3 Charisma & Language Use (Part 1).ppt

This is done by interviewing with a foreigner in Vietnam about his/her cultural experience such as intercultural obstacles to living in Vietnam, how expectations met or fail to meet, wha

DEPARTMENT OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

SUBJECT:

COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE

Lecturer : Dr BẢO ĐẠT Student : QUÁCH THỊ NGỌC UYỂN Class : DIP 6A

“ Design and pilot an empirical investigation into some aspect of intercultural issues such as culture bump or culture shock This is done by interviewing with a foreigner

in Vietnam about his/her cultural experience such as intercultural obstacles to living in Vietnam, how expectations met or fail to meet, what was the most outstanding culture shock experience, what are some beliefs and values one should learn from such cultural experiences, etc…

Please conduct a project individually or with a partner of your own choice If a joint project is submitted, it

is understood that the participants agree to receive the same grade for that assignment.”

English is now the dominant or official language in over sixty countries and is learnt in every country (Crystal, 1997) Approximately, 450

million people speak English From this fact, it can be understood that the English language is a vital means of communication for millions of people around the world

As know so far, English is commonly used as a medium for the

communication of information and news About three – quarters of all telex messages and telegrams are sent in English Eighty percent of computer date are processed and stored in English Much satellite

communication is carried in English

Popular culture has also played an important part in spreading English English is spoken in hotels and travel agencies, at airport, and in shops that tourists frequent …

Vietnam is a country on its impetus Ho Chi Minh City is the biggest one in whole country It is an important center of culture, sciences, technique and commerce, and there are also lots of foreigners living here They cope with lots of difficulties in daily life

(i) About languages:

A foreigner coming to Vietnam to live, his main language is often

English It will be difficult for him to get used to local area when he can’t speak Vietnamese while most of Vietnamese can’t speak English Althought in Ho Chi Minh City, there are lots of people who are good at English and Vietnamese students are also good at foreign languages, but they often work for businesses or schools Therefore daily activities of foreigners living in Vietnam will cope with difficulties of divergent languages They feel shock on contacting local customs and habits

(2) About paper procedures:

Wedding is a complicated procedure A foreigner wants to marry a Vietnamese, they have to wait for a long time Sometimes, their papers are returned They obtain a marriage certificate with difficulty

Characteristics of Western people are brisk and punctual They do

treasure time But living in Vietnam, they feel inconvenient when

waiting for paper procedures Therefore, the experience of a foreigner living in Vietnam is that they are worried of illegal papers which occupy lots of their time

(3) About currency:

Services of eating, drinking and commodities in Vietnam are much cheaper that those in Western countries But when paying they are flabbergasted on price quotation For example, a dish of rice is only one dollar, but they hear “Eighteen thousand dong!” It is quite tired of

calculating the rate of exchange! It is one of the problems which causes shocks to foreigners in Vietnam

(4) About housing:

Proverb said, “Eating Chinese dishes and living in Western houses” In Western houses, there are full of comforts such as eclectricity, water and airconditioners They live in buildings while in our country, houses can’t satisfy their demands In case of long term living, foreigners will rent high ranking and expensive apartments They condermn that our people live in slum districts It is a clash in culture, life of the two mankind civilizations

(5) About traffic

Englishmen coming to Vietnam are surprised and embarrssed on seeing that we keep drive on the right instead on the left as their long

standing habit They are overcome by fear when passing across the streets Motorbikes rushing through the lines before green traffic light nearby make a high dive into them There is often jammed traffic

because of narrow streets

The streets have much dust, old vehicles always make noise and are causes of heavy polluted environment

Air pollution is caused by the gases, smoke and dust These hamrful gases cause difficulty in breathing and many other respiratory diseases such as asthama and tuberculosis The foreigners feel awful when they

(6) Eating and drinking:

Vietnamese dishes are very appetite and diversified We process food for table companions using chopsticks Foreigners will feel embarrassed when they are unfamiliar with this style Forks and knives are their uses for eating and drinking They don’t know how to eat if we invite them for meals in a Vietnamese family It must be that he will waver and we, Vietnamese hosts also hesitate when we entertain a person with his habit of using forks and knives

In big restaurants in Vietnam, there are enough comforts to serve

foreign guests But if living in long term in Vietnam, there is no reason why he goes to expensive and luxurious restaurants to eat? Then he reluctantly has to eat at common restaurants

And problems of sanitation will be set up Our people, they have little money and common restaurants are their familiar places after work Here it incurred a cultural strike between two ethnic groups, between the rich and the poor

(7) About entertaiment:

A foreigner comes to live in Vietnam He wants to have relaxation after hard work He may visit famous landscape sights or go to the

countryside to learn about Vietnamese culture

And a thing which makes him not to be joyful is that litter scatters everywhere at amusement places full of charming landscape

Vietnamese inhabitants do not have the sense of protection of

environment For example, when foreigners sight – seeing Ha Long Bay It is set in a magnificent landscape of rolling green hills Suddently they meet by chance some Vietnamese people throw trash onto the water They feel disappointed because polluted water can directly harm

to people’s health and kill fish

It is not interesting in a countryside with fresh air, trees laden with fruit, peaceful rivers or yellow rice fields because country folks can’t exchange languages with foreigners

Foreigners want to know something about traditional music arts but there are no translators They watch classical dramas but know nothing They are tired of They may not experience this stage

(8) About habits and customs:

Apart from worship, offering sacrifices are Vietnamese belief forms On these occasions of holding death anniversaries, dishes are put on trays

so long It is not hygienic because of flies Moreover, eating cool food will be easy to cause diseases

Especially foreigners are quite surprised on seeing people eating and drinking next to coffins in funerals, not including tumultuous drums and wind instrumentss producing a stir in an area They are bad customs which our government is managing to convice the inhabitants to quit What should we do to extricate the strikes relating to customs and habits, nation culture? Everyday on media, they warn us to protect environment, keep green, clean and beautiful sanitation In hamlets, there are always meetings to propagandize local residents to abolish unsound customs, to live simply and wholesome

Conclusion:

In brief, in order to experience in some fields of culture

and to be able to extricate strikes, foreigners living in Vietnam should know how to get used to current situation It is suggested him to

consider events in life in Vietnam as a mater of course He should

ignore the discrimination between Vietnamese and his civilized people

He should know that he is lucky to be the citizen of a country which nature gives favor He is allowed to live in a society which develops soon due to sciences and technique

And for us, we have to learn English or other foreign languages

Especially, English is a widespead and important language in the world today It is used for everything from international conferences to news reports It is used not only for communication between native speaker of English, but also between non-native speakers It is the most widely used language all over the world and it will be used by more and more people in the world

Vietnamese students should study proficiency in foreign languages Having proficiency in foreign languages we can grasp necessary

information quickly, avoid hazards caused by natural phenomena

Proficiency in foreign languages can help us to comminicate with each other easily

(1,258 words)

Crystal, D (1997) The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English language, Cambridge: CUP, p 106

Heath, S.B 1983 “Ways of words: Language, life and work in

communities” New York: Cambridge

Rogoff, B, 1990 “Cognitive development in social context” New York: Oxford

The Earth C, 2007 “Pollution” HCM City