I enjoyed tonight’s class. First of all, Thea and Rachel were the presenter for tonight class. By asking quesitons, it made us reflect our own cultural experience or encounter of language learning or teaching. One of questions was talking about the Japanese and Chinese writing styles. What I wanted to make up here is that direct addressing is one of the Chinese writing styles, and it is not the only one. Some other writing styles of Chinese do exist. For example, there is another one similar to American academic writing style. Later on, we sit in a circle discussing the cultural topics such as foods, gender, social status, and so on. For me, this is the highlight of tonight. I learnt a lot of cultural customs from the class such as double-dipping thing. That was very interesting to me because I wasn’t aware of this culture since I’ve been here for one and a half years. Culture differences sometimes make life difficult, but they definitely can rich your life experience.
Next day (2/3), I did a little research with my American friends, including my host family, on the double dip matter. It seems that they all agree with that. Some said that they would never dip a chip, take a bite, and then dip again. That is just like putting your mouth in the dip, and others wouldn’t never use that dip again.
I agree with you that there are other writing styles in Chinese apart from the indirect one; but to me, since at school i learned how to write mostly in my Literature class where the indirect style was favored in order to produce more profound effects on readers, i automatically transfered that style into English writing and definitely that didn't work, as we discussed in class.
ReplyDeleteAlso, i liked your little research on the double-dipping thing. That was a really great advantage that we English learners have when studying abroad: we usually have a chance to consult with native speakers about points/terms we are not sure about.
I think this is not an issue related to culture. instead this is an issue related to logic and understanding of people, and it is an absolute commen sense issue. My mother and father are not educated, but from the childhood untill now I remember that our glasses or cups are separate. each of us has our own cups to drink tea or water. when we eat something together, we never dip our bitten bet again into the food or sauce.
ReplyDeleteOnce again it is not an issue of Culture. It is politeness and care about others' health and yourself's health.