journal 2

2/23/2013

“By its very nature every embodied spirit is doomed to suffer and enjoy in
solitude. Sensations, feelings, insights, fancies—all these are private and,
except through symbols and at second hand, incommunicable.”

• What is the
role of culture and language in the perceptual process? Given the partially
subjective nature of sense perception, how can different knowers ever agree on
what is perceived? Do people with different cultural or linguistic backgrounds
live, in some sense, in different worlds?

8 Comments

Alexandra Khlyustova

2/23/2013 10:23:38 am

To begin with, I agree with this quote. As such, cultures and languages definitely have imperative roles in perceptual process.

Firstly, any particular language would help a person to communicate and share what is comprehended from the environment. Secondly, the existence of language abets us to analyze the world revolving around us and improve our abundant amount of knowledge which might prove beneficial for interaction with other people. However, various cultures might alter our initial perceptions and perhaps even create a scenario where they contradict each other.

For instance, an individual who has been fostered in an Asian country could tend to perceive differently as compared to another person who has been raised in a European country because every person is grown up with different traditions and cultures. Hence, it could be that people originating from disparate cultural or linguistic backgrounds live in different worlds, causing all our feelings and sensations to be private and unknown to others. For example, a person living in a warm country might interpret snow as something unfamiliar to them and hard to adapt. And here comes the language again, which we use in order to clarify each other’s observations.

Lastly, it might be considered that the past experience as well as the demand of perception enables somebody to accede on what is perceived. In fact, there exists no impeccable form of perception but its existence could allow us to analyze our environment better.

In conclusion, both culture and language are very valuable ways of perception, but they could be perceived in different manners by every individual.

2/23/2013 10:02:48 pm

Yes, it can be said that people who live in different cultural or linguistic backgrounds come from a totally different world. This is true as the community from this country may perceive that so and so cannot be done but on the other country they may not even care about the matter. A great example are us, the international students. I come from a culture that is immensely strict on the usage of alcohol and drugs. If you get caught in my country for possessing just 10g of ecstasy you may be sentenced to death. This may seem quite bizarre but in fact its just the way we our culture works. We have been living in this situation for I can say our entire life and its just part of us and our lifestyle. We would not even notice as it has been our habit since we were born. However, when I came here, things were the way I expected but not to this extent. Even students in schools do drugs, drink alcohol etc. The consequences of such act was just being expelled or suspended. I've experienced American lifestyle and the freedom that the parents give their children are tremendously huge. A majority of parents even allow the children to drink or do drugs and not bother in giving counselling or advice to them. This may seem weird to students that come from different cultural background, or I can say 'different world'. This may seem to some of you as what your friends and parents may normally do but to some of us, its a huge shift of the mindset and perception.
I agree that our cultural background plays a significant role in the perceptual process and this cannot be denied.

Lina

2/24/2013 05:19:33 am

What is the role of culture and language in the perceptual process?
Culture can influence you a lot in what you are thinking and feeling in different situations. For example in France when you greet people, it is very normal to kiss them on the cheek. However if you do that in Norway, people would react completely different. In the society we live in we learn from our parents and friends what different things we do mean to us and how we react. When it comes to language of course there are many differences, but also it is rather difficult to translate every word from one language to another without changing the meaning at all. “Kjærlighet” means “love” in Norwegian, this is a direct translation. But even though it is easy to translate a word, it is not as simple to translate the feelings behind it.
Given the partially subjective nature of sense perception, how can different knowers ever agree on what is perceived?
This is where communication is important. Humans have their language to communicate, they are curious on what other people think and in books and on the internet, they provide hundreds of pages where we can translate words in foreign languages into your own. The problem occurs when each individual have their own idea on what “love” (or “kjærlighet”) really is. Anjani may describe love as the feeling you get when it seems like you have a thousand butterflies in your stomach, while Alyson may think it is the feeling of strong attachment for that other person that makes you love them. We all have different views on every feeling we get, it is just like our vision. The color blue for me may be orange for you, but we still call it the same even though we see it in different ways. It is hard to agree on something when you have very different aspects of looking at it, but as I said, to communicate and describe what you’re thinking, is the best method to get people to understand you.

Do people with different cultural or linguistic backgrounds live, in some sense, in different worlds?
I believe they do, because when people live at one place and they learn how to perceive everything in a certain way their whole life, they create a view on other people, and generally, the world that is not the same as one on the other side of the world. I have learned a lot of differences in cultures while being here with so many nationalities in one place. I have had fights with my roommates; because what they did I thought was completely intolerable, they thought was all right. And when I did what they thought was not okay, they reacted in completely different ways. So I think that all people with different backgrounds live in different worlds, you just have to accept it and respect that people think and react and feel differently, otherwise you are not going to have a good time. (I am talking from experience)

anson hsieh

2/24/2013 09:29:40 am

i agree this topic, because it's true and the language is influence everything, the enviornment, too. Even we all have the same fense but it will be different in our thinking. everyone from different place, and is tought by different, this the what called enviroment, example like if kiss the face is normal in french, but it's not normal in China. how can we make different place people know more about these things? The language and the communication will be the best way to get to know each other, and langues can intergration the people's minds, the most shoeing about this is bible, it's the language which is dangerous but the greatest thing for let the to think the close way. Everyone is in the different thinking way because environment, but sometimes two different enviroment may makes two or more people have the close thinking way.

YAO XU (Sherley)

2/24/2013 09:30:27 am

Perception is subjective. It is a kind of intuition depends on the experience, inference, environment, etc. Culture and language play an important role in the perceptual process. Different knowers have the same reaction because they were taught or experienced in the same ways with identical culture and customs.
So the perceptual gaps exist among people with different cultural or linguistic backgrounds life. Cultures lead to perspectives and characters. Properties lead to perceptions and actions.
For instance, parents are accustomed to give their kids money in the white envelopes during the lunar new year in Korea. They think white means shrine. Western people wear in white in the wedding means pureness. However, white means dead or bad luck in China sometimes. So when we see a color, we have a little bias and people from the same country may have the same perception derives from same culture. I can imagine that if a woman in white walks on the street, someone will think her relative just died. Some will think she is on the way to her wedding or a party. Others think it doesn’t stand for anything. These are totally different worlds, aren’t they?
People with distinct languages and cultures have various perceptions for the same thing. Perceptions indicate people’s experience or even the spirit and essence of a country. Nobody can judge whose point of view is right since there’s no absolutely objective.

Dani

3/4/2013 03:34:54 am

As we grow up we are taught differently according to what our parents say is best, as an example; when I was a kid my mom taught me that eating insects is wrong and that I can get many diseases from them. Later I got to learn that in some cultures it’s a pretty normal thing to do, eat insects that is, and that they live by the thought that bugs are food and not something to be repelled. What my mother taught me molded the way I think about different things, and so happens with other people from other cultures. Our senses help us feel things and in a way be more aware of our surroundings, while our ethnical or moral background help us interpret all this signals from the outside world and make sense out of them. The things we like and dislike come all from the learning from our parents, who learned things from their parents and so on. By this principle we have gathered knowledge from hundreds of years ago.
Since biologically all human are more or less the same we can come to agreements about how we perceive things, we can all agree we need water to subsist, food and sun are needed as well. This biological needs make us have an overall agreement on how we have to survive. Then again the cultural background of each person will have a lot to say about what we like and what we dislike. Maybe in some culture dogs were seen as beast who attacked villages, therefor they most likely won’t like dogs, while in some other culture dogs are helpful animals when it comes to controlling sheep’s and keeping a house safe, therefor that culture will think dogs are friends.

Sandra Errejon

3/10/2013 03:51:47 am

Firstable yes, I do agree with this quote because ultimately each of us we own our feelings, ideas, fantasies, sensations in our innermost forum. These experiences can give us pain, suffering, or joy, but it is very difficult to explain through language (set of symbols) because in most cases are incommunicable as we live within.
Secontable humans live in groups in which we act, and behave similarly together, but each of us always live their experiences in a personal way. Martyrs (those sentenced to death to serve as an example of repentance of others) go together united by their common destiny, and feelings to the arena (Roman Circus command), but are crucified alone (and there is again where everyone has their own experience that you can not fully share with others because the language is not broad enough to do so. Finally says that every human group from families to nations (countries) are societies living in a kind of island universes that is, it depends on where you are born, live, live and receive education, and you to behave in a manner appropriate to that environment.

1.What is the role of culture and language in the perceptual process?

What this question mean its that every country has different cultures, for example, when Americans meet they just shake hands, while in Spain you give two kisses. If you would do that to an American it would be disrespectful because it has a different culture. But even though it is easy to translate a word, it is not as simple to translate the feelings behind it.

2. Given the partially subjective nature of sense perception, how can different knowers ever agree on what is perceived?

Everyone have a different perception views on every feeling, for example, when you're really sad about something and you can not explain exactly, because I lack words to do so, and that even if you did, the person you are listening and understand what would live differently. It is hard to agree on something when you have very different aspects of looking at it, but as I said, to communicate and describe what you’re thinking, is the best method to get people to understand you.

3.Do people with different cultural or linguistic backgrounds live, in some sense, in different worlds?

So I think that all people with different backgrounds live in different worlds, you just have to accept it and respect what people think, react and feel differently, otherwise you are not going to have a good time.

Mingxuan Xu

3/22/2013 02:26:04 am

Perception is the basis of people understanding of things. perception is equated with reality for most practical purposes and guides human behavior in general.
We have the different culture, learn different languages, experience different things and above all have different perception of the world. Culture is the most important and fundamental factors affect the perception. Different culture can make people perceive the world differently. For example, when we receive a birthday gift. Chinese people are not accustomed to face-to-face demolition to look a gift. But Westerners are accustomed to look a gift face demolition, and the person said they liked and gratitude. And another example is: When we get the cold, the Chinese doctors are accustomed to require patients to drink a little ginger, covered with a thick quilt, Do not go outside. American doctors will require patients to wash a cold shower. All of these show to us: different cultural will influence the way to people deal with the problem.
So i think people with different cultural live, in some sense is in different worlds.

journal 2

Leave a Reply.

Author

Archives

Categories