Who on Earth are we 11

Callum: Hello and welcome to the last in our series about culture and inter-cultural communication Who on Earth are we?

Over the course of this series, we’ve heard about some of the ways that we can explore cultural differences, we’ve come closer to understanding the nature of ‘culture’ - and found ways that can help us communicate better with people from different cultural backgrounds. But have we come any closer to understanding what our own cultures are like - do we know ‘who on earth we are?’

We’ll try to answer that question at the end of the programme. Before that, though, let’s look back at some of the main points covered during the series - and then consider how we can make practical use of this knowledge.

We heard that the nature of the culture we grow up in is invisible to us. We don’t look at our own culture because, for us, it’s normal.

We looked at language – and how languages are different, not just in the way they sound or the words they use, but because different languages represent both the different ways people experience the world, and influence the way the people of a culture think and behave.

We considered the differences between verbal cultures, where people value talk and verbal reasoning – and non-verbal cultures, where silence is considered a positive thing because it can help to maintain social harmony.

Then, we heard about the different ways people from different cultures use body-language, touch and gesture – and how this can affect, and be affected 1 by, different cultural attitudes to time and space.

One of the most important ideas we covered, was the distinction between cultures where the individual is seen as central, and those where the group is seen as the most important unit.

We looked at cultural dimensions（规模） - at how we can begin to see what a culture is like by considering things such as a culture’s attitude to power, whether a culture tries to avoid uncertainty 2, or to what extent a culture values masculine or feminine characteristics.

And in recent programme we looked at some of the barriers to successful communication between people from different cultures, and the problem of culture shock. But what are the practical implications（蕴涵试） of all this? What use can we make of this information? Over to series writer and presenter 3, Marc Beeby.

Marc: Well, we need to turn these theories into action –when we meet and talk to people from other cultures, for example – or, more particularly, when we go to live in a foreign country. And how do we do that? Sit back and listen as people from around the world help Rebecca Fong – a teacher of intercultural communication from the University of the West of England, present a guide to turning theories about culture into successful - and beneficial -intercultural practice

Rebecca Fong

First and foremost the biggest barrier to adjusting to a new culture could well be assuming that it'll be easy and that you'll be OK. If it is - obviously that's fantastic -if it isn't - which it's much more likely to be - then don't panic -this is normal, you're normal. Focus on the idea of cultural relativism - no one culture is right. We shouldn't use our own standards to judge other cultures with. Begin the process of asking questions about how and why different cultures do things differently.

 

Eilidh Hamilton

We all believe that our culture is the right way of doing it because we've always been told this is right, this is how you behave, this is what you must say, this is what you must do. When you move to another culture often you have to realise that what you have learnt is not intrinsically （内在地，固有的）right -it's just one way.

 

Rebecca Fong

Prepare: Arm yourself with the facts before you go - find out about the geography and the history the food the customs. Learn the language -this will give you control in your new culture -it will also give you an opportunity to meet people and socialise and a window on the way the culture works as you come to understand how the language is used.

When you get there: When you get there, try and make friends as soon as you can. A good way of making real friends in a culture is by joining local cookery（烹调法） courses or music or drama courses or sports clubs. Whatever your local neighbourhood has to offer.

Emma Kambangula

Having travelled all over the world and met people from different cultures, I feel it made me quite a rich person. When I go home I know how to treat other people from other cultures and to inform my people how to respect people with their cultures – because sometimes you find them rude, but it’s not that they’re rude, it’s how they take it in their country. But it really educated me quite a lot and I'm really happy about that.

 

Rebecca Fong

Work on yourself: This is probably the most important thing of all. Raise your self-awareness and remember that culture is not only about what we believe - but much harder to get control of - it's about the way that we behave - so be observant（观察力敏锐的） - watch what's going on around you and notice behavioural differences. Listen to yourself. Even when you get frustrated 4, try not to lose your temper; be restrained, reserve judgement, wait until you've really made an effort to find out the reasons for your frustrations 5.

James Keegan

Making cultural change, it isn’t necessarily that you have to adapt and become part of that culture. But the one thing you owe it, to any other culture, is to be aware. Just be aware that in France you know, things are done differently. Just be aware that when you go to Japan, things are done differently. And don’t stand there and say: oh this isn’t the way we do it, and how strange or how peculiar 6. （奇怪的，古怪的）You’ve got to sort of recognise that different cultures do things differently.

 

Rebecca Fong

Be sensitive: When situations are difficult consider that it may in fact be you that is doing something wrong. Be introspective（内省） learn to ask yourself questions especially if you can't understand why it is that things are happening differently around you. Be open and tolerant - try not to dismiss things you don't know about. Criticising or rejecting the culture's favourite food or their favourite pastime or their favourite sport might turn out to be offensive. Don't be judgmental. Try to put yourself in the shoes of the other culture and imagine why their world is as it is.

Be sociable（好交际的） and extrovert:（性格外向的） Nobody knows you in this culture - you don't have your old reputation to live up to. So even if you're a shy person back home, adopt a new identity - be the person that you've always secretly wanted to be. Be wary 7 of stereotypes 9 - remember you can be so busy looking for stereotypes that you blind yourself to all the other characteristics that are also there.

 

Mahmood Jamal

Just like probably English people saw people from Pakistan or Bangladesh or India as being one homogenous 10（同质的，同类的） group, I also used to see English people as one homogenous group. So that was the first breakdown 11 of my stereotype 8 of English people - that English people are a variety of people from a variety of classes, a variety of backgrounds, a variety of regions. In a way what I am saying is that that is the way one should look at almost every country, every nation and every culture because there's no such thing as a monolithic（完全统一的，整体的） person, you know, or a culture.

 

Rebecca Fong

Situations to avoid: A common reaction to difference is to seek what you know in the company of other expatriates（亡命国外者） in the place where you go. This can end up really slowing down your learning process and worse it can turn into super ethno-centric moaning（悲啼） situations where everyone sits around idealising the home country and downgrades the benefits of the host culture. Along the same lines -if all you're going to do when you go abroad is to try to replicate（折叠，重复） your home country as closely as you can by eating the same food and dressing 12 the same and kitting your house out the same and doing the same activities -then why did you bother to go at all?

 

Kyung-ja Yoo

I'm quite fortunate I'm quite the lucky one - because I now have a comparison - comparison of Eastern culture and Western culture so I could possibly understand why people are behaving like that better than the people who never left the country. But sometimes I feel like I don't really belong to anywhere - in a way it makes me free, much more free.

 

Rebecca Fong

As soon as you make the decision to change your external behaviour and your habits a little bit to match the culture you're in you'll be simply amazed by how much doors open for you, how people will admire the effort you're making to fit in and how they respond to this by taking you into their inner circles and confiding 13 in you.

 

Devon Krohn

I think what I've learnt from being abroad is just to be more open-minded I know that sounds like a cliché but you meet so many different kinds of people and doing different things and behaving in different ways that you think to yourself -it works that way as well -it doesn't just work my way. and you become a lot more tolerant.

Rebecca Fong

Above all try to maintain a sense of humour through thick and thin. See the positive side. Nothing is ever all bad or all difficult. If you make a real effort to acculturate（适应文化） in the time that you have then living in a foreign culture will doubtlessly remain with you as one of the best experiences that you'll ever have in your life.

Callum: Rebecca Fong, with a practical guide to successful inter-cultural communication. You also heard from Eilidh Hamilton and Devon Krohn from Britain, Emma Kambangula from Namibia, James Keegan in the USA, Mahmoud Jamal from Pakistan, and Kyung-ja Yoo from Japan. My thanks to them, and to all the people from around the world who have taken part in this series. I know they’ve helped me become a better inter-culturalist. But my special thanks goes to our cultural guide, Rebecca Fong. And I’ll leave the final word in the series to her.

 

Rebecca Fong

Learning about other people's cultures is one of the most fantastically rewarding things that any of us will ever do and in asking ourselves questions about how other cultures operate we'll inevitably 14 （不可避免的）have to compare and contrast them with our own cultures so that an unexpected by-product 15 of studying other cultures will be learning more about the way that our own cultures operate -which brings us nearer to being able to answer the question - who on Earth are we?

(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

点击收听单词发音  






1
affected

  
 


adj.不自然的，假装的


参考例句：





She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。












2
uncertainty

  
 


n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物


参考例句：





Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。












3
presenter

  
 


n.（电视、广播的）主持人，赠与者


参考例句：





Most people think being a television presenter is exciting.很多人认为当电视节目主持人是一件刺激的事情。
The programme dispensed with its most popular presenter.这个节目最受欢迎的主持人被换掉了。












4
frustrated

  
 


adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧


参考例句：





It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》












5
frustrations

  
 


挫折( frustration的名词复数 )； 失败； 挫败； 失意


参考例句：





The temptation would grow to take out our frustrations on Saigon. 由于我们遭到挫折而要同西贡算帐的引诱力会增加。
Aspirations will be raised, but so will frustrations. 人们会产生种种憧憬，但是种种挫折也会随之而来。












6
peculiar

  
 


adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的


参考例句：





He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。












7
wary

  
 


adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的


参考例句：





He is wary of telling secrets to others.他谨防向他人泄露秘密。
Paula frowned,suddenly wary.宝拉皱了皱眉头，突然警惕起来。












8
stereotype

  
 


n.固定的形象，陈规，老套，旧框框


参考例句：





He's my stereotype of a schoolteacher.他是我心目中的典型教师。
There's always been a stereotype about successful businessmen.人们对于成功商人一直都有一种固定印象。












9
stereotypes

  
 


n.老套，模式化的见解，有老一套固定想法的人( stereotype的名词复数 )v.把…模式化，使成陈规( stereotype的第三人称单数 )


参考例句：





Such jokes tend to reinforce racial stereotypes. 这样的笑话容易渲染种族偏见。
It makes me sick to read over such stereotypes devoid of content. 这种空洞无物的八股调，我看了就讨厌。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》












10
homogenous

  
 


adj.同类的，同质的，纯系的


参考例句：





Japan is a wealthy,homogenous,developed nation with a stable political system.日本是一个富裕的同质型发达国家，政治体制稳定。
My family is very homogenous and happy.我们这个家庭很和睦很幸福。












11
breakdown

  
 


n.垮，衰竭；损坏，故障，倒塌


参考例句：





She suffered a nervous breakdown.她患神经衰弱。
The plane had a breakdown in the air,but it was fortunately removed by the ace pilot.飞机在空中发生了故障，但幸运的是被王牌驾驶员排除了。












12
dressing

  
 


n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料


参考例句：





Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。












13
confiding

  
 


adj.相信人的，易于相信的v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的现在分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等）


参考例句：





The girl is of a confiding nature. 这女孩具有轻信别人的性格。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
Celia, though confiding her opinion only to Andrew, disagreed. 西莉亚却不这么看，尽管她只向安德鲁吐露过。 来自辞典例句












14
inevitably

  
 


adv.不可避免地；必然发生地


参考例句：





In the way you go on,you are inevitably coming apart.照你们这样下去，毫无疑问是会散伙的。
Technological changes will inevitably lead to unemployment.技术变革必然会导致失业。












15
by-product

  
 


n.副产品，附带产生的结果


参考例句：





Freedom is the by-product of economic surplus.自由是经济盈余的副产品。
The raw material for the tyre is a by-product of petrol refining.制造轮胎的原材料是提炼汽油时产生的一种副产品。