consider it done .trampetunia great quiz BTW!
- What similarities and differences are there between learning a language and learning a new culture?
My experience was that you could not separate the two. To be there is to learn the culture and to learn the culture I had to learn the language. Turkey was the stand out here, I really had to sit down with dictionaries and force myself to learn different words. I did move onto other things like it's history. Initially I didn't have time to do any prep work, I basically had 2 weeks notice of a 20 week contract. While keeping in mind that the current Turkish language & certainly culture in its present form was only 80 years old, I wanted to learn much more than I did, true in more respects than just the language. Learning the culture for me was very much easier.
Differences being the obvious like you have to sit down and learn the language, the culture however, you are continually immersed in 24/7, if you want it, not that you get much choice. Language skills were a hassle but I did manage to get around absolutely fine. I am still yet to hold a fluent Turkish conversation, but I rented a flat and looked after myself for 5 months.
- Does moving abroad facilitate the understanding of a language?
Depends to what level. There are over 100 different dialects in India and I guess one widely accepted standard of Hindi. I only know a few words in Hindi as I have certain difficulty with all aspects of this language, and to some extent at this point in time, overall culture(but that wasn't part of the question was it? was it even implied?). I learnt some Hindi swear words which did me no good at all, a very disrespectful thing to do is curse an Indian guy in his native tongue. I guess that might run analogous to what you are asking? I picked up Turkish faster; when everyone was talking fluent Turk, I could still get a general jist of what the conversation was about. Especially after about 7 months there, I could join in on certain topics(in english) because of all the other physical/emotional cues that go along with conversation, I am so glad these are one of our species similarities.
I agree with cog has said here “without the social cues of language, I feel I am a lot more sensitive to phsical cues of bodylanguage etc, as to when a conversation has ended, when someone wants to be left alone etc etc.”
I am saying the facilitation of understanding the language in a contextual meaning, is having to fall back on your(almost primal) instincts and start to log everything that goes on around you in relation to what the words sound like and what people are doing on a detailed level. And you don’t even notice you are doing it. In moving abroad I tended to be hyper aware of what is going on around me in terms of physical human cues. Instincts, adrenalin and senses are up after a few Turkish coffee's so I would try to remember everything in terms of scenes of emotions(?). The sibilance 'ssss' features so much in Turkish pronunciation and can be used so many different ways to effect words, sentences.
- How far can one learn a language without learning a culture?
Assuming you there, yeah as no idea says, you would be limited in certain situations, and in a further visceral sense, you are enveloped in a culture such as India. It surrounds you, even in your cosy 5 star hotel room. Also in Turkey, call to prayer erupting through the entire city from speaker systems from every mosque 5 times a day from 5am is something you have to experience firsthand of course. I would say that learning the language was forced on me in Turkey compared to India. I have the British to thank for my communicational ease, to some extent, in India and I feel if I was to learn Hindi as much as I learnt Turk, it would be for self amusement rather than necessity. Then again, I had extenuating circumstances for not wanting to really spend much time actually learning any foreign languages to a fluent proficiency, I was under incredible stress from my job in both countries with a lot of other things to deal with so it was learning on an as needs basis. Oh, and I started dating a Turkish woman who knew a little English, so everywhere we went for 2 months, it was us and 2 dictionaries so learning the language and culture in this respect was ‘hand in hand’ 
- How much does our birth/life culture affect our sense of self?
I tend to wallow in my birth/life culture myself because it affords me so much… No seriously though, what is with this question? If you never leave then your birth life culture will be your sense of self. Isn’t that how cultural stereotypes are formed? Being from Australia I was there for 6 months before I went to Gallipolli so does this make me a bad aussie? I don’t understand this question when framed from another culture’s perspective. My sense of self when I am in another country, I guess I drew links between cultures readily, at the drop of a hat, to make myself feel better. When 2 cultures are vastly different as was the case with India, my sense of self was amplified to the point of frothing over into oblivion. Boiling to evaporation. The self can’t be held responsible for the differences, the self can just blindly stab out questions into the dark on how things could be like this. Then it hits you, your own birth/life culture has been a straightjacket, and now you’re free to start questioning and picking holes in everything ‘back home’ until you get back there and just slip into everything again with a ho-hum yawn and tick tock where’s my fucking coffee.
- At what point does one stop being foreign to a country?
Never.
- Where does the boundary lie between foreignness and domesticity?
Haggling prices and quality over groceries for dinner at the local street cart full of vegetables, then realising he was talking kilo’s and you thought he means each. If you are a foreigner who can do that in another country then you have crossed the boundary. I think time would be a function of the line here. One thing I have to comment on is the continual comparisons between the two. I was lucky enough to spend enough time in each country I was in to immerse myself enough to grasp community concerns, wishes, etc. via the media but also word of mouth events.
- Can one be a foreigner in one's own country?
Some aspects yes, others no. Depends on what facet you want to look at it from. Many variables to include/assume. Overall, I don’t want to be, I need something tangible to form some sort of coherent reality.
- Is there some similarity between moving to a new country and making some other kind of social transition (new job, house, friends etc)?
Yes! I started heavy drinking of alcohol to cope. It's so cheap and readily available in both countries, yes, India and Turkey. I became a raging alcoholic night-clubber in both places abroad, and I get home and mooch most weekends, so I bought a new apartment last week actually.
- Is there some element of self-identification in the realm of nationality? How does this self-identification interact with the 'ID of the nation'?
Fish out of water stuff, yes. I am assuming this question frames it in the context of being overseas as a foreigner? Certainly when I was in Turkey and went to Gallipoli, I felt the most “Australian” I have ever felt in my life. I was there embracing everything about “Dear Old Home.” Somewhere in Turkey I read that Australia had a "Morbid Fascination" with the place. I had all of the emotions running through me while there; gratefulness, shame, anger, pity. Self – identification is where I was at visiting the war graves. Mourning and remembering what the self sacrifice was for, if it was me on the front years ago…
I did focus at lengths on my nationality in Turkey as I was constantly reminded of the Turkish nation while I was there. There are several nationalistic celebrations in Turkey revolving around one man, and it did start to raise questions in me. I had never encountered levels of national pride to that extent before. Turkish flags everywhere, pictures of Attaturk 10 stories high all over the city, mesmerising! |
