> This last sentence is most excellent!! Next time any of us encounters some > "red-neck" saying it is "un-American" to use metric, the obvious reply is > "Well, all of our Armed Forces use it!" > > Since most of these "red-neck" types tend to be gun-ho, patriotic > supporters of the military, it will put them in quite a quandary. > > Jim Elwell > > P.S. I'm not implying with this that there is anything wrong with being a > patriotic supporter of the military!
I am a great believer in trying to understand cultures not by simply noticing linguistic differences but also by noticing deeper things. You can't easily discover these things in a short space of time (e.g. a few days holiday). I have only recently noticed that about whether something is American or not seems to be very important in the US. Patriotism is similarly mentioned a lot and foreign is often used as a criticism. The US flag seems to be everywhere (and not just in the last 6 months). I was told that it is in schools and that a national oath is often used. The Superman film mentioned the 'American way' which completely confused me because I was thinking 'The way of what? The way of using a knife and fork? The way of driving on the right? The way of making tea with cream rather than milk?'. It seemed that this non-specific statement was intended merely as 'I think America is good'. Even inversion makes an issue important. For example I have noticed that some American women go to great lengths to buy European clothes and let everybody know that they do. Inverting an issue or taking an opposing view is still making the issue important. I have not really seen much evidence of the equivalent issue in Europe. Although I would be happy to be corrected. Patriotism, flags, and oaths all do exist but not in so much cultural prevalence. It does not mean that Europeans have no pride, in fact I have noticed that some Europeans can be quite arrogant and adopt a superior attitude. Some of the press on both sides of the Atlantic seem to be pitting pro-US against pro-Europe which is a shame. Translation is rarely a one-to-one process and cultural translation is no different. There are English and German words for bread but there is no English word for schadenfreud. A beginner learning language always wants to back-translate and cannot succeed until this habit is abandoned. You have to be able to think in local terms. Similarly for imperial to metric translation - 454g seems such a silly unit, but 1kg clearly isn't. I remember showing a Polish American friend a 10 UK pound note. She asked what it is worth and I said 'about 16 dollars'. She thought this was further evidence of how silly things were in the UK i.e. that they would make a 16 dollar note. Cultural translation is the same as linguistic translation in this respect. To learn about culture you sometimes need a local translator who understands several cultures. I have noticed that in some cultures whether something is 'right to do' is important. In other cultures, art is more important and something can be a 'beautiful idea'. Just some thoughts. -- Terry Simpson Human Factors Consultant [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.connected-systems.com Phone: +44 7850 511794
