Doing Culture 2

Last Friday's English class was possibly the best I've had yet, but I've started to question how things were going. I talked a LOT this semester about high/low context languages and high/low contact cultures. Was I moving forward enough while reinforcing information, or did my students feel like I was teaching them the same thing over and over again? Tonight would be my last class, as I'm giving exams on Friday, and I really wanted to end looking towards their future. How will they be able to use what I've taught them when they go abroad to teach?

I started off with showing them Geert Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions Analysis. I recommend checking it out for anyone interested in cultural understanding and comparison. The study gives countries a score based on power disparity (hierarchy or equality), individualism (focus on the self or the collective whole), gender disparity (not "equality" as we see it exactly, more like, there's a clearly defined role for women and role for men vs. women and men filling the same role), uncertainty avoidance, and tendency to hold traditional cultural values vs. the reality of today as more important. I think it's interesting that the evidence of these differences can be seen in the large cultural landscape as well as day-to-day interactions and activities. Pretty cool. Here's a look at the US compared to China:

This gave my students a clearer understanding of what we have been looking at; examining culture as something other than traditions and holidays, but as something with much deeper roots that affects essentially everything we do. Most of them got into it, a few were bored to tears... but only 2 or 3.

After that, we moved on to translating... loosely. Translating from English to Chinese or vice-versa is much more like interpreting a painting or poem than it is actually translating word for word. The way the language is used is so different, a verbatim translation is often not only ineffective, but just plain unclear. Rather, it's much more effective to interpret, not translate, or risk ending up in the infamous Chinglish land.

A friend of mine was asked to do a voice-over for a Chinese company looking to market to the west. It's a good company clearly run by intelligent people, spanning across China and reaching as far as Dubai, but the text for the voice-over was laughable... as well as being good material for my class! Here are a few highlights for your learning pleasure.

In China, nature is used frequently for an effective metaphor not only in literature but also in the media and every day conversation. Which is why it makes sense to use a phrase like, "Company X flies in the sky freely as an eagle with years of effort. Company X dives in the ocean freely as a fish with years of aspiration." but not so much in English.

"Company XYZ has accomplished its passionate span from start to finish, from a small workshop to big enterprise with famous brand, from a little boat to big aircraft carrier." Ok, I obviously understand this. Little and weak to big and strong. Not until my students giggled an explanation did I learn this was another moment of glorious Chinglish. Much like a Chinese person would clearly understand what "I have a dream" means, the cultural reference is completely lost, and they miss out on the real meaning of what is being said (actually, they know this one, but you know what I mean). Apparently the tugboat phrase is used a lot and hints at a much larger reference.

And my favorite: Class, remember when you talk to a native English speaker, you "show" rather than "tell" us about your English skills. For instance, if the logo of Company XYZ includes a fin, you do not need to explain, "The English word 'fin' (a membranous appendage extending from the body of a fish or other aquatic animal, used for propelling, steering or balancing the body in water)..." because I know what a fin is. I speak English.

In China, many people often include historical passages and figures in writing and speaking (hello, look at LTO in the graph above). While quoting historians is a favorite past time of American intellectuals just like their Chinese counterparts, it's not really utilized in the same degree as it is here. Which is why it sounds a bit strange in English for a company to open their marketing materials with "In the spring city Jinan, which is famous for Confucius and Mencius and is described in the poem, 'Lotus on four sides and willows on three, Mountains outside and a lake within,' there springs up a new star of the XYZ manufacturing industry." In Chinese this is great. Quoting the famous poem quickly gives the reader a reference of something beautiful, historical, blablabla, but westerners don't know the poem, so it loses it's meaning. Also notice the continued emphasis on nature.

(Sidebar: if they like nature so much, why are they kiiiilllliiiing it with their toxic rivers?)

My students loved this! It was a great example of many of the influential cultural factors and helps explain that there's much more to effective communicating than knowing the vocabulary and grammar. This is why understanding intercultural communication is important! This is why my class wasn't a waste of your time!

2 awesome classes in a row, which pretty much guarantees that the final I'm giving on Friday will suck.