{"id":240,"date":"2017-07-06T03:14:34","date_gmt":"2017-07-06T08:14:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jared-kresge\/?p=240"},"modified":"2017-07-06T03:21:20","modified_gmt":"2017-07-06T08:21:20","slug":"cla-classroom-greetings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jared-kresge\/2017\/07\/06\/cla-classroom-greetings\/","title":{"rendered":"CLA Classroom: Greetings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to the CLA Classroom! \u00a0These posts are designed to give an insider’s perspective on CLA (Culture and Language Acquisition) in Asia-Pacific. \u00a0What does it feel like to be a foreigner in this country? \u00a0What new sights and sounds assail us every day? \u00a0How do people view us? \u00a0How do we react to cultural differences? \u00a0Be our guest and step with us into this jungle of new experiences! \u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Can you think of anything more simple than exchanging a, “Hello, how are you?” with a passing friend or acquaintance? \u00a0It’s something as basic as this that contributes to our culture stress in Asia-Pacific.<\/p>\n

It wasn’t a big deal during the first few weeks. \u00a0That was when we were relying on Google Translate to carry us through our social encounters. \u00a0Whatever Google told us, we used it. \u00a0We didn’t know any better then.<\/p>\n

Enter, language tutors.<\/p>\n

We’ve now discovered there are varying levels of formality based on which pronoun we choose to use. \u00a0Thankfully, the first question in the greeting doesn’t require a pronoun. \u00a0Literally, this question is translated, “What’s the news?” \u00a0So…whenever possible, we try to beat the other person to the punch: “Halo, apa kabar?”<\/em> \u00a0However, it wouldn’t be polite for someone to just answer, “Fine.” \u00a0Social custom requires the response, “Fine. \u00a0And you<\/strong><\/em>?”<\/p>\n

Assuming we are the lucky ones who have to respond to the greeting, this is where the pronouns get tricky. \u00a0As far as we have learned, we have six choices of 2nd person pronouns based on gender, age, closeness of acquaintance, assumption, and\/or flattery. \u00a0By choosing the wrong pronoun, we could inadvertently offend a stranger by assuming too much familiarity; on the other hand, we could also accidentally offend a friend by donning excessive formality. \u00a0We could mistakenly call a young man by the pronoun for a young woman, or vice versa. \u00a0We could mortally offend a youngish woman by referring to her as a “mother” (when in doubt, assume she’s younger!).<\/p>\n

Our friends here in Asia-Pacific may think we aren’t too bright when they ask a simple question like, “What’s the news?” and get no response but a momentary blank stare. \u00a0But if they realized what a frenzy of mental churning is occurring behind that blank stare, they would certainly extend a little sympathy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to the CLA Classroom! \u00a0These posts are designed to give an insider’s perspective on CLA (Culture and Language Acquisition) in Asia-Pacific. \u00a0What does it feel like to be a foreigner in this country? \u00a0What new sights and sounds assail us every day? \u00a0How do people view us? \u00a0How do we react to cultural differences? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1082,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[448],"class_list":["post-240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-uncategorized","tag-ethnos360","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jared-kresge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jared-kresge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jared-kresge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jared-kresge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1082"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jared-kresge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jared-kresge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jared-kresge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jared-kresge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jared-kresge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}