (I know this isn't possible because of licensing) because I know that I would have used it a lot more.  This way I could have used it everyday for an hour, but somehow needing to go to the Global Studio (especially as a senior who doesn't take many scheduled classes and has other commitments) has proven more difficult than I would have thought. 

Work has continued to progress with my language partners.  Typically we'll go over what I've been practicing each week and then they help me with pronunciation and spelling.  I was initially very excited about having two different language partners, but it's actually been more difficult having two than one.  Since my partners are from different areas, they pronounce letters differently and sometimes use different words.  Also, it does take up more time because I must explain my progress to each partner and they like to work the sessions in different ways.  For this reason, I'd suggest that in the future, students only have one language partner.  I believe that there should still be a group meeting and then an individual meeting each week, but that each student should have the same partner for both meetings to keep consistency and lessen confusion. 

This week with Maya I reviewed information from the previous week and expanded upon the knowledge that i gained the week before. I completed my ability to relate the date and time to people learning the numbers up to 30 and general numbers for telling time, such as "quarter to" half past" and "quarter of". Phrases like these seem to be translingual. When i was studying spanish there were words that could be translated for those same phrases as well. My goal is to be able to use this information as one of my Artifacts. This information is crucial to being able to communicate with someone who speaks Hebrew. My Spanish teacher always used to say that he wanted us to be able to be dropped in the middle of a Spanish speaking country and be able to communicate and be able to get out of the situation. This is also what I would like for Hebrew.

In class this week we read and discussed how important the written word is to a language, and studying Hebrew this is especially apparent. This is because I am accustomed to reading english from left to right and top to bottom. However Hebrew is different. Even though you still read top to bottom, the language is actually read right to left which in order to read the language needs some adjusting to and training. Also the reading addressed the actual writing of a person. The individual characteristics of each individuals writing is fascinating. You would think that since everyone is taught how to write the same way, all people would learn to write the same. But just like each individuals personality is different so is each individuals handwriting.

Also what I find fascinating is the influence certain language's writing has over another languages characters. It can be seen though even in languages that dont look very similar. Personally i have always found the similarities between the Greek alphabet which is over 3,000 years old can be so similar to the English one. Although the difference is apparent the characters are very very similar in some cases.

Two classes ago we spoke about how accents and different dialects help individuals pinpoint where others are from within a country.  The various features of pronunciation are shared and referred to as the study of areal linguistics.  How these areas develop is interesting because it is suggested that somewhere along the lines different pronunciations and dialects were adopted.  Variations took hold a certain area and it became unique and fairly significant there.

I have mentioned earlier that my mother is fluent in Italian and she has a sister that lives in Northern Italy.  Her sons of course, grew up Italian and have a distinct accent to American ears.  One that undoubtedly and unmistakable sounds Italian.  To my mother, who has the ear for Italian since she spent a majority of her childhood and teenage years there, can tell that they sounds Northern Italian and may is even able to pinpoint a major city close to where they live.   

It helps at Italian restaurants as she always ends up using this little trick.  As for myself, I am able to fairly easily distinguish between Spanish and Italian because of my immediate and extended family background.  Mother is Italian and brother's fiance is Columbian.  They have emparted to me, by the way they speak their languages, they stylistic deliveries that each language has.  For the most part they are unique and easy to identify.  To come back to the same point as before, the way Italian was delivered, my mother could tell Norther vs. Italian and which major city.      

Using my cousins and soon to be sister-in-law I can better understand and see the Ethnic side of protecting a language.  Both sets of relations speak their languages and find it important to keep speaking their languages.  It is a common theme that everyone in the culture have the same language.  As it is shared everyday part of the culture is consistently preserved.  There are even backlashes in the United States with the amount of Spanish speakers there are.  I have heard many times people say, "just speak english."  However, that is how Americans should be in other cultures as well.  It should be important for everyone to learn one another's language, or at least something about it.            

The beginning of this week's reading was especially interesting.  I liked how the book distinguished between dialects and accents because sometimes they seem to be used interchangeably.  Dialects though, can encompass many different accents.  Whereas a dialect includes grammatical traits or specific words that distinguish it from another dialect, accents are simply a different way of pronouncing words.

I also thought that dialect continuums were very interesting, end evident especially in my own experience in Spain.  Castillian Spanish varies widely between the north and south of Spain.  The closer a person lives to the south of Spain, the easier it is to understand the Andalusian accent native to the south. But, those who live farther north have a harder time understanding Andalusian speakers.  Another example of this dialect continuum is an east to west continuum from Portugal to France that the book mentions.  Most of this continuum occurs in Spain.  If you begin with Portuguese then one of the official languages in Spain would be next on the continuum.  This langage is Galician or "gallego" in Spanish.  It is heavily influenced by Portuguese but is also very similar to Spanish.  You could say that regular (Castillian) Spanish language comes next, followed by Catalan (spoken in Barcelona) which is a sort of mixture between Castillian and French.  Finally French would be the end of the continuum. 

Another example that I enjoyed (because it was talking about Spain again) was the example of the illegalization of the Basque language.  For the Basque, their language is not just a language, it is a very important part of their identity, just like the book says.  The other aspect of linguistic suppression in Spain is that the government also declared the other regional languages of Spain (including the abovementioned examples of Galician and Catalan) illegal during Francisco Franco's dictatorship.

This section on the book can also be applied to Farsi as a dialect of Persian.  Farsi, Dari, and Tajik are all regional dialects of the Persian language.  From what Maroof has said, Farsi and Dari easily facilitate intercommunication.  Tajik though uses the Russian alphabet so it might be possible for a Farsi or Dari speaker to understand a Tajik speaker but impossible for them to communicate in written form because of the different alphabets.

With my language partner this week we worked on body, fruit, and color vocabulary.  We have also continued practicing my pronunciation and reading ability by typing vocabulary words on the computer and reading them out loud.  I have started making my own vocabulary lists as practice so that I get experience writing the words and making my own associations.  I have also started listening to the Farsi podcasts again from the BBC and I hope to be able to get back into Rosetta Stone later this week.  I spent a little time trying to catch up on the cultural studies for MLC110 and plan to get together with the other Farsi students to try to create a recorded artifact where we have a conversation together. 

In Iran, people tend to do business with people they know because of the family-centered model of business.  If you are someone who wants to do business with an Iranian who you do not know personally, you should spend time getting to know that person first.  Personal relationships become the center of your ability to do business.  In order to make a good impression you should also dress well and stay at a high class hotel.  This is because status is very highly regarded in Iranian society. 

When planning for the meeting, it is prudent to schedule the meeting six weeks to one month in advance and then confirm the appointment about a week before the appointment.  As stated in an earlier post though, business slows down during Ramadan so meetings should be avoided during this time. 

When arriving for your appointment it is respectful to be on time!  Again, this is another example of how Iran represents a monochronic society.  Initial meetings will usually not have anything to do with business.  Instead the meeting will most likely focus on building a personal relationship between you and the Iranains.  It takes some time for Iranian business people to become comfortable with foreign business men.  Because of this you can expect to be treated in a sort of cold or formal manner.

During meetings it is very disrespectful to look at your watch.  If you constantly worry about the time you will be considered untrustworthy.  Meetings in Iran are also interrupted frequently so you will need to be patient as well.  In order to remain professional, do not remove your jacket unless asked to do so. Also, as a matter of courtesy, present all written documents in both English and Farsi. 

Iranian business negotiation can be hostile at times.  Iranians tend to show emotion or even walk out of meetings if they do not like your proposals.  You should be careful not to "drive a hard bargain"  this will mostly work against you.  Also, if you are under a time constraint, be careful how much information you divulge about it. Iranians will use your  time constraints against you if they are aware of them.

The biggest thing to take away from this section of the reading is to not judge a book by its cover.  While people have carreers that study dialect, that can pinpoint someone as to where they are from just by listening to them speak, there is more to a person than where they are from, eastern Long Island or Chicago.  I might sound like i am from one place but in reality i might have not lived tehre since a child, but my voice, my dialect represents the first place where i lived.  Along the same lines, my skin might be one color when in fact i do not relate with the race of my skin.  The topic and subjects of dialect, culture, and all issues surrounding where we are from are touchy.  Chapter 48 in my opinion is the best chapter in this text for it talks about th social issues around how e know what someone is.  Assumtions can be correct, but when incorrect they can cause harm and hurt feelings. 

In class we discussed the differences between dialects a lot, how one part of scotland is much different than another, how someone from connecticut has a neutral dialect whereas someoen from alabama certainly does not.  All of us have different syles and and dialects, it is part of what  makes us all so unique.  I have learned so much through speaking with people from all over the country, adn all over the world.  I believe that i have cultural competence, i have traveled to many places in the world and have surrounded myself with people who are unique and interesting.  While i might have understandings of some cutlures i am certainly ignorant and uninformed plenty about others.  I do not claim to know a lot about everything, but i try to know a little about a lot.  And if more people took the time to learn, there would be a lot less racisim, ignorance and hatred.

Earlier I talked about certain cultural norms to observe if invited over to an Iranian person's house.  Here I will talk about a few of the cultural aspects of being invited to dinner. 

At first I was caught off guard by the first stipulation the website mentions (still the same website from the first culture post).  This rule is to check whether the host is wearing shoes or not.  If they are not, you are to remove your shoes at the door.  After I thought about this though, I realized that this is something I do subconsciously already.  I think it's because my mom was always strict about us taking our shoes off in the house.  I guess I got used to looking around at my friends' houses to see if I was allowed to keep my shoes on when I arrived. 

I greatly appreciate the second aspect of Iranian dining norms.  It is to arrive punctually.  It's not that I'm an extremely punctual person but coming from a monochronic society, I think it would be difficult for me to figure out when things actually started in a polychronic society. 

Before arriving you should also check to see if your spouse is allowed to attend becasue normally conservative Iranians don't entertain mixed-sex groups.  When you do arrive though, you are supposed to greet the elders first and shake everyone's hand.  You should also accept offers of food or drink but only within adhering to the "taarof" stipulations of politeness.

When you are about to sit down you should wait to be told where to sit. Meals are generally family style so you should take a little bit of everything that is served and eat only with the right hand.  Because Iranian hospitality includes having an abundance of food, you will probably be offerd more.  You should accept some more but again, only after adhering to "taarof" or Iranian politeness standards first. When you finish eating you should also leave some food on your plate (which shouldn't be an issue assuming you will have already accepted more food than you can eat anyway).  Finally, in restaurants there are usually two sections.  One is for women and families, the other is for men only.  Tipping in Iranian restaurants is usually between 10 and 15%. 

As promised, in the next post I will talk about business negotiations in Iran.

English Translation:

My friend Sara and I are in this photo.  We are in Jaipur.  I like Jaipur a lot - I think it is the best city in India.  Sara and I are wearing saris for a party.  Our saris are both blue and very beautiful.  My sari was old but Sara's sari was new.  We ate Indian food with our friends and in the evening we danced.

Skills Used:

Present Progressive Tense

Past Tense

Adjectives

Devanagari Script

Islam is the dominant religion in Iran.  It governs political, social, legal and economic aspects of the country. Because of the religious stipulation that Muslims must pray five times a day, the newspaper lists specific times at which people are to pray.  These times coincide with specific times of day: morning, noon, afternoon, sunset and evening.  Friday is considered the holy day so everything is closed.  Many businesses will also close on Thursday.  This closely resembles our weekend structure but just on different days.

During Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, business slows down.  This is because they are open at strange times, and for shorter hours.  Muslims must not only fast from dusk until dawn, but are also only able to work for six hours a day.  These limited and strange business hours are good to be aware of if you are a businessperson trying to conduct trade during this time or a tourist in the area.  It not only allows you to forsee possible complications, but also cater to the cultural needs of Iranians. The fast is broken every night after the sun goes down as family and friends celebrate together (again family being a very central part of Iranian culture). 

Another important aspect of Iranian culture is "taarof" or politness. This is a general term that encompases certain acceptable polite behaviors or verbal responses to situations.  Taarof stipulates things like: protesting compliments in an attmept to seem vulnerable in public, appearing humble by diminishing the importance of one's own accomplishments, and declining an offered item at least once, or unitl the other person's insistence becomes greater.

Finally, the most surprising aspect of Iranian culture that I have found so far is this idea of a double identity.  The two identities are a public identity (zaher) and a private identity (batin).  In public people are expected to conform to social and cultural norms so the "zaher" aspect of themselves manifests, but in private the "batin" aspect prevails.  It may be difficult to distinguish the line between these two for us though.  For example, whereas we may think that a business realtionship or setting might merit the "zaher" or public aspect of someone, actually the "batin" or private aspect may prevail.  This is because of the family centric nature of businesses in Iran. While we do have certain personality shifts in the United States based on a public or private setting, I do not think people would go as far as to say that they view themselves as having two separate identities.

I will continue to post on business relationships and interactions in later posts.

Because social dymanics and etiquette vary between countries, I wanted to get a feel for how to operate in social situations in Iran (a Farsi-speaking country).  I found this site:

http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/iran-country-profile.html

which was very helpful. 

Some of the things that I found to be very useful were the social norms regarding gender.  For example.  During introductions, usually men are introduced to men and women are introduced to women.

Another aspect of Iranian culture that I found to be interesting is the gift giving stipulations.  If invited over to a someone's house in the United States, we would usually bring some kind of gift, whether it is a dish for a meal or some other kind of thank you.  Similarly in Iran, this type of gift is also necessary (usually flowers or some kind of pastry).  Also, all other formal gifts must be wrapped elegantly but you should not expect the recipient to open the gift in front of you.  Most interestingly, when you give a gift you should alwasy "apologize for its inadequacy."  I found that humorous at first but I realize it is probably rooted in a sense of Islamic humility that extends into the social sphere.

The website also talked about family etiquette; parts of which I found surprising.  An example of this is that asking about the female members of of a family including wife and sisters is considered inappropriate.  This is something that would take me a lot of getting used to because in the United States we don't generally make a gender distinction when asking about someone's family.  Also, In Iran, family ties are considered more important than any other social ties and family needs trump all other needs (including business needs).  Businesses might also bend more to family needs in Iran because nepotism is considered a good thing.  This is because it shows that you are hiring people you know and trust.  By virtue of hiring a bunch of family members, and employer would also be aware of and encourage the employees to cater to their families' needs.

There are a lot more aspects of Iranian culture on this site and I will continue talking about them in the following culture posts.

Although it is very hard and confusing, I am starting to have a sense for word order in Hebrew. For example when talking about possession "to have" is added after the object. So "my house" is "bait sheli". Also, the lack of "to be" connecting verbs such as "This is my house" "Ze bait sheli".

It takes a while to internalize hebrew syntax and even basic pronouns. In fact, in Hebrew, "she" is he, "he" is who, "who" is me (מי), and "me" is li (לי). So switching from English to Hebrew can be a little rough.

In researching the history of Hebrew I came upon a language known as Judaeo-Spanish (Djudeo Espanyol) or Spanyolit (in Hebrew). 

Spanyolit is a Romance language and is derived from Old Spanish. Its other major influences are Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic and Turkish. It has kept fossils, as is common with dialects because they are more conservative, from Old Castillian such as the /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ alveolar sounds (which moved backwards to velar in modern Spanish). Hebrew gave it the /x/ sound. It is written traditionally with Hebrew characters although in cursive it uses Solitreo which differs from the Ashkenazi cursive.

Its origins can be traced back to the Middle Ages when Castilian was developing into a "prestige" language. Spanyolit was spoken throughout the Middle East and the Balkans after 1492 when Jewish refugees were expelled from what is now modern day Spain.

Spanyolit is in danger of extinction, which means that the last native speakers are elderly, many not transmitting the language to their children. 

From this week’s reading I learned about cultural competence and how to properly evaluate dialects. There are two main areas of spoken language a person recognizes on a regular basis, a person’s accent and a person’s dialect. An accent is easily recognized in the States through how a word sounds, for instance a Boston accent is relatively distinct with how people from that region say several words. A dialect is how words are framed, like “he did it” compared to “he done it.” In studying dialects it is important to note that no dialect is the correct dialect. We are known to say things such as he or she speaks the correct English dialect. Who are we to decide what is the correct English dialect? Just because someone’s spoken language does not sound like the language we were taught in school, it does not necessarily mean it is wrong.

Another interesting thing to note about dialect is that it is becoming harder to recognize where a person is from based off of what they say. Decades ago people could figure out where another person was from based off of what they said. Today that is not the case with the increased social mobility of nearly everyone. I am from Cincinnati, Ohio, but I go to school in the south and routinely converse with people from the Northeast. These are three different dialects I am exposed to everyday for the last four years. Because of this I have acquired language that I never would have previously known had I stayed in Cincinnati my whole life. Now I use words such as wicked and nice in describing whether a person is really good at something. In Cincinnati when we describe somebody as being good at something we say they are sick or awesome.

Modern dialect studies focuses on the socioeconomic status of a person. It is much more helpful to understand a person’s job, income, or education, than where they are from. Although we like to believe there is no class divide in the United States there unfortunately is. The upper class tends to hang with fellow wealthy people and occasionally middle class people, but never lower class people. Since there is such a drastic difference in lifestyles and life experiences, different dialects emerge. Education may have a factor, but the context of the situation also plays a role. For instance when meeting with the President of the United States the language interaction one should expect is that of something proper and not some street jargon. However, when relaxing among some peers the setting is entirely different and a person can return back to the language and dialect they are most comfortable speaking.

The last thing I want to touch on was the question of why does language cause so many problems? The book answers it by explaining that by choosing one language over another is a universal sign that you identify more with this cultural group. The dialect chosen also provides a clear link to the past. Finally, it is a natural barrier between cultural groups that typically encourages conflict rather than cooperation. Even with my Hebrew language there is a clear difference between certain dialects. The Sadducees were the more recognized and distinguished Jewish people with their priest and wealthy person roles, while the Pharisees were the laymen in the Jewish community. These different Jewish sects developed different dialects and also created a sense of hatred towards each other because neither sect budged on their stance or their form of communication. So language and its dialect is not just a problem today, but something that has been causing problems for 2000 plus years.

            Staying true to my promise to continue to churn out more Voki’s past the required amount, I was able to create a Voki with Maya talking about my Spring Break. Since we could find no information on the Internet regarding how to talk about one’s Spring Break in Hebrew, we resorted to calling Maya’s mother who is fluent in English and Hebrew. She was able to generate all the terms and Hebrew lingo I wanted to use in describing my exciting Spring Break to the Dominican Republic where I was not kidnapped. (Ve lo mich pastee!!!!)

The debate over the origins of language always fascinated me. This week reading particularly interested me as it not provided various theories regarding the origins of language but also focused on the evolution of the languages. Otto Jespersen (1860-1943), a Danish linguist has been a revolutionary figure in linguistics. He grouped commonly held theories and divided them into four group while create a fifth group of his own. He believed these five theories described the essence of languages while describing the origins.

The bow-wow theory refers to a theory which suggests that speech arose through people imitation the sounds of the environment especially animal calls. Word such as splash, quack provides evidence to this theory.

The pooh-pooh theory believes speech arose through people making instinctive sounds caused by pains, anger or other emotions. Words such as Ouch, ooh provides evidence to this theory.

The ding-dong theory argues that speech arose because people reacted to stimuli in the world around them, and produces sounds which in some ways reflect or were in harmony in nature.

The Ye-ho-ho theory believes speech arose because, as people worked together, their physical efforts produced communal, rhythmical fronts, which in due course developed into chants, and thus language.

The la-la theory which was developed by Jespersen himself believed if any single factor was going to initiate human language, it would arise from romantic side of life such as the sounds associated with love, play etc.

Although the theories are essential in understanding the origins of language, I believe one theory cannot be regarded as the most effective theory. All the theories presented by Otto Jespersen, if combined together provide a better understanding of how languages began. 

In this section, Crystal focuses primarily on conversation.  The overwhelming message I took away from the reading is that conversation and language are so complex!  There are seemingly innumerable ways in which they same idea can be conveyed in words.  As Crystal points out, conversation rarely follows the stereotype of speaking on complete sentences, careful listening, question and answer and the like.  True conversation is disordered, with people interrupting, finishing each others sentences, and picking up on the previous person’s thoughts, for example.  I found Crystal’s observations about the so called rules of language to be very interesting as well.  These rules include taking turns to speak, making it clear that one wishes to speak next, interrupting only to a limited extent, and knowing when to ignore or acknowledge certain comments.  The section about different meanings and uses of politeness expressions was something I experienced in India with Hindi.  The expression for “thank you” is used far less frequently in India than in the US, I may say thank you upwards of 30 times a day.  In addition, I was never formally taught a word for “you’re welcome.”  An analogous word exists, but is so rarely used as to be inconsequential. 

I have focused primarily on my cross-cultural experiences in India, as they are most pertinent to my current language study. However, I also traveled to Peru, another substantially different culture.  I went to Peru relatively uninformed about the culture, whereas I learned quite a bit about India before I left and had a comprehensive orientation there when I arrived.  I did not know any Spanish when I was in Peru, while in India I was developing limited skills in Hindi.  These factors, in addition to the much lengthier period of time I spent in India, made my time there much more interesting and culturally engaging.  In any future travels, I will definitely plan to learn about cultural norms and at least some basic language skills for wherever I go.