Once Upon A Time....

I never knew how writings could be so different across cultures. Probably I have not been exposed to many literary writings by various cultures. I think the environment an individual is in somewhat plays a big part in how the writing is done. The activity we did in class is rather beneficial in bringing out these differences. For example, Arabians write in an assertive way and the Chinese write in a "roundabout" manner. While I have not done Chinese writings for a very, and I really mean very, long time, but I personally quite like the descriptive writings that Chinese writings offer. Perhaps all these allusions to the scenery give off a romanticized feel to the language and offers more than plain, direct speech.

It would be interesting to see how an English man and a Chinese man trying to converse with each other and one is trying to get to the point while the other is beating around the bush even though the topic of the conversation is the same. Imagine the frustrations felt by the Englishmen while listening to the Chinese talk about the scenery and not getting straight to the point. The Chinese might have been proud of all his descriptive language all the time!

In the handouts provided, in 3.7, the Chinese man talks about his own life experience and his thoughts and feelings to the Australian on the other end. However, the Australian might be thinking that the writer is probably writing a load of nonsense to him. To a Chinese, it is rather a cultural and social matter to introduce themselves and establish rapport with the recipient through sharing matters about themselves. Ultimately, the aims are the same but in such a globally connected world, there is a strong need for everyone to accept and learn each other's culture, including discourse. If not, there would certainly be many misunderstandings.