Understanding Effects Of Ethnicity In Afghan Culture Essay Example for Free

Understanding Effects Of Ethnicity In Afghan Culture Essay Ethnic differences prevalent in Afghanistan have had a great impact on peoples’ personal lives especially during interpersonal communication. As an Afghan citizen, belonging to the Pashtan ethnic group, born and raised in a multicultural society, I had to master the art of effective communication at an early age. Here in this paper, I will explain how my life has been impacted by ethnic differences in Afghanistan especially during interpersonal communication. I will explain how I communicate with my friends from my ethnic group, from other ethnic groups as well as foreigners living in Afghanistan. My paternal grandfather, a Push tan was a governor in Central Afghanistan while my maternal grandfather, a Tajik, was the Interior Minister and finance minister and my father was the Mayor of Herat City, in the west of Afghanistan. Afghanistan is situated in South-western Asia. It borders Iran, Pakistan and several other countries in Central Asia. The â€Å"Islamic State of Afghanistan† is Afghanistan’s official name. Kabul is the capital and the other two major cities in Afghanistan are Herat and Kandahar. More than three quarters of Afghanistan’s population inhabits rural areas. The literacy level in Afghanistan is very low and it is among the world’s countries with small economies(Hussain 34-35). My ethnic group, Pushtun, is the major ethnic group in Afghanistan accounting for almost a half the population (42%). Tajiks account for 27% Hazaras 9% Uzbel 9% Aimak 4% Turkmen 3% while the other ethnic groups account for 4% of the population. As a result of the diverse ethnic groups, Afghanistan has been adopting various language policies in a bid to foster national unity. For instance, in 1992, the communist regime fell due to constant fighting which arose as a result of issues such as language policy. Linguistic differences made various factions fight each other. Consequently, between the year 1992 and 1996, Afghanistan’s national anthem was changed from Pashto language to the Dari(Hussain 40-44) The 2003 Draft Constitution in Afghanistan saw the Pashto and Dari languages become the official languages during the Draft Constitution’s amendments of Afghanistan’s language policy. The constitution made provisions guaranteeing all languages as equal. In today’s world, most countries strive to preserve its people’s culture as well as the language. Afghanistan has adopted the Assimilation Language Policy, which is aimed at fostering national unit by having a single national language. Pashtu is the national language of Afghanistan(Hussain 35-39) In Afghanistan, bilingualism is very common. Most people, especially literates can write and speak in at least two ethnic languages. As a child, I acquired two ethnic languages. By the time I went for my primary education, I could speak a few Dari words and phrases in addition to my mother tongue, Pushtan. When I joined school, I learned the Dari language which is taught because it is the national language. When people become competent in two or more languages, they tend to use both languages in interpersonal communications. This results in switching between codes and mixing phrases from two different ethnic languages. Code switching is the use of words or phrases from two distinct languages or dialects in interpersonal communication. Code mixing entails the use of various words or phrases. When participants code-mix, they learn to relate what is altered by the speaker during a speech activity with the intended meaning as well as learning to compare what is spoken with what they know(Wood 67). In Afghanistan, people may code switch consciously or unconsciously. When a person code switches unconsciously, it is because s/he has gained competence in the two languages. Thus, one will switch between the languages and may not intent any communicative effect on the listeners, although the listeners may achieve an effect depending on how the speaker switches or mixes phrases. Conscious switching or mixing between different languages entails the speaker’s conscious effort. The speaker decides where to put a certain word or phrase with the aim of achieving a certain communication effect (Julia 30). Whenever I am with my Pushtan friends, we at times switch between the Pushtan language and the Dari language. At times, we do this unconsciously without putting into consideration the communication effect it will have to our listeners. Competence in both languages enables us to know where, when and how to mix the codes and switch between the two languages effectively. After all, we have spoken and written in these languages since childhood. In Afghanistan, people switch between languages for a number of varied reasons. For instance, whenever I am with my Pushtan friends and a band of people from say Dari whom we may detest and look down upon joins our band, we will code switch and code mix intentionally. We do this in a bid to make them feel unwanted. Occasionally, some of us will mix some Pashtun words with the Dari language. Infact, a great percentage of the words and phrases used in the speech may constitute Pashtun words. Normally, during most interpersonal communications, everyone wants to participate and this entails understanding what the other participants say so as to respond effectively. Since we withhold certain information from them by code switching, this makes the Dari speakers not participate in the speech act. Consequently, some of them may opt to leave the band while the stubborn ones may remain behind. Nothing irritates like people breaking into laughter and you are left wondering what amused them. One can even be made to think that he is the subject of mockery. Thus we may code switch so as to eliminate those we don’t want in our band (Jacobson 54) Our group may also code switch so as to make other groups of people feel appreciated. For instance, whenever we are with our friends from other ethnic groups, some of my friends who have mastered a few phrases and words from the languages will mix them with the Dari language. This makes them feel accommodated in our band. They feel that we appreciate their languages which are deemed to be inferior simply because they are not the official or national languages in Afghanistan. During interpersonal communication, everyone wants to be a part of the speech event. Consequently, our friends will feel motivated to participate because we acknowledge their presence. In addition, whenever I am with my Pushtan friends and we encounter Dari speakers who are not competent in Pushtan, we choose to use the Dari language in a bid to accommodate them. During a speech event, people tend to accommodate the other speakers. This is very crucial for effective communication. Imagine a situation where you speak to someone in, say, Dari, and he responds in Pashtun. Will you continue speaking in Dari? Of course not you would rather opt to switch to Pashtun if you are competent in it so as to avoid communication barriers. Language differences in Afghanistan can lead to communication barriers and so people have learned to accommodate others during a speech event by switching to the language used by other participants (Giles and Coupland 52). During a speech event, we may change our styles from time to time. Some of the reasons which make our band change styles during interpersonal communication include the topic being discussed, the participants in our band, and the motives/intentions of our band and so on. So we accommodate other participants by adjusting the number of times we switch between languages and strive to minimize the number of switches depending on the person we are speaking to. The accommodation is applied in our day-to-day speech events. In fact, some of my Dari friends who are not competent in Pushtan have mastered a few Pushtan words and phrases. Whenever we are conversing, they may mix a few Pashtun phrases with Dari phrases in a sentence. They do this so as to please us. They want us to think that they recognize and appreciate our language. As a matter of fact, some of them do this sarcastically; nothing irritates a Pashtan speaker than to hear a Dari speaker or any other speaker use a Pushtan word or phrase of which he or she does not even have the slightest idea of its meaning. Worse still, some of them may even use the wrong word order. I once lived in Hawaii and learned a few Hawaii words. When I visited the United States, I could hear the Americans switch to the Hawaii language. Some Americans could even mix spiritual phrases and words with English. What irritated me most was the fact that the Americans were not competent in the Hawaii language, yet they could dare mix Hawaii spiritual words and phrases of which they did not even know the meaning. I consider this as a kind of theft and a slap on the face to the Hawaii language. People should respect other peoples’ language especially spiritual words and phrases. In addition, Afghan’s may also code switch because they feel that they cannot express themselves well in a certain language. They feel that they lack certain words or expressions from a given language and that another language may have a ready word or expression for the message they want to convey. Whenever I am speaking with my Pashtun friends, who understand the Dari language, I will not bother much to think for a word in Pashtun when I have a Dari word or phrase for it. Most people will sometimes find it difficult to express themselves in their mother tongue. To some people, expressing oneself in an official language is much easier since it is the language they use most of the time, thus, they always have ready words and phrases. Most people agree that it is easy to express oneself in Dari, the national language simply because they use it more often and they may lack the appropriate words in their original language. Afghans view code switching to be beneficial during interpersonal communication although this will depend on the context or situation in which it occurs. This holds true, especially when a speaker encounters problems expressing himself in a particular language and he/she is competent in another language which his speakers are competent in. Thus, a speaker will break the communication gap by inserting phrases or words from the language his participants understand. Ethnicity also affects communication styles and strategies in Afghanistan in that, people from different ethnic groups have differences in social etiquette, customs and protocol. In Afghanistan, there are some common customs and protocols among the different ethnic groups, which affect interpersonal communication. For instance, men and women should not make eye contact. Men should not prolong their eye contact with other men and when they do, they should do so only occasionally. This custom creates a communication barrier in that communication between men and women is not effective since women are not allowed to speak directly to men. If a woman speaks directly to a man, she is being disgraceful and lowering her dignity. This greatly affects my life since women in our country are deprived of rights of expression, which implies that our mothers and sisters, who are the backbone of our nation, have no direct communicative role to play in the society. This implies that men and women in my country have to employ different styles and strategies in both verbal and non-verbal communication. In order to ensure that they preserve their cultural values, mixing between genders in my country is not freely allowed and free mixing only takes place within families. In places of work, in offices, and businesses or at institutions of learning, both higher and lower, both men and women must respect and maintain each other’s honor. They must also adhere to their culture without putting into consideration the impact it will have on interpersonal relations. Consequently, this has led to poor interpersonal relations in public places, which has led to increased war and conflicts among individuals, groups of people and ethnic societies. These have led to men dominating the country. Since they are the only ones who have a say, they have gone ahead and enacted and enforced laws and regulations which undermine their women folks and children who are regarded as inferior members of the society. Interactions and relations between individuals have also been adversely affected especially in institutions of learning. Foreign students who join universities in Afghanistan are faced with major challenges. To start with, most of these students come from ethnic backgrounds where women and men are regarded as equal. Consequently, they are forced to learn and to read the rules and ensure that they abide by them. This has led to students’ academic performance being affected since they spend a lot of time adapting to cultural changes. Besides eye contact, which is a non-verbal communication style, other types of non-verbal communication are also affected. Signals are also affected by ethnic differences. People send signals to convey messages. Sending of signals has been affected by ethnic differences in that people may send the wrong signals during the process of communication. Since women are not allowed to look at men in the eyes, this may pass the wrong signals to foreign men who have not mastered Afghanistan culture. They may think that the women are shy and may consequently tease them or misunderstand their intentions. In addition, since men and women are not allowed to shake hands, a misunderstanding may arise when an Afghanistan man or woman declines to shake hands with a foreigner who is not aware of the cultural values in Afghanistan. As a result, the communication process among different ethnic groups in Afghanistan has not been effective. The handshake is the most common form of greeting used in Afghanistan, Placing one’s hands over their hearts and nodding slightly is also another form of greeting. Foreigners can misunderstand this and a wrong signal can be sent probably signaling that someone is in love or in shock depending on how placing one’s hands over one’s heart implies in one’s culture. Symbols are also another form of non-verbal communication used. Symbols can be used to represent or express information. For the process of communication to be effective, the transmitter needs to employ both verbal and non-verbal forms of communication because they supplement each other. Ethnicity in Afghanistan has affected interpersonal communication in that cultural values have made the use of symbols ineffective by making them fail to communicate the intended information. Whenever I am socializing with the women folks in Afghanistan, I do not get their message right since they do not use symbols appropriately in a bid to uphold their cultural values. Men are supposed to dominate all interactions including interpersonal communications When a Turtumani person is speaking to a Baluchi speaker, one has to use Dari, which is the official language. The two language speakers have different cultural values and backgrounds. The problem may arise if one of the speakers say the Baluchi speaker, is illiterate and does not understand the national language. Thus, the two speakers will need the assistance of an interpreter. If the interpreter is not competent in both languages, a communication breakdown may arise. Most literate Afghans have learned Social and Humanistic languages and have leaned that each ethnic group is unique in and that no ethnic group should be considered superior than the other. Language reflects a peoples’ culture. Verbal communication entails use of well-constructed sentences with a correct word order. According to linguists, each language is unique in its own way and no language is deemed to be more superior to other. Thus, each Afghanistan ethnic language whether used as a national or official language contains complex structures. Each ethnic language has its own unique way of tense formation. Since the literacy level in Afghanistan is very low, communicating with people who are not learned in Afghanistan has posed a great challenge for me and my literate friends. I recall with nostalgia an incidence where my best Friend, Pierre picked up a fight with an illiterate Dari speaker as he tried to convince him that all languages are equal. In conclusion, ethnicity affects interpersonal communication in Afghanistan in that certain ethnic communities look down upon others. Some communities feel that they are greater/superior than others simply because they are considered to be bestowed with more natural resources than the others. Consequently, a communication gap may arise between the two. For instance, Dari ethnic groups and the Pashtans perceive themselves to be superior to other ethnic groups like Turkmen or Aimak ethnic groups. This is because they are a majority groups in the country’s population and their languages are recognized as the national and official languages. Each ethnic group in Afghanistan has a specific vocabulary, which it uses during the process of communication. For instance, the Pashtans have a specific and unique vocabulary, which they use. These cultural vocabularies hinder communication when one is speaking to members of a different ethnic group who do not have competence in the Pashtan language. As a result, Afghans should learn to embrace their diverse cultures by learning to cope with the challenges they encounter due to ethnic differences on their day-to-day activities. Afghanistan has been through many calamities and disasters, or instance, landmines and explosions. Schools have also been shattered, hospitals and roads demolished not to forget violence against women and drug addiction among the youth. These problems can be minimized by effective interpersonal communication among differing ethnic groups or parties.

Comparing William Blakes The Tyger and The Lamb Essay -- The Tyger Th

Comparing William Blake's â€Å"The Tyger† and â€Å"The Lamb† William Blake is referred to as many things, including poet, engraver, painter and mystic, but he is probably most famous for his poetry. Blake began writing the poems below in about 1790 whilst living in Lambeth, London. His poetry has a wide range of styles but his most famous poems are those from â€Å"Songs of Innocence† and Song of Experience†. The two sets of poems are designed to show different states or ways of seeing. They are Blake's way of representing the different ways in which people actually experience the world. In â€Å"Songs of Innocence† the language is simple and repetitive, the lines are kept short and the rhymes are obvious. A childlike vision is conveyed through Blake's clever use of voices with their varying perspectives and questions. The poems reveal particular states of being and ways of seeing which the author is not saying are the whole truth. The poems have a joyful quality but they contain a subtle awareness of sorrow. â€Å"Songs of Experience† contrasts strongly with the softness of â€Å"Songs of Innocence†. These poems show how horrible and cruel the world really is under the surface of what we see. Blake has many themes represented in his poems from Song of Experience and Songs of Innocence but they mainly centre on his childhood, the aspects of rural and urban life, his protest against the horrible way of life and a strong disliking to the way the Church was run. These points will be discussed in the next poem analyses. â€Å"The Tyger† and â€Å"The Lamb† are often 2 poems paired together and I think that was Blakes intention, for example line 20 of â€Å"The Tyger† it says â€Å"Did he who made the Lamb make thee?† So these will be the first t... ...oem. There are many harsh words such as â€Å"cold† used to describe the church as it is but when he describes what he wants it to be the feeling of the poem becomes warmer, like that of a poem in Song of Innocence. From these poems I believed that what Blake means by â€Å"Innocence† is that of a simple life where you don’t know about the troubles around you and blissfully go along with life as it hits you. And from this, â€Å"Experience† is what life is really life, it concentrates on the negative sides of things and shows that there is always an improvement to be made. I personally find Blake's poems rather intriguing. At first when you look at one of two poems it is hard to understand the ideas that blake puts forward but after many poem analyses it becomes clear of the difference between Innocence and Experience. Blake must have been a very conscious man.

Plato vs. Nietzsche

Johnny Lee Plato versus Nietzsche The central ideas that two great philosophers, Plato and Friedrich Nietzsche, talked about were the reality and appearance; and what they mainly focused on is where we as humans stand between these two. Of course, regarding the fact that Plato and Nietzsche lived in different time periods, they had their differences that conflict with each other’s theories. But they do have something to agree upon; they both argue that humans live in an illusory world of our own that we think is reality when we actually are not. One important idea they disagree on is their concepts on what is reality and what is truth.Plato’s theory is mostly based on his cave allegory where he explains human’s conditions. I will explain the similarities and differences between Plato and Nietzsche through the cave allegory. Starting from a base point, Plato and Nietzsche both state that there are deceptions and illusions in the world. First, according to the cave allegory by Plato, he believes the â€Å"shadows†(Plato 64) to be what’s keeping us from utilizing our knowledge to its fullest value. The â€Å"shadows† are metaphors that represent our acts of relying on our senses to identify objects in life.They are only the appearances of the actual objects, meaning that we are not getting the genuine concept that is concealed by the appearances. He explains that the objects humans see in the visible world are far from the truth and their true forms. On the contrary, Nietzsche does not believe that the â€Å"shadows† are actually what Plato says they are. Although Nietzsche does believe that there are illusions in the world that humans are commonly deceived by, he argues that what deceives us in the world is our language and not the appearances of objects.He explains that concepts are the main cause that deceives humans because â€Å"a concept is produced by overlooking what is individual and real†(Nietzsche 878). And this is where language part comes in. The language helps creating concepts to objects, making it harder for humans to comprehend the â€Å"original entities† (Nietzsche 877) of the objects. Words are only â€Å"metaphors of things† (Nietzsche 877) to identify them but nothing more. Words do not hold any meanings or the true essence of the objects. The only purpose of words is so that humans can agree on the same things and get things done; create consistency in our lives. In terms of ruth in objects, Plato believes that once humans are out the cave we will be able to see the truth in things and know logic and reasoning. He argues that the only way to grasp the real meanings of objects is to rationalize everything and not rely on our senses (Plato 66). If all humans use logic to define everything and not guess what they would represent, then we would all be in the intelligible realm. On the other hand, Nietzsche has a very different take on the subject matter of truth. In fact, he argues that there are nothing more real than things that visibly and physically exist in the world; things that are accessible.This is why he does not believe in the intelligible realm or the real reality. He believes that we are already in reality. His main case is that those things that exist in the world â€Å"know neither forms nor concepts. †(Nietzsche 878); and therefore there is no reality, meanings, concepts or even truth within these objects. Nietzsche believes that the only truth existing in our lives is the agreement through language. We have put labels and titles on objects so that we would be able to agree upon identifying those objects without any conflicts or disagreement. Steven Wallace delivers a similar point through his poem, â€Å"Metaphors of a Magnifico†.The basic summary of this poem is that there are â€Å"Twenty men crossing a bridge/ Into a village† (Stevens) and the speaker, Stevens or the Magnifico, is trying to find the meaning behind these twenty crossing the bridge. The problem that Stevens had was the words that were used by someone else to describe the twenty men. These twenty men could be perceived as twenty men crossing twenty bridges for each man could experience crossing the bridge very differently. It can also be seen as one man crossing the bridge if they all had the same purpose of why they are crossing the bridge. Ultimately, these men will look like one single man.Stevens could not find the true meaning of his own behind these other people’s descriptions of the twenty men. He starts using words like â€Å"white wall† and â€Å"fruit-trees† to grasp the real meaning of these men crossing the bridge but no matter how hard he tries â€Å"the meaning escapes†(Stevens). This poem perfectly supports Nietzsche’s theory in the sense that, words are only metaphors to describe objects. Words cannot hold concepts for objects do not have real meanings be hind them. After all, Stevens and even Nietzsche would say that it is simply â€Å"Twenty men crossing a bridge/ Into a village† with no concepts attached.Going back to the cave allegory, Plato says that humans think the â€Å"shadows† are the truth behind the objects when they are only appearances. Now if Nietzsche would critique the allegory he would find certain things accurate and other things to be false. One thing he would agree upon is the deception that humans are getting. One big idea on the allegory that Nietzsche would definitely disagree on is the outside world or the intelligible realm for he does not believe that we are not living in reality right now.He does not believe that we are in the cave. If Nietzsche would roughly create an allegory for his view on the world and human conditions he would first scrap the whole idea of being in the cave and the outside world. In Nietzsche’s allegory, there is a group of men freely standing outside in nature. And everything in nature is labeled with a card on them: â€Å"trees†, â€Å"flowers†, â€Å"grass† and so on. As each of the men looks at these objects, they will see the same objects but different distorted shadows.These men, thinking that there are more meanings and concepts beyond theses words on the cards, will have different shapes of the shadows in their heads, due to different perceptions. However in reality, the shadows of the objects will flawlessly match the shapes of the actual objects, meaning that what you see is what you get: there are no hidden concepts. Although Plato and Nietzsche may have differences on the matter of truth, they are able to find a common ground between their theories: it is that humans could not be living deeper in an illusory world right now.

How To Say You in Spanish

How do you say you in Spanish? The answer isnt as simple as it may appear: Thats because Spanish  has several pronouns  you can use to address other people, all of which can be translated by you. Distinguishing Between Types of You First and most obviously, there are singular and plural forms, which arent distinguished in the English word except through context. (In other words, you can use you when talking to one person or to more than one.) Spanish also has formal and informal (also called familiar) ways of saying you, the usage depending on the person youre talking to and/or the circumstances. The difference doesnt come across in translating to English, but if you use the informal you where the formal is required, you run the risk of sounding presumptuous or even arrogant. When To Use the Formal or the Informal You The basic rule of formal-vs.-informal forms — although keep in mind that there are exceptions — is that when speaking with one person you can use the informal forms under roughly the same circumstances where you can use a persons first name in English. Of course, when that is can vary with age, social status, and the specific culture you are in. More specifically, the singular informal tà º (as the subject of a sentence) is used when speaking with family members, children, pets, friends, or close acquaintances, while usted is used when speaking with others. In Christianity, tà º also is used when addressing God in prayer. Tà º can also be used contemptuously when speaking to a stranger; for example, a criminal may use the informal in addressing a victim as a way of belittling. When speaking to anyone else, use usted. Obviously, the use of tà º suggests a certain amount of intimacy. But the degree of intimacy varies with region. In some places, people of similar social status will start using tà º upon meeting, while in other areas doing so might seem presumptuous. If youre uncertain which to use, it is usually better to use usted unless or until the person starts speaking to you using tà º, in which case it is usually OK to reciprocate. Spanish even has a verb, tutear, meaning to address someone using tà º. In a few areas, as in parts  of Colombia, usted is used even with close friends and family members. The plural forms (for sentence subjects) are the informal vosotros and the formal ustedes. Generally, in most of Spain the difference between formal and informal when speaking to more than one person is the same as specified above. However, in most of Latin America, the formal ustedes is used regardless of the persons youre speaking to. In other words, vosotros is seldom used in everyday life. Here are simple examples of how these pronouns might be used: Katrina,  ¿quieres tà º comer? (Katrina, do you want to eat?)Seà ±ora Miller,  ¿quiere usted comer? (Mrs. Miller, do you want to eat?)Katrina y Pablo,  ¿querà ©is vosotros comer? (Katrina and Pablo, do you want to eat?)Seà ±ora Miller y seà ±or Delgado,  ¿quieren ustedes comer? (Mrs. Miller and Mr. Delgado, do you want to eat?) In the above sentences, the pronouns have been included for clarity. In real life, the pronouns would normally be omitted because the context would make clear who the subject of each sentence is. When You Isnt the Subject In English, you can be either the subject of a sentence or the object of a verb or preposition. However, in Spanish different words are used for each of those situations. Formal singular Informal singular Formal plural Informal plural Subject usted t ustedes vosotros Object of preposition usted ti ustedes vosotros Direct object of verb lo (masculine), la (feminine) te los (masculine), las (feminine) os Indirect object of verb le te les os Here are some examples of you pronouns as objects: Voy a votar por ti. (Im going to vote for you. You here is singular.)Este es para vosotros. (This is for you. You is plural.)Te quiero. (I love you. You is singular.)Os quiero. (I love you. You is plural.)Espero verlos a ustedes pronto. (I hope to see you soon. You is plural.) Using Vos In some parts of Latin America, particularly Argentina and parts of Central America, the pronoun vos replaces or partly replaces tà º. In some areas, vos implies greater intimacy than tà º does, and in some areas it has its own verb forms. As a foreigner, however, youll be understood  using tà º even where vos is common. Key Takeaways Spanish has formal and informal equivalents of you,  the choice varying with the nature of the relationship with the person or persons  being spoken to.Spanish distinguishes between singular and plural forms of you.In the plural form, Latin Americans normally use  the formal ustedes where Spaniards would use the informal vosotros.