Intercultural Studies Personal Statement

Numerous people feel they belong to more than one cultures. They may have been brought up learning a certain culture, but eventually feel they belong to another or both. Analyzing the short story “How To Be Chinese”, by Celeste Ng from a formalist perspective allows the reader to dive deep into what the author was trying to portray with their writing. Using a formalist perspective can decipher the overall meaning of the story. The story consists of Mackenzie Altman striving to learn more about her culture.

The third section of the essay uses narration but also analysis, as Liu examines the effects of his assimilation. As Liu narrates his experiences in college, he analyzes their importance as related to his own acceptance into white American culture. Liu examines the cause and effect of his acts in college, like how he chose not to be pigeonholed by the race-specific clubs. He considers whether it was a good idea to distance himself from his Chinese culture in order to achieve success and respect in America. The third section deals with Liu’s college experience and how it played a part in his

The intercultural challenges I am currently facing is my CQ knowledge. I am having challenges because I cannot find common ground when working with a variety of cultures. For example, I work as a customer service representative in a call center and I’m around a variety of cultures. I find it very hard to understand everyone’s triggers, their dislikes, and likes, and why they behave or act a certain way with different situations. I try to ask questions to grasp an understanding of their behaviors, and still find it quite challenging to reach common ground. I try to be very open-minded, however, it always causes me to become frustrated.

In 1998, Eric Liu wrote a book about his struggle with acculturation titled “The Accidental Asian”. A chapter within the book called “Notes of a Native Speaker” depicts an essay written by Liu which fully describes his struggles with race and how he overcame them. Eric Liu is an American born Taiwanese Asian. His parents immigrated to the United States before he was born and in so, gave him a mixed cultural background. He started becoming a writer after attending Yale University and graduating from Harvard Law School. In his “Notes of a Native Speaker” author Eric Liu argues that as he was “becoming white” he was achieving, learning the ways of the upper

There are several different positive and unique aspects of intercultural relationships. Intercultural relationships allow individuals to understand other people of different cultures, ethnicities, gender and etc. It is interesting understanding other peoples beliefs as well as how they have lived there life’s. A positive aspect of intercultural relationships is the difference between the two people. I think it is interesting learning how other people think and how they were brought up. When you are in an intercultural relationship you get to understand how that person feels about certain situations that they have been through. You get to learn who that person truly is.

Productivity in the new culture is experienced to an extremely positive extent. Business dealings and negotiations become secondary nature to the expatriate, and the expatriate’s journey becomes a great success in the perspective of their employing company.

The novel, Balzac and the Chinese Seamstress, illuminates that the impact of different cultures allows people to view and be shaped by diverse perspectives. When first exposed to a “banned” book of western culture, a book without the influence of propaganda or Maoist ideas, the unnamed narrator experiences a perspective change, and his eyes open to the possibilities of the world and his own life. His whole world is turned upside down, stating, “Picture, if you will, a boy of nineteen, still slumbering in the limbo of adolescence, having heard nothing but revolutionary blather about patriotism, Communism, ideology, and propaganda all his life, falling headlong into a story of awakening desire, passion, impulsive action, love, of all the subjects that had, until then, been hidden from me” (57). His eyes were hidden due to the ideals of Communism and Maoism, and they are opened by stories of adventure

We have all been in a situation where we have immigrated to a new country for different reasons regarding, better future, or education. In the book Jade of Peony, Wayson Choy describes a struggle of a Chinese immigrant family as they settle in Canada, through the perspective of three young children; Liang, Jung, and Sekky. Each child describes his or her struggle, while settling in a new country. The family struggles to keep their children tied to their Chinese customs and traditions as they fit in this new country. The Chinese culture needs to be more open minded as it limits the future generation’s potential. Chinese culture limitations are seen through the relationship expectations, education, gender roles and jobs.

Paul is a third-grader who is a very strong reader. He chooses to spend most of his time reading and enjoys many different topics. He writes long and complex stories during writer workshop as well. Paul seldom engages socially with other children; in fact, he is quite timid with both children and adults.

Rather than a life of isolation under her husband’s domain in the New World, she deliberately makes the decision to take on the challenge of learning the new customs of life in order to connect with society. Furthermore, not only does Mrs. Spring Fragrance learn the language of the New World, but she also embraces it and applies it to her everyday life in her relationship with her neighbors and her husband. As her young neighbor Laura struggles with the cultural disparities regarding love and relationships, Mrs. Spring Fragrance exercises New World poetry to soothe problems arising from Old World tradition. Mrs. Spring Fragrance’s neighbors, the Chin Yuens, demonstrate the difficulties that arise from simply ‘looking the part’ of an American, rather than fully understanding the culture. Sin Far writes, “although the Chin Yuen parents lived in a house furnished in American style, and wore American clothes…they religiously observed many Chinese customs, and their ideals of life were the ideals of their Chinese forefathers” (17). This practice ultimately contributes to their daughter Laura’s inner conflict when she cries to Mrs. Spring Fragrance, “Kai Tzu and I so love; but never, ah, never, can we take it together again” (17). In response, Mrs. Spring Fragrance says, “you really must not grieve like that.” “’Tis better to have loved and lost. Than never to have loved at all” (18). This proves how the root of immigrant happiness doesn’t

Today, we live in a culturally diverse society due to globalization. As our world grows, expands and become increasingly more interconnected, the need for effective interpersonal communication among differing cultures has become apparent. When people from different cultures interact with one another there is intercultural communication because different cultures create different interpretation and expectations about what is seen as competent behaviors that will enable the construction of shared meanings.

In today 's society, culture is impacting our everyday life, experience and social relations; we are all categorized by our cultural “groups”, but this has changed rapidly throughout the years from one generation to the next. Cultural studies were developed in the late 1950’s, through the 1970’s by the British academic scholars. The British scholars were able engaged cultural analysis and the developed then transformed of the different fields, for example, politically, theoretically and empirically that are now represented around the world.

In the personal essay “My Mothers Tongue” (1990), Amy Tan, widely known author explains her insights on language and culture identity using details and memories from her own life experiences. Tan conceals that the language in which her mother used with her “was the language that helped shape the way [she] saw things, expressed things, made sense of the world” (1208) and in the process it made her who she is today as an author. Tan illuminates the euro centricity of the Master Narrative by retelling stories of her mother being treated poorly because of her “broken” or “limited” English. She recalls many past experiences where her mother suffered from bad service and treatment from restaurants, stockbrokers, and even hospitals. Using examples from her personal life Tan gets her point across about language and culture characteristics in order to show how Chinese culture is affected by the master narrative and also encourages others to include a variety of cultures in order to overcome bias opinions. Tan’s apparent audience can be ranged from the child of an immigrant to a doctor and offers an authentic and rich portrayal of Chinese history through her conflicting experience of her Chinese and American cultures.

Humans have been communicating since four million years. On the other hand, the birth of culture is estimated to have taken place about 35,000 years ago. Today, both culture and communication have evolved considerably and have become interdependent of one another, to the point that communication is considered to be a product of culture. Thus, our own culture has a deep impact on our thoughts and behaviors. Since each culture has its distinct aspects, intercultural communication can be the cause of conflict and disorder. There are three main issues which are at the root of the problem of intercultural miscommunication : language as a barrier, cultural diversity and ethnocentrism. I will analyze

The world has become hugely interconnected over the last couple of year. With globalization being the preferred mode of operation for many businesses, the world has become borderless. Developments made in the field of information communication technology have also played a key role in helping bridge the gap that exists between people from different regions of the world. Thus, the world has become more interconnected with a lot of intercultural sharing. These developments have made it easier for businesses to penetrate and dominate foreign markets. In their videos on Ted talk, both Peter Alfandary and James Sun argue that there is a need for people to try to learn about other cultures as this enhances relation and understanding among people. The paper presents an analysis of existing research and current trends that reiterate or disapprove the views held by these narrators. It seeks to show that though globalization has taken root in today’s world, there is a need to take an interest in learning other cultures as this will ensure a better understand especially when doing business.