A Middle Ground Between The Extremes Of Relying Too Heavily On Interpreters

Roger Williams’s journal “From a key into the language of America” was an interning piece to read. Williams work has gave people for centuries, an better understanding of what life was for the Indians, the language the Indians use and the one he has created, and the values of the natives themselves. This piece of work by William gives an historical context and real life because without his journal, no one would know the language he has created, the information about the natives, and the philosophy that has been passed on for people today to read.

In this article, “ From Rez Life: An Indian’s Journey Through Reservation Life,” by David Treuer, he talks about the struggles that Native Americans have gone through. Mr. Treuer brings to the reader’s attention the struggles that most people don’t even realize have happened. Mr. Treuer has one big struggle that is still happening today that needs help to change, which is the lack of Native American language. This is such a high priority struggle due to the fact that without Native American language, there is a loss of heritage.

For the purpose of this project, our group has decided to focus on Native American culture and their non-verbal communication patterns. We chose to focus on Native American culture due to their unique methods of communication. What makes this culture so distinct is the way in which they encompass their values into their communication methods. Their communication methods are unlike most cultures and are even utilized within Western culture in modern day.

The speaker went to the bathroom tried to match her face with her “new language”(6).The speaker wanted to know if English could fit her face and wondered “would Tristeza even feel the same as sadness with its Saxon sound”(8-9).The speaker wondered if her words in English cohere to the ones in Spanish. She stopped and realized that she didn’t know if she

Scholar, Gloria Anzaldúa, in her narrative essay, “How To Tame A Wild Tongue’, speaks her many experiences on being pressured on what language to use. She then expresses how the discrimination made her to realize the ugly truth--that people reject languages that aren’t their own. She adopts logos, ethos and pathos in order to appeal toward her audience who is anyone who is not bilingual. One of the perspectives she takes on in her piece clearly expresses the relationship between language and identity and how it creates a conflict between her and the world.

The perception of foreign cultures can at times be quite peculiar. The article “Eating Christmas in Kalahari” by Richard Borshay Lee, foretells a classic example of cross culture misunderstanding when people from different cultures operate in a culturally unfamiliar environment. Richard Lee, a social anthropologist, explains what he learned living with the !Kung Bushmen, a South African tribe, for three years. This Gemeinschaft community of hunters-gatherers worked together to teach the anthropologist something important to their people, even though he was unaware of their intentions in the beginning.

The grandiose task of wearing another's cultural skin understandably comes with a host of opinions on how such a job can be accomplished. Anthropologists have long argued about the accuracy of ethnographies (Levinson & Ember, 1996, pp. 419-21). Much of the discussion stems from the assumption that some cultural aspects are ineffable and subconscious. Can an anthropologist approach his subject, as Spradley argues, "with a conscious attitude of almost complete ignorance"? Is it possible to consciously withhold one's own cultural interpretations while attempting to study that very thing in another culture?" (Spradley, 1979, p. 4 & Levinson & Ember, 1996, pp. 419-21).

Across Canada and the United States there are many First Nations languages which are a part of the Algonquian language family, all of which with varying states of health. Although these languages share many characteristics of the Algonquian language family, the cultures, systems of beliefs, and geographic location of their respective Nations differentiate them. In being shaped by the landscape, cultures, and spirituality of the First Nations, the language brings the speakers closer to their land and traditions while reaffirming their identity as First Peoples. Using the Blackfoot Nation to further explore this concept, this paper will show that while language threads together First Nations culture, spirituality,

In the article, the author’s methodology is of an opinionated aspect, he uses a mixture of primary and secondary sources like personal journals, records, magazines, and news outlet to influence his thoughts, to be able to write his article. As indicated, “The most "Indian-like" interpreters usually survived the longest...” (Fausz, 1987, p.64). In correspondence, the author’s

My rhetorical analysis evolves around the life changing assimilation of a Native American young man named Luther Standing Bear, and his views on why Indian Education Should Not Destroy Indian Culture. By breaking down the assimilation process and looking at the way it transformed the life of the Indian people, you will have the opportunity to take a look at the life of an Indian from Luther Bear’s perspective. After evaluating his viewpoint, you will be able to choose if you side with his opinion, or if you do not agree. Today the ordeal that Native American people had to go through so many years ago may be thought of as irrational and unnecessary, while others may believe it was highly necessary and a good example of the way people should

Malinowski may have been the first to challenge how to study anthropology, but modernity and its need to create change, force social scientists to look outside the box and imagine how immense the word “culture” can be. Within Malinoski's Argonauts of the Western Pacific, he creates a bold, open-ended statement about anthropology that create subcategories; subcategories which span across any and all studies within it: “Imagine yourself (somewhere unfamiliar, in a foreign place, somewhere new)” (Malinowski 1922:4) – but one could argue that this quote encompasses all ethnographies, regardless of culture or background, and extends beyond the comprehension of the ancient and modern world, allowing anthropological analyses to branch off into many

In the article “Lost in Translation”, the author, Lera Boroditsky, maintains as her thesis that the languages we speak not only reflect or express our thoughts, but also shape the very thoughts we wish to express. Boroditsky begins the main section of her essay with the history of the issue of whether or not languages shape the way speakers think. Charlemagne was the first to think that languages do in fact shape the mindset of speaker, but Noam Chomsky rebutted this idea with his thought that languages do not differ much from each other, thus in turn proposing that linguistic differences do not cause a difference in thinking. Now with scientists

This essay discusses how dialogues with interlocutors during fieldwork can be formative to anthropological theory-making and debates on ‘truth’. Lassiter in Schwartz, Saul, and Rena Lederman (2011: 70) urges anthropologists to view themselves and their informants in ‘an I-you relationship, a dialogue, two people next to each other reading the same text and discussing it face-to-face.

No matter where you are in the world, you are taught about language. Whether it’s in your home learning your language or in school trying to learn a foreign language. Although while learning language the notion is never really thought about or brought up that the language and way we speak can influence the way we think and interact. Phycologist and neuroscientist alike have spent years, with multiple different tests to see if there is a connection between the various languages that are spoken and the way people not only think but also how they go about their daily lives. She writes to not only her colleagues and neuroscientists but also to anyone in the general public that is genuinely interested in the connection between

For all humans, language is the most common means of communication with others and it enables us to share our experiences and stories and to tell about our needs and feelings. For example, Yamamoto states that sociolinguistics see, it is ‘primarily through the use of language that people communicate with each other’ (1979: 146). We all speak one or more languages and as the main way of communication it is an important and vital part of our lives. There is many languages in the world and they differ from one another in many ways. But does the language we speak reflect to the way we see and experience the world around us? This paper will explore the question through the Sapir Whorf hypothesis and arguments for and against it.