Cultural Comparisons
Difference in Diverse Cultures
The Language Differences between English and Chinese Language
I have really found some differences between English and Chinese language. Here are some of my findings. First, there are some literal differences between the two languages. The differences can also be divided into two types. One is related to the words themselves, as well as the other is about the meanings of words. You may have noticed that some English words change according to the person and tense. Even they are verbs. And most nouns in English need to change their forms when they refer to the plurality, While Chinese characters lack changes in form. When we need to tell a story that happened in the past in Chinese, we just need to mark it with a past time point, such as yesterday, several days ago or long long ago. We don’t change the forms of the words at all. The other point is that some English words have more than one meaning, so do Chinese. Moreover usually the meanings of English can hardly conform to the Chinese, thus causing much difficulty and challenge to the translation. Second, by learning English, I find that America think differently from the Chinese. Generally speaking, an English sentence is usually much longer than a Chinese one. English features in clear subject, clear predicate and you can figure out the function of each member of a sentence without much difficulty. Well, as a Chinese person, having been learning Chinese ever since I was born, I can’t pick out the subject or predicate easily from any given Chinese sentences. Finally, there is a difference in culture between America and China. Along with I think it is the root why the English language is different from the Chinese language.
Yandong Liu
The differences between behaviors and interactions in classes
First of all, American classes seem more informal than Chinese classes from time to time. For instance, American professors do not dress up and they generally call students by their first names. In contrast, the relationship between teachers and students in China can be quite formal. It is not possible for students to "first-name" their teachers. Rather, we address them with "Prof." or "Mr." or "Ms." Second, in many classes, American students can drink coffee, juice, even eat their meals during classes. Eating and drinking while teachers are talking, is a disrespectful behavior in Chinese classes, which is against the school rules. Third, American students sometimes argue with their teachers in class, give teachers suggestions on things that need changing, or even criticize their ideas. However, in Chinese class, students seldom challenge the teacher's ideas. They're taught since the first day they go to the kindergarten that they should sit up straight and obey all the rules. In most cases, students just sit there and are passively crammed. Last but not least, American teachers often spend a lot of time letting students express their views, and inspire students to put forward their own ideas, and finally they get together to sum up. Discussion is the most common method. On the contrary, Chinese students usually just listen and some students may be excellent note-takers, but on the whole, they do not take too many initiatives while learning.
Fannai Bai
The beauty standard in china and the united states
There are many differences between China and American; Culture custom, food, clothing. So, I would like to talk about the beauty in the eyes of Chinese and American.
There is one significant reason that can explain why the beauty standard in China and America is different. That is when a thing is rare it becomes precious. Most of Chinese have small eyes and nose. So, a person who has a pair of big eyes and high nose is regard as a beauty. Chengwu Jin was treat as the most handsome guy in China. Because he is mixed-blood, he has a pair of charming eyes, and he is very tall.
Chinese prefer having whiter skin. And there is a saying that a white skin covers a hundred kinds of ugly. However, American consider that wheat skin is a symbol of beauty and health. Healthy people in American is also treated as a beauty. I mean a person who likes doing exercise, bodybuilding will be regard as a hot guy. Let’s see how magazine evaluate a beautiful woman. A beautiful woman should have thin waists, nice hips, bigger busts, signs of six-packs. (By Ashley Hofmaster).
To Chinese people, Leonardo DiCaprio was considered to the most handsome American. I asked some of my friends why would they think so. They told me that he got a nice chin and charming eyes. what’s more, he doesn’t have mustache. (when Leonardo was young), it remains me most of Chinese girl doesn’t like men who have beard. It is also a big difference between two countries. Most American men like having a beard, it looks handsome. But many Chinese people don’t think beard is cool.
As I said, rare things are always treasure. That makes beauty standard different.
Conner Wu
Difference between korean and American marriage
Do you guys think that money is problem in wedding events? These day, Korean are saying if they don’t have money it is hard to get married. In Korean wedding tradition, the bride’s family sends wedding gifts to the bridegroom’s family. Sometime, husband’s parents make a list and send it to the bride, so she can buy the wedding presents easily. Most of the wedding presents should be brand- name product. After the bride gives the presents to husband’s parents, they exchange the wedding presents. Usually, the husband gives a gold ring, a neckless, or earrings to the bride. Americans do not give presents; sometime the bride makes the presents or just buys little gifts for the husband’s family, but it is not mandatory. On the day of wedding, Koreans bring money for bride and bridegroom. This is called congratulatory money. However, Americans only bring presents for bride and bridegroom. This is called a wedding registry. The bride makes the list of wedding registry and add a cite where guest can buy gifts. These day almost every online have wedding registry, so you can easily buy the gifts of what they want. Korean way of sending the wedding invitations is different from American way, too. In Korea, they just make thousands of invitations, so they can just send the all people even they are not close. Occasionally, they just put on the SNS (social networking service), so everyone can come to their wedding. Nevertheless, America people make the invitation only for close friends through calling or emailing the person to make sure they come or not, only inviting people who can come to the wedding. The wedding dresses are the same in Korea and America. However, in Korea, bride and bridegroom use to wear the Korean traditional clothes, but they may not wear them anymore. The only difference between clothes is the bride and bridegroom’s parents. In Korea, their parents must wear the Korea traditional clothes. Father dosen’t need to wear the “Hanbook”, but mom should wear the hanbook. In America, they wear the traditional clothes which is dresses and suits. However, the bride’s mom should wear similar clothing to bride.
Sehee Park