Encounter Activity 4

Response to Channdra:
I think it is very interesting to learn in China pedestrians do not have the right of way. I would never even give that a second thought if I travelled to China until I stepped out into the street and get honked at by a car. I would probably assume the driver was just being rude, when in fact I am the one in the wrong.

She mentions the student she interviewed also finds incorrect translations on the internet quite frequently.

Response to Andrea:
Her student was Haitian. The main issues with the language barrier was how hard English was to learn and how it was a cultural barrier. As difficult as English is, it is understandable how it is a cultural barrier.

Response to Jenny:
Her student was from South Korea. The biggest issure her student had with English was the different accents Americans have. This is understandable, because even Americans can go to other places in the United States and not always understand what a person is talking about although this pertains more to dialects than to accents.

I think it is interesting how Jenny's student who was also from Korea also had issues with accents, just like Ho Chang, the student I interviewed. Koreans do have a heavy accent which would also add difficulty in mastering an English accent.

Not being born a native Enlgish speaker is difficult for people who visit America. Even the Haitian student who was taught English since an early age has difficulty. After reading hte blogs, overall, visiting a country with a native tongue is a cultural barrier. Because this is a barrier, it prevents people from getting along with native speakers and can even be dangerous to the visitor i.e. walking into traffic assuming you have the right of way. People need to know how to effectively communicate when visiting another country.