Blog Assignment #4

Studying abroad alone should be the most unforgettable event of Liu’s life, especially the period when he had just arrived in an “alien world”, Loneliness, frustrations and even a little bit regret mixed together and fulfilled in mind. I, having been in the same situation, can deeply understand that feeling, and as well, can understand Liu’s need to be with other Chinese.
I came to America a full month ago, I cried the first day I moved into the dorm; I was the only Chinese on my floor. I could still clearly remember how awkward I was when our R.A. let us do the ”breaking ice” part. Nobody would even want to talk to me! Girls got together and peered me in a strange way, I could hear them say “Look at her clothes, she’s so weird.”, I was wondering whether they realized that I could speak English and I could totally hear what they were “whispering”; boys, at the meantime, said that ”I couldn’t imagine there could be such a strange girl sitting in our class!” I was indeed, hurt and upset, but couldn’t speak out even a word, however, how I wish I could shout out aloud ”What’s wrong with being a foreigner?” After the meeting, I was kind of crumble; I strongly wished that I could find a Chinese and told him or her what I was struggling from. I didn’t care whether he was a stranger or not, as long as he was a Chinese, as long as he understand me!
Few days after, I made some Chinese friends, we mostly do everything together now and my pain due to loneliness curred. We encouraged each other, we share the same feeling, we know our own customs, and what’s more, we are able to tell our thinking exactly by using our own language. Though before we came to U.S., we all have thought about not to speak Chinese at all, we realize we do need each other, we do need speak our own language under some conditions.
There goes an old saying，a friend indeed, is a friend in need. If one could sacrifice his time, listen to your voice and help you, who cares he is a stranger or not, and I believe we could call this kind of person “friend” to some extent, even though they have just met for the first time.





Excerpt: a passage selected from a larger work

Sarcasm: mocking, contemptuous, or ironic language intended to convey scorn or insult

delegation: it means a body of delegates, a deputation; the act or process of delegating or being delegated

Assignment #3

Culture differences are explicit when it comes to body languages, eye contact and gestures.

The first day I came to U.S, I found boys like to do “give me five” when they meet male friends and hug their amigos, girls don’t walk hand in hand even they are very good friends. However China, boys greet each other just by saying “hi” while girls are more likely to walk hand in hand with their best friends, what shock me the most is that gilrs walking hand in hand are considered as a kind of abnormal behavior.

Take another as an example, Americans have a lot of body languages during their everyday conversations whereas in China, especially girls, shouldn’t have so much body language while they are talking, as so many actions may show that one is not stable enough. He needs to stand straight and still and that will certainly show his respect to the person his talking to. In this way, I can say that Americans pay more attention on nonverbal language than we Chinese do.

But it cannot be deny that similarities still exist, for instance, when we nod head, both Americans and Chinese simply indicate their agreement, on the contrary, in some countries in Africa, nodding means a reply of “No”

Assignment 2 Option 2

I still remember that when I was about 11, I went to watch Pearl Harbor. When the film came to the intimate part when Rachel and Daniel were kissing, Mom covered my eyes with her right hand and said ”Don’t look.” At the same time, I was about to cover my eyes and felt shy to watch the scene.

You might feel pretty funny about this, but you may also come to realize that the conservative culture of our country, quite much different to that of Western countries and that is what we called part of the “Culture Shock”. Consider of the situation below:

You are in a supermarket in Delaware and is going to pay for your stuff, when it comes to your turn, the cashier will certainly say ”Hello! How’s everything going?” smiling and happily, and if you look unhappy she might ask about what has been wrong, you may talk to her as if you have been friends for a long period of time, whereas you are in a supermarket in China, you might received a “Welcome.” but you should never expect for a further conversation except for a “Bye bye” after you pay your bill.

I’m not criticizing but show the big dissimilitude. While Western culture active personality, we Chinese tend to be more quite and introversive. It can’t be deny that it is the 5000 years of history that leads to the different point of views of feeling expression. We don’t show our true feelings very often, we don’t talk to strangers a lot, and being so talkative and active is such not a good idea as you may be treated as superficial.

Nevertheless, even though we are supposed not to be demonstrative, we are honest and loyal to our families and friends, but just the different ways of doing things that might bring confusions at the beginning.

response to Pt.2

The society changes so fast, language changes as new vocabulary gradually into our daily life. I strongly realize this idea after I read this article. Difference can be obviously seen when we talk to our elders, especially when we have conversations with our grandparents. Honestly speaking, I am afraid of talking with my grandfather, because every time I speak to him, he always rises to the conversation of political theory which makes me feel so bored. My grandfather used to live in the special era strong political atmosphere and that leads to the way he speaks. At the same time, when I talk to him he always thinks that I’m not serious about everything, but actually I am seriously about life but I like to express things in a short and briefly way. On the other hand, new techs come into our lives; Grandpa is curious about new things, however, when I explain to him, he always doesn’t know what I’m talking about because there are so many new words in my conversation which he had never heard of. I think that could be called” the language barrier” and cause troubles between generations. Pretty much like what the author mentioned in her article, while others don’t know what her mother was talking about, my grandpa didn’t know what I was trying to express.

Language also has its differences in different situation even we speak the same language. In the case of formal, we need to speak coherent, logical, but also to rise to the level of theory, in addition, we need to use honorific like “Mr.” or “Ms.” Instead of calling someone else's name directly.

After all, the language differences is a major issue which we cannot deny in our everyday life and things will keep changing I believe.

Xuezhen Xia

Hey, my name's Xuezhen Xia, I come from a lovely seaside city Dalian which is in the northeast part of China. The climate in my hometown is much the same here in Delaware, so it doesn't take me muche time to adapt to the environment here. I've just celebrated my 19-year-old birthday yesterday, it's a kind of special because it was the first birthday I spent without Dad and Mom. I thought it would be so lonely, but fortunately I had my fellow friends by my side.

I'm in accounting major. However since I was a kid I strongly wished to become a simultaneous interpreter. But when I set up my mind to continue my study in the U.S., I changed my mind, instead of studying translation, I decided to major in business and economics during my undergraduation and to become a personal financial consultan after my graduation. Although giving up a dream which I've been holding for over 10 years is a kind of distressed, I don't regret it at all.

After all, I wish I could have a wonderful school years here and I have the confident to fulfill my dream. Good luck to everybody and thanks for reading.