IT use and computer mediated communications has become so much a part of our lives that many do not realize how embedded it has become. SMS, MMS, phone calls, instant messengers, skype. the world has indeed shrunk many-fold, and the issue here (i feel) is that it is changing at too fast a pace.
Many social problems do happen not because society is changing. that is normal actually. the problem is that it is changing too fast, so fast that society is unable to catch up to the changes.
i recall a study i once read, that in such a fast-paced world, where efficiency is prized, even language is not spared. for example, in singapore, acronyms are so common! what about our short-forms for almost everything? nowhere else in the world do people label their universities with acronyms. when we ask foreigners where they study, we get answers like "harvard" or "university of Berkley". never HU or UB. even our sentence structure of Singlish is a shorter and more efficient version of standard english. it has been shortened, not for 'fun', or just because it happened, but usually to cut out words that are "waste of time".
Monday, March 29, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
Lecture 8 : Cross-Gender Interaction
It never occurred to me that communication between genders, can be considered cross-cultural! But after the lesson, I really how true it was! Boys and girls are brought up in total different ways, and are really considered different!I guess that's one similarity ALL ethnicities share! Oh wells maybe not - I DO recall a tribe in North America that differentiate gender by the roles one played in society, not the sex. means if you are 'destined' to be a hunter, you will be brought up in the "masculine" role, whether you are male or female.
The plurality of cultures, even between genders make me wonder, it's so all-encompassing, then true human rights and so-called democracy will never exists? There will be some group that claim certain 'tradition' to their advantage. It is indeed a very tricky and complex situation.
As for english being sexist, one simply has to look to their long long history to understand why. England, is historically a patriachal state. a good example is the case of homosexuality. Did u know that gays were not allowed in the past? But there was no rule concerning lesbians! Simply because the people at that time did not even manage to conceptualise the idea of two women making love!
Singapore is extremely patriachal too! LKY once said, women are MEANT TO BE HOUSEWIVES. He said how can they have full jobs like lawyers and doctors, and at the same time have families? haha
The plurality of cultures, even between genders make me wonder, it's so all-encompassing, then true human rights and so-called democracy will never exists? There will be some group that claim certain 'tradition' to their advantage. It is indeed a very tricky and complex situation.
As for english being sexist, one simply has to look to their long long history to understand why. England, is historically a patriachal state. a good example is the case of homosexuality. Did u know that gays were not allowed in the past? But there was no rule concerning lesbians! Simply because the people at that time did not even manage to conceptualise the idea of two women making love!
Singapore is extremely patriachal too! LKY once said, women are MEANT TO BE HOUSEWIVES. He said how can they have full jobs like lawyers and doctors, and at the same time have families? haha
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Lecture 7: Cultural Sustems 2: Face and Politeness
Face and politeness: very interesting! I never realised we employ these kind of Maxims and Strategies to "maximize benefit, minimize cost blah blah". haha and in Singapore, I can already see (from this systems), that there are SO MANY MANY MANY cultural types. Much more than the CMIO - within chinese alone there are so many! For instance maybe compare university-educated chinese and the non-educated. The way we save "face" or "politeness" is already so different! (I feel) University-educated tend to be more "western" in our strategies, while others are more "asian".
So much for PAP's constant iteration that Singapore is a "CLASSLESS" society! hrmmm! statistics simply show Singapore has an ever-increasing social inequality. And this, can be illustrated through cultural systesms, where different groups of people have different cultural systems simply due to education (and exposure to international cultures).
Power also plays a part in language use. This brings to mind the concepts by some sociologists, that argue that everything in society, is about negotiation of power - power struggle. From politics, to mundane things like marriage. Perhaps, language is also part of this concept? A lecturer (as given in the example), may use less "polite" or "face-saving" strategies to assert his power, while a student is unable to do so as he is powerless and to do so would mean risking a failure!
So much for PAP's constant iteration that Singapore is a "CLASSLESS" society! hrmmm! statistics simply show Singapore has an ever-increasing social inequality. And this, can be illustrated through cultural systesms, where different groups of people have different cultural systems simply due to education (and exposure to international cultures).
Power also plays a part in language use. This brings to mind the concepts by some sociologists, that argue that everything in society, is about negotiation of power - power struggle. From politics, to mundane things like marriage. Perhaps, language is also part of this concept? A lecturer (as given in the example), may use less "polite" or "face-saving" strategies to assert his power, while a student is unable to do so as he is powerless and to do so would mean risking a failure!
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Lecture 6: Communication Systesms 1: Component & Representations
Finally some concepts i can understand again! concepts to be used to interpret data, results from cross-cultural studies.
I'm guessing i could maybe use the "power distance", definitely not the "uncertainty avoidance", and most definitely the "masculinity vs feminity" component.
Singapor, being a patriachal society ( it still is, no matter how feminists want to argue. hrmph!), would certainly have implications on how couples use humor to resolve conflict. Certainly I'd think that perhaps the male would use humor more, and well and more aggresively etc.
Yet culturally, Singaporeans are not homogenous. Different classes, different groups of Singaporeans are exposed differently to world cultures. One could say (generally of course) that the higher level of education one attains, the more exposed one is to western cultures, and hence "egalitarianism" of the genders. Of course family backgrounds, frequency of mass media usage etc would affect too.
Hence, i am truely excited to see the results of my study, when it is completed. yay!
and i was doing some readings - there are 150 definitions in English and American sources alone, of "culture". Culture is so large and all-embracing, and grasp some aspect of a complex whole is not enough. Language is but a piece of puzzle in this mighty jigsaw, and to study culture and make assumptions/statements based on language is certainly not enough. We need to back it up with detailed study of cultures, like anthropology, and vice versa.
ending of with another great song, classic one. i wonder, do i include same-sex relationships in my definition of "dating couples"? haha that would definitely complicate things!
I'm guessing i could maybe use the "power distance", definitely not the "uncertainty avoidance", and most definitely the "masculinity vs feminity" component.
Singapor, being a patriachal society ( it still is, no matter how feminists want to argue. hrmph!), would certainly have implications on how couples use humor to resolve conflict. Certainly I'd think that perhaps the male would use humor more, and well and more aggresively etc.
Yet culturally, Singaporeans are not homogenous. Different classes, different groups of Singaporeans are exposed differently to world cultures. One could say (generally of course) that the higher level of education one attains, the more exposed one is to western cultures, and hence "egalitarianism" of the genders. Of course family backgrounds, frequency of mass media usage etc would affect too.
Hence, i am truely excited to see the results of my study, when it is completed. yay!
and i was doing some readings - there are 150 definitions in English and American sources alone, of "culture". Culture is so large and all-embracing, and grasp some aspect of a complex whole is not enough. Language is but a piece of puzzle in this mighty jigsaw, and to study culture and make assumptions/statements based on language is certainly not enough. We need to back it up with detailed study of cultures, like anthropology, and vice versa.
ending of with another great song, classic one. i wonder, do i include same-sex relationships in my definition of "dating couples"? haha that would definitely complicate things!
Monday, March 1, 2010
Lecture 5 - Written Discourse
okie have to admit it. I have absolutely NO interest in written discourse. haha it is seriously not in my scope of what i think is an interesting topic for my essay.
However i do have a thought that has almost nothing to do with Language or communication. All this talk about comparing cultures through communication, tends to encourage comparison between cultures.
Yet, in an increasingly globalising world, where cosmopolitanism is also increasingly widespread, lies a contradiction. Cosmopolitanism, which is the product of a "shrinking" world, advocates diversity, pluralism of cultures. Yet globalisation forces homogenity onto cultures, by way of capitalism and mass media just to name a few.
Similarly, I feel to study cultures through communication confusing. Why should we study how Chinese people speak English? They were born to speak Chinese! so what if their writing style beats around a bush? somehow i feel we Shouldn't be comparing cultures. Cultures were built and created differently to help adapt to specific environments.
and so now, with globalisation, environments are changing. Language, as part of culture, is also changing. Social forces are increasingly intertwined and interdependant, and language along with it. I think soon, to explain certain language use would be no longer as "straightforward" or "simple" as before.
However i do have a thought that has almost nothing to do with Language or communication. All this talk about comparing cultures through communication, tends to encourage comparison between cultures.
Yet, in an increasingly globalising world, where cosmopolitanism is also increasingly widespread, lies a contradiction. Cosmopolitanism, which is the product of a "shrinking" world, advocates diversity, pluralism of cultures. Yet globalisation forces homogenity onto cultures, by way of capitalism and mass media just to name a few.
Similarly, I feel to study cultures through communication confusing. Why should we study how Chinese people speak English? They were born to speak Chinese! so what if their writing style beats around a bush? somehow i feel we Shouldn't be comparing cultures. Cultures were built and created differently to help adapt to specific environments.
and so now, with globalisation, environments are changing. Language, as part of culture, is also changing. Social forces are increasingly intertwined and interdependant, and language along with it. I think soon, to explain certain language use would be no longer as "straightforward" or "simple" as before.
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