Description of my feelings, knowledge and actions during the Exchange. A. Feelings B. Knowledge C. Actions A self-assessment of my Intercultural Experience A. Interest in other people's way of life B. Ability to change perspective C. Ability to cope with communicating in a different language with a different culture D. Knowledge about another country and culture E. Knowledge about intercultural communication Self-Assessment of my Language Learning

 

Photo by Amsterdamned. 

 

 

 

 

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) During the exchange with Dickinson students we discussed about lots of topics. I remember when on Confronti we have to comment about death penalty in Italy. I wrote, a bit provocatively, that in Italy death penalty is applied only by mafia, and later added that, unfortunately, some politicians here know mafia very good. I received some comments back which practically rejected my opinions because they'd been interpreted as too leftist and against Berlusconi. Then I became more curious about Italian politics and mafia connections and, afterwards, on the question about "Pentiti, dissociati e irriducibili", I wrote a comment about Falcone and Borsellino with more specific information I found on internet. I was very interested in gathering knowledge which could provide my Italian and American peers with information out of the allowed – more than official - channels. For these reasons, I made some research on my own...it was elections time then, both in Italy and America, and that fact grew the curiosity!

• Moments in which I felt uncomfortable: (what made me feel like this, with particular examples if possible) When I started skyping, I felt a bit uncomfortable...spoken performances are not really my best as I often get nervous:| However I've been working to overcome my shyness. During one of our Skype exchanges, I was explaining to Artem and Alessandra my ideas about Berlusconi and his party...Well, to be clearer, it was about the fact that to me, after all the loss of money during Berlusconi's last mandate, he couldn't still promise lower taxes and greater savings for all Italians -impossible and demagogic-. I started lots of "ehmmm, uhmm, aaaaand" and thought "Sara, please stop with this, or they'll take their earphones off and will run out of the class!” So I took a breath, checked they were still listening to me -how tolerant!-, and finally could express my marvellous and clever thoughts about Italian politics. The funny and nice thing is that, later on, when I achieved in finishing the whole, they agreed with me.

• Moments when I felt comfortable:(what made me feel like this, with particular examples if possible) As I said above, I've been working to overcome my shyness. To me, don't feel shy means feeling good and comfortable. I must say that in class I've been developing a good relation with almost all my peers, and it's been important in order to cut those negative and frustrating feelings. For example, I’m not that shy I was during the first semester and wrote about in my mid term paper. Most of the time, I don't feel uncomfortable in speaking English with my peers and people outside the class. Last Wednesday, for example, I met an English boy in a friend of mine’s house and we spoke in English together. Even if he was a native speaker, I didn't feel that awkward I could some time ago. Skyping with our American peers has surely helped me, because beyond the boundaries of language, I've known real people with whom I had the chance to build a nice relation.

 

B. Knowledge

• The most important things I learnt about family life and/or life at school. Learning English, as any other foreign language, helps you as a person. Through a foreign language you have the possibility to communicate beyond the boundaries of language and give to yourself and the others the possibility to know you. For your health, for your life and for everybody who’s next to you, it’s important to take it easy when learning. University career shouldn’t be lived under distress – provoked both professors and students – because it only makes you sad, bad or sick. Life is a gift in which work, knowledge and love  enrich it the most. Still, be careful in measuring how much of your time you dedicate to each. Aurea mediocritas!
• The most important things I have learnt about the country, the nation, the state of the target language. For the wiki page project I focused on how and when death penalty is applied in US. It’s been interesting because I didn’t look deep into this issue before. Actually, before this experience I found the death penalty issue cruel and gripping at the same time. I understand now how Americans live the issue, and I know what debates there’re on death penalty and what law and history state behind this practice. Italy is very different under this point of view, as well. In Italy not only there is no death penalty – which is a good thing, in my opinion -, but also it seems there’s no prison for any crimes, even felonies. The sensation I’ve had while working on this issue is that in US law is considered seriously – as it should everywhere – while in Italy great efforts are still required in this direction. Still, there are many thoughts I have on the US society, but these are more unelaborated impressions: I can feel the intricacy of America due to its cultural variety, I see how America’s history and current time work on Americans’ way of thinking, I really appreciate how thousands of ethnic groups are currently summarized in one country, and how, through the time, these groups have been elaborating themselves through the means of the coexistence. All this is very interesting to me. I’d like to see and live things in person.

   

• 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). When skyping, you should be more careful in what you say because you cannot see other people’s faces and it’s harder to guess their reactions to your words. Use your unseen peer’s voice to guide yourself...try and catch his(I think about Artem!) smiles, his silences, his beginnings of sentence. Don't get bored and explain your thoughts as much as needed by your interlocutor: two explanations are better than one sometimes! Be clear as much as possible, but never rude. It's difficult to say how you should interact with other people, but remember that a smile always helps and anxiety often tires. Don't be shy in making a question, but remember to be discreet if the issue is personal and there’re other interlocutors besides he and you. Try to respect speech turns, and if you figure out you cannot express yourself because others don't respect yours, just say: "I'd like to express my opinion on this issue...". As far as the work-in-peer is concerned, try to be tolerant about your peers' weaknesses and learn from their strengthens. After you've known someone's interests, try to remember them and sometimes ask for their "passions" (for Artem it was soccer....and even if I don't bother about it, I always took the time for a few exchanges on it!). Finally, when you end the Skype session it’d be nice if you wish to your peers a good day, week-end, spring break, or whatever. Moreover, if he’s an exam you can say him: ‘fingers crossed’ or ‘good luck’!

   

 

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. During our 4th Skype exchange Artem, Alessandra and I spoke about immigration and prejudices in our country. Without taking in consideration Artem's native country, Ukraine, we said that in Italy Eastern Europeans are sometimes considered artful criminals who thieve, abuse and murder children and women. I couldn't see Artem's face, but he stayed silent and bumbled something. I said to him that prejudices, here regarding most of all Romanians, do not correspond to the truth, and people is annoyed because political and economical situation is difficult. Moreover Elena told him that many journals and mass media strengthen the idea eastern=crime, because they choose to publish much more news on felonies committed by Romanians. Alessandra explained to him that not everybody see eastern immigrants as criminals. Then I added the fact that someone says that immigrants steal work to Italians, while some other say immigrants do the work that no Italian would do. I tried to explain to Artem that in Italy opinions are many, some of which come from ignorance, some from misunderstandings, some from simplifications. And after all, there are people who don't believe in these ideas and study Eastern languages because want to overcome preconceptions: I study Romanian, and Alessandra studies Russian.

   

• 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) From my blog: "Due to some questions Sarah asked us to post on Interculture wiki, I somehow forced Arti to answer to the following: “I read in Obama's program that he wants to ensure 'every citizen to vote'. Actually, to whom this achievement would benefit?” I didn’t understand the purpose of this aim in Obama’s electoral program. Arti told me that the point refers to those citizens who are not well informed on American politics and politicians, and don’t find themselves in the true position to vote autonomously. Thus Obama’s purpose is to enlarge the ways in which information can be spread, and grow citizens’ interest towards politics. This should bring everybody to be proud, wishing and willing to cast their vote in the elections."

   

 

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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: I asked Artem to try and explain us if and how discrimination affects American women. Actually I wrote the question on the Padova-Dickinson page. It says: ‘I read, in a brief summary of Clinton's program, that, if elected, she'd fight against female discrimination in US. Do you think that American women actually face discrimination? If yes, how and in which fields of life does discrimination affect American women?‘. Artem told us that American women face sexual discrimination in some jobs, in particular within the political field. However, later on, he added that ‘women are getting up there’ as well and that, to him, sexual discrimination is higher in Europe.

   

• I am also interested in the daily experience of a variety of social groups within a society and not only the dominant culture. Example: I asked Artem to talk about his experience as an immigrant. Actually he comes from Ukraine and lives in US alone for two years.

 

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: Through the comments of our American peers on Italian lifestyle, I understood they think we are lazy people. I wasn't offended, but I wondered why they see us this way. I imagine it's because they base their ideas on movies and not only. Italy is known as the country of 'pizza, pasta, mandolino’... tourists are important for our country, and I think that there’s the interest of Italian government, institutions and traders in spreading out the idea of Italy as a relaxing country, where people can visit museums and roman ruins all day long, eat well and meet smiling people. 

 

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. Example: I think that I cope with this ability every time I meet and know a different person: in such occasions we have to be somehow "soft" and be about careful in our words. As far as Skype exchange is concerned, I think we all cope with our reactions when we decided how to organize and share the work to do for the wiki page. When someone couldn't afford to accomplish a task the others tried to understand him/her and make them know we were a group able to understand each other's commitments.

 

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: From my blog: ‘People from the South are more discriminatory while in the North people are more open-minded about foreign cultures. In cities like NY the melting pot makes residents more tolerant. Arti told us that many people don’t feel comfortable in talking about discrimination. Somehow people feel guilty for what happened to immigrants or other social groups discriminated and badly treated in the past.’

• I know how to engage in conversation with people of the other culture and maintain a conversation. Example: After I met Chiara here in Padua I talked with her on Skype and we had a quite long conversation. We discussed about her family here in Italy and there in US, about MTV and the Osbournes (we both think that program is horrible!). We tried to talk about things that we have in common and others we don't share. About the usage of the respective foreign language, we adopted our method to improve both of us: I wrote in English and she in Italian. She said she was very happy of making that exchange with me and found it very interesting and useful...we spent almost 2 hours skyping! Unfortunately, I cannot Skype regularly, and when I'm online I'm so busy in working that I haven't often the time to talk. Moreover she is not online for much time. I think we'll talk again when both of us will have more time!

 

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: When chatting with Chiara I wrote her "I'll be back soon" and I left for a while. When I went back on line, I saw she’d written me goodbye. Luckily, she was still there and I could explain to her what I meant was that I had to absent just for a moment... She told me the right expression for that was "I'll be right back!".

   

• I know how to discover new information and new aspects of the other culture for myself. Example: During Skype sessions with Chiara I asked her about the use of slang-abbreviations in English (BTW, ALA...others worse like WTF...). I asked her about discrimination in US. She said to me, for example, that 'black' is really less offensive than 'coloured'. I said to her in Italy is the opposite.

   

 

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Self-Assessment of my Language Learning

 

Please provide specific examples of the following:

 

• words, expressions I learned in English: Fake; WTF(!) and the use of English in youth-slang language, like "...2 sho dat we also kan do wat we do in da music industry.."; Ukrainian/Ukraine; "cast somebody's vote"; retrieve (not properly learned...let's say I started using it); governmental social aid; financial aid; a tricky text; bookmark; BTW (by the way); weird.

   

• improvements in my pronunciation of certain words or intonation: Well, about pronunciation I can say I improved the way I speak when I'm in front of other people. I know it'll sound stupid, but I must confess that, in the past, I willingly 'italianized' my English. I'll try to explain this weird behavioural process: when speaking in English - with my peers in class, with professors and sometimes outside the university, as well - I found it difficult to reproduce native speaker's pronunciation. I knew I wasn't good enough and surely the native speaker would have found my spoken production funny and awkward, even though  I'd have done my best to be 'as English as I could'. I felt uneasy. For these reasons I opted for the stupid thing that was, 'be the Italian who speaks English as an Italian'! This way I took myself out from a possible grater interest from the part of the native speaker -especially a professor - and spoke as if I didn't image what was the right pronunciation. I didn't try to show the others I was able to speak better, I avoided competitions and left the other think what they wanted. A terrible, wrong behaviour which brought me to avoid real improvements. The strange thing is that in several occasions, outside the university, I met "Anglo-Saxon speakers" and I exhibit my knowledge and skills at English. I acted this way for many reasons, but first of all, because I was too humble to compete with proficient peers and, in the same time, too proud to expose myself to judgments based upon my real knowledge of English. Now, I understand how much I lost going behind my shyness and my pride. However, I dare say that some British professors somewhat mocked - and I know the meaning of "to mock" - students for their pronunciation or their weaknesses in English skills. Surely this thing doesn’t help learners.  In my university class I haven't been the only doing and thinking this way. I think many Italians feel awkward when speaking in foreign languages. I knew people coming from different countries who spoke English very well and tried to pronounce words as well as they could, and I wondered "why are you so crazy to be shy about such a natural thing?"

   

• improvements in my listening: At first listening, I can understand an average of 80-95% of President Bush's speeches! To be honest I think that the great time we spent listening to Sarah has been proficient. In fact, when I think about how to give good intonation and pronunciation to my sentences, I somewhat hear Sarah’s voice in my mind and try to imitate her,  I miss very little words when Sarah speaks and I definitely improved my listening skills this year!

   

• changes in the way I speak Italian to non-native speakers: I've always had foreign friends. For this reason, I know is important to speak in a highly comprehensible way, both when speaking in Italian and English. However, it depends on the degree of language-knowledge our foreign interlocutor has, and their interest in learning Italian. In fact, if the foreign interlocutor is interested in developing their knowledge of advanced Italian, I don't force myself in speaking easier. I just try to speak slower. On the other hand, if the person I'm talking to is interested in learning basic Italian I try to use a simpler vocabulary, and avoid locutions as wall as sayings. 
• words, expressions I learned doing the wiki project: Firing squad (!), death penalty, life sentence, inmate, offence, felony. 

   

• improvements in my reading doing the wiki project: Actually I don't think that the wiki project developed a particular aspect of my reading skills in English. Better, I think this whole year, added to the previous ones, helped me to skip through the text and quickly catch its contents. During this year, I definitely acquire a greater experience in recognizing good and reliable documents in internet.

   

• improvements in my writing doing the wiki project: Summarizing texts has never been my favourite sport! However, to accomplish the wiki task, I had to sum up and rephrase the contents of the documents retrieved I found in internet. I definitely say that with the wiki project I've been developing my summarizing written skills in English. 

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