INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE AND LANGUAGE LEARNING

 

I must admit that this evaluation of my intercultural competence is not easy at all: even though this semester has been rich in cultural and communicative "X-changes", I think that those students who, like me, originally were to take part in the Padova-Pozdan exchange have had less chance to actually share ideas, opinions and knowledge with peers from other countries. For example, I did Skype with some American students only three times, and I wished I had the chance to do it more often. What is more, as I started doing Skype and commenting in the forums later than my Padova-Dickinson peers, I didn't know exactly what had already been talked of, so that finding my feet in this exchange has not been easy. Anyway, this semester has been, and still is, very useful for both my knowledge of the American culture and the improvement of the English language.  

 

 

My experience of the Exchange

 

Description of my feelings, knowledge and actions during the Exchange.

 

A. Feelings

 

• Ways in which my curiosity and interest were aroused: (examples that made me re-consider my own culture) One of the most engaging topics this exchange has dealt with was immigration: as this is a quite urgent issue in Italy, the comparison with the American experience was very useful for two main reasons. Firstly, it confirmed that almost all the American students consider immigration as a natural reality, since the origin of their country is rooted in several migration processes. Secondly, I almost felt relieved reading that all Italian students share the same idea on immigrant people, who should not be looked at souspiciously but considered as a resource for our culture. This comparison made me re-consider and confirm that, despite all fears and doubts such a controvertial issue gives rise to, many joung people do share the same open-minded vision of the world.

 

• Moments in which I felt uncomfortable: (what made me feel like this, with particular examples if possible) What really made me unconfortable was the fact that I started the exchange with the American students quite late, since I originally took part in the Padova-Pozdan exchange. As many of my peers already knew what was going on (having already started doing Skype with the Americans),in my opinion they were more involved in the exchange. To describe my uneasiness I would say that I sometimes felt as if I had missed something important...

 

• Moments when I felt comfortable:(what made me feel like this, with particular examples if possible) I felt pretty comfortable in editing the final wiki page with my peers: I think we all contributed and partecipated with enthusiasm in this project, sharing ideas, materials and "technogical knowledge" in order to do a good job. In general, this very last project was very engaging not only because I broadened my knowledge on the American University system, but also because I got to know my peers a bit more using English as a means for communication.  

   

   

B. Knowledge

 

• The most important things I learnt about family life and/or life at school. The few times I did Skype one the most discussed topics was food: from this I noticed that the way we eat and what we eat seem quite important for both cultures. I learnt that many Americans eat junk food only when they're out with friends or don't have time enough to eat at a restaurant, while they usually eat much healthier when they are at home. This may seem quite obviuos, but in reality it is not: once back from a short journey in the USA, disgusted by the huge portions of junk food I had eaten, I was starting to believe in many common sterotypes on unhealthy American way of living. Fortunately, Leah helped me change my mind!

 

• The most important things I have learnt about the country, the nation, the state of the target language. Without this project I don't think I would have ever expanded my knowledge on the electoral system in the USA and on its current candidates. Even though I already had some knowledge on what was going on in the US through newspapers and TV programs, this project made me more aware and curious about this topic: as at that time I hadn't started doing Skype yet I took advantage from my journey in the States by asking people for opinions and predictions. What is more, thanks to the very final project I learnt much about the American University system, which I knew only thanks to movies and TV programs. 

   

• What I have learnt about customs and conventions of talking with people (topics which interest them, topics to avoid, how to greet people and take leave from them). Well, I do think that anytime you talk to someone you should be conscious of what could hurt or offend your interlocutor; for this reason I think that keeping in mind who you are talking to can help you avoid certain topics and carry on your conversation properly. But this, in my opinion, depends on your sensitiveness.. For example, it's quite natural that, talking on the phone with an American student, you should try to avoid racist comments: what if that guy is actually a black student?  

   

 

C. Actions

• Incidents or problems which I resolved by explaining different cultures to people, helping them see the points of view of different cultures and how misunderstandings can happen. I remember one thing that happened when working on our final wiki page on the University system (even though I'm not sure it really answers the question..) Well, I remember we had some problems in understanding our own education system and explaining it to Nina, our Erasmus peer: the fact was that the Italian system is simply different from the Czech and American one, so that in order to explain it we first needed to understand it better!

   

• Examples of times when I have had to ask questions and work out my own answers (from ask for clarification to understanding cultural customs and beliefs): Some years ago I spent some months in Vienna, where I got to know an American girl who was studying medicine and foreign languages in her country. Since then I had always wondered why American students were allowed to do such an "irrational" thing, that is, to graduate in two completely different fields. However, working on the final project of this exchange I've come to an answer which has actually changed my point of view: studying two completely different subjects does not necessarily give a superficial education, but helps joung people get quite wide knowledge in many areas and, thus, broaden their cultural horizons. Working out this explanation has helped me further understand the American system and, eventually, suspend disbelief in a different culture. 

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A self-assessment of my Intercultural Experience

 

A. Interest in other people's way of life

 

• I am interested in other people's experience of daily life, particularly those things not usually presented to outsiders through the media. Example: In my opinion asking people direct questions about their daily life (their habits, their political or social beliefs, their plans for the future, their job opportunities, the way they eat, dress or celebrate with friends) is much more interesting than watching movies or interpreting articles or books. The media definitely give an idea of how reality is, but they sometimes adjust it to their purposes; on the contrary people always tell their way of life as it actually is and this is the reason why having direct contact with other cultures is so important to me. 

   

• I am also interested in the daily experience of a variety of social groups within a society and not only the dominant culture. Example: Discussing on immigration I was particularly curious to see whether American people tend to discriminate immigrants by classifying them according to the country the come from. In Italy, for example, people coming from poor countries are often less accepted than those coming from rich states. I was therefore interested in understanding whether the same sort of binary attitude exists in the US as well and in finding out how ethnical groups react to this behaviour.

 

B. Ability to change perspective

• I have realised that I can understand other cultures by seeing things from a different point of view and by looking at my culture from their perspective. Example: I do believe I'm still at the very beginning of a long-lasting process of cultural consciousness. In order to change perspective when looking at a different culture or when reconsidering my own I still need to know the target culture more deeply. This project definitely helped me make some progress: as I already mentioned, I re-considered the American University system by looking at it as an American would do (I eventually understood why American students are allowed to graduate in two different fields, for example, which is something I had always seen as nonsense..) Similarly, I tried to analyse and judge Italian politics with the eyes of a foreign student (for example, when we were asked to watch some propaganda videos on Berlusconi and Veltroni I asked myself: what would an American say? What would he/she understand from them?). Anyway, achieving cultural consciousness is not easy at all: what I like most in this process, however, is the fact that through increased awareness you can take the best aspects of each culture and learn something from all of them.

   

 

C. Ability to cope with communicating in a different language with a different culture

• I am able to cope with a range of reactions people from different cultures may have to the way I express myself and what I say. When talking in English, the most difficult thing to do when people don't understand what I'm saying is to explain myself better, f.i. using more proper words or adjusting my previous sentence to the potential common knowledge of my interlocutor. As I still need to work on this aspect in order to express myself as clearly as possible, I always appreciate when people correct me or help me reformulate my uncorrect sentences.

   

 

D. Knowledge about another country and culture

• I know some important facts about the other culture and about the country, state and people that I did not know before. Example: The electoral system in the US was something I didn't know before taking part in this project, as well as some candidates' platforms (for example, as I didn't know anything about John McCain I "volunteered" to do some research on his political career). What's more, working on the final project helped me understand the University system in the US.

   

• I know how to engage in conversation with people of the other culture and maintain a conversation. Example: As I love talking with people of other cultures I think I know how to maintain a conversation: in my opinion one of the most important things to do is to show you're truly interested in what your interlocutor is saying. Conversation can be engaging and enjoyable only if both speakers have this same attitude!

   

 

E. Knowledge about intercultural communication

• I know how to resolve misunderstandings which arise from people's lack of awareness of the view point of another culture. Example of misunderstanding and solution: To tell the truth, I cannot think of any misunderstanding which may have occured during this exchange. For example, one of the things I appreciated most in my American peers was that, anytime they asked me questions (about Italian politics for example) they were conscious that my point of view could differ from theirs. For example, they asked me about Berlusconi's political campaign without expressing their point of view but eager to know what my opinion and standpoint was.

 

• I know how to discover new information and new aspects of the other culture for myself. Example: Finding out information on the USA was quite easy thanks to the tools I used in the first semester (del.icio.us, bloglines, Google's advanced search..)

 

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Self-Assessment of my Language Learning

 

Please provide specific examples of the following:

 

• words, expressions I learned in English: breeding ground, to held something in high/low regard, political platform, to figure out something, keep up the good work...

 

• improvements in my pronunciation of certain words or intonation: caucus (I had no idea of how to pronounce it!)

 

• improvements in my listening: the more I listen to a native speaker the better my understanding is, that's definitely true! I would say we were quite lucky because American native speakers are generally much more understandable than British speakers: as a result, when doing Skype I didn't have many problems in understanding what the speech was about.

 

• changes in the way I speak Italian to non-native speakers: I'm usually quite aware that speaking slowly and clearly, avoiding too formal or difficult words, helps any non-native speaker feel more comfortable when speaking in Italian. Thus, I tried to make my interlocutor feel at ease when talking in a language different from his own.

 

• words, expressions I learned doing the wiki project: caucus, political platform..

 

• improvements in my reading doing the wiki project: To find out information for the wiki projects I had to read and select several online materials: I do think this helped me improve my ability to select and judge sources more critically.

 

• improvements in my writing doing the wiki project: One of the most engaging tasks when editing the wiki page was to re-arrange sentences and expressions taken from authoritative sources in order to make them more appropriate to my personal style and to convey the exact meaning I wanted. I think this was very useful for improving my writing skills. 

 

 

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