[Anomander Rake]

I've always been interested in different cultures (including languages and foods) as well as the cultures I have been brought up in. So I thought it'll be good to start a thread for people to share interesting stuff about your own culture or other cultures that you have knowledge or experience with. This isn't a thread to bash cultures, but to share knowledge and interesting stuff.

One of the things I like and find interesting about some of the south asian cultures and Korean culture is the rules and respect shown to elders and the minimum use of names when talking to others.

For example, in most south asian cultures, you don't generally call people older than you by name (regardless if they are related to you or not), instead you call them by words such as (I'll put closest English meaning as well as some of the actual words used, which will vary depending on language used): Uncle (Chacha, tyya, etc), Aunty (chachi, kala, etc) or , grandma (vadi ammi, ammi), grandad (abu-jee, etc). If someone is in the same generation/age range then words like Brother (Bhai, Lala, there can be variations for big brother, little brother etc), Sister (Bhaji etc) may be used regardless if they are related. Sometimes names will be used with the word such as Adam Bhai (brother Adam).

Also there are certain words (or sounds) that can be added to a sentence when speaking to someone older or own age-range to show respect, such as saying Yes (example: ha which means yes, will be said as han-jee with jee being added to show respect).

In Korean culture, they take this a step further, they have rules based on Confucianism. Therefore they have an informal way of speak, formal way and a even more formal way. Again, rather than using names widely, or they would used a word and then add name to it after/before.
Examples (I find the korean language to be one of the hardest to romanize, as they sound very different, best to learn the Hangul alphabet to get pronouciation right):

If age gap is narrow or you know them:
When a female calls an older female: 언니 (unni)
When a female calls an older male: 오빠 (oppa)
When a male calls an older female: 누나 (nuna)
When a male calls an older male: 형 (hyung)

When you call someone that is senior to you in either school or workplace: 선배 (sunbae)
When you call someone that is junior to you in either school or workplace: 후배 (hoobae)

There are many others such as 아저씨 (ahjussi) - calling a middle aged men, 아줌마 (ahjoomma) or 아주머니 (ahjoomuhnee) - calling a middle aged woman, etc.

I gotta say, as I'm poor at remembering people's name, it does make life easier, lol.

The closest I can think of in British culture is in the class room, where we refer to teachers as SIR or MISS, or MR Surname, Miss Surname etc. In British culture, it would feel weird to call a stranger uncle or such, yet in the above cultures it actually feels very natural.

Please do post stuff about cultures you know about, be great to increase my knowledge in this area. I will post more too if people find it intersting.

[Adjutant Stormy~]

This seems more a linguistic than cultural (though they're obviously related) difference between cultures. That's not that it isn't interesting.

[Shinrei]

Well, I think the linquistic aspect is evidence of the underlying cultural values. What Anomander Rake is describing is pretty much the same in Japan as well. Titles are everything, and it's the foundation of a general respect for your elders. When you meet someone for the first time (in more formal settings) you exchange business cards so that you immediately know where you are in the pecking order and you adjust the politeness of your language accordingly.

I found out something interesting when I asked several of my classrooms "What's the name of the current Japanese emperor?" No one knew - in Japan he's known by his title and that's all the media ever uses to report on him. They don't know the name "Hirohito" either, he's just the "Showa Emperor".


(trivia, the current emperor's name is Akihito)

[Mentalist]

In former Soviet Union, at least, (not sure about other Slavic-speaking countries), it's pretty much the same--to a child, every older male is "uncle", every older female is "aunt".
However, this only applies to people you know.
to someone who is not known to you well, the traditional form of address is the person's first name, followed by the patronymic (every person has one--it's a "middle name", consisting of their father's name with a suffix, making it a derivative)

@ AS: like Shin said, it's largely the linguistic differences that shape cultures. the way we say things tends to shape how we thing about them. personally I think it's a really cool thread.
I can't really think of any other tidbits from my culture (Ukrainian/Russian) off the top of my head.

[Silencer]

Indeed, it's linguistics-rooted, not culture. Because otherwise we struggle to explain why, for example, I naturally DO speak to older people than myself, whose name I do not know, with more formal titles. "Excuse me, sir?" if I'm trying to get their attention, for example. Different if I'm just squeezing by, of course. But we also have adjustments in inflection, formality of language, and so forth to indicate deference or respect - it's just that in some languages there is more leeway in the exact choice of words, thus allowing for an appearance of better categorized formality.
Granted, that's just me, and I'm inclined to give someone a polite nod of the head if we're passing in a quiet street, whereas plenty of younger people, and well, quite a few older ones too, will simply walk past as if you don't exist.

That said, it's also something to note that in NZ, at least (and let's face it, we're partially known for our informal, easy-going natures) we slip into the state where less formality is acceptable very quickly. That's more of a cultural difference, I feel.

But it's definitely an interesting part of cultural differences - and something I've noticed in the workforce, even within the limited sample that is NZ, is the range of problems this may cause, or which a different state may in fact make worse. Two people I know at work find it difficult, or at least awkward, to approach our supervisor for help or to ask questions. Granted, the man often looks *very* busy, and he can be a tad gruff in his responses - but to me, it's a simple, and obvious, choice to go up to him and say "Excuse me, [name], but I've got this problem..." especially considering we're practically expected to *summon* the guy via a shout across the workplace floor half the time when we have a smaller problem. I just don't have a problem with politely interrupting him, and in return, he's never given me the slightest indication that he is anything but happy to be interrupted if there's a concern.
But my colleagues struggle to interact with him on this level. To the point where one of them was about to do something fairly silly, in the context of our job, rather than go and talk to the supervisor. I have to wonder how the scenario would have played out had I not been paying attention when said colleague related her situation to me, let my brain go *clack, clack, ka-thunk* on the issue and turned around to tell her to go tell the supervisor rather than doing what she was going to do. And that leads me to wonder how the situation would have played out in a different culture - how much would things like a different language, different means of interacting, have an effect on that scenario?

[Mentalist]

that seems to be more of a personality issue, really.

for something a little different: in Russia, Ukraine, and most of the former Soviet Union, Christmas is celebrated in January, as per the Orthodox church calendar. It is also a non-commercialized holiday, because Christams Eve meal has to be a Lenten meal (no meat). likewise, people in Russia and Ukraine receive presents on January first, New Year's day. Kids are told about Grandfather Frost and his granddaughter SnowBeauty (Snegurochka), while the adults simply wish each other Happy New Year, celebrate and exchange gifts. presents are left under the Christmas tree.,

[Silencer]

Interesting. These days, of course, we also get things like Chinese New Year, so the cross-cultural seep has to be taken into account.


And while I agree that it strikes me as a personality issue, that's still informed by culture; after all, if it's culturally impolite to seek help, or to interrupt a person's work, that makes it different than if the inverse is true, obviously. I'm merely commenting on the stand-out divergence from what *I* perceive to be the cultural norm (i.e. what it is 'obvious' to do in that situation), and wondering how that might play out in a different culture. Obviously individuals have different reactions in different situations; that's not really the point though - no culture is uniform in its make-up or application. The point is how culture might inform people's responses, specifically the perception of what is 'normal' and what is not.

[Dolmen 2.0]

in SA we have a lot of cultures interacting at once and i remember as a kid we'd have something like culture envy. Some kids got to leave early for mosque, others got a day dedicated to sweets and sweet meats and id got easter eggs and grape juice during easter. Often my friends would jump over to my culture for christmas and i'd get invited for their diwali celebration which gave us all a great reason to bust firecrackers. It got pretty confusing, some of my primary teachers actually thot i was a hindi convert. All that becomes impossible the older you get i find.

[Anomander Rake]

Cool, interesting stuff.

Weddings can vary from culture to culture. In many western cultures we have Stag/Hen nights before a wedding. In South Asian culture, they have something called Mehndi. Mehndi is a day before the wedding when the bride-to-be gets Henna put on her hands/arms and her relatives/friends may also get some put on, they also sing and dance to wedding type of songs. In some areas, the groom may also get Henna put on.

Putting Henna before the wedding day is also a tradition in some Gulf states, and I think its referred to as 'Henna night' in that area of the world.

Other traditions are on the day of the wedding, the groom riding a horse (can be an elephant) to the venue (this also used to be in olden times a tradition in the Korean culture, as well as bringing bride back home in a palanquin).

Modern weddings in Korea, now tend to have a westernized ceremony with suits, white dress etc to which most friends and family are invited to. Then they have a more traditional Korean ceremony.

Just as in many western cultures where the bride generally wears white, in Indian culture the bride generally wears red.

Arranged marriages play a large role in many cultures still (don't confuse arrange marriage with forced marriage). Arranged marriage is generally parents will arrange a meeting, and the guy/girl meet. It is then up to the guy/girl if they want to meet again, marry or not etc. Parents normally have pre-screened the person(s) they arrange for their daughter/son to meet. Depending on the culture and how conservative the families are, they boy/girl may date and meet for several months before they get married. The son/daughter could end up being introduced to lots of people, before they find one they feel they are most compatible with etc.

[Adjutant Stormy~]

As for western tradition, white is the color of Purity, which obviously plays into marriage (as strict traditional, i.e. Catholic people are celibate until marriage), and differing cultures would have differing incentives for the bride (ex. Red is a lucky and prosperous color in China). Hell, even for New World Cultures, for Mexico and some Central American cultures yellow and white are the colors of the Dead.

[Cougar]

In England we have about 50 different words for bread rolls (that's not including sliced bread, viennas, knots, subs, ciabattas - we're just talking the little round bread things here). It is vital that you learn these if you ever want to get a sandwich - a difference of only a couple of miles will make a genuine difference between calling it a barm and a bread cake for example.

[Macros]

breakfast roll differs greatly form town to town

[Morgoth]

In Norway, and also probably the rest of Scandinavia, the tradition of Christmas beer goes all the way back to the viking ages. Every landowner brewed his own beer for the winter solstice; the darker and stronger the better, in celebration of Frig, the god of fertility and harvest.

The beer was brewed as an offering to Odin, Njård and Frøya (Frig).

When that part of the world became christian, the church found the brewing so ingrained in the culture of winter celebration they simply adopted it, making the beer an offering to Christ and the Virgin Mary. As such the brewing and consumption of the specially made juleøl (christmas beer) became the most important part of the christian celebration and was as a result made into law.

Every landowner became not only pressured socially, but also legally bound to brew, drink and share his beer every Christmas.

To tie this to the linguistic theme of the thread. Christmas is still called by its original, heathen name: Jul, or jól in that part of the world. Furthermore, one did not cleberate christmas, one "drikker julen inn" (drinking the christmas in <- direct translation). Only recently has the Norwegian translation of "Celebrate Christmas" come into use. Although it's still just as common to say "å drikke julen inn".

So, the tradition of drinking strong, dark Christmas beer is yet another reason to bless the vikings.

[Cougar]

Just as an aside I'd like to point out one thing and argue another.

It sounds to me, Morgoth, like your Jul is a cousin of Yule (old English ġéol) which is common to all Germanic and Scandavian peoples so far as I know and means exactly the same thing.

So far as language and culture go, I've always found it difficult to dissassociate language from culture. It'd be my general contention (though not, of course, my own argument) that no culture prefigures langauge (in the broadest sense). Moreover, regardless of this (and more pertinently to this thread), no elements of our current culture are independent nor prefigure their linguistic construction.

Language has a fantastic existential quality which reveals so much about the concepts etc that underpin cultures and societies.

[Shinrei]

Another reason why Norway is teh awesomezorz.

[worry]

Here in the holy deserts of the southwest United States, we have a similar custom, but instead of brewing our own beer we cook our own yuletide meth. Needless to say, the kids cannot wait to tear right into their Christmas stockings. AMC has made a pretty great docudrama on this phenomenon called Breaking Bad. And you can imagine what our Jewish compatriots get up to on the eight days of Hannukah!

[Morgoth]

Cougar, on 20 December 2011 - 02:29 PM, said:

Just as an aside I'd like to point out one thing and argue another.

It sounds to me, Morgoth, like your Jul is a cousin of Yule (old English ġéol) which is common to all Germanic and Scandavian peoples so far as I know and means exactly the same thing.

So far as language and culture go, I've always found it difficult to dissassociate language from culture. It'd be my general contention (though not, of course, my own argument) that no culture prefigures langauge (in the broadest sense). Moreover, regardless of this (and more pertinently to this thread), no elements of our current culture are independent nor prefigure their linguistic construction.

Language has a fantastic existential quality which reveals so much about the concepts etc that underpin cultures and societies.

Oh, jul probably has Germanic origins, I'm not arguing it's a Scandinavian concept. My point was simply that the tradition of brewing beer for Christmas originated through the tradition of jul in northern Europe and became enshrined in Scandinavia and exported abroad from there.