Wenying Jiang's Paper on Culture and Language

Description: Advanced Placement Chinese Language and Culture (commonly known as AP Chinese Language and Culture or AP Chinese) offers high school students an opportunity to earn credit for Chinese courses at the college level. Like other College Board programs, it is available to anyone worldwide who wishes to participate.

Culture Literacy has so many different meanings in this diverse culture that we experience every day in our modern society. This is why culture literacy is so important to Liu

Chinonye Obialo is currently in the Alpha Omicron Class of Phi Sigma Pi. Her big is Deshante who is in the Alpha Nu class of Phi Sigma Pi, her little is Myla Kelly who is in the Alpha Rho class of Phi Sigma Pi. Chinonye was born on November 15, and she grow up in Atlanta, Georgia. She is closest to grandmother because she was a very strong minded individual who needed very little from others. Chinonye has been surrounded by very educated people, which has influenced her to major in biology pre-med, and minor in fashion merchandise, and African Studies. Through her studies here at Georgia Southern her most memorable moment was making the dean’s list. Being a part of Phi Sigma Pi was difficult yet also taught Chinonye a lot. The hardest part

Language is a communication method that makes everything easy to communicate with others. The language barrier is the biggest challenge and hurdle of most people whom their English is a second language. Growing up in a family with parents that only speak another language could be viewed very similarly to a double-edged sword. This challenge with society forces people to learn the English language. Although there a lot of difficulties with the second language, eventually the transition between both languages would become easier by time and more practice. Starting to be able to comprehend the English language is the best way overcomes this barrier. Although these challenges were not easy to overcome, persistence, dedication and hard work would facilitate everything. Despite the fact that language is considered the biggest barrier, culture comes as a second harder barrier in means of communication. Effective communication with people of different cultures is especially challenging. Culture on the other hand, provides people with ways of thinking, seeing and hearing and, then understands the things around. Thus, the same word can mean different things to people from different cultures, even when they talk the same language. Stella Ting-Toomey describes how culture involves with cultural understanding where ach culture has its own rules about proper behavior which affect verbal and nonverbal communication. How close the people stand to each

English has become more and more significant. In China, a big part of higher learning, is a

Between 1870 and 1900 immigrants were coming in from Europe such as Sandinavians, Germans, Irish, Russians, Czechs, etc. The home stead act was put in place to encorage people to settle the western land of America. It permitted settlers to buy plots of 160 acres for a small fee for five years as long as they imporved it. Mean while, a great amount of Chineese were coming over in search of a better life. At first the Americans were pretty okay with the Chineese coming in but, eventually they realized that the chineese are very smart and succefful so they began to see them as competition. As Chineese began including themselves in the minng business, the Americans placed a special tax on foreign miners. 25 million immigrants arrived in between

Mckissick, Floyd. “CORE Endorses Black Power.” In Let Nobody Turn Us Around: Voices of Resistance, Reform and Renewal: An African American Anthology, edited by Marable, Manning, and Leith Mullings. Rowman & Littlefield, 2003.

Language is related to culture because I believe that a language influences people’s culture and it is also the way that people express themselves in their culture. We use language to demonstrate how we see, participate in, and how we learn from the world.

After going to a different culture learning their way of living, belief, customs, language, laws, art, social life, values, family bonding’s, feelings, religion, and importantly behavior. All this elements of life make culture or a society with one belief. “The fact that has been one of the most profound contributions to English language” (Savan 435). She tries to explain that the black culture is dominant on white culture giving example of language. When international student come here the face a change in language as they going to a culture which will be dominant on them and they speak different

Tea, as a popular commodity good in late-Ming China, experienced the farming in tea plantations, picking through tea farmer’s hands, stir-frying in tea manufacturers’ houses, and then was bought and delivered by licensed merchants through the trade routes to tea markets. After it was sold, tea finally arrived at its destination, the places where tea would be consumed. Two types of space were mostly used by tea drinkers to enjoy their pleasure of tasting tea: tea houses (茶馆) and tea huts (茶寮). The tea house, which was originated in the Southern Song Dynasty and served for tea-drinkers from various backgrounds, continued developing in the 16th and 17th centuries, especially in urban areas; however, tea connoisseurs became more and more interested

Chinese families are highly misunderstood and stereotyped in the United States. It is important to understand a different culture before one makes the assumptions produced by these stereotypes. In order to find a better understanding about Chinese immigrants and Chinese Americans, one must do research on that countries heritage, traditions, and other customs before submerging one-self into a Chinese families home. I chose to experience and observe a Chinese family who was kind enough to let me be a guest in their home to share dinner.

China has about five thousand years history which is a very long period of time. Also, the Chinese civilization was growing with these periods of time and it will continues greater than ever. Many wars and unhappinesses were happening during this period. Although, the time has passed, the histories and the civilizations have not passed. These family virtues, serious, working attitudes, sense of justice and the great Confucian tradition have been deeply assimilated into the Chinese people. Some Chinese traditions are different from North American’s. The Chinese culture has many special characteristics which are very interesting for people to learn.

It is not easy to define culture because culture is too broad a concept, can be both abstract and specific. However, what is agreed is culture covers all faces of our life as well as direct the way we behave, interact and communicate. (Liu et al., 2011). One popular definition is that “Culture is the total way of life of a group of people, comprising of the deposit of knowledge, experience, belief, values, traditions, religion, and notion of time, roles, spatial relations, worldviews, material objects and geographic territory”. (Liu et al., 2011, p.57). In this essay, I will analyse components and characteristics of culture, and based on that grounds, I will reflect on my own culture-being a Vietnamese. Dodd (1998) considered that culture is made up by three layers which consist of the core layer, the intermediate layer and the outer layer. I will examine what values and beliefs are considered important in my culture. Those are components of the inner core. Then, I will take some examples of the intermediate layer (expression of cultural activities by manifestation) such as communication patterns, customs and festivals.

Language is perhaps the most important key to understanding culture in general and the specific values, beliefs, attitudes, and opinions of a particular individual or group.

Upon thinking of the “Chinese Language” most individuals who are not already familiar with the language or Chinese culture will be thinking about the world’s most commonly spoken language which is Mandarin. “Mandarin is the languages spoken and written by the han Chinese who constitute more than 90% of the country’s populations” (Language and Dialects). So, it is reasonable that many people have a more limited knowledge on this particular subject. However, the history of the languages of China is one of great significance extending far beyond just Mandarin. There is a great history that accompanies the languages in China. When discussing the languages in China one has to keep in mind that it is not just the spoken languages at play here. While the spoken languages are very important, in a way the written language is much more essential. This written language can be broken up into two parts, the characters (汉子＝hanzi) and then pinyin; which is how the characters are pronounced.