Category: Cross Cultural Comments

Just published  …. Read this … Another budget cut!

English at schools in the the USA.

Can you believe it???

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“On a deck in Boston, seven friends recently gathered for dinner. At the table was a white American man; his wife, an Italian woman he met in Switzerland; a Swiss citizen raised in Kenya; a German of Korean origin; a woman with Haitian, Chinese and European ancestry; the son of a black American and a German Jew; and an American with Indian blood.

It took a while to get through the where-are-you-fromming, as it often can these days.” (The Struggle of the Global Placeless)

Now this is a good question … While this is one of the most common questions, it can also be one of the trickiest.  Click on comment if you feel like revealing where you’re from!  (No indiscretion intended!)

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This document allowed me to enumerate, elaborate and visualize how the (my) brain sees this idea. What I associate with the idea of achievement. As you’ll see there are two poles: success and failure, one positive and one negative.

achievement

1. success
2. to succeed
3. to win
4. antonym= to lose/lost

1. won
2. victory
   1. antonyms:  defeat  to give up – to surrender – to abandon

1. successful
2. profitable
3. satisfaction 
   1. antonyms  – failure – to fail
   2. unsuccessful
   3. unprofitable
   4. dissatisfaction/ insatisfaction

III.      to achieve

1. to attain

complete

1. finished

antonyms: incomplete

1. unfinished

achievement

fulfillment

triumph

It may well be that different cultures, different backgrounds see this differently. To each his own!

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Here’s one from the front page of the International Herald Tribune … “Arms control talks break past logjam”

Well, I suggest you look up this word in Google Image to get a visual picture of what it means.  the “jam” part does not mean something made from fruit and sugar to put on your toast in the  morning … It’s more linked to the jam you may know in traffic jam:

stuck, not being able to go anywhere.

And this is something that can happen in negotiations, in discussions. We know lots of examples, don’t we?

Watch out for metaphors … they’re … picturesque.

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In his recent article on the global “placeless,” Anand Giridharadas used these terms. I admit I had to look them up myself. This is what I found …. floating on the sea …

flotsam and jetsam.

Adopted.

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This is a very well-written and interesting article entitled : The Struggle of the Global Placeless with sincere new insight into an old problem among many individuals living globally and multi-culturally.

Congratulations to Anand Giridharadas and the International Herald Tribune for publication.

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One of the remarkable things in our highly possessive society is that no one “owns” words … we just adopt them.

There are those words that are our friends: we like to see them from time to time, they smile at us, we smile at them. They talk to us, we talk back, small talk, a little lunch chat … maybe more.

There are those words we read, those we think we understand, those too abstruse for our time, too.

And … there are words and expressions that we take a fancy to, that we really like. In the same way, we like to wear these jeans or that sweater or those funny socks or that old scarf … When you come across a word or a phrase you really like … why not adopt it? You’ll be giving a whole new life to those few letters who’ll make life for others more colorful!

Adopt a word today! They’re everywhere … just waiting for a little TLC.

TLC ? TLC = tender loving care … (something like love)

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Isabelle S. sent me a nice message saying … “It’s a good news.” That, in fact, sounds a little like ssomething one of the Marx Brothers (or even my grandmother, may she rest in peace,  would have said:  … “Itsa good news …”

Nowadays, we’d probably just say: “Good News!” “What good news!” or “That’s good news!” or “Happy to hear such good news …”  and I am too, Isabelle. Because of the good news you sent along in the message:

Mark, I got a ‘Salon du livre’ ticket  for you … I’ll let you know…

Thanks, Isabelle!

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Société des Explorateurs Français Société de Géographie

184 Boulevard Saint-Germain, Paris 6^e – Tel : 01.45.49.03.51

“En terminer avec les graves erreurs climatologiques contemporaines” Conférence donnée par Claude COLLIN DELAVAUD, Professeur  émérite de géographie.

Intervenant:  Alain TIXIER, auteur et réalisateur de films sur les sciences de la Terre.

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In discussing the similarities and differences between cultures, one of the concepts that often comes up is this one: success.

In my many years in France, there are those who dream of “success” in the image of the American Dream: attaining wealth and status and whatever you might want to do with it.  There are those who adhere to the “work” ethic and suggest that the path to success is paved with work – usually hard work.

Related to the concept and word success is that of achievement.

Can the measure of success be a feeling of satisfaction? And what about achievement? Isn’t achievement more related to an objective standard: reaching a certain level?

What does success mean to you? Share your comments!!

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