Thursday, May 30, 2013
Friday, May 24, 2013
Reflection of the whole Cultural Diversity Course
In this
class I learnt so many things that I did not know about it before such as
glossary, Assimilation & Acculturation, Multiculturalism, Discrimination,
isms and many different things. I really enjoyed the whole subjects
because every time I learn a new things, but the most enjoyable moment was when
we made the film as a group about UAE culture we had so much fun and we became
more together as friends because it was the first time for us going out together
and we laughed while we recording the film about our mistakes. For sure I had some
difficult moment in this class for example at the first day of the class I was
so confused because it was the first time ever for me studying about culture
diversity and I thought it will be the hardest class in this semester, while the
most difficult thing was the presentation I really do not like it but I have no
choice and I have to do it, after I did it I felt so happy because it was not
that difficult as what I thought before I hope if we had assignment as a group
to choice a country out of the Arabic gulf and talk about it for example the
culture of this country and do it as presentation and I think the class will be
more interesting if we have an assignment that we have to go to some countries
club in Abu Dhabi for example there is a Sudanese Social
Club in Abu Dhabi where all Sudanese
meet and we have to go there and ask them about different thing about them
clothes, food, culture and different thing it will be more helpful for us and I
think a lot of students will like the idea. In this course I learnt many
helpful thing like knowing about other cultures, and how to respect them, types
of isms and how to avoid them and other things. It is good to take subject
that related to our country and our personal situation because it was easy for
us to search, talk and give examples about it but we have to learn about other
counties also to be more aware when we meet people from different
counties. It little bit difficult to search about some information in UAE
because the media do not mention everything. In general the course was really
helpful and valuable for us because we learnt many things that we did not know
about it before and for me most of these things was new things, because I was
not interesting about culture diversity at all I thought it waste my time while
now I’m very interesting in really glad that I took this class.
Cross-Cultural Communication - Reflection
Many
people all around the world have experienced cross-cultural communication and
most of them had problems at first days put day after day they figured out how
to get along with it. Each country has different communication ways for example
verbal and non-verbal communication, verbal communication such as words and
voice, while non-verbal communication such as gesture, posture, facial
expressions, eye contact, vocal characteristics, personal appearance and touch. I
also believe the key to effective cross-cultural communication is knowledge
because if the person who migrate or travel to new country read and know about
the country like the culture, communication and other things he or she will
avoid problems of miscommunication that faced a lot of people at first days in this
new culture but the person have to be patient and forgiving, rather than
hostile and aggressive, if problems develop. There are so many things that
increase the number of cross-cultural communication such as business
opportunities, job opportunities, exchange students and other things. The
benefits of cross-cultural communication are a lot for example learning new
languages know about different culture, new experience. Cross-cultural are good
as long as people understand it and know how to communicate with new behavior,
attitude, thought and different things.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Outsourced film questions
1.
As soon as Todd arrives, he experiences the discomfort of being disoriented in
a
strange new place. What happens at the airport?
He is trying to get
out of the huge crowed at the airport, after that he face another problem that
all the taxi drivers were fighting over him
2.
When a friendly traveler helps him get on the train, what does he tell him to
do?
How could this advice apply to what an exchange student has to do?
He told him to jump into the train, the advise applied that the
student let him set then he set on his lap.
3.
When he gets on the train, he cannot find an empty seat. How is this problem
solved
for him? How might this be a cultural solution?
The young kid offered
him his seat and then sat in his lap, because of the high population in india
people are used to such a solution such as sharing seats, standing and
squeezing in the train cabins.
4.
As any exchange student, he has a lot of experiences trying new food. His first
encounter
is with an iced drink. What happens?
He got stomach ache,
and got sick because of the polluted water used in the iced drink
5.
First encounters with a culture can be shocking – Todd sees crowded streets
with
cows, noise, and a man urinating in the street. But how does his host
describe the
city?
“Bombay is terrible,
but here it’s very clean”
6.
Even though the host Puro speaks English, Todd uses American slang a lot
without
thinking. So as not to insult Puro, what does he say the meaning of
Schmuck is?
“That means like a
nice guy”
7.
Todd wants to check in to a hotel. But Puro insists he come to a boarding
house.
What is the reason he gives Todd?
That he will feel lonely if he stays by himself in the hotel.
8.
As soon as they meet, Aunti Ji starts asking very intimate questions that
Americans
who have just met would never ask. What kind of things does she ask?
What does your father do, are you married, what’s your
salary, do you have a girlfriend? Why did you break up?
9.
During his first conversation with Aunti Ji he makes two big mistakes. What are
they?
He ate with his left
hand which considered not clean in india and he placed the same hand he ate
with back in the food
10.
The Golden Rule says do unto others as you would have them do unto you. That
means
his Indian hosts and friends are trying to make him comfortable the way
they
would be comfortable. How does this apply when the servant is preparing
tea for
Todd?
She poured the tea for
him and even put sugar just the way they do.
11.
How does Todd figure out why one does not eat food with the left hand?
The owner of the
boardinghouse explained to him by sign language why Indians think left hand
isn’t clean to eat with
12. What is ethnocentric about his statement "You need to
learn about America"?
13. Why do they disagree on how a "native" speaks
English?
Because of the way Americans pronounce some words with an
American accent not proper English, they think it’s a matter of different
accents which doesn’t mean their English is wrong in India at the end it is a
matter of correct English
He was shocked and didn’t understand why Aysha said
that. High-context culture
14.
What doesn't Todd understand about the Indians' response to the "cattle
brand"?
He was talking about
it in an insensitive way without knowing how sensitive and holy cows are in
India
15.
What is Todd's reaction to "You need to learn about India"? What
stage of culture
shock might it represent?
He was shocked and didn’t understand why Aysha said that.
High-context culture
16.
He calls home several times. Why? What stage of culture shock might provoke
calls
home?
Because he is homesick.
17.
What mistakes in language usage are represented in the recording of the call
about
"a rubber"?
Rubber means eraser in
English – British accent, as it doesn’t mean the same in the American English
18.
Why is he so eager to go to McDonnells?
Because heve been
having troubles with food since he arrived plus he’s homesick and craving for a
meal that reminds him of home
19.
Todd doesn't understand bargaining. How does the Indian respond to this?
He
thought that Todd is barging and started barging back immediately without even
paying attention to whats Todd’s actually saying as it’s a very common habit in
india
20. What does
I.N.D.I.A. stand for? How might this be an example of the "Inbound
Syndrome"?
I’ll Never Do It
Again,
21.
What advice does his fellow American have for him?
That once he gives in
and stops resisting he will do much better.
22.
When Todd develops the incentive system, he has begun to adapt to India. How
has
he adapted?
Once he saw
improvement from the team he apologized to them and admit that he should learn
more about India. He also asked for suggestions and opinions on how to create a
better environment from them to work
23.
When he looks at the cow in the office the second time, why is his reaction so
different?
Because he started to
adjust and fit in which was shown in his second look, it was friendlier and
more receptive that his first look and reaction when he just arrived to india
24.
Explain the difference between American and Indian cultures when Todd and
Puro
discuss how often he visits his family and why he doesn't live with them.
Indians are more
attached and close to their families than Americans. They consider the family
an important and number one priority in their lives and that explains why they
live with their families even if they get older and what their parents mean to
them. While in America people mostly move out in a very young age and get
caught up in their busy lives away from their parents and they’re family and
only gather when there’s an event such as weddings, Christmas and thanksgiving.
25. What cultural values are involved in the exchange between
Aunti Ji and Todd
about ironing his underwear?
26. How well does Todd
handle himself when he is invited over the wall to an Indian
home
for a meal?
Very
well, that showed us how open he became to new things from a different culture
and class than what he’s used to
27.
In what ways does he show he has adapted? How does he know he is successful?
when
he dance with the employes and wear Indian clothes also when he had lunch with
indian family and get sad when know that he have to go to China
28. When the call center
floods and they are shut down, Todd finds an "Indian"
solution.
What is it?
He
asked the poor indian man from over the wall for his help with replacing the
wires as he saw in his place how they all surviving on a public source of
electricity by extending wires from it. And that’s an indian way as the economy
is very bad and people try to survive in many ways in that was one of them
29.
When Todd's boss comes to India, he eventually explains why – Todd has to
leave.
How is his reaction similar to that of an exchange student?
because
they have the same problem in China and he have to go there and reduce the
number as he did in India he got upset because he get to used to live in India
and he have to leave it know
30. When Todd comes home,
there are several signs that his Indian experience has
influenced
him. Name three ways he has become more "Indian".
First
by calling his mother and planning to visit her, then the way he made his tea,
and he drank it with his right hand, the small touch he added to the dollar
plate he has and finally his mobile ringtone which was an Indian tune
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Reflection 2 - Cultural Diversity film
When I joined the class at the
first day of the semester I was not excited at all and I thought that it would
be hard class for me because I never take class in cultural diversity before. But day after day I started like
the class and I became more interesting about culture diversity.
We
really had fun there and this movie make us know more about our culture and
thing we did not know before, I’m glad that I worked with these cool guys they
were very helpful and kind and I’m looking forward working with them if we have
other projects.
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