The Building Blocks of Culture

The Building Blocks of Culture

People need building blocks to adapt to a different culture, including communication, shared values, language, symbols, routines, and rituals. Learning to speak the Chinese language from a basic level is just as easy as learning Spanish. However, writing in Chinese is difficult to learn and requires time and effort. The language was my first encounter with the Chinese culture. To begin, I was taught how to speak common words, such as saying hello. When it came to writing and reading the language, I found a very weak connection between the spoken and written language of Chinese culture.

Compared to the Spanish language, I could easily read what I comprehended when the word was said and wrote what I had spoken. I found a completely different culture with the Chinese language. I was okay with just speaking the few words that I knew in the Chinese language until I felt the need to learn how to read and write. Laughlin (2005) found that the written Chinese language is a glue that connects literate Chinese people as a building block of the culture because it gives the literate population a strong membership sense in an outstanding discourse community. This is quite different in the U.S. culture because the English language is used to interact even with illiterate people unless they are foreigners who do not comprehend the English language. Additionally, in most cases, they are forced to learn the language.

It was more than just learning the alphabet like other languages, such as Spanish in the Chinese language. I had to learn the specific characters because writing a word requires many characters, not a number of words or how the word is spelled. I could easily learn different alphabets and spellings in Spanish, and I did not find these as massive as the Chinese characters. However, these complex characters can be broken down into components that make it easier to write the Chinese language. I started learning the characters’ components; I could create building blocks that were easier to understand and remember. I learned that I needed to study the elements of every character to understand the language. Browaeys & Price (2019) write that every culture has three layers, and the first outer layer is usually an explicit or behavioral level. It is what one immediately notices they interact with this culture for the first time, including language, buildings, houses, architecture, and food (Browaeys & Price, 2019).

Another important building block I encountered with the Chinese culture was communication style. I found that the Chinese language uses voice intonations, gestures, eye contact, and facial expressions. However, what struck me the most was that they preferred hinting at ideas or something, expecting the listener to understand them. In my culture, I am used to people directly presenting their points without having to hint about the point they are presenting. This was also the first layer building block I learned about the Chinese. For instance, one of my fellow students was trying to tell me that a party would be ‘cool’ using some facial expressions and hand gestures. I had to inquire more to learn that he was talking about a party we ought to attend. In the U.S. normal culture, a person would merely walk towards me and tell me that there is a cool party at a pub and that such parties are usually full of college students from other campuses.

In conclusion, the language and communication styles were the major building blocks for Chinese culture. To adapt to the culture, I used the language to greet the Chinese people I encountered, even if they could speak English. In addition, the informal interactions with them over dinners and lunches helped me learn more about their style of communication and their language connection as part of their identity.

References

Browaeys, M. J., & Price, R. (2019). Understanding cross-cultural management, Fourth Edition. Pearson UK.

Laughlin, C. A. (Ed.). (2005). Contested Modernities in Chinese Literature. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

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Write a 500 or more word essay about a culture that you encountered that is different from your daily culture.
This paper should include:

Discussion of the different building blocks and how you saw them exhibited.

The Building Blocks of Culture

Comparisons of the building blocks that you encountered with those from another culture or your daily culture.

Reflection on your reaction towards this different culture and what helped you to adapt.