Who's Evil?
Ziyi Feng
Engl191
Roland Specht-Jarvis
Final project
05/04/10
Who is Evil?
In the morning of March 23, 2010, the biggest searching engine Google stopped self censoring their searching service on the Google.cn. Chinese users from the mainland would not be able to use the Google Search, Google News and Google Imagines any more. However, Google transferred their service to Hong Kong. On the Google.com.hk, people can get unfiltered information which is in traditional Chinese.
Early in the year, it was said that Google had been attacked by hackers from inside China. The problems exposure from the attack and the restriction on free speech required by the Chinese government, which made Google start to consider if they need to close the Chinese service and the company in China. On January 13, Google posted an article on its official website to say that they will stop filtering the search result in mainland China. This means that Google would not obey the Chinese law anymore. A few days later, Google’s officers changed their mind and denied that they had already stopped all the programs. They wanted to reach the agreement with the Chinese government and then stay in China. But after negotiating with the Chinese government for two months, Google failed to receive the unfiltered engine requirement.
Google first offered a Chinese language version of its search engine in 2000. Six years later, Google set up its own office in Shanghai of China and it started to operate Google.cn, which meant Google officially entered the Chinese market in 2006. In order not to entering the Chinese market hastily, Google hired Kaifu Lee as their founding president. Kaifu Lee is a capable leader who was the former Vice President of Interactive Services of Microsoft. Google had been putting so much effort in successfully surviving in China’s tough market during the past four years. Since Google is the world’s biggest searching engine, it’s entry to China makes the Chinese search alliance pay a high attention to it.
Unlike the United States, China is a communist country in which only one party takes main control of the whole society. In some aspects, the rule of free speech is very strict. Even though there are no laws in writing to say that citizens cannot talk about the politics and are not allowed to criticize the government, the invisible rule is there. It stopped people from getting sensitive information and sharing opposite political opinions on the internet. So many historical facts had been hidden to the back but people who had experienced them would never forget it. Based on these rules, the cyber censorship is required to implement in every single search engine. As a result to fight against the law, many foreign websites are even blocked in China, such as Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, Google Docs, Google Blogger and ect.
In fact, about five years ago, before Google came into the Chinese market, some people had already made the prediction about what had happened to Google today. Any foreign companies who want to start their business in China have to follow the Chinese rules and no expectations are accept. Actually Google promised to filter the search result at the begging of their business, but with the unlimited numbers of the sensitive issues need to be block, Google feels that their ultimate desire don’t work well in China. People can’t have the best service here. Google thinks that the search engine should be neutral and the reviewing should be transparent. Google doesn’t want to shield the opinions of either side because that makes it unfair. The Chinese government doesn’t want Google to be a political tool but the government itself makes it political first. Google’s variety of its service and wealth of its information makes it strong and famous, but what makes Google have to face to the dilemma today is also because of them.
From the fact of Google quite from the Chinese market, it shows that the free speech is a big problem in the country. The government controls the whole society and just let people know and say what they want them to. One of the main reasons which form this type of society is the history. In the ancient time, the land was divided into many parts, each of the parts had their own leaders. The person who is the most powerful and the strongest will be the leader of the society. The leaders help and protect their people. With the development of the society, people were not satisfied with the limited lands. They want to own more and be more powerful. Wars on the land started. As time goes by, the land was finally become a unified country which was Qin Dynasty at about two thousand years ago. The emperor made the rules that he was the only controller of the whole country. In order to prevent people from against him, he started to take actions to control people’s thoughts, such as burn all the books and bury Confucian scholars. He set the society into a new type which he wanted and easier for him to in charge of the country. The old Autocratic Monarchy was developed by the leaders of different dynasties and has been in the society for thousand of years. Even though it has been destroyed long time ago, but the thoughts of that leader are the sovereign and everyone has to respect and follow the orders without doubts are still keeping deep in people’s mind.
Google was started in the United States which has a completely different social system as China, this makes Google hard to survive in the Chinese society if it doesn’t change some of its rules. However, Google’s ultimate desire is to provide unfiltered search results to Chinese users. This agreement did not succeed in the past, is not succeeding now, and will not succeed easily in the future.
Google’s exit not only influences on the company itself but also affects China. For Google itself, there are actually not much bad effects. Yes, some people may say that Google has lost a big market, it gets less profit. But, the fact is most of Google’s services in China are free. In 2008, Google earned 210 million dollars in China, which took only 1% of its total revenue all around the world.
In the past, so many people noticed that, on the Google.cn, there is no way to log on to the Google account and it even doesn’t save users’ data. Because Google highly values their users’ privacy they did not think their users’ information could be protected under China’s censor. Google’s motto is “Don’t be evil”, but to implement the cyber censorship in China was against both their motto and human rights. In contrast, Google’s reputation has risen by give up the potential market instead of violating its rules. Google quits the Chinese market, but it wins a larger market all over the world.
On the other side, for most Chinese internet users, it may not be a big deal and even don’t have any changes that Google disappears from their life. If they can’t use Google, there are still some other local searching engines for them to use. What about the Chinese Internet market? What about Googles competitors? With the rapid development of the Internet in China, more and more different types of searching engines come out. Baidu, which is the biggest local searching engine in China, losing it’s only competitor in the Chinese market, will it slow down its improvement of the technology, will it lower its standard of the searching quality? For an athlete, the most terrible thing is no rival, this makes him lose his goals and momentum. Baidu itself doesn’t have many technical innovation, Google’s leave may makes it’s goal offset to the marketing thereby reduce to quality to obtain profit and more fake advertising would appear in the searching results.
Otherwise, Google’s leave changes the impact of the Chinese investment environment. The other foreign companies are hesitating to step into this gap or continue investing in this complex and difficult market, where they have to play properly with Chinese authorities. They start to doubt that if they can really succeed and have profit in the Chinese market. For instance, Yahoo and Microsoft feel less of safety. A report from India says Dell Corporation is considering moving more of its Asian operations from China to India. As a result, China will face more complicated challenges to achieve advanced internet technologies. In addition, Google is a crucial and major channel for foreigners to seek information about China. A giant bridge which connects East and West will collapse if Google is completely out of China.
China is developing and it needs to learn the advanced technology and experience from other foreign countries. “Don’t be evil.” is what Chinese should learn. Endless regulating the internet will not assist the populous country to grow healthily. Therefore, Google’s withdrawal won’t be permanent. Every party should do no evil so that Chinese government won’t persist in cyber censorship to prevent Chinese internet users searching in a free engine. Consequently, Chinese citizens can someday surf the Internet without restraint, like any other people throughout the world.
Reference
Feng Yun. (2010). Google’s quite is a foregone conclusion. May 2, 2010 from
http://fengyun407.blog.ccidnet.com/blog-htm-itemid-9044566-do-showone-type-blog-uid-11968.html
David Drummond. (2010). Statement of Google China. Google Official Blog. May1,2010
http://cicdview2.blogspot.com/2010/03/oogle.html
Yue Guang. (2010). Analyze the effects of Google’s exits from China. China Daily. May 1, 2010.
Feng Huang.(2010). Overall process of Google’s exits. People’s Daily. May 2, 2010.
Loewe M. (2006). The Government of the Qin and Han Empires. Indianapolis: Hackett Pub.Co, 2006.
Wood F. (1948). China’s First Emperor and His Terracotta Warriors. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2008.
2010年5月4日星期二
2010年4月27日星期二
2010年4月14日星期三
The Third Interview
The Third Interview Report
I did some preparation before my interview. First of all, I get to clear my objectives. I’m curious that if the other international students have the same feeling as mine. I want to know about what the other international students' ways of thinking and how their culture does affects them. I also want to know the reasons make them come to the US, how do their lives change and what are their plans for the future. After I make sure what I want to know from the interview, I start to choose the questions, I used some of the questions that we came up with in the class and combined them with my own questions. All my questions are related to my objectives. What was the next to be considered is the technology. I checked my recorder which haven’t been used for a long time and tried to find a quiet place for my interview. At last, I chose the coffee shop in the library.
After the preparations, I need to think about which students I would like to interview. Since I work as a night security in the residential hall, I can meet with a lot of international students from different countries and even some of my co-workers are international students. I know that one of my co-workers is from Sri Lanka and I’ve heard about the country when I was in high school. I have interests in this country and I want to know more about it so I decide to have my co-worker as my first interviewee. I told him that I was doing a interview for my English class to know more about the international students in our school and I chose Sri Lanka. After the first interview, he introduced another friends to me, who is a girl named Shanika. He helped me to ask Shanika if she can be my interviewee and gave me the ways I can connect with her. We talked through the telephone for several times and i told her my purpose of the interview then we diecide to meet with each other.
Before I went to the meeting, I did some research about Sri Lanka.Shanika and I discussed about the date and location for the interview through the telephone and we finally decided to meet at the coffee shop in the library on April the 10th which was a Saturday at 2 pm. I first introduced myself about where I come from and my major. We also talked about the weather, our classes and our plans for the coming summer break then I plan to start the interview. I told her that I would ask him some questions about his country and I need to record our interview. I asked her if she has problems with the recording and she said okay about it. Before I started to ask my questions, I checked my recorder to make sure it works well. Then, the interview began.
Shanika, an international student from Sri Lanka has a very similar family background as mine. She is the single child in her family and both of her parents are worl in the government. The whole family afford for her shcool. She was just come here the last semester and now is a freshman in our shcool. She feels that everything is new here and it is very different from Sri Lanka. She told me that it is a little difficult for her to get used to the cold wheather here when she first arrived because Sri Lanka is pretty warm and sometimes even hot. Shanika doesn't like the food here and she always cook by herself. She is so hard working and gets high grade in her classes. She said she wants to be outstanding and get more opportunities to gain the experience to maker herself a good resume. She wants to try her best to help her family to have a better life. She is trying to find a part time job on campus to pay for her tuition. I felt that she is like a good friend of mine and we had a very happy conversation at the beautiful afternoon.
I think I gained a good friend from this interview even though at the beginning it was a little embarrased because she is very shy and I'm also not a person good at communicate with strangers. For my three interviewees, they all have different personality and I also learned different things from them. Rajitha's helpful, Yoshan's braveness and Shanika's endeavor, these all gives me a good class of the life. To improve my communication skills is what I need to do the next and I'm so happy to have a new friend.
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka is an island country. It is in the South Asia and lies in the India Ocean. It is located to the Southeast of the bay of Bengal. It has 65610 square kilometers. Because it's near the equator, it is always summer on the island for the whole year. The average temperature there is 28 degree Celsius. The country is also known as "the pearl on the Indian Ocean", "the kingdom of gem" and "the lion kingdom" in the world.
In the late 6th century B.C., the first Sinhalese arrived in Sri Lanka. The Buddhism was introduced in at the Mid-third centuray B.C.. During the 200 B.C. to A.D.1000, civilization was developed in the Anuradhapura and during the 1070 to 1200, clivilization was developed in Polonnaruwa. In the 14th Centurey, Indians in the south built their Tamil Kindom but the coastal areas of the island were controlled by the Portuguese in the 16th Centuray and by the Dutch in the 17th Centuray. The island was ceded to the British in 1796 and became a crown colony in 1802. By 1815, it was united under the British rule. As Ceylon, it became independent in 1948 and its names changed to Sri Lanka in 1972. From 1983 to 2009, there was an on and off civil war against the government by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam which is short for LTTE. It is a separatist milllitant oganization who fought to an independent state and named Tamil Eelam in the north and wast of the island. Both of the Sri Lanka government and LTTE have been accused of various human rights violations. On may 19, 2009, the president of Sri Lanka officially claimed an end to the insurgency and the defeat of the LTTE.
The population of Sri Lanka is 21,324,791 and the growth rate is 0.904 percent by 2009. Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Moors, Indian Tamil and Sri Lanka Tamil are the main ethnic groups of the country. People in Sri Lanka also have so many religions such as Buddhist, Islam, Hindu, Christian and so on. Sinhala is their official and national language. Tamil is also another national language of Sri Lanka. English is commonly used in government and is spoken competently by about ten percent of the population.
The government type of Sri Lanka is republic and divided into three parts which are executive branch, legislative branch and judicial branch. The executive branch is consisting of the chef of state, head of government, the cabinet, elections and election results. The legislative branch has elections and the election results. The Supreme Court is the main institution of the judicial branch.
Colombo is the captain of Sri Lanka and known as the "Oriental crossroads" since the Middle Ages. It is one of the most important business ports in the world and the world’s famous gemstone is flowing from here to the overseas. The average temperature is 28 degree. It has a population of 223.4 million (2001).
In Sri Lanka, it's traditional food was influenced by both the Westerns and Middle Easterns. Western influences customary diet are rice and curry, Kiribath, wattalampam which are made mainly by coconut milk. The Middle Eastern influences are found in the traditional Moor dishes such as, Lamprais, Breudher which is a Dutch Christmas cake and Bolo Fiado which is a Portuguese style layer cake.
Every April 13, Sinhala anad Tamil people celebrate Sinhala and Tamil New Year. Muslims celebrate the Ramadan for every year. Esala Perahera is the grand festival hold on July ot August in Kandy which is in the middle part of Sri Lanka. It is a Buddhist festival consists of dances and richly decorated elephants. It has already become a unique symbol of Sri Lanka. Fire dances, Whip dances and Kandian dances are the main dances in Sri Lanka. During the festival time, elephants are usually adorned with lavish garments and people have the shows of different dances. The festival ends up with the traditional Diva-Kepeema and the elephant is paraded around the city bearing the tooth of Buddha.
The tourism is a very famous industrial in Sri Lanka and more and more people are selecting Sri Lanka as their vacation paradise.
Reference
Sumit G. (2006). South Asia. New York : New York University Press. March 2010.
Introduction to Sri Lanka. Applied Language Solution.com. March 2010.
http://www.appliedlanguage.com/country_guides/sri_lanka_country_introduction.shtml
I did some preparation before my interview. First of all, I get to clear my objectives. I’m curious that if the other international students have the same feeling as mine. I want to know about what the other international students' ways of thinking and how their culture does affects them. I also want to know the reasons make them come to the US, how do their lives change and what are their plans for the future. After I make sure what I want to know from the interview, I start to choose the questions, I used some of the questions that we came up with in the class and combined them with my own questions. All my questions are related to my objectives. What was the next to be considered is the technology. I checked my recorder which haven’t been used for a long time and tried to find a quiet place for my interview. At last, I chose the coffee shop in the library.
After the preparations, I need to think about which students I would like to interview. Since I work as a night security in the residential hall, I can meet with a lot of international students from different countries and even some of my co-workers are international students. I know that one of my co-workers is from Sri Lanka and I’ve heard about the country when I was in high school. I have interests in this country and I want to know more about it so I decide to have my co-worker as my first interviewee. I told him that I was doing a interview for my English class to know more about the international students in our school and I chose Sri Lanka. After the first interview, he introduced another friends to me, who is a girl named Shanika. He helped me to ask Shanika if she can be my interviewee and gave me the ways I can connect with her. We talked through the telephone for several times and i told her my purpose of the interview then we diecide to meet with each other.
Before I went to the meeting, I did some research about Sri Lanka.Shanika and I discussed about the date and location for the interview through the telephone and we finally decided to meet at the coffee shop in the library on April the 10th which was a Saturday at 2 pm. I first introduced myself about where I come from and my major. We also talked about the weather, our classes and our plans for the coming summer break then I plan to start the interview. I told her that I would ask him some questions about his country and I need to record our interview. I asked her if she has problems with the recording and she said okay about it. Before I started to ask my questions, I checked my recorder to make sure it works well. Then, the interview began.
Shanika, an international student from Sri Lanka has a very similar family background as mine. She is the single child in her family and both of her parents are worl in the government. The whole family afford for her shcool. She was just come here the last semester and now is a freshman in our shcool. She feels that everything is new here and it is very different from Sri Lanka. She told me that it is a little difficult for her to get used to the cold wheather here when she first arrived because Sri Lanka is pretty warm and sometimes even hot. Shanika doesn't like the food here and she always cook by herself. She is so hard working and gets high grade in her classes. She said she wants to be outstanding and get more opportunities to gain the experience to maker herself a good resume. She wants to try her best to help her family to have a better life. She is trying to find a part time job on campus to pay for her tuition. I felt that she is like a good friend of mine and we had a very happy conversation at the beautiful afternoon.
I think I gained a good friend from this interview even though at the beginning it was a little embarrased because she is very shy and I'm also not a person good at communicate with strangers. For my three interviewees, they all have different personality and I also learned different things from them. Rajitha's helpful, Yoshan's braveness and Shanika's endeavor, these all gives me a good class of the life. To improve my communication skills is what I need to do the next and I'm so happy to have a new friend.
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka is an island country. It is in the South Asia and lies in the India Ocean. It is located to the Southeast of the bay of Bengal. It has 65610 square kilometers. Because it's near the equator, it is always summer on the island for the whole year. The average temperature there is 28 degree Celsius. The country is also known as "the pearl on the Indian Ocean", "the kingdom of gem" and "the lion kingdom" in the world.
In the late 6th century B.C., the first Sinhalese arrived in Sri Lanka. The Buddhism was introduced in at the Mid-third centuray B.C.. During the 200 B.C. to A.D.1000, civilization was developed in the Anuradhapura and during the 1070 to 1200, clivilization was developed in Polonnaruwa. In the 14th Centurey, Indians in the south built their Tamil Kindom but the coastal areas of the island were controlled by the Portuguese in the 16th Centuray and by the Dutch in the 17th Centuray. The island was ceded to the British in 1796 and became a crown colony in 1802. By 1815, it was united under the British rule. As Ceylon, it became independent in 1948 and its names changed to Sri Lanka in 1972. From 1983 to 2009, there was an on and off civil war against the government by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam which is short for LTTE. It is a separatist milllitant oganization who fought to an independent state and named Tamil Eelam in the north and wast of the island. Both of the Sri Lanka government and LTTE have been accused of various human rights violations. On may 19, 2009, the president of Sri Lanka officially claimed an end to the insurgency and the defeat of the LTTE.
The population of Sri Lanka is 21,324,791 and the growth rate is 0.904 percent by 2009. Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Moors, Indian Tamil and Sri Lanka Tamil are the main ethnic groups of the country. People in Sri Lanka also have so many religions such as Buddhist, Islam, Hindu, Christian and so on. Sinhala is their official and national language. Tamil is also another national language of Sri Lanka. English is commonly used in government and is spoken competently by about ten percent of the population.
The government type of Sri Lanka is republic and divided into three parts which are executive branch, legislative branch and judicial branch. The executive branch is consisting of the chef of state, head of government, the cabinet, elections and election results. The legislative branch has elections and the election results. The Supreme Court is the main institution of the judicial branch.
Colombo is the captain of Sri Lanka and known as the "Oriental crossroads" since the Middle Ages. It is one of the most important business ports in the world and the world’s famous gemstone is flowing from here to the overseas. The average temperature is 28 degree. It has a population of 223.4 million (2001).
In Sri Lanka, it's traditional food was influenced by both the Westerns and Middle Easterns. Western influences customary diet are rice and curry, Kiribath, wattalampam which are made mainly by coconut milk. The Middle Eastern influences are found in the traditional Moor dishes such as, Lamprais, Breudher which is a Dutch Christmas cake and Bolo Fiado which is a Portuguese style layer cake.
Every April 13, Sinhala anad Tamil people celebrate Sinhala and Tamil New Year. Muslims celebrate the Ramadan for every year. Esala Perahera is the grand festival hold on July ot August in Kandy which is in the middle part of Sri Lanka. It is a Buddhist festival consists of dances and richly decorated elephants. It has already become a unique symbol of Sri Lanka. Fire dances, Whip dances and Kandian dances are the main dances in Sri Lanka. During the festival time, elephants are usually adorned with lavish garments and people have the shows of different dances. The festival ends up with the traditional Diva-Kepeema and the elephant is paraded around the city bearing the tooth of Buddha.
The tourism is a very famous industrial in Sri Lanka and more and more people are selecting Sri Lanka as their vacation paradise.
Reference
Sumit G. (2006). South Asia. New York : New York University Press. March 2010.
Introduction to Sri Lanka. Applied Language Solution.com. March 2010.
http://www.appliedlanguage.com/country_guides/sri_lanka_country_introduction.shtml
2010年4月7日星期三
MLA in-text Citations
Topic: Variations on the basic rules
Two or more works by the same author
Two or three authors
Four or more authors
Corporate author
Two or more works by the same author
Two or three authors
Four or more authors
Corporate author
2010年3月31日星期三
The Second Interview
Interview Report II
Report II
With the experience of the first interview, I did more preparation than the fist time. I cleared my objectives and reviewed my questions again. From the research of the first interview, I got to know more information about the country Sri Lankan. I want to know how do they feel after come here and what their lives in Sri Lanka are like in their point of view. What are the differences between the information from the Internet and their real experience. All my questions are related to my objectives. The next thing is to check the technology. At this time, I made an experiment before the interview. From the experiment, I figured out how high my volume should be. At last, the coffee shop in the library was still considered to be the right place for interview.
Since I work as a night security in the residential hall, I can meet with a lot of international students from different countries. Luckily, one of the community advisors Yoshan who always work on the same day as me is also from Sri Lanka. I asked him if he can be my interviewee during the time when we work together. I told him that I was doing a interview for my English class to know more about the international students in our school and I chose Sri Lanka. Yoshan promised to be my interviewee after my explanation.
I conducted my interview at the coffee shop in the library on March the 25th which was also a Thursday at 5 pm. We first talked about the weather, what we did during the spring break and asked him if he has already find an apartment then I plan to start the interview. I told him that I would ask him some questions about his country and his feelings about the United States and I also need to record our interview. I asked him if he has problems with the recording and he said okay about it. Before I started to ask my questions, I checked my recorder to make sure it works well. Then, the interview began.
Yoshan is an international student comes from Sri Lanka and he is now working as a community advisor(CA) in Benton Hall. He has been here for almost four years and has been a community advisor for three years. He told me that he is now so sick of being an CA even though that's part of his life experience and he wanted to move out of the campus. To be a CA, he has to deal with so many troubles made by his residents, sometimes he even need to be woken up late in the evening because there are students get drunk again. It was really a hard time when he first became a CA. "But that is part of the life, this job gives me a place to live and eating for free in the Garvey, that helps a lot", he said. In his family, there are three people. His mother and his younger brother are in Sri Lanka and his brother is in high school now. Because of his outstanding, his mother decided to sent him to the US and the government also paid half of the tuition for him. He is now major in the coumputer science and will graduate in two semesters. He plans to stay here for a while either to find a job or go to the graduate school. He wants to have more experience and find a good job in Sri Lanka that his mother can retire and have a good rest.
From this interview, I learned a lot from Yoshan. His braveness of facing the difficulties made think about myself. In fact, I had the chance to apply for an community advisor but I didn't, because there is so many troubls in the residential hall and CAs also need to contact with A lot people they don't know very well. Yoshan is right, that's part of our life. I need this experience to help me to overcome the difficulties.
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka is an island country. It is in the South Asia and lies in the India Ocean. It is located to the Southeast of the bay of Bengal. It has 65610 square kilometers. Because it's near the equator, it is always summer on the island for the whole year. The average temperature there is 28 degree Celsius. The country is also known as "the pearl on the Indian Ocean", "the kingdom of gem" and "the lion kingdom" in the world.
In the late 6th century B.C., the first Sinhalese arrived in Sri Lanka. The Buddhism was introduced in at the Mid-third centuray B.C.. During the 200 B.C. to A.D.1000, civilization was developed in the Anuradhapura and during the 1070 to 1200, clivilization was developed in Polonnaruwa. In the 14th Centurey, Indians in the south built their Tamil Kindom but the coastal areas of the island were controlled by the Portuguese in the 16th Centuray and by the Dutch in the 17th Centuray. The island was ceded to the British in 1796 and became a crown colony in 1802. By 1815, it was united under the British rule. As Ceylon, it became independent in 1948 and its names changed to Sri Lanka in 1972. From 1983 to 2009, there was an on and off civil war against the government by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam which is short for LTTE. It is a separatist milllitant oganization who fought to an independent state and named Tamil Eelam in the north and wast of the island. Both of the Sri Lanka government and LTTE have been accused of various human rights violations. On may 19, 2009, the president of Sri Lanka officially claimed an end to the insurgency and the defeat of the LTTE.
The population of Sri Lanka is 21,324,791 and the growth rate is 0.904 percent by 2009. Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Moors, Indian Tamil and Sri Lanka Tamil are the main ethnic groups of the country. People in Sri Lanka also have so many religions such as Buddhist, Islam, Hindu, Christian and so on. Sinhala is their official and national language. Tamil is also another national language of Sri Lanka. English is commonly used in government and is spoken competently by about ten percent of the population.
The government type of Sri Lanka is republic and divided into three parts which are executive branch, legislative branch and judicial branch. The executive branch is consisting of the chef of state, head of government, the cabinet, elections and election results. The legislative branch has elections and the election results. The Supreme Court is the main institution of the judicial branch.
Colombo is the captain of Sri Lanka and known as the "Oriental crossroads" since the Middle Ages. It is one of the most important business ports in the world and the world’s famous gemstone is flowing from here to the overseas. The average temperature is 28 degree. It has a population of 223.4 million (2001).
In Sri Lanka, it's traditional food was influenced by both the Westerns and Middle Easterns. Western influences customary diet are rice and curry, Kiribath, wattalampam which are made mainly by coconut milk. The Middle Eastern influences are found in the traditional Moor dishes such as, Lamprais, Breudher which is a Dutch Christmas cake and Bolo Fiado which is a Portuguese style layer cake.
Every April 13, Sinhala anad Tamil people celebrate Sinhala and Tamil New Year. Muslims celebrate the Ramadan for every year. Esala Perahera is the grand festival hold on July ot August in Kandy which is in the middle part of Sri Lanka. It is a Buddhist festival consists of dances and richly decorated elephants. It has already become a unique symbol of Sri Lanka. Fire dances, Whip dances and Kandian dances are the main dances in Sri Lanka. During the festival time, elephants are usually adorned with lavish garments and people have the shows of different dances. The festival ends up with the traditional Diva-Kepeema and the elephant is paraded around the city bearing the tooth of Buddha.
The tourism is a very famous industrial in Sri Lanka and more and more people are selecting Sri Lanka as their vacation paradise.
Reference
Sumit G. (2006). South Asia. New York : New York University Press. March 2010.
Introduction to Sri Lanka. Applied Language Solution.com. March 2010.http://www.appliedlanguage.com/country_guides/sri_lanka_country_introduction.shtml
Interview Transcript II
Engl191 Section 22
Ziyi Feng
Yoshan from Sri Lanka
03/25/10
F: Where do you come from and what's your native language?
Y: I'm from Sri Lanka and my native language are Sinhala and Tamil, but I also speak English.
F: Cool, so do you have any problems with speaking English when you first arrive in the US?
Y: Actually we don't have big problems for understanding but you know my country was the colony of British, so there are still a lot differences.
F: Yes, I can understand. So what is the imagine of the US in your home country? What do you think now?
Y: Before I came here, I have heard about the US a lot and I also did some research from the Internet. but St.Cloud is smaller and colder than I thought. It's like a small town in my home country.
F: Yes, i have the same feeling when I just arrived. Do you like the weather here, compared to Sri Lanka?
Y: To tell the truth, no. I like summer more than winter but the winter here is much longer than summer, I can't do sports outside or hang out with my friends. In the winter, I'm so lazy to move.
F: haha,me too. What’s your daily life like in your home country? How is it different from your life here?
Y:When I was at home, we can have a lot of fun after class or work. I don't need to worry about my study and tuition. But at here, I need to work everyday and I also need to keep my GPA in a required level or I'll lose my job. I'm so busy sometimes especially when the exams comes. But sometimes it's so boring that I don't know what to do during the breaks.
F:yep yep.What is the most different thing here comparing to your own country?
Y: First, the culture is really different, people have different ways to thinking to spend their time and make plans for their life. people don't have many stresses here except for the exams,haha. We also have different types of food, in Sri Lanka, we like rice and curry every much.
F: I have heard about that some of the food in Sri Lanka was influenced by both western and eastern cultures. Did you find any similar things here?
Y: Yes, that's true. but I did not really find any similar habits here.
F:What type of government does your country have? How is it different from the US government?
Y: yes, it's pretty different from the American government. The president is the biggest and then the ministers and vice-ministers.
F: what about the cilvil war?
Y: Yes, we have civil war in our country, it was because of the two different organizations they have different opinions about the politics and it was ended last year.
F: Okay. Why did you choose MN for schooling, why St.Cloud? What makes you to come to the US?
Y: I don't have many chance to make the choice for which country to go you know, because the government paid part of my tuition. But I choosed St.Cloud because it's really cheap here.
F: yep. Do you have any difficulties to adapt to a professor with a different accent?
Y: At first, it's really hard for me to catch the different accents. but after a while when i get used to it , I can understand better. but for me i prefer the professors with no accent better, that makes me feel relax in the class.
F: What is the greatest influence the US has had on you? What affects you the most?
Y: I became more independent after i come here. I get a job and earn money by my self. you know i'm a CA, so i work to pay for my living place and eating in the garvey. to be a CA is really a important experience in my life i think. cause there are so many troubles in the residential hall and i have to help them solve the problems . especially the freshmen, they always have parties in their rooms and sometimes even drank and pass out in the bathroom. I was woken up in the midnight and to deal with this. what's worse is I have a exam at 8 o'clock in the morning.
F: Wow, that's really sucks. how long have u been a CA, have u thought about to quit?
Y: i 've been a CA for three years. I had thought about to quite, but then i have no money to pay for the rent. That's the life, you need the experience to make you stronger, right?
F: Yes, That's true. What’s your major? Why do you choose it? Does it provides you more chances to find a good job?
Y: My major is computer science. I like to deal with the computer very much and I had a interest in it when i was in high school. i want to have a good job no matter here or in Sri Lanka. i want to give my mother and my brother a better life. My mother is so tired to work for our tuition. i want her to retire and enjoy her life now.
F: What do you plan to do, where do you want to go after graduate? Stay here or go home?
Y: Well, it depends. if i can get a job after i graduate, i'll stay here for a while or maybe I'll go to the graduate shcool. but I'll go back to Sri Lanka at last.
F: yes, I agree with you, that's a good choice. If you get a chance to introduce your country, what do you want the others to know the most?
Y: It's really hard to say just one thing, but our food and the beautiful place worth to go to Sri Lanka.
F: What about the traditional festivals, is the Esala Perahera, sorry, i don't know if i'm right. Is that a special holiday in Sri Lanka?
Y: yes, you are right. It's a very big event. at that day. we'll have to elephants decorated with beautiful garments and people have different types of dance on the street. it's a buddhist festival.
F: i see, do you have any religions? are you a Buddhism?
Y: yes, I am.
F: Cool, thanks for today. Thanks for taking the interview.
Y: yep, with pleasure.
Report II
With the experience of the first interview, I did more preparation than the fist time. I cleared my objectives and reviewed my questions again. From the research of the first interview, I got to know more information about the country Sri Lankan. I want to know how do they feel after come here and what their lives in Sri Lanka are like in their point of view. What are the differences between the information from the Internet and their real experience. All my questions are related to my objectives. The next thing is to check the technology. At this time, I made an experiment before the interview. From the experiment, I figured out how high my volume should be. At last, the coffee shop in the library was still considered to be the right place for interview.
Since I work as a night security in the residential hall, I can meet with a lot of international students from different countries. Luckily, one of the community advisors Yoshan who always work on the same day as me is also from Sri Lanka. I asked him if he can be my interviewee during the time when we work together. I told him that I was doing a interview for my English class to know more about the international students in our school and I chose Sri Lanka. Yoshan promised to be my interviewee after my explanation.
I conducted my interview at the coffee shop in the library on March the 25th which was also a Thursday at 5 pm. We first talked about the weather, what we did during the spring break and asked him if he has already find an apartment then I plan to start the interview. I told him that I would ask him some questions about his country and his feelings about the United States and I also need to record our interview. I asked him if he has problems with the recording and he said okay about it. Before I started to ask my questions, I checked my recorder to make sure it works well. Then, the interview began.
Yoshan is an international student comes from Sri Lanka and he is now working as a community advisor(CA) in Benton Hall. He has been here for almost four years and has been a community advisor for three years. He told me that he is now so sick of being an CA even though that's part of his life experience and he wanted to move out of the campus. To be a CA, he has to deal with so many troubles made by his residents, sometimes he even need to be woken up late in the evening because there are students get drunk again. It was really a hard time when he first became a CA. "But that is part of the life, this job gives me a place to live and eating for free in the Garvey, that helps a lot", he said. In his family, there are three people. His mother and his younger brother are in Sri Lanka and his brother is in high school now. Because of his outstanding, his mother decided to sent him to the US and the government also paid half of the tuition for him. He is now major in the coumputer science and will graduate in two semesters. He plans to stay here for a while either to find a job or go to the graduate school. He wants to have more experience and find a good job in Sri Lanka that his mother can retire and have a good rest.
From this interview, I learned a lot from Yoshan. His braveness of facing the difficulties made think about myself. In fact, I had the chance to apply for an community advisor but I didn't, because there is so many troubls in the residential hall and CAs also need to contact with A lot people they don't know very well. Yoshan is right, that's part of our life. I need this experience to help me to overcome the difficulties.
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka is an island country. It is in the South Asia and lies in the India Ocean. It is located to the Southeast of the bay of Bengal. It has 65610 square kilometers. Because it's near the equator, it is always summer on the island for the whole year. The average temperature there is 28 degree Celsius. The country is also known as "the pearl on the Indian Ocean", "the kingdom of gem" and "the lion kingdom" in the world.
In the late 6th century B.C., the first Sinhalese arrived in Sri Lanka. The Buddhism was introduced in at the Mid-third centuray B.C.. During the 200 B.C. to A.D.1000, civilization was developed in the Anuradhapura and during the 1070 to 1200, clivilization was developed in Polonnaruwa. In the 14th Centurey, Indians in the south built their Tamil Kindom but the coastal areas of the island were controlled by the Portuguese in the 16th Centuray and by the Dutch in the 17th Centuray. The island was ceded to the British in 1796 and became a crown colony in 1802. By 1815, it was united under the British rule. As Ceylon, it became independent in 1948 and its names changed to Sri Lanka in 1972. From 1983 to 2009, there was an on and off civil war against the government by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam which is short for LTTE. It is a separatist milllitant oganization who fought to an independent state and named Tamil Eelam in the north and wast of the island. Both of the Sri Lanka government and LTTE have been accused of various human rights violations. On may 19, 2009, the president of Sri Lanka officially claimed an end to the insurgency and the defeat of the LTTE.
The population of Sri Lanka is 21,324,791 and the growth rate is 0.904 percent by 2009. Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Moors, Indian Tamil and Sri Lanka Tamil are the main ethnic groups of the country. People in Sri Lanka also have so many religions such as Buddhist, Islam, Hindu, Christian and so on. Sinhala is their official and national language. Tamil is also another national language of Sri Lanka. English is commonly used in government and is spoken competently by about ten percent of the population.
The government type of Sri Lanka is republic and divided into three parts which are executive branch, legislative branch and judicial branch. The executive branch is consisting of the chef of state, head of government, the cabinet, elections and election results. The legislative branch has elections and the election results. The Supreme Court is the main institution of the judicial branch.
Colombo is the captain of Sri Lanka and known as the "Oriental crossroads" since the Middle Ages. It is one of the most important business ports in the world and the world’s famous gemstone is flowing from here to the overseas. The average temperature is 28 degree. It has a population of 223.4 million (2001).
In Sri Lanka, it's traditional food was influenced by both the Westerns and Middle Easterns. Western influences customary diet are rice and curry, Kiribath, wattalampam which are made mainly by coconut milk. The Middle Eastern influences are found in the traditional Moor dishes such as, Lamprais, Breudher which is a Dutch Christmas cake and Bolo Fiado which is a Portuguese style layer cake.
Every April 13, Sinhala anad Tamil people celebrate Sinhala and Tamil New Year. Muslims celebrate the Ramadan for every year. Esala Perahera is the grand festival hold on July ot August in Kandy which is in the middle part of Sri Lanka. It is a Buddhist festival consists of dances and richly decorated elephants. It has already become a unique symbol of Sri Lanka. Fire dances, Whip dances and Kandian dances are the main dances in Sri Lanka. During the festival time, elephants are usually adorned with lavish garments and people have the shows of different dances. The festival ends up with the traditional Diva-Kepeema and the elephant is paraded around the city bearing the tooth of Buddha.
The tourism is a very famous industrial in Sri Lanka and more and more people are selecting Sri Lanka as their vacation paradise.
Reference
Sumit G. (2006). South Asia. New York : New York University Press. March 2010.
Introduction to Sri Lanka. Applied Language Solution.com. March 2010.http://www.appliedlanguage.com/country_guides/sri_lanka_country_introduction.shtml
Interview Transcript II
Engl191 Section 22
Ziyi Feng
Yoshan from Sri Lanka
03/25/10
F: Where do you come from and what's your native language?
Y: I'm from Sri Lanka and my native language are Sinhala and Tamil, but I also speak English.
F: Cool, so do you have any problems with speaking English when you first arrive in the US?
Y: Actually we don't have big problems for understanding but you know my country was the colony of British, so there are still a lot differences.
F: Yes, I can understand. So what is the imagine of the US in your home country? What do you think now?
Y: Before I came here, I have heard about the US a lot and I also did some research from the Internet. but St.Cloud is smaller and colder than I thought. It's like a small town in my home country.
F: Yes, i have the same feeling when I just arrived. Do you like the weather here, compared to Sri Lanka?
Y: To tell the truth, no. I like summer more than winter but the winter here is much longer than summer, I can't do sports outside or hang out with my friends. In the winter, I'm so lazy to move.
F: haha,me too. What’s your daily life like in your home country? How is it different from your life here?
Y:When I was at home, we can have a lot of fun after class or work. I don't need to worry about my study and tuition. But at here, I need to work everyday and I also need to keep my GPA in a required level or I'll lose my job. I'm so busy sometimes especially when the exams comes. But sometimes it's so boring that I don't know what to do during the breaks.
F:yep yep.What is the most different thing here comparing to your own country?
Y: First, the culture is really different, people have different ways to thinking to spend their time and make plans for their life. people don't have many stresses here except for the exams,haha. We also have different types of food, in Sri Lanka, we like rice and curry every much.
F: I have heard about that some of the food in Sri Lanka was influenced by both western and eastern cultures. Did you find any similar things here?
Y: Yes, that's true. but I did not really find any similar habits here.
F:What type of government does your country have? How is it different from the US government?
Y: yes, it's pretty different from the American government. The president is the biggest and then the ministers and vice-ministers.
F: what about the cilvil war?
Y: Yes, we have civil war in our country, it was because of the two different organizations they have different opinions about the politics and it was ended last year.
F: Okay. Why did you choose MN for schooling, why St.Cloud? What makes you to come to the US?
Y: I don't have many chance to make the choice for which country to go you know, because the government paid part of my tuition. But I choosed St.Cloud because it's really cheap here.
F: yep. Do you have any difficulties to adapt to a professor with a different accent?
Y: At first, it's really hard for me to catch the different accents. but after a while when i get used to it , I can understand better. but for me i prefer the professors with no accent better, that makes me feel relax in the class.
F: What is the greatest influence the US has had on you? What affects you the most?
Y: I became more independent after i come here. I get a job and earn money by my self. you know i'm a CA, so i work to pay for my living place and eating in the garvey. to be a CA is really a important experience in my life i think. cause there are so many troubles in the residential hall and i have to help them solve the problems . especially the freshmen, they always have parties in their rooms and sometimes even drank and pass out in the bathroom. I was woken up in the midnight and to deal with this. what's worse is I have a exam at 8 o'clock in the morning.
F: Wow, that's really sucks. how long have u been a CA, have u thought about to quit?
Y: i 've been a CA for three years. I had thought about to quite, but then i have no money to pay for the rent. That's the life, you need the experience to make you stronger, right?
F: Yes, That's true. What’s your major? Why do you choose it? Does it provides you more chances to find a good job?
Y: My major is computer science. I like to deal with the computer very much and I had a interest in it when i was in high school. i want to have a good job no matter here or in Sri Lanka. i want to give my mother and my brother a better life. My mother is so tired to work for our tuition. i want her to retire and enjoy her life now.
F: What do you plan to do, where do you want to go after graduate? Stay here or go home?
Y: Well, it depends. if i can get a job after i graduate, i'll stay here for a while or maybe I'll go to the graduate shcool. but I'll go back to Sri Lanka at last.
F: yes, I agree with you, that's a good choice. If you get a chance to introduce your country, what do you want the others to know the most?
Y: It's really hard to say just one thing, but our food and the beautiful place worth to go to Sri Lanka.
F: What about the traditional festivals, is the Esala Perahera, sorry, i don't know if i'm right. Is that a special holiday in Sri Lanka?
Y: yes, you are right. It's a very big event. at that day. we'll have to elephants decorated with beautiful garments and people have different types of dance on the street. it's a buddhist festival.
F: i see, do you have any religions? are you a Buddhism?
Y: yes, I am.
F: Cool, thanks for today. Thanks for taking the interview.
Y: yep, with pleasure.
2010年3月24日星期三
Reaction on the Presentations
I have learned a lot from today's presentations. It’s really interesting to learn the cultures of other countries. The pictures and videos in the power point caught my attention a lot. They gave me a clear image of how and what the country exactly looks like. It was really good to see the student from Saudi Arabia to bring and show their traditional dress. He introduced what the clothes are made of and even how to wear them. Some other students gave their presentations in different views. They either made a compare of two different countries or talked about the special cultures that mentioned by their interviewee. These new ways of thinking caught my attention and helped me not get too bored by the same content.
Even though most people did a good job of their presentation, there were still some problems I want to mention. Some students talked in a low voice with a slow pace which made me hard to concentrate. In my opinion, it was also better to stand out and talk loudly than hide beside the computer. Some of the power points included a lot of information and people just read through. It was hard to see and figure out where they are.
Overall, today’s class gives me a good chance to know the places that I have never been there before. Hope I can get a chance to go someday.
Even though most people did a good job of their presentation, there were still some problems I want to mention. Some students talked in a low voice with a slow pace which made me hard to concentrate. In my opinion, it was also better to stand out and talk loudly than hide beside the computer. Some of the power points included a lot of information and people just read through. It was hard to see and figure out where they are.
Overall, today’s class gives me a good chance to know the places that I have never been there before. Hope I can get a chance to go someday.
2010年3月17日星期三
The First Interview
The First Interview
Report of the First Interview
Before I start my interview, I did some preparation. First of all, I have to clear my objectives. I’m curious that if the other international students have the same feeling as mine. I want to know about what the other international students' ways of thinking and how their culture does affects them. I also want to know the reasons make them come to the US, how do their lives change and what are their plans for the future. After I make sure what I want to know from the interview, I start to choose the questions, I used some of the questions that we came up with in the class and combined them with my own questions. All my questions are related to my objectives. What was the next to be considered is the technology. I checked my recorder which haven’t been used for a long time and tried to find a quiet place for my interview. At last, I chose the coffee shop in the library.
After the preparations, I need to think about which students I would like to interview. Since I work as a night security in the residential hall, I can meet with a lot of international students from different countries and even some of my co-workers are international students. I know that one of my co-workers is from Sri Lanka and I’ve heard about the country when I was in high school. I have interests in this country and I want to know more about it so I decide to have my co-worker Rajitha as my interviewee. I told him that I was doing a interview for my English class to know more about the international students in our school and I chose Sri Lanka. Rajitha is really helpful and he also introduced two of him friends to be my other interviewees. Before I went to the meeting, I did some research about Sri Lanka.
We discussed about the date and location for the interview during our work and we finally decided to meet at the coffee shop in the library on March the 11th which was a Thursday at 5 pm. We first talked about the weather, our classes and our plans for the coming spring break then I plan to start the interview. I told him that I would ask him some questions about his country and I need to record our interview. I asked him if he has problems with the recording and he said okay about it. Before I started to ask my questions, I checked my recorder to make sure it works well. Then, the interview began.
Rajitha, as I mentioned before is my co-worker who comes from Sri Lanka. He has been to St.Cloud for three more years since he was nineteen. He is now twenty two and is a junior student of the marketing major and also the information system minor. He has a sister who lives with the other family members in Sri Lanka. During the three years, he had only been back home once. He likes the education system here so he comes to the United States. He had applied for some other schools, but here has his courses and the tuition is cheaper, he made the decision to come to the St.Cloud State University. He plans to stay here for a while after his graduation. He want to find a job here to have some working experience then he would like to go back to his own country. Actually he wants to take the MBA degree very much, but that should depends on if he have enough money for it. Rajitha is very hard working and he does well on his studies. Also, he is a very helpful person. Because I just start to do the work this semester, I don’t know it very well and I have a lot to learn. He teaches me a lot during the work and gives me so many useful suggestions on my study. He really helps me a lot.
From the first interview, I really learned a lot. I need to put the recorder much closer to the interviewee and we need to talk louder. During the interview, I need to develop more details about the factor that the interviewee provide and make the interview have more fun. To keep relax is very important, that helps the interviewee to come up with more ideas. I get to know more about my co-worker from the interview. I know how others are thinking and a different culture. Overall, I think I have to improve my interview skills for the next time. More and deeper information are needed to be discovered.
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka is an island country. It is in the South Asia and lies in the India Ocean. It is located to the Southeast of the bay of Bengal. It has 65610 square kilometers. Because it's near the equator, it is always summer on the island for the whole year. The average temperature there is 28 degree Celsius. The country is also known as "the pearl on the Indian Ocean", "the kingdom of gem" and "the lion kingdom" in the world.
In the late 6th century B.C., the first Sinhalese arrived in Sri Lanka. The Buddhism was introduced in at the Mid-third centuray B.C.. During the 200 B.C. to A.D.1000, civilization was developed in the Anuradhapura and during the 1070 to 1200, clivilization was developed in Polonnaruwa. In the 14th Centurey, Indians in the south built their Tamil Kindom but the coastal areas of the island were controlled by the Portuguese in the 16th Centuray and by the Dutch in the 17th Centuray. The island was ceded to the British in 1796 and became a crown colony in 1802. By 1815, it was united under the British rule. As Ceylon, it became independent in 1948 and its names changed to Sri Lanka in 1972. From 1983 to 2009, there was an on and off civil war against the government by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam which is short for LTTE. It is a separatist milllitant oganization who fought to an independent state and named Tamil Eelam in the north and wast of the island. Both of the Sri Lanka government and LTTE have been accused of various human rights violations. On may 19, 2009, the president of Sri Lanka officially claimed an end to the insurgency and the defeat of the LTTE.
The population of Sri Lanka is 21,324,791 and the growth rate is 0.904 percent by 2009. Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Moors, Indian Tamil and Sri Lanka Tamil are the main ethnic groups of the country. People in Sri Lanka also have so many religions such as Buddhist, Islam, Hindu, Christian and so on. Sinhala is their official and national language. Tamil is also another national language of Sri Lanka. English is commonly used in government and is spoken competently by about ten percent of the population.
The government type of Sri Lanka is republic and divided into three parts which are executive branch, legislative branch and judicial branch. The executive branch is consisting of the chef of state, head of government, the cabinet, elections and election results. The legislative branch has elections and the election results. The Supreme Court is the main institution of the judicial branch.
Colombo is the captain of Sri Lanka and known as the "Oriental crossroads" since the Middle Ages. It is one of the most important business ports in the world and the world’s famous gemstone is flowing from here to the overseas. The average temperature is 28 degree. It has a population of 223.4 million (2001).
In Sri Lanka, it's traditional food was influenced by both the Westerns and Middle Easterns. Western influences customary diet are rice and curry, Kiribath, wattalampam which are made mainly by coconut milk. The Middle Eastern influences are found in the traditional Moor dishes such as, Lamprais, Breudher which is a Dutch Christmas cake and Bolo Fiado which is a Portuguese style layer cake.
Every April 13, Sinhala anad Tamil people celebrate Sinhala and Tamil New Year. Muslims celebrate the Ramadan for every year. Esala Perahera is the grand festival hold on July ot August in Kandy which is in the middle part of Sri Lanka. It is a Buddhist festival consists of dances and richly decorated elephants. It has already become a unique symbol of Sri Lanka. Fire dances, Whip dances and Kandian dances are the main dances in Sri Lanka. During the festival time, elephants are usually adorned with lavish garments and people have the shows of different dances. The festival ends up with the traditional Diva-Kepeema and the elephant is paraded around the city bearing the tooth of Buddha.
The tourism is a very famous industrial in Sri Lanka and more and more people are selecting Sri Lanka as their vacation paradise.
Reference
Sumit G. (2006). South Asia. New York : New York University Press. March 2010.
Introduction to Sri Lanka. Applied Language Solution.com. March 2010.http://www.appliedlanguage.com/country_guides/sri_lanka_country_introduction.shtml
Interview Transcript
Engl191 Section 22
Ziyi Feng
Rajitha from Sri Lanka
03/11/10
Ziyi: Where are you come from and what is your native language?
Rajitha: I’m from Sri Lanka and my native language is English.
Ziyi: Do you speak any other languages in Sri Lanka?
Rajitha: Sinhala and Tamil are also our official language but most people in Sri Lanka can speak English. We use English more often.
Ziyi: Okay. So what is the imagine of the US in your home country? What do you think now?
Rajitha: um, I think it’s much different, but, compare to the other places in the US, I think this place, I mean St.Cloud, is kind of laid back. Because here is not much people and stuff.
Ziyi: um, I mean what do you think about the America would be like when you were in Sri Lanka?
Rajitha: It’s pretty much the same, but I have expected some more actually. I mean the US is almost the same as I thought before, but St. Cloud is a little bit laid back than I think.
Ziyi: Yeah, That was what I think. What about the weather, have you ever thought about the weather before, cause I know Sri Lanka is pretty warm sometimes even hot, right?
Rajitha: Yes, the weather is the thing I don’t like the most, it’s too cold here, I took a long time to get used to when I first came.
Ziyi: What’s your daily life like in your home country? How is it different from your life here?
Rajitha: Here is like so busy. I go to school and then go to work. Time just flies away. I just working and Working and I don’t even realize that time has already past. But when I was in my country, I just go to school then go back home and do my homework. After all of this, I still have a lot of time. The time just goes fast here, that’s how I feel.
Ziyi: So that means you can have a lot of time to relax, to have fun with your friends. Life is boring here right?
Rajitha: Yes.
Ziyi: What is the most different thing here comparing to your own country? I mean the culture, the food ect.
Rajitha: the differences are very obvious. There are a lot different things. The culture is different and they always have a lot of deadlines, people just keep working and working.
Ziyi: What type of government does your country have? How is it different from the US government?
Rajitha: yeah, my country has a different system and the government type is republic. The president is the biggest and then the ministers and vice-ministers. It’s the opposite from here. Here has the senate first and then the president.
Ziyi: Why did you choose MN for schooling, why St.Cloud? What makes you to come to the US?
Rajitha: The first is, I like the education system here in the US compared to the other countries like the United Kingdom and Australia, they kind of have the same system. So it’s similar to my country cause my country was a British colony, so they pretty much follow the same thing. But here is much different, so that’s why I choose here, I like here more. Then talk about st.cloud, I have applied several schools and I found my courses that I want to do here and the tuition is cheap compared to the New York city.
Ziyi: Have you ever thought about Canada?
Rajitha: Canada is also similar to the UK system, too. I have considered about Canada, but I still like here more. I really like the country for some reason I don’t know.
Ziyi: Okay. I can understand.
Ziyi: During class how do you adapt to a professor with a different accent?
Rajitha: You mean get adapt to the professor’s accent here?
Ziyi: Yes.
Rajitha: Well, it’s kind of natural. I mean the first couple days, we usually have some difficulties to understand. But then I get used to it so I can catch up with what the professor is talking about. I have been taking so many classes with Indian professors, Chinese professors and some other international professors. I don’t have lot problems with them, even though some of them really have a little bit accents. But then I get used to it.
Ziyi: Yep. I have the same experience. So do you have some professors you prefer more?
Rajitha: No, they are kind of the same. If he is a really good professor, I don’t really care about where he or she comes from.
Ziyi: What is the greatest influence the US has had on you? What affects you the most?
Rajitha: For what?
Ziyi: For everything on your life.
Rajitha: To compare?
Ziyi: No, such as study, your way to think, your plan about your career, or even the changes of your daily life.
Rajitha: um..
Ziyi: Does it change what you wan? your views about the other things? For example, does the American culture changed yours? Do you prefer to live a way more American or still the same as before?
Rajitha: I’m kind like to work towards my goals, the deadlines. I get used to live with a rush life.
Ziyi: What’s your major? Why do you choose it? Does it provides you more chances to find a good job?
Rajitha: I select marketing as my major. I like it and want to do it, and I also choose the information system to be my minor. I guess I’ll get a good job with the combination of both.
Ziyi: Either for here or Sri Lanka?
Rajitha: Yes, I think so.
Ziyi: What do you plan to do, where do you want to go after graduate? Stay here or go home?
Rajitha: Well, I’m going to stay here for a little bit and trying to find a job. if I get the chance to work here I’ll probably be here for one and half years, maybe two years. Just to get the work experience. Then I might go back to Sri Lanka. But I really want to get my MBA here, so may be I’ll work for a while and start my MBA degree.
Ziyi: Yeah, almost all the international students they all think the same. At last, what I want to know is if you get a chance to introduce your country, what do you want the others to know the most?
Rajitha: Well, it’s hard to only choose one thing to introduce, I like so many things in my country and I don’t know which is the best one to present.
Ziyi: What about your culture, the beautiful things there?
Rajitha: oh, okay, what about my country in general right?
Ziyi: yes, what do you want the others to know the most?
Rajitha: oh, there’s a lot of beautiful place and the history of the place. Also the beaches are a proud thing of the country.
Ziyi: yes, I know Sri Lanka is a really beautiful country and the tourism is very famous, so many people go for vacation there.
Rajitha: Yes, That’s right.
Ziyi: Do you have any religion?
Rajitha: Yes, the major one is the Buddhism and also the Christian and so many other religions. I’m the Buddhism.
Ziyi: Okay, I see. Thanks for being interviewed that helps me to get closer to my objectives. Now I know how the other international students’ life is like. I really appreciate your help.
Rajiatha: You’re very welcome.
Report of the First Interview
Before I start my interview, I did some preparation. First of all, I have to clear my objectives. I’m curious that if the other international students have the same feeling as mine. I want to know about what the other international students' ways of thinking and how their culture does affects them. I also want to know the reasons make them come to the US, how do their lives change and what are their plans for the future. After I make sure what I want to know from the interview, I start to choose the questions, I used some of the questions that we came up with in the class and combined them with my own questions. All my questions are related to my objectives. What was the next to be considered is the technology. I checked my recorder which haven’t been used for a long time and tried to find a quiet place for my interview. At last, I chose the coffee shop in the library.
After the preparations, I need to think about which students I would like to interview. Since I work as a night security in the residential hall, I can meet with a lot of international students from different countries and even some of my co-workers are international students. I know that one of my co-workers is from Sri Lanka and I’ve heard about the country when I was in high school. I have interests in this country and I want to know more about it so I decide to have my co-worker Rajitha as my interviewee. I told him that I was doing a interview for my English class to know more about the international students in our school and I chose Sri Lanka. Rajitha is really helpful and he also introduced two of him friends to be my other interviewees. Before I went to the meeting, I did some research about Sri Lanka.
We discussed about the date and location for the interview during our work and we finally decided to meet at the coffee shop in the library on March the 11th which was a Thursday at 5 pm. We first talked about the weather, our classes and our plans for the coming spring break then I plan to start the interview. I told him that I would ask him some questions about his country and I need to record our interview. I asked him if he has problems with the recording and he said okay about it. Before I started to ask my questions, I checked my recorder to make sure it works well. Then, the interview began.
Rajitha, as I mentioned before is my co-worker who comes from Sri Lanka. He has been to St.Cloud for three more years since he was nineteen. He is now twenty two and is a junior student of the marketing major and also the information system minor. He has a sister who lives with the other family members in Sri Lanka. During the three years, he had only been back home once. He likes the education system here so he comes to the United States. He had applied for some other schools, but here has his courses and the tuition is cheaper, he made the decision to come to the St.Cloud State University. He plans to stay here for a while after his graduation. He want to find a job here to have some working experience then he would like to go back to his own country. Actually he wants to take the MBA degree very much, but that should depends on if he have enough money for it. Rajitha is very hard working and he does well on his studies. Also, he is a very helpful person. Because I just start to do the work this semester, I don’t know it very well and I have a lot to learn. He teaches me a lot during the work and gives me so many useful suggestions on my study. He really helps me a lot.
From the first interview, I really learned a lot. I need to put the recorder much closer to the interviewee and we need to talk louder. During the interview, I need to develop more details about the factor that the interviewee provide and make the interview have more fun. To keep relax is very important, that helps the interviewee to come up with more ideas. I get to know more about my co-worker from the interview. I know how others are thinking and a different culture. Overall, I think I have to improve my interview skills for the next time. More and deeper information are needed to be discovered.
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka is an island country. It is in the South Asia and lies in the India Ocean. It is located to the Southeast of the bay of Bengal. It has 65610 square kilometers. Because it's near the equator, it is always summer on the island for the whole year. The average temperature there is 28 degree Celsius. The country is also known as "the pearl on the Indian Ocean", "the kingdom of gem" and "the lion kingdom" in the world.
In the late 6th century B.C., the first Sinhalese arrived in Sri Lanka. The Buddhism was introduced in at the Mid-third centuray B.C.. During the 200 B.C. to A.D.1000, civilization was developed in the Anuradhapura and during the 1070 to 1200, clivilization was developed in Polonnaruwa. In the 14th Centurey, Indians in the south built their Tamil Kindom but the coastal areas of the island were controlled by the Portuguese in the 16th Centuray and by the Dutch in the 17th Centuray. The island was ceded to the British in 1796 and became a crown colony in 1802. By 1815, it was united under the British rule. As Ceylon, it became independent in 1948 and its names changed to Sri Lanka in 1972. From 1983 to 2009, there was an on and off civil war against the government by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam which is short for LTTE. It is a separatist milllitant oganization who fought to an independent state and named Tamil Eelam in the north and wast of the island. Both of the Sri Lanka government and LTTE have been accused of various human rights violations. On may 19, 2009, the president of Sri Lanka officially claimed an end to the insurgency and the defeat of the LTTE.
The population of Sri Lanka is 21,324,791 and the growth rate is 0.904 percent by 2009. Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Moors, Indian Tamil and Sri Lanka Tamil are the main ethnic groups of the country. People in Sri Lanka also have so many religions such as Buddhist, Islam, Hindu, Christian and so on. Sinhala is their official and national language. Tamil is also another national language of Sri Lanka. English is commonly used in government and is spoken competently by about ten percent of the population.
The government type of Sri Lanka is republic and divided into three parts which are executive branch, legislative branch and judicial branch. The executive branch is consisting of the chef of state, head of government, the cabinet, elections and election results. The legislative branch has elections and the election results. The Supreme Court is the main institution of the judicial branch.
Colombo is the captain of Sri Lanka and known as the "Oriental crossroads" since the Middle Ages. It is one of the most important business ports in the world and the world’s famous gemstone is flowing from here to the overseas. The average temperature is 28 degree. It has a population of 223.4 million (2001).
In Sri Lanka, it's traditional food was influenced by both the Westerns and Middle Easterns. Western influences customary diet are rice and curry, Kiribath, wattalampam which are made mainly by coconut milk. The Middle Eastern influences are found in the traditional Moor dishes such as, Lamprais, Breudher which is a Dutch Christmas cake and Bolo Fiado which is a Portuguese style layer cake.
Every April 13, Sinhala anad Tamil people celebrate Sinhala and Tamil New Year. Muslims celebrate the Ramadan for every year. Esala Perahera is the grand festival hold on July ot August in Kandy which is in the middle part of Sri Lanka. It is a Buddhist festival consists of dances and richly decorated elephants. It has already become a unique symbol of Sri Lanka. Fire dances, Whip dances and Kandian dances are the main dances in Sri Lanka. During the festival time, elephants are usually adorned with lavish garments and people have the shows of different dances. The festival ends up with the traditional Diva-Kepeema and the elephant is paraded around the city bearing the tooth of Buddha.
The tourism is a very famous industrial in Sri Lanka and more and more people are selecting Sri Lanka as their vacation paradise.
Reference
Sumit G. (2006). South Asia. New York : New York University Press. March 2010.
Introduction to Sri Lanka. Applied Language Solution.com. March 2010.http://www.appliedlanguage.com/country_guides/sri_lanka_country_introduction.shtml
Interview Transcript
Engl191 Section 22
Ziyi Feng
Rajitha from Sri Lanka
03/11/10
Ziyi: Where are you come from and what is your native language?
Rajitha: I’m from Sri Lanka and my native language is English.
Ziyi: Do you speak any other languages in Sri Lanka?
Rajitha: Sinhala and Tamil are also our official language but most people in Sri Lanka can speak English. We use English more often.
Ziyi: Okay. So what is the imagine of the US in your home country? What do you think now?
Rajitha: um, I think it’s much different, but, compare to the other places in the US, I think this place, I mean St.Cloud, is kind of laid back. Because here is not much people and stuff.
Ziyi: um, I mean what do you think about the America would be like when you were in Sri Lanka?
Rajitha: It’s pretty much the same, but I have expected some more actually. I mean the US is almost the same as I thought before, but St. Cloud is a little bit laid back than I think.
Ziyi: Yeah, That was what I think. What about the weather, have you ever thought about the weather before, cause I know Sri Lanka is pretty warm sometimes even hot, right?
Rajitha: Yes, the weather is the thing I don’t like the most, it’s too cold here, I took a long time to get used to when I first came.
Ziyi: What’s your daily life like in your home country? How is it different from your life here?
Rajitha: Here is like so busy. I go to school and then go to work. Time just flies away. I just working and Working and I don’t even realize that time has already past. But when I was in my country, I just go to school then go back home and do my homework. After all of this, I still have a lot of time. The time just goes fast here, that’s how I feel.
Ziyi: So that means you can have a lot of time to relax, to have fun with your friends. Life is boring here right?
Rajitha: Yes.
Ziyi: What is the most different thing here comparing to your own country? I mean the culture, the food ect.
Rajitha: the differences are very obvious. There are a lot different things. The culture is different and they always have a lot of deadlines, people just keep working and working.
Ziyi: What type of government does your country have? How is it different from the US government?
Rajitha: yeah, my country has a different system and the government type is republic. The president is the biggest and then the ministers and vice-ministers. It’s the opposite from here. Here has the senate first and then the president.
Ziyi: Why did you choose MN for schooling, why St.Cloud? What makes you to come to the US?
Rajitha: The first is, I like the education system here in the US compared to the other countries like the United Kingdom and Australia, they kind of have the same system. So it’s similar to my country cause my country was a British colony, so they pretty much follow the same thing. But here is much different, so that’s why I choose here, I like here more. Then talk about st.cloud, I have applied several schools and I found my courses that I want to do here and the tuition is cheap compared to the New York city.
Ziyi: Have you ever thought about Canada?
Rajitha: Canada is also similar to the UK system, too. I have considered about Canada, but I still like here more. I really like the country for some reason I don’t know.
Ziyi: Okay. I can understand.
Ziyi: During class how do you adapt to a professor with a different accent?
Rajitha: You mean get adapt to the professor’s accent here?
Ziyi: Yes.
Rajitha: Well, it’s kind of natural. I mean the first couple days, we usually have some difficulties to understand. But then I get used to it so I can catch up with what the professor is talking about. I have been taking so many classes with Indian professors, Chinese professors and some other international professors. I don’t have lot problems with them, even though some of them really have a little bit accents. But then I get used to it.
Ziyi: Yep. I have the same experience. So do you have some professors you prefer more?
Rajitha: No, they are kind of the same. If he is a really good professor, I don’t really care about where he or she comes from.
Ziyi: What is the greatest influence the US has had on you? What affects you the most?
Rajitha: For what?
Ziyi: For everything on your life.
Rajitha: To compare?
Ziyi: No, such as study, your way to think, your plan about your career, or even the changes of your daily life.
Rajitha: um..
Ziyi: Does it change what you wan? your views about the other things? For example, does the American culture changed yours? Do you prefer to live a way more American or still the same as before?
Rajitha: I’m kind like to work towards my goals, the deadlines. I get used to live with a rush life.
Ziyi: What’s your major? Why do you choose it? Does it provides you more chances to find a good job?
Rajitha: I select marketing as my major. I like it and want to do it, and I also choose the information system to be my minor. I guess I’ll get a good job with the combination of both.
Ziyi: Either for here or Sri Lanka?
Rajitha: Yes, I think so.
Ziyi: What do you plan to do, where do you want to go after graduate? Stay here or go home?
Rajitha: Well, I’m going to stay here for a little bit and trying to find a job. if I get the chance to work here I’ll probably be here for one and half years, maybe two years. Just to get the work experience. Then I might go back to Sri Lanka. But I really want to get my MBA here, so may be I’ll work for a while and start my MBA degree.
Ziyi: Yeah, almost all the international students they all think the same. At last, what I want to know is if you get a chance to introduce your country, what do you want the others to know the most?
Rajitha: Well, it’s hard to only choose one thing to introduce, I like so many things in my country and I don’t know which is the best one to present.
Ziyi: What about your culture, the beautiful things there?
Rajitha: oh, okay, what about my country in general right?
Ziyi: yes, what do you want the others to know the most?
Rajitha: oh, there’s a lot of beautiful place and the history of the place. Also the beaches are a proud thing of the country.
Ziyi: yes, I know Sri Lanka is a really beautiful country and the tourism is very famous, so many people go for vacation there.
Rajitha: Yes, That’s right.
Ziyi: Do you have any religion?
Rajitha: Yes, the major one is the Buddhism and also the Christian and so many other religions. I’m the Buddhism.
Ziyi: Okay, I see. Thanks for being interviewed that helps me to get closer to my objectives. Now I know how the other international students’ life is like. I really appreciate your help.
Rajiatha: You’re very welcome.
2010年3月16日星期二
My Objectives for the Interviews
In my opinion, the interview is not only to ask people some questions, it's also a chance to know more about the people around you. My objectives are to know about what the other international students' ways of thinking and how does their culture affects them. I also want to know the reasons make them come to the US, how do their lives change and what are their plans for the future.
2010年2月24日星期三
Film Review of "Killing Fields"
The movie Killing Field is a remarkable and deeply affecting film which is based upon a true story of friendship, the horrors of war and survival. It is following the historical events surrounding the US evacuation from Vietnam in 1975. The film is directed by Roland Joffe and produced by David Puttnam. The original character of the story who is a Cambodian journalist was an actual survivor of the Cambodian holocaust. He was tortured and experienced the starvation and death of his real-life family during the actual historical events revisited in this film.
In the movie, Sydney Schanberg is a New York Times correspondent. In 1973, he goes to Cambodia to report the war which starts from Vietnam and then crosses it's boundary to it's neighbour country. Together with local representative Dith Pran, they are covering some of the tragedy and madness of the war. When the Americans forces to leave Cambodia, Dith Pran sends his family with them, but stays behind himself to help Sydney keep covering the event. As an American, Sydney won't have any trouble leaving the country, but the situation is different for Pran. As a local citizen, Pran can't leave without his passport and he is forced to remain. At the same time, the Khmer Rouge are moving in and then Pran's terrible life begins.
The movie can be divided into two part, the first is about the help, loyalty and friendship between the two protagonists: Pran and Sydney. In this part, Sydney diaplays more power and Pran seems to follow. At first, Pran is just a interpreter, a guide, he figure out the way to go the place where the explosion is happened for Sydney. Pran is just always follow behind Sydney and stands out whenever he needs help. They become friends very quickly and Pran saves the lives of the foreign correspondents from the knmer Rouge, but Sydney still in the leading position. At last, the foreign reporters tried make a passport for Pran to help him leave Combodia but they failed. Pran has to stay there and starts his "re-education" life.
In the second part, the roles changes. The moive just mentioned a little about Sydney and mainly describes the fugitive life of Pran. Pran keeps struggling and attemps to escape from his captors. The first time, he is caught back and almost died in the punishment. But he doesn't give up. The second time, he is succeed, and his horrifying walk through the skeletal remains of the brutal massacres in the Valley of Death. This makes his mind to escape much stronger and the muddy "killing fields" all present potent apocalyptic images on his journey to Thailand. The movie skips ahead to show Shanberg receiving a “Journalist of the Year” award in the US and Sydney argued with his friend in the restroom are formed a strong contrast.
I like this movie and I strongly recommond it. It's clear and I can easily get a lot information from it. From the movie, it mentioned me a lot about the histories I didn't pay attention before. When I saw the children in the Khmer Rouge kill people with indifferent eyes and the valley of death filled with skeletal, I felt appalled. A lot of people died and get hurt just because the US government set the wrong direction of the misile made me angry. Pran escapes succsesfully but he can't even save the person he wants to protect, the boy dies in front of him. Sydney get the "Journalist of the Year" award. It bases on the contribution of Pran,but Pran is under the control of Khmer Rouge. Lukily, Pran arrived the board of Thailand and he get together with Sydney again.
The moive obviously shows the global communication. The foreign reporters come to Combodia to cover the event. US's accidentally bombs Combodia. The war starts in the Vietnam extends to Combodia. These are all the facts of the global communication which are forms in different ways.
The movie is very objectively to describe the wrongdoings does by the government and reprodeuce the history. It can help us know more truth about the histories and how do people live in the war. The " Killing Fields" worths to see.
In the movie, Sydney Schanberg is a New York Times correspondent. In 1973, he goes to Cambodia to report the war which starts from Vietnam and then crosses it's boundary to it's neighbour country. Together with local representative Dith Pran, they are covering some of the tragedy and madness of the war. When the Americans forces to leave Cambodia, Dith Pran sends his family with them, but stays behind himself to help Sydney keep covering the event. As an American, Sydney won't have any trouble leaving the country, but the situation is different for Pran. As a local citizen, Pran can't leave without his passport and he is forced to remain. At the same time, the Khmer Rouge are moving in and then Pran's terrible life begins.
The movie can be divided into two part, the first is about the help, loyalty and friendship between the two protagonists: Pran and Sydney. In this part, Sydney diaplays more power and Pran seems to follow. At first, Pran is just a interpreter, a guide, he figure out the way to go the place where the explosion is happened for Sydney. Pran is just always follow behind Sydney and stands out whenever he needs help. They become friends very quickly and Pran saves the lives of the foreign correspondents from the knmer Rouge, but Sydney still in the leading position. At last, the foreign reporters tried make a passport for Pran to help him leave Combodia but they failed. Pran has to stay there and starts his "re-education" life.
In the second part, the roles changes. The moive just mentioned a little about Sydney and mainly describes the fugitive life of Pran. Pran keeps struggling and attemps to escape from his captors. The first time, he is caught back and almost died in the punishment. But he doesn't give up. The second time, he is succeed, and his horrifying walk through the skeletal remains of the brutal massacres in the Valley of Death. This makes his mind to escape much stronger and the muddy "killing fields" all present potent apocalyptic images on his journey to Thailand. The movie skips ahead to show Shanberg receiving a “Journalist of the Year” award in the US and Sydney argued with his friend in the restroom are formed a strong contrast.
I like this movie and I strongly recommond it. It's clear and I can easily get a lot information from it. From the movie, it mentioned me a lot about the histories I didn't pay attention before. When I saw the children in the Khmer Rouge kill people with indifferent eyes and the valley of death filled with skeletal, I felt appalled. A lot of people died and get hurt just because the US government set the wrong direction of the misile made me angry. Pran escapes succsesfully but he can't even save the person he wants to protect, the boy dies in front of him. Sydney get the "Journalist of the Year" award. It bases on the contribution of Pran,but Pran is under the control of Khmer Rouge. Lukily, Pran arrived the board of Thailand and he get together with Sydney again.
The moive obviously shows the global communication. The foreign reporters come to Combodia to cover the event. US's accidentally bombs Combodia. The war starts in the Vietnam extends to Combodia. These are all the facts of the global communication which are forms in different ways.
The movie is very objectively to describe the wrongdoings does by the government and reprodeuce the history. It can help us know more truth about the histories and how do people live in the war. The " Killing Fields" worths to see.
2010年2月17日星期三
12 Questions
1. Where are you come from?
2.Do you have a crash on the different culture?
3.Why do u come to study in the US?
4. What's your major?
5. Do you have any plan after graduate?
6.How do you like St.Cloud?
7.What do you like here?
8.Why do you come to SCSU?
9.What is the most difficult thing whrn you first come here?
10. What did you learn from the American culture?
11. What is the biggest different between the US and your culture?
12. Why do you choose your major?
2.Do you have a crash on the different culture?
3.Why do u come to study in the US?
4. What's your major?
5. Do you have any plan after graduate?
6.How do you like St.Cloud?
7.What do you like here?
8.Why do you come to SCSU?
9.What is the most difficult thing whrn you first come here?
10. What did you learn from the American culture?
11. What is the biggest different between the US and your culture?
12. Why do you choose your major?
Report of A crash course in American Culture
From the article the chronicle; a crash course on American culture, Jun –Kai Teoh talked about his experience in the Chronicle.
Teoh is a international student of SCSU from Malaysia and he works in the Chronicle. As the other newspaper offices, Chronicle is a place which is full of rush hours. Everyone there have their own responsibilities and they need to balance their own time. “They do what they can with what they have”, Teoh said. They help him get to know more about the American culture. To Teoh, they are more than just his coworkers. He also talked about his experience to the sugar daddy which gives him a new lesson about the American culture.
I agree that to expose myself to different experience is also a part of the reasons I come to the US. I want to have the chance to receive different culture and education. Before I came here, things are attractive and new to me, I was curious, excited and a little afraid because i'll live in a foreign country which had a different culture. Things were difficult at first, I don't know anything here. Even though I have heard the news from my teachers, the Internet and movies, there were still a big difference in the daily life. French Frice was the first word I learned here.
I tried to be independent, tried my best to catch the opportunities.
The crazy parties, the extremly cold weather and the loud noise of the cars really shocked me a lot at first, but now I'm already get used to them. Language is still the biggest problem.
Yes, It feels like falling down to the rabbit hole to come to another country which has a totally different culture as mine. It worth to be regarded as a special memory of my whole life.
Teoh is a international student of SCSU from Malaysia and he works in the Chronicle. As the other newspaper offices, Chronicle is a place which is full of rush hours. Everyone there have their own responsibilities and they need to balance their own time. “They do what they can with what they have”, Teoh said. They help him get to know more about the American culture. To Teoh, they are more than just his coworkers. He also talked about his experience to the sugar daddy which gives him a new lesson about the American culture.
I agree that to expose myself to different experience is also a part of the reasons I come to the US. I want to have the chance to receive different culture and education. Before I came here, things are attractive and new to me, I was curious, excited and a little afraid because i'll live in a foreign country which had a different culture. Things were difficult at first, I don't know anything here. Even though I have heard the news from my teachers, the Internet and movies, there were still a big difference in the daily life. French Frice was the first word I learned here.
I tried to be independent, tried my best to catch the opportunities.
The crazy parties, the extremly cold weather and the loud noise of the cars really shocked me a lot at first, but now I'm already get used to them. Language is still the biggest problem.
Yes, It feels like falling down to the rabbit hole to come to another country which has a totally different culture as mine. It worth to be regarded as a special memory of my whole life.
2010年2月10日星期三
Paraphrased Topics
Bertelsmann
According to the article, the German-based Bertelsman, which is the forth largest media company globally has a strong presence in the media with its corporations in over sixty countries worldwide. It's recently focused on developing its multimedia capabilities. (Global Communication P75)
Vivendi Universal
The Vivendi Universal Corporation was established in the nineteenth. It is a major player in France and across Europe’s audiovisual sector. In order to reflect its new communication interests, the company changed it's name from Generele des Oeaux to Vivendi. It is also one of the major pay-TV operators in Europe. (Global Communication, P77)
British Sky Broadcasting Group
The global communication describes that the British Sky Broadcasting Group is the leading pay-TV provider in the United Kingdom. The BskyB has forty channels which includes news, sports and entertainment. By corperating wirh American Online, it formed an alliance in 1998. It's major shareholder is the Rupert Murdoch’s news corporation. They hope to have the sames succuess as HBO did and want to expand their cable and satellile net-woerks around the world. (Global Communication, P79)
According to the article, the German-based Bertelsman, which is the forth largest media company globally has a strong presence in the media with its corporations in over sixty countries worldwide. It's recently focused on developing its multimedia capabilities. (Global Communication P75)
Vivendi Universal
The Vivendi Universal Corporation was established in the nineteenth. It is a major player in France and across Europe’s audiovisual sector. In order to reflect its new communication interests, the company changed it's name from Generele des Oeaux to Vivendi. It is also one of the major pay-TV operators in Europe. (Global Communication, P77)
British Sky Broadcasting Group
The global communication describes that the British Sky Broadcasting Group is the leading pay-TV provider in the United Kingdom. The BskyB has forty channels which includes news, sports and entertainment. By corperating wirh American Online, it formed an alliance in 1998. It's major shareholder is the Rupert Murdoch’s news corporation. They hope to have the sames succuess as HBO did and want to expand their cable and satellile net-woerks around the world. (Global Communication, P79)
Headers of Global Communication
Cultural Imperialism
- Concern about the possible effects of the mass media on individuals and cultures has been apreoccupation of academics since World War II.
- Since World War II, the effect of mass media on individuals and cultures has been a preoccupation of academics.
THE UNITED STATES OF EUROPE (USE)
- Europe’s television, movies, music, cable and satellite industries are experiencing and unexpected frenzy of consolidation. The fifteen European nations are working more and more as a collective rather than individual nation when it comes to international media .
- Transnational communication corporations across Europe are becoming larger and larger as they purchase smaller systems across Europe, start entirely new channels or networks, or buy foreign media outlets, prompting some critics to call these countries collectively the “United States of Europe.
Bertelsmann
- The German-based Bertelsmann group of companies has a strong media presence in over sixty countries worldwide.
- Most recently, Bertelsmann has focused on developing its multimedia capabilities.
Vivendi Universal
- France’s Vivendi universal is a major player in France and across Europe’s audiovisual sector.
- Vivendi is one of the major pay-TV operators in Europe.
British Sky Broadcasting Group
- British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSkyB) is the United Kingdom’s leading pay-TV provider.
- Rupert Murdoch’s news corporation is the major shareholder of BskyB.
Matra Hachette
- France’s Matra Hachette which was formed bu merger since 1992 is an extremely diversified conglomerate with major publishing and media interest as well as military-industrial activities.
- The focus of its various magazines is primarily on advertising and then on circulation; ad pages constitute 65 percent of content, with editorial and story content making up 35 percent.
Canal Plus
- Created in 1984, France’s Canal Plus is the European leader of pay-TV, offering premium programming on several channels.
- It is one of the best-known European suppliers of television decoder units for Digital pay-TV reception.
Pathe
- Pathe is a major European entertainment and film production company located in France.
- Pathe is well positioned to be a major industry in the expanding European audiovisual economy.
Pearson
- Pearson, based in the United Kingdom, is a global media company that controls several media properties.
- Pearson also controls the largest number of web sites directly related to major leading textbooks.
VNU
- Netherlands-based VNU is a multimedia empire that includes publishing, television, feature film productions, music, Internet services, and television ratings.
- Nielsen is the North American producer of television audience statistics in well over two hundred television markets.
Mediaset
- Mediaset controls the three largest private television channels in Italy.
- Mediaset is seeking international expansion for its vast library of soap operas and sitcoms.
OTHER FOREIGN COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATIONS
News Corporation (Australia)
- News Corporation is a global media firm with significant interests in television, film, books, newspapers, magazines, satellites, cable systems, and sports.
- It is a diversified global communications corporation with operations and holdings in every core and semi peripheral country as well as most peripheral regions, excluding Africa, due to the vast range of its satellite networks.
STAR TV (Asia)
- The STAR TV channels offer the region’s widest television choice, whether in music, news, sporting events, Asian and international dramas and films, or cultural and informational programs.
- The STAR TV network offers both subscriptions and free-to-air television services, reaching more than 300 million people across Asia, India, and the Middle East in a multitude of markets, making STAR distinct among broadcasters。
CanWest Global Communications Corp. (Canada)
- Future strategic plans for CanWest include further global expansion and buying print properties in North America.
- It is one of largest private broadcasters in Canada, Can West Global, initially started in the 1970s as the third national television network.
WETV (Canada)
- WETV is a global television network that takes both commercial and public broadcasting approaches.
- The programming comes primarily from independent producers , development agencies, and various affiliated stations.
Aboriginal People’s Television Network (Canada)
- It was launched in 1999 as a means of promoting positive images and messages about aboriginals and aboriginal lifestyle.
- APTN is a clear example of development communication.
Grupo Televisa (Mexico)
- Gropo Tevisa provides Univision with a large number of Spanish - language programs that appeal to the growing U.S. Hispanic audience.
- It is Latin America’s largest multimedia corporation.
Sony (Japan)
- Sony’s major products include audio and visual equipment, televisions, information, communications, and electronic components.
- The company is rededicating itself to producing quality audiovisual products including digital televisions, Internet ready-televisions, CD-ROM's, and digital satellites.
CONCLUSIONS
The Sports Connection
- The connection between sports and mass media has had a long and checkered career.
- Today the Olympics enjoy substantial revenue from a combination of media and marketing funds that were created as part of the selling package for the host cities.
Global Stakeholders
- These descriptions of transnational media conglomerates reflect a basic point- namely, that global communications systems are only partly American in shape, content, and ownership.
- Many powerful non-U.S. global corporations are extremely active in the global communication marketplace.
2010年2月3日星期三
Abstract of "Presses and Democracies"
According to the article Presses and Democracies by Daniel C. Hallin and Robert Giles, it mainly talks about the differences among media systems and especially the western media system.
During the early times, what the media should be and do were proposed into four models which were authoritarian, libertarian, social responsibility and communist. By doing the research of Europe and North America, the differences among media systems are connected with other characteristics of political and social systems.
In the western world, people identify the media systems as three models. The first is the liberal model. Second is the polarized pluralist model. The third is the democratic corporatist model. Each of these models is important and has their own characteristics.
The liberal model which is common in the United Sates, British and former British colonies has three primary characteristics: commercial newspapers developed early, state intervention is limited, and the objectivity norm is a strong form of journalistic professionalism.
For the polarized pluralist model, it is significantly different from the liberal model and was widely used in the southern Europe. The state has played an interventionist role in the media system and political parallelism is also high in the southern Europe. Journalistic professionalism developed slowly.
In the third place, the democratic corporatist model is another system and has developed in some central and northern European countries. The system not only combined by the free press and active government intervention but also combines the political parallelism and strong journalistic professionalism. It less tied to the objectivity norm and involves in a higher level of formal institutionalization.
The article states that the differences among the three systems are result from the secularization of European society. The expansion of commercial media also influences on the differences. Political cultures and political systems still differ, even among the relatively similar countries of North America and western Europe.
Sources:Overholder,Geneva. Press and Democracies. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2005.1-15. Print.
During the early times, what the media should be and do were proposed into four models which were authoritarian, libertarian, social responsibility and communist. By doing the research of Europe and North America, the differences among media systems are connected with other characteristics of political and social systems.
In the western world, people identify the media systems as three models. The first is the liberal model. Second is the polarized pluralist model. The third is the democratic corporatist model. Each of these models is important and has their own characteristics.
The liberal model which is common in the United Sates, British and former British colonies has three primary characteristics: commercial newspapers developed early, state intervention is limited, and the objectivity norm is a strong form of journalistic professionalism.
For the polarized pluralist model, it is significantly different from the liberal model and was widely used in the southern Europe. The state has played an interventionist role in the media system and political parallelism is also high in the southern Europe. Journalistic professionalism developed slowly.
In the third place, the democratic corporatist model is another system and has developed in some central and northern European countries. The system not only combined by the free press and active government intervention but also combines the political parallelism and strong journalistic professionalism. It less tied to the objectivity norm and involves in a higher level of formal institutionalization.
The article states that the differences among the three systems are result from the secularization of European society. The expansion of commercial media also influences on the differences. Political cultures and political systems still differ, even among the relatively similar countries of North America and western Europe.
Sources:Overholder,Geneva. Press and Democracies. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2005.1-15. Print.
2010年1月27日星期三
Peer correction 1
1.I asked my grandfather about what were these objects and why did he still keep this box in well seal.
2. My grandfather said that these objects had a great meaning to him because they remind him of his adventures when he was young.
3. 600 years ago, there was an empire of ancient China in Ming Dynasty who's name is Lun Luo had a rock stamp with his name on it.
4. At first, she didn't know where her had family gone, but on the other side of the huge old-fashioned TV set, she saw a light go through the room.
5. Why do people have dreams when they are sleeping? I had this question when I was young. I asked my grandfather about it and he told me that people get dreams because mind just can’t be blank.
6. A mother and father thought that they need to have a break, so they decided to hand out for a night on the town. But they were worried about their sons, so they called their most reliable babysitter to take care of them. When the baby-sitter arrived, the three children had already fallen asleep, so the babysitter just stay in the room and sit around the children.
2. My grandfather said that these objects had a great meaning to him because they remind him of his adventures when he was young.
3. 600 years ago, there was an empire of ancient China in Ming Dynasty who's name is Lun Luo had a rock stamp with his name on it.
4. At first, she didn't know where her had family gone, but on the other side of the huge old-fashioned TV set, she saw a light go through the room.
5. Why do people have dreams when they are sleeping? I had this question when I was young. I asked my grandfather about it and he told me that people get dreams because mind just can’t be blank.
6. A mother and father thought that they need to have a break, so they decided to hand out for a night on the town. But they were worried about their sons, so they called their most reliable babysitter to take care of them. When the baby-sitter arrived, the three children had already fallen asleep, so the babysitter just stay in the room and sit around the children.
2010年1月20日星期三
The Exploration of Ancient Tombs
According to the archaeologist, they explored two tombs which has almost hundreds of years history, these two tombs connected to each other and has some funerary objections in it. Such as chesnuts,leather made purse,stamp, coins from Singapore and so on. Preliminary forecasting, these tombs belongs to a couple who lived nearly 150 years ago.
After probing aeeply into the tomb, the archaeologist found there is an old book which had record the story about the owner of these tombs. Aisha one of the owner of the tombs, who has a dream which is to travel all over the world since she was very young. One day, she left her family and her country with her little canoe and a 150 years old Poland blanket which was left by her grandma who was came from Poland. After a long term sailing, she first arrived at a small town in China. She felt so excited for seeing the traditional Chinese things so she decided to live there for a while. People are friendly and warm hearted there, they helped her learning cooking Chinese food, planting Chinese chestnut, speaking Chinese and she even get a stamp with a Chinese name on it. Time goes fast and six months has passed. She had to leave the lovely place and start her journey again.
The flow took Aisha’s canoe to another country which is called Singapore, she used her beautiful Poland blanket to change for the Singapore coins and she put the coins in her yellow leather purse. She heard from the other people that there was a very famous band from Chili came to Singapore and they would have a show at the biggest theater, so she went to the show with her yellow leather purse. There is an unexpected large number of people there and Aisha lost her purse in the crowd. She was worried and looking for it all the way back to the theater. At that time, a guy called her and asked if she lost anything with the yellow leather purse in his hand. She was so happy and invited him to dinner. During the dinner, she got to know that his name is Dick and he is Chileans. He is also the drummer in the band, their band would went back to their country in three days. He asked if she wants to go travel in Chili. They dated for the next three days and Aisha finally decided to go back to Chili with him. They quickly fell in love and Dick sent her a ceramic cup which has over thousands of years history in order to memory their love.
After going back to Chili, they get married and bought a farmhouse which was surrounded by the field. Aisha taught Dick about how to plant the chestnut that she bring from China and Dick taught she to play the drum. Because Aisha always uses the wrong gesture to hold the drum stick, Dick used a ruler to bond on her figure to help her. Several years later, they got a baby and they made a plaster model to memorize the new life in their family. The three family members lived with a happiness life and they keep travelling around the world to accomplish Aisha’s dream.
There are still many explorers there at the tomb's and more information about it will be shown later.
After probing aeeply into the tomb, the archaeologist found there is an old book which had record the story about the owner of these tombs. Aisha one of the owner of the tombs, who has a dream which is to travel all over the world since she was very young. One day, she left her family and her country with her little canoe and a 150 years old Poland blanket which was left by her grandma who was came from Poland. After a long term sailing, she first arrived at a small town in China. She felt so excited for seeing the traditional Chinese things so she decided to live there for a while. People are friendly and warm hearted there, they helped her learning cooking Chinese food, planting Chinese chestnut, speaking Chinese and she even get a stamp with a Chinese name on it. Time goes fast and six months has passed. She had to leave the lovely place and start her journey again.
The flow took Aisha’s canoe to another country which is called Singapore, she used her beautiful Poland blanket to change for the Singapore coins and she put the coins in her yellow leather purse. She heard from the other people that there was a very famous band from Chili came to Singapore and they would have a show at the biggest theater, so she went to the show with her yellow leather purse. There is an unexpected large number of people there and Aisha lost her purse in the crowd. She was worried and looking for it all the way back to the theater. At that time, a guy called her and asked if she lost anything with the yellow leather purse in his hand. She was so happy and invited him to dinner. During the dinner, she got to know that his name is Dick and he is Chileans. He is also the drummer in the band, their band would went back to their country in three days. He asked if she wants to go travel in Chili. They dated for the next three days and Aisha finally decided to go back to Chili with him. They quickly fell in love and Dick sent her a ceramic cup which has over thousands of years history in order to memory their love.
After going back to Chili, they get married and bought a farmhouse which was surrounded by the field. Aisha taught Dick about how to plant the chestnut that she bring from China and Dick taught she to play the drum. Because Aisha always uses the wrong gesture to hold the drum stick, Dick used a ruler to bond on her figure to help her. Several years later, they got a baby and they made a plaster model to memorize the new life in their family. The three family members lived with a happiness life and they keep travelling around the world to accomplish Aisha’s dream.
There are still many explorers there at the tomb's and more information about it will be shown later.
2010年1月13日星期三
The Love Story
Once upon a time, there was an African girl whose name is Aisha. She had a dream which was to travel all over the world since she was very young. One day, she left her family and her country with her little canoe and a 150 years old Poland blanket which was left by her grandma who was came from Poland. After a long term sailing, she first arrived at a small town in China. She felt so excited for seeing the traditional Chinese things so she decided to live there for a while. People were friendly and warm hearted there, they helped her learning cooking Chinese food, planting Chinese chestnut, speaking Chinese and she even get a stamp with a Chinese name on it. Time goes fast and six months has passed. She had to leave the lovely place and started her journey again.
The flow took Aisha’s canoe to another country which is called Singapore, she used her beautiful Poland blanket to change for the Singapore coins and she put the coins in her yellow leather purse. She heard from the other people that there was a very famous band from Chili came to Singapore and they would have a show at the biggest theater, so she went to the show with her yellow leather purse. There was an unexpected large number of people there and Aisha lost her purse in the crowd. She was worried and looking for it all the way back to the theater. At that time, a guy called her and asked if she lost anything with the yellow leather purse in his hand. She was so happy and invited him to dinner. During the dinner, she got to know that his name was Dick and he was Chileans. He was also the drummer in the band, their band would went back to their country in three days. He asked if she wants to go travel in Chili. They dated for the next three days and Aisha finally decided to go back to Chili with him. They quickly fell in love and Dick sent her ceramic cup which has over thousands of years history in order to memory their love.
After going back to Chili, they got married and bought a farmhouse which was surrounded by the field. Aisha taught Dick about how to plant the chestnut that she brought from China and Dick taught she to play the drum. Because Aisha always uses the wrong gesture to hold the drum stick, Dick used a ruler to bond on her figure to help her. Several years later, they got a baby and they made a plaster model to memorize the new life in their family. The three family members lived with a happiness life and they keep travelling around the world to accomplish Aisha’s dream.
The flow took Aisha’s canoe to another country which is called Singapore, she used her beautiful Poland blanket to change for the Singapore coins and she put the coins in her yellow leather purse. She heard from the other people that there was a very famous band from Chili came to Singapore and they would have a show at the biggest theater, so she went to the show with her yellow leather purse. There was an unexpected large number of people there and Aisha lost her purse in the crowd. She was worried and looking for it all the way back to the theater. At that time, a guy called her and asked if she lost anything with the yellow leather purse in his hand. She was so happy and invited him to dinner. During the dinner, she got to know that his name was Dick and he was Chileans. He was also the drummer in the band, their band would went back to their country in three days. He asked if she wants to go travel in Chili. They dated for the next three days and Aisha finally decided to go back to Chili with him. They quickly fell in love and Dick sent her ceramic cup which has over thousands of years history in order to memory their love.
After going back to Chili, they got married and bought a farmhouse which was surrounded by the field. Aisha taught Dick about how to plant the chestnut that she brought from China and Dick taught she to play the drum. Because Aisha always uses the wrong gesture to hold the drum stick, Dick used a ruler to bond on her figure to help her. Several years later, they got a baby and they made a plaster model to memorize the new life in their family. The three family members lived with a happiness life and they keep travelling around the world to accomplish Aisha’s dream.
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