Unit 2 Part 1

This unit we're learning about world culture, my favorite! But unfortunately, most Americans respond to a new culture with culture shock, literally feeling shocked when immersed in a new culture, and egocentrism, or thinking your culture is superior. (If the last part doesn't scream America then I don't know what does.)

We learned this in class through a game of silent cards. Each table was given rules for a card game and then the rules were taken away and we couldn't speak to emphasize how much we rely on language. But what we DIDN'T know was that each table was playing a different game of cards, which we soon discovered as we were rotating around the room. This gave a lot of frustration because we though everyone else was playing the card game wrong (egocentrism).

In an episode of Hetalia, an anime about personified countries, Japan decides to visit his friend America and gets hungry so he (Japan) orders a large fry but is shocked and horrified to discover that the fry is incredibly large (to him) so he begins to shake convulsively. Poor Japan gets culture shock easily. Also in the episode, America is visiting Japan and he (America) orders a large fry but is shocked and horrified to discover that the fry is unusually small (to him.) The culture shock goes both ways.

We also learned about cultural norms. For example, in America it's perfectly acceptable to call people by their first names. But in Japan, calling someone by their first name (or without an honorific) is incredibly offensive unless you're their older relative, their best friend, or their lover. And if my family lived in China, my little sister wouldn't even be allowed to call me Matt. She would only be allowed to call me "大哥 (da ge)／哥哥 (ge ge)," which are both Chinese for "older brother." If we lived in a Muslim country, I would be considered the head of the household because my parents are divorced and I'm the only male (except for the cats). In both Japan and China, the number 4, 四, (pronounced shi/yon in Japanese and si in Chinese) when said as shi in Japanese and si in Chinese, means death so it's an unlucky number, a taboo that people flee from. It's the American equivalent to the number 13, which our culture considers extremely unlucky.