Ñeque Pt. 2

Since the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis is about how communication affects culture, I feel as if seeing the results of this hypotheses is difficult when working with a different age group. No matter the language, age groups seem to always have different aspects to their cultures. It would have been easier to see how this hypothesis works when speaking with students are own age, but it was still somewhat visible when working with the children at Ñeque.
The Spanish language is very quickly spoken, and I feel as if that is a major component of the language that affects the fast-paced life and high energy of the children. While children everywhere tend to be hard to keep up with, it seems as if these children move almost as fast as they speak. Since their language is always moving, it appears they are always moving too.
Language also affected communication between us and the children when myself or someone else did not know the word of an object. We would either point to the object or describe it with our hands, which makes our communication become non-verbal instead of verbal. The point is usually made, as both ourselves and the children understand that, while we may not speak the same language, pointing and describing things is a way of communicating non-verbally, that ultimately creates a hybrid culture of Spanish and hand movements.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Carly V.- Blog Post #16

In blog post #4 Carly mentions how her family will hug and kiss people, even those they do not know. This is a way to use gestures as a form on communication, even if you do not share the same language. I though that this example showed effective intercultural communication. Because I did not speak much Spanish before going on the trip, using this form of communication was a large part of how I navigated conversations and relationships with the people that I met.  In blog post #6 Caitlin also displayed an effective form of intercultural communication. In her post she was referring to her time at Neque y Mas Neque. Because she was not completely confident in her Spanish speaking abilities, she found other ways to connect and communicate with the children. For her, this alternative form of communication came from dance. Dance was a universal form of communication between her culture, and the  culture of the ...
Read more

Meng - Blog 16

1. In Paige's Blog(#14), she mentioned that she used some nonverbal communication to communicate with teachers when they were cooking. It is an effective way of intercultural communication. I totally agree that sometimes, if you don't know how to express yourself, body language helps a lot, and it even works better than language. 2. In Blog12, Tyessa said that she feel not close with her host family, and usually, they don't communicate with each other too much, which makes she felt upset because she wants to get closer to them. In my points of view, it can be seen as an ineffective communication. I think in the process of communicating with people, sometimes you should learn to be proactive. Break the silence first, and take the initiative to communicate with others. If you are especially enthusiastic about other people, they will feel it. 3. An example of effective communication came from  Linsey. She talked about how the communication way changed ...
Read more

Blog Post Fourteen: The Market, Neque y Mas Neque, and Cooking

Image
Neque y Mas Neque The Mercado Artisinal is a great metaphor for Ecuadorian culture. The market is filled with handmade clothing, blankets, pottery, jewelry, and so many more items that are staples of Ecuadorian culture. All of these items also tend to be made or filled with bright colors which is common here in Ecuador. Another way the Mercado Artisinal is a metaphor for Ecuadorian culture is the fact that you negotiate the price of the item. In Ecuador, it is common to negotiate prices in markets, at street vendors, and even in taxis. The biggest thing I learned from the kids while working at Neque is that it doesn’t matter whether a kid comes from the U.S., Germany, or Ecuador or whether they are in poverty, the middle class, or they are rich, they are all the same. Every kid wants to play, to learn, and to have someone care about them and take an interest in their life. During our time at Neque I also learned that doing service work, no matter the size of your contribution,...
Read more