Reading response of fanshen

THE ROOM AND THE WIDER CULTURE: IDENTIFY AS A KEY TO LEARNING ENGLISH COMPOSITION Fan Shen: The Classroom and the Wider Culture
Writing techniques mirror the nature and unity of someone’s culture. People from different parts the world are subject to different beliefs, understanding and backgrounds of each other. So exposure to new learning environments proves challenging to adapt to as represented by Fan Shen. He enlightens what it is like to adjust to a western culture from the Chinese culture in writing expression sense. He labels the American linguistic culture as an incredibly step by step progression way to write, placing a lot of stress on using the word ‘ I’ habitually. It appears off as somehow a culture shock being that he is Chinese – Chinese culture way of writing is more focused on a descriptive style, while often including words like ‘ we’ as opposed to ‘ I’. When examining Shen’s past experience in writing Chinese, he outlines, the expression ‘ I’ to always be associated with another “ unfortunate expression”, “ individualism”, which is regarded as a synonym to the word selfishness in Chinese. China categorically emphasizes on their culture collectively as a whole, and the individualism concept is considered ethically immoral. It is considered immodest and disrespectful to use the expression ‘ I’ since that is a labeled word for one person. The culture believes that using ‘ we’ means including everyone, while the American culture context emphases intensely and enthusiastically on ‘ I’, promote individualism. A claim of solitary expression as opposed to Chinese collectivity expression. Because of Chinese emphasis on collective expression and modesty in linguistics, can they be branded as a more unified culture than the American society? The concept prompts the question of whether if America upheld her values and cultural morals more, the result would be an awarer and more tolerant nation1.
The American culture privileges acknowledgment of “ I” at the level of expression and ideology. The culture views the use of “ I” as a norm. It is used as a way of expressing selfness a view that purposefully promotes individualism. Contrarily, the Chinese culture does not conform to the use of “ I” as a means of self-expression rather views it as individualistic and self-centered. To some extent, it is agreeable that the Chinese perception promotes cohesiveness among cultural members as they tend to identify with each other as a “ We” 2.
As a younger student, my writing sequence was more based on the fast delivery of critical issues when writing. There was no sequential buildup of ideas rather straight to the central point a style similar to the English sequence form. With time, I have learned to build upon ideas methodically from inception to the final punchline delivery.
The hasty pace of the English language is challenging. The language is somehow oriented on fast delivery of concepts sequentially. The idea of adapting to the sequential pace format of English is a challenge3. In order to understand and write English compositions, I have had to adjust my sentence construction skills in line with the bold sequential format of English i. e. topic sentence followed by the body of the work.
In all cultures around the globe, an individual’s language plays a vital role culturally and socially in terms of being understood, identifying themselves, identifying with others and self-expression. Giving little cultural consideration when exploring other languages other than yours can be considered selfish, and misrepresentation may occur. Therefore, it is critical to have a background insight into the cultural context of the language.
Bibliography
Maasik, Sonia, and Jack Solomon. ” Shen Fan, The Classroom And The Wider Culture: Identify As A Key To Learning English Composition.” In Reading On Popular Culture For Writers, 619-628. 5th ed. New York: Bed Ford/St Martins Press, 2006.