Your last name _______________ First name
_________
(This is your last conversation partner assignment)
Your partner's name _________________________
This assignment has two parts:
1. Communication styles: Japanese and mainstream "American"
2. The Thanksgiving holiday
I. Before meeting with your partner,
prepare to describe several situations in which you have been uncomfortable or could not understand what was going on because of the style of communication in the United States or the speaker's cultural background -- that is, you understood the words but not the real, deeper meaning of the conversation. For example, have you been uncomfortable or unable to communicate (in spite of understanding the words) in a conversation with an American roommate, a shop clerk, a professor, a Tomodachi family member, or someone else?
A. What made you uncomfortable: directness or indirectness, the way or place the person stood or sat, body language or eye contact, the content or subject of the conversation, or what?B. Explain what happened and then explain how a similar conversation would or might have happened in Japan.
C. Ask your partner if he or she has been in a situation with a native Japanese speaker in which the style of communication or the cultural background of the speaker made him or her uncomfortable or unable to understand the real meaning of the conversation.
Your notes:
II. Since this is your last meeting with your conversation partner, discuss how you communicated with each other.
Were there any misunderstandings? Analyze them.
Who spoke the most and the least and why?
What cultural differences were there in communication styles?
III. Finally, if you have time, ask you partner about what Thanksgiving traditions his or her family observes. What does his or her family do all day? Who comes to visit or who does the family do visit? What oral traditions are observed and why (songs, prayers, stories, etc.?) How does your partner feel about the Thanksgiving holiday? Why are holidays important in any culture?
Your notes: