Where is the Beef?

           If you have been to MacDonald in India, you might have asked the same question - “Where is the beef?” You can not find beef or pork inside the giant hamburger. There are reasons why McDonald has built a primarily veggie-lover’s menu.

       "Culture is the shared knowledge and schemes created by a set of people for perceiving, interpreting, expressing, and responding to the social realities around them" (Lederach, 1995, p. 9). Therefore, “doing business on a global basis requires a good understanding of different cultures” (Hummel, 2009, para 1). 82 percent of Indian population practice Hinduism (Indian’s Religion and Philosophy, n.d., para 1). Believers do not kill any animal particulary cows and pigs. Therefore, McDonalds in India offer 100 percent vegetarian-burger (Petrun, 2009). As a result, the sale was increased.

Every international organization needs to have culture sensitivity because it highly affects the company’s growth. Consequently, McDonalds in India sell vegetarian-burger to have more customers.

References:

Hummel, D. L. (2009). Why culture is important in international business. Retrieved from http://www.internationalhrforum.com/2009/06/08/why-culture-is-important-in-international-business/

Lederach, J.P. (1995). Preparing for peace: Conflict transformation across cultures. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.

Petrun, E. (2009). Where is the beef? Retrieved from http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/02/asia_letter/main2640540.shtml

Indian’s Religion and Philosophy. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.asianinfo.org/asianinfo/india/religion.htm

Reversed Cultural Shock

          If someone feels like an outsider in his/her own culture after being overseas for a significant period of time, it is called reverse cultural shock(What is Reverse Culture Shock?, n.d.). Culture is dynamic; there could be many unexpected things when someone comes back to his/her country. Therefore, after adjusting to second culture, people again need to re-adjust to their own culture when they return home.

“Many assume that once they or their loved ones return from studying abroad, the experience is over. Not True!” (Reverse Cultural Shock, para 1). After coming from foreign country, people may observe that their family members are not interested much about their experience that they had abroad. Besides, international program make one’s world view different, it is often different from the friends back at home country.

Usually international graduates came back to their own culture with passion to apply the new knowledge they have earned. However, in reality, a lots of adjustments need to be done. For example, one of the Theology graduates from Korea came back to Mongolia to serve in the church. He tried to implement the idea of not wearing earrings and taking off shoes before entering the church. These ideas he tried to apply were not bad but that were not appropriate or suitable for Mongolian church. Thus, people did not practice on his ideas. The elders wear earnings because it reflects how their children take care of them, they cannot always remove shoes because it is cold in Mongolia. Practicing the ideas might cause other problems. Consequently, educated people from abroad need to learn about their own culture and make adjustment in order to make some changes.

References:

What is Reverse Culture Shock? (n.d.). Retrieved from http://amazingchild.hubpages.com/hub/What-is-Reverse-Culture-Shock

Reverse Cultural Shock. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.stmarys-ca.edu/node/6600

Celebrating the Cultural Diversity at AIIAS

Since August, 2009, I have been a part of Adventist International Institute of Advanced Studies ( AIIAS) community which has representatives or students from more than 50 countries around the world. All of us came here with our own world views to be educated. In fact, in one of my classes that I am taking this semester, there are seven students from seven different countries. Therefore, we sharing our thoughts and ideas from various backgrounds and perspectives which are far from the content areas that we are learning. 

Studying at AIIAS does not only increase the Philippines’s cultural diversity, it also makes the institution a cultural diversity place. Even within the family we can find cultural diversity due to the new born babies while their parents are studying here. Therefore, Kumaravadivelu (2008) highlighted “the cultural gap between member of different generations within the same family [and also stressed that it could cause or make] and dissension between members of a family, between communities in a nation, and between nations in this world” (pp. 8-9) . Therefore, cultural differences can cause misconception among the individuals, communities, and nations.

Even though we all are not the same, we can understand and respect other’s culture, and be flexible because of our Christian integrity. DeCapua and Wintergerst (2004) noted that one’s culture can have similarities and differences with other’s culture. Similarly, AIIAS students come from unlike backgrounds, experiences but united in the loving name of our Jesus Christ who embraces diversities within the world. Therefore, we celebrate cultural diversity here at AIIAS.
References:

DeCapua, A. & Wintergerst, A. (2004). Introduction to culture. Crossing cultures in the 

language classroom(pp. 7-30). Ann Arbor,MI: Michigan University. 
Kumaravadivelu, B. (2008). Cultural globalization and language education. a study of interactional
patterns, pathologies, and paradoxes . USA: YALE University.

My expectation for this course

The aspects of language and culture are interrelated.  One’s culture play important role in their Language learning process. Therefore, I am looking forward to know more about different culture around the world. Besides, I would like to discover how students learn English differently due to their own culture and teachers can teach language in effective ways by knowing different cultures. In my opinion, knowledge of cultural differences can also help me to be open-minded. In addition, knowing the diversity of culture may help me to be more empathetic to Language learners. Consequently, I am hoping that taking this course will build up prior knowledge of cultural aspects that I have.