SΩ17 - The Lingu Leap

Why should you learn a second language? We are in an era of globalization. Whether you like it or not, chances are you will meet people from other countries during your daily life, your studies, or work. With English you can communicate with ~14% of the global population or about 1 billion people (see below). However, if you learn one or more languages you’ll be able to communicate with 1 out of every 3rd people you meet! Furthermore, you’re perspective and knowledge of the world will expand greatly.

Source: ethnologue.com

Why My Experience Is Relevant?

Hopefully, I’ve convinced you to start learning another language! If you are indeed interested, you’ll find a guide below of how I suggest you learn any language. Before I do that, I’d like to briefly share my experience with languages. So far I’ve learned 4 languages, yet am only able to use 3 of them. Currently, I’m learning my 4th language (Chinese). Now the reason I mention this, is because my success has varied significantly!  Below you can see a chart with details.

Additionally, I’ve been giving private English lessons for over a year now! From my experience it got me thinking, how do we as children learn a language? Below you’ll see the rough process I’ve thought up.

Think about a child, they often say words, which they rarely know the meaning of (mimicking)! Furthermore, they make mistakes left & right, yet still continue speaking. So why do many language courses put such an emphasis on grammar & using the language ‘correctly’? This often discourages students and they stop learning the language. Let’s flip that around & encourage language learners to speak confidently first & then focus on the ‘visual’ side of the language.

How to Learn any Language?

From my experience with languages thus far, I developed this method (below) to learning any language. Try it and adjust it to your liking. Of course everyone learns a bit differently!

Finally, I’ll offer 3 tips to learning any language:

1) Practice makes perfect

To excel at a skill requires practice. How you do that is your choice, yet socializing tends to offer a nice motivation boost. Ideally try living abroad! Otherwise, find a language partner in person or online.

2) Jump right in, make mistakes, and keep learning

As mentioned before, children make mistakes, so you can too! Also it takes years for you to learn your first language, so why should the second language be any different?

3) Have fun!

Most likely if you have fun while learning you’ll progress quicker!  Listen to music or watch videos in the language that you’re learning. Get excited even if you understand a few words!

SΩ7 - Culture Talks: Digi-Comm & Laughter

Drumroll, please…the winner is ‘Difference in Communication Between Cultures’! Thanks to all that voted. The main page poll had twice as many votes as the poll on ‘You: The Reader’. New poll coming soon and suggestions are welcome!

It’s my belief that learning about someone’s culture is key to understanding one another. To spark cross-cultural conversations, I offer insight of cultures most familiar to me: American, Swiss, Spanish, and Chinese. I’ll do my best to refrain from creating or supporting stereotypes.

I’ve been contemplating for a while, which differences to share. There is a wide scope of differences: from typical topics in each culture, body language, cultural habits/norms, and much more! For this post I will focus on just two: forms of socializing and humor. In future posts, I’ll discuss other differences.

Cell, Web, or Bar

The advancement of technology has given us many diverse forms to keep in touch. With just a smartphone one can socialize using any of the following: emails, calling, texting (SMS), and more. It’s been my experience that both American and Chinese have embraced digital communication, especially texting! Nevertheless, I think it’s safe to say most people prefer talking in person.

When I returned to Switzerland, I was surprised how few Swiss used social networks, texting, and emails. In Switzerland friends generally meet for lunch or dinner to socialize. Calling is also fairly common.

On the other hand, in Spain meeting in a bar to socialize is the norm! If you walked for 2 minutes from almost anywhere in Barcelona, you’d find a bar. Spanish typically send text messages to arrange a meeting at a bar. I’ve found that Spanish rarely use social networks and emails.

Here’s a rough graphic to illustrate which form of communication is more common in each culture. If you find any factual evidence that disagrees with this, please tell me!

Sunshine & Laughter

We humans invented a nifty way to spice up talks, by using humor! When used correctly, it creates a warm vibe filled with laughter. If it fails, it can lead to misunderstandings and provoke unpleasant emotions. Through the evolution of humor, many types have emerged, such as: wit, play on words, double entendre, sarcasm, slapstick, ‘bathroom’ talk, and other forms. Due to this complexity humor rarely translates well.

Besides the differences in humor, I believe there is also a general difference in how much humor a culture uses on a daily basis. It’s my belief that this is loosely linked to climate. More exposure to sunlight induces higher level of serotonin, which in turn means a ‘happier’ mood. The following graph illustrates the mean annual sunlight in selected major cities from each country.

Regarding the style and topic differences of humor between cultures, some prefer more formal or informal humor. Enclosed is a graph illustrating this, the opposite ends of the spectrum are Spanish and Chinese humor. In Spain people are full of laugher and joke about every topic. I’ve even heard 10-year-old children make sex jokes with their parents! 

Chinese humor tends to play on the complexity of the language, how certain characters sound similar, but have different meanings. Also, due to the complexity of the language, I fathom humor is limited to prevent misunderstandings. Usually, jokes about sex, death/violence, and politics are uncommon.

American humor also tends to be informal. This is fairly evident in American TV shows. Although the topics are diverse, sexual and political jokes are rather popular. In my opinion American humor often has rather simple structure and content. This is perhaps why American TV shows are so international, since the humor can be easily translated. 

For me Swiss humor is the most difficult to understand. Many jokes rely heavily on German grammar, which requires a native understanding of the language. Although jokes can contain informal content, the topics shy away from controversial topics. 

There is one style of humor that seems fairly unique to English and German speakers: sarcasm. Perhaps due to my cultural background, I tend to use a lot of it! However, would recommend using it sparingly, especially with people from other cultures. It can be extremely easy to misunderstand and even worse be taken offensively. In my experience Chinese rarely understand English sarcasm.

As they say: ‘Laughter is the best medicine.’ Just be aware of your audience, so they can share in the laughter! Also, lets all learn Chinese so we can understand their jokes as well! ;)

Your Turn!

This post only explores differences between four cultures. Would be great to learn more about other cultures. Feel free to share about your own culture! Also, I ask you to kindly correct me, if I’ve misspoken.

SΩ3 - Cultural Tales

My first posts have been filled with some rather thought provoking material. I figured it’s time to change it up a bit. As promised, my blog will also provide insight into other cultures. To start off, I figured I’d share some playful anecdotes from my experiences thus far with other cultures! If I made any blatant errors regarding my understanding of any of the cultures mentioned, please let me know!

She Kissed Me

When I returned to Zürich in 2011, I was certain I’d fit right in. It was my city of birth, my parents were both Swiss, and I was fluent in Schwiizerdütsch (Swiss German). I quickly realized my homeland was foreign to me!

Other Swiss found it difficult to pinpoint my origin and I was once asked if I was Norwegian!? Most Swiss know various regional dialects. Mine was a bizarre mixture from Zurich, Luzern, NYC English, and some standard German.

The language aside, I had trouble adapting to the various cultural norms and the countless Swiss rules. On the plus side I had inherited the Swiss tendency to be honest, organized, and direct. Great, maybe I am Swiss after all!?

There was one norm that took a while to get used to. This first caught me off guard while I was helping my roommates move. Two of their female friends arrived to help us move. One of them was exceptionally pretty. As I greeted both with a smile the pretty one kissed me! Not just once, but three times on the cheek! That’s right, in Europe it’s fairly common to greet with kisses. In Switzerland it’s typically three, in Spain it’s two. In Swiss culture, it’s usually more common to kiss people one is familiar with. Always amusing to extend a hand and instead get three kisses!

Lunch for Dinner

A few months upon arriving to Barcelona, I decided to try a work exchange. A family in the suburbs of Barcelona was looking for an English tutor for their two children. In exchange I would have my own room and free meals. Being such a tasty offer, I decided to take the Catalan plunge.

It turned out to be a two-month cultural ride. On a daily basis I received tidbits about Catalan culture, traditions and language. For example that Barcelona is in Cataluña, which is trying to gain independence from Spain. A rather overwhelming experience to be with a family so passionate about a conflict, I have limited understanding of. I was clearly out of touch with the culture I had immersed myself in.

One day I decided to show my gratitude and cook dinner for the family. Being Swiss, I naturally decided to make Tortellini with Bolognese sauce. Yes that’s right, my forte is Italian cooking! Well I’ll save the culinary post for next time, back to the story!

At around 9:00pm dinner was ready to be eaten. I made enough to feed all five of us: a full pot of tortellini and a large brimming pan of Bolognese sauce! Like a good cook, I served everyone with a gracious serving. They ate with gusto and I got ready to serve seconds. As the family was halfway done they came to a halt. Almost in unison they said to me “This is too much!” That day I learned in Spain and Cataluña they typically have 5 meals per day. Most, including dinner are fairly small and lunch is the biggest meal. I had served them lunch for dinner!

Package of the Forgotten

My first taste of Asia was a sweet one. In the summer of 2012, I finally got the chance to visit Japan. This had always been a dream location of mine. As a child I got hooked on anime and manga. Especially fascinating were the movies created by Hayao Miyazaki. I also enjoyed sushi and was intrigued by the elegant architecture of Japanese shrines and temples. Could Japan meet my expectations?

To be continued...