Question 1:
Studies suggest that differences in brain development may play an important role in intercultural communication. It has long been known that many non-western cultures do not stress logical reasoning. Children growing up in western cultures are taught to think and reason along the principles of induction and deduction, to break things down into their parts, to focus on details and important aspects of a matter, and also to understand underlying cause and effect relationships. Non-western cultures tend to take in the overall picture and do not attempt to analyze. People learn to give proper consideration to all variables considered together. This means that they do not overlook background or secondary elements, which westerners could and would immediately rule out in their hurry “to get down to basics,” or “to find the facts that count.” This holistic perception of the world also takes into account feelings and associated emotions. An Asian or Native American could look at a landscape scorched by the hot sun and feel the suffering of the plants and animals. Other cultures making use of a holistic approach to viewing the world or to solving problems include Hispanics and African-Americans. Whether one is linear or holistic in thinking depends partly on (brain) hemisphericity. Deduction, induction, mathematical reasoning, analysis — in general, what we call a linear and direct approach — are processes lateralized to the left hemisphere; holistic thinking, blending in with nature, feeling an overall effect, letting sights, sounds and smells build an overall picture involve processes lateralized to the right hemisphere.
· Relate this to what the text says about Organizational Patterns.
· Summarize what the text says about Organizational Patterns.
Question 2:
· Summarize the link about the Chinese language.
· How many characters does one need to understand in order to read Modern Standard Chinese?
· Now compare that to how many characters one needs to know to read Modern Standard English. Hint: how many letters are there in the English language?
· How does this relate to the assigned reading from the text this week–what theory best explains this?
Question 3:
You just viewed a scene from the film “The Last Emperor”. This film is based on the biography of Pu Yi, who was the last emperor of China before a rebellion that ended the Chinese monarchy. The year was 1912 and Pu Yi was only five years old. He remained a figure head with no real powers. He continued to live in the Forbidden City and enjoy all the wealth and luxury that went along with the title of emperorhe just had no political power. Pu Yi began his tutoring lesson by a man from Scotland at the age of 13. You just viewed a dialogue between the Scottish tutor and the Chinese Emperor.
· “Matters of words perhaps, but words are important.”—tutor.
· “Why are words important?”Emperor.
· “If you cannot say what you mean your majesty, you will never mean what you say; and a gentleman should always mean what he says.”—tutor.
· Relate this conversation to what the text says about the Power of Language.
· Summarize (in detail) what the text says about the Power of Language.
VIDEO: FIU | Video 70- Last Emperor_CC.mp4
QUESTION 4:
In detail, summarize at length the video “How to Save a Language from Extinction” and relate it to ANY aspect of the course you wish.
Click here to view the clip. FIU | COM3461 – How to Save a Language from Extinction (Daniel Bogre Udell)
QUESTION 5:
What is the author’s claim about the relationship between science and the sacred? What are your thoughts after reading this article? Can the sacred exist outside of a religion?
