Education Abroad: Global May China

Rebecca Flaherty

My STEP Signature Project involved me and 10 of my fellow Buckeyes, along with my Professor Mark Bender, going to China through a program called China Global May. Where we were paired with Yi students [ The Yi people are an ethnic minority in China] and learned about the diversity of cultures, China’s history, and about China.

In both of my majors, International Relations and Comparative Cultural Studies, cross-cultural communication plays an integral part. For those of you who don’t know what cross-cultural communication is, it is the understanding of how people from other cultures communicate in comparison to your own cultural background. I choose Global May China because of the unique cross-cultural opportunity of being paired with a student from Southwest University for Nationalities. Global May China gave me a chance to fully immerse myself in the culture. But also gave me friendships that will last a lifetime.

Throughout my college career I learned the technical aspect of working with different cultures and in an international sphere. But this experience taught me that it’s one thing to know the technical aspects of working with people from other parts of the world. It’s another to apply them in real life situations. This experience taught me new techniques, skills, and gave me a better understanding, not only of my majors but a better understanding of the world. My understanding of the world before was how I read it in textbooks or class it was two-dimensional but this trip transformed me and showed me that there is so much more than the two-dimensions we are taught in class. The world is way more complex. Many things led to this transformation but the three that changed my perceptions were the understanding of language, location, and friendship

While in Chengdu, we had multiple classes about Chinese culture focused on minority groups in China. Although all my classes aided in teaching me more about Chinese cultures. One class specifically stood out to me and that was the one on Yi poetry. At the beginning of the class, I believed that a poem whether it was in Yi, Chinese, or English would be the exact same. It would translate the same, sound similar, and mean the same. I thought that we all have the same words just in different languages. Once the presentation began, I realized that many times the words and meaning cannot easily go from one language to the next. Every word that is translated must be precise to give the reader of the poem the closest translation to the original. From this I realized the complexity of transcending the language barrier. That in just looking at language, certain terms are unique and understood differently by different cultures. So, to overcome the language barrier we strive to translate not the individual words but the idea. However, in the end there will be a difference. This difference impedes us from understanding exactly what the original meant but it also allows us to understand another culture in our own native tongue.   This showed me the complexity of translating that I never noticed before.

Living in China, specifically Chengdu & Ning Lang, comes with its challenges when you don’t know the language. I had to take what I learned in class and apply it and many times I was put in situations that I was not prepared for. So, I had to find ways to communicate with the people whether it was through translating apps, words we learned, pictures, etc. Not only did I have to find a way to communicate with them but I had to understand the way they communicate and interact. An example of this is saying No. In America, if you get put in a situation in which you don’t want to do something you can be direct. However, in the area where I was staying, saying No was not as easy. To say no you had to go through a language dance in which you inadvertently say no.  In their culture being direct would result in someone losing face. [ Someone “losing face” in China means that they lost respect among others or their pride becomes injured.] This may be only one example but throughout my time in China I learned so much about how to communicate and handle situations.  I also learned that no matter how much research or how deep your understanding is of the culture you are going to make mistakes and that’s okay.

The one thing that really transformed me on this trip was the friends that I made while I was there. During this trip, I was paired up with a girl named Da Mao/Maddie. I can honestly say she is the one who helped me really understand her world and culture. Our friendship gave me a unique perspective and helped me to become fully immersed in the culture. Not only was I immersed but she helped me understand my immersion. She explained to me why things happened the way they did and what to do in different situation. Not only did I learn from her teaching me. I learned from the way she interacted with the world. Seeing how she approached different situations or how she acted with different people taught me the unspoken part of her culture. From her I learned that the best people to teach you about a culture is people from that culture. My friendship with Da Mao is for a lifetime and together no matter where we are we are teaching each other. This friendship is something that not only transformed me during my trip but it will also keep transforming me for a lifetime.

This trip was a priceless experience! From understand that the world is more complex than I once thought I gained knowledge that will aid me in my life and my future career. Academically, I learned that experience is key to truly understanding a concept. This trip allowed me to see the problems of that can come from cross-cultural communication. It also gave me techniques and skills to handle some of these problems. I also got to learn so many things about the culture through immersion. I learned through living and the memories I created helped me to understand Chinese culture but also my own. I learned so much about myself through this trip. Through this immersion I taught about my culture and began to really understand more about my culture. Overall, this experience helped me grow and learn more about cultures and myself then I ever expected. I gained valuable knowledge that will help not only in my college career but also in my future career. Global May China gave me an experience that I will cherish and learn from for the rest of my life. Thank you. Kashasha. [ Kashasha is Yi for Thank you]

 

Sincerely,

Becca 贝壳

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