#multicultural communication

[ethnolink]

Developing an effective Multicultural Communications Plan is essential when communicating with multicultural communities in Australia.

[digital-era101]

Understanding Multicultural Communication

Despite the diversity of cultures, there are some commonalities in how people communicate. Multicultural communication is the study of how people communicate with other people from different cultures. This includes communication between individuals, groups, and organizations.

Culture Is a Generalization

Having a basic understanding of culture will help you understand other cultures. Culture is a complex system that includes written laws, norms, beliefs, values, and attitudes. It is also a set of rules and unwritten principles passed down from generation to generation.

The average American is a member of a diverse culture with many beliefs and values. A basic understanding of this culture will help you make more informed decisions about interacting with people of different cultures. It will also help you understand the cultural differences and similarities between different cultures.

Low-Context Vs High-Context Styles

Whether you are communicating with someone from another culture or your own, learning how to communicate effectively is an excellent first step. Using cultural frameworks can help you to understand what is expected of you and can also help you to build relationships with people from different backgrounds.

A low-context culture is a culture that emphasizes directness and individual expression. People in these cultures typically rely on verbal and nonverbal cues to convey their messages. They also have a strong sense of history and tradition.

On the other hand, a high-context culture focuses on collective understanding. It pays more attention to interpersonal relationships and relying on nonverbal cues such as gestures and tone is familiar. It is also more likely to be intuitive and contemplative.

Slangs, Idioms, and Other Regional Sayings

Depending on where you live, slang, idioms, and other regional sayings for multicultural communication can differ. For instance, you may find that a particular region uses slang words for certain foods or drinks. You may also find that slang words are used for specific professions or areas of life.

For instance, the slang term "bubbler" is used in many parts of the United States. It is used for things that are in danger of falling over. It is also used for athletic footwear. In Canada, the term "skookum" describes outstanding people. Another slang term is "Dep"; This is the abbreviation for a local corner store. These are usually found in Black neighbourhoods in New York City.

Anxiety/uncertainty Management

Using Anxiety/uncertainty management in multicultural communication theory: this article explores obstacles to effective communication in multinational organizations. It will also introduce the theory's key concepts. Uncertainty is the emotional and cognitive dimension of interpersonal interaction. It affects how individuals perceive others and how they communicate.

The theory argues that reducing anxiety and uncertainty will facilitate communication between strangers. It also proposes that individuals can learn from each other's cultures, thus fostering intercultural communication. Gudykunst's initial model of anxiety management theory used uncertainty reduction theory (URT) and Henri Tajfel's social identity theory as a foundation. He added a notion of "stranger" as a central organizing concept to this theory. He also developed a framework that categorized variables into four fundamental factors: anxiety, expectations, outcome, and interpersonal saliencies.

Feminist Genre Theory

Educated adults have traditionally had a profound unease with popular culture and youth-oriented genre films. However, with new technology and mass communication, a necessary change is happening in our everyday culture.

This course explores how gender and gender stereotypes are portrayed in popular culture and how the resulting imagery affects the lives of women and girls in various disciplines. In particular, this course will examine how women are represented in art, science, and technology and how these fields impact women's identities. During this course, students will engage in several small research exercises. They will also complete a research paper, a research practicum, and an independent study.

Mis-communications

Several studies have shown that miscommunication in multicultural communication is standard. These can be caused by misperceptions or a lack of understanding of culture. Some of the problems include language barriers, misreading body language and idioms. Mis-communications in multicultural communication can be solved by learning about cultural differences, listening well and responding appropriately.

A monocultural worldview can also cause miscommunication in multicultural communication. A monocultural worldview is a tendency to see other cultures as inferior. It also promotes a specific behaviour pattern hostile toward different cultures. For example, speaking directly; is a valued trait in the United States. In other countries, this can be a problematic trait. When sitting next to a stranger, for example, people from different cultures may feel uncomfortable.

[lexigobenative-blog]

Things to consider before choosing translation services in Australia

In a country like Australia where there are all sorts of people, language can become a problem. Especially, if you are offering a service to people that don’t talk or understand English.

Then you need to make sure that you are hiring translation services in Australia. Then, you will not have that language problem between you and your clients. However, the problem is that it can be hard to find the right service that will give you value for money. With this guide about the things that you should consider before you are hiring this type of service in Australia, you will be able to choose one that is going to be best for you and your clients. Here is what you need to know before choosing an Australian translation service.

Do they really have the right qualifications and experience about translating?

The first thing that you should consider, is if the service that you will need for multicultural communication translation has really the experience and qualifications to do this service correctly.

People think that if they can do the right communication and understand the language, then they can start a translation service. However, this isn’t the truth. This is why you should make sure that the service that you are going to hire has both, experience and qualifications in translation. If they can’t prove that to you, then you should look for another, similar service.

The fees that they are asking for translating services

It is important to know that you know the fees that they are asking for their translation services in Australia. Different services are asking different fees. You don’t want to hire the service that is asking higher prices than other services in the area.

This is why doing research is so important. By doing research, you will know for sure that you are going to use a service that are asking affordable prices and that the prices are great if you are looking that the services that they are offering. You have the right to ask them about the fees and services that they are offering. Then, you can decide if this is a service that you can consider or not.

The time that they are doing business

When it comes to multicultural communication services, you want to hire a company that is doing this for a while now. You don’t want to hire a company that doesn’t have the necessary experience to offer a high-quality service.

And, the problem with a new business, is that you can’t really do research and be able to make sure that you are going to use a reliable and trustworthy company. The longer the company is in business, the more information you are going to get about the service.

Tips for finding the best translation services

With these tips, you will know for sure that you are hiring the best translation service in Australia. The first tip is that you need to do as much research as possible. You want to make sure that you are getting a service that you can trust.

You should also do an interview with the service and make sure that they really have the experience to translate from any language. The fees that they are asking is something that you should know as well. You should look at the company and their personnel. Are they professional and always answering their phones? How do they speak to you on the phone? You need to remember that they are going to represent your company and the last thing that you want, is to use a service that isn’t professional and that won’t give your company a good name.

When it comes to multicultural communication, it is so easy to get a client that doesn’t understand English. And, then you need to have someone that you can call, that will be able to do the translation for you. However, because this isn’t something that many people are using, they don’t make sure that they are hiring the best company for doing the translation. This is why this information and guide is so important. Now, you will know for sure that the service you are choosing, is going to be the best service that you can trust.

Resource By :  

https://www.prlog.org/12715941-things-to-consider-before-choosing-translation-services-in-australia.html

[katoyapalmer]

The Cycle of Socialization - How our surroundings define our personalities. 

Whether we want to believe it our not, our nurtured existence is reality.  Everything we see, say, and do make up who we are and define our humanity.  Everyone has a different set of norms, however we all go through the same process of socialization.  I first learned about Socialized norms in a Multi Cultural Communications class. I had never related my experiences to my perceived reflection of life.  

Bobbie Harro wrote a GREAT essay on the process, and I highly recommend it to anyone who has a thurst for knowledge as I do! Below are links to a short essay by myself, and Bobbie Harro on the topic.

*My Personal Essay 

PDF of the Essay

Summary of socialized habits formed at childhood: "Socialization is a learning process that begins shortly after birth.  Early childhood is the period of the most intense and the most crucial socialization.  It is then that we acquire language and learn the fundamentals of our culture.  It is also when much of our personality takes shape.  However, we continue to be socialized throughout our lives.  As we age, we enter new statuses and need to learn the appropriate roles for them.  We also have experiences that teach us lessons and potentially lead us to alter our expectations, beliefs, and personality.  For instance, the experience of being raped is likely to cause a woman to be distrustful of others." http://anthro.palomar.edu/social/soc_1.htm

The chart featured above is from Bobbie Harro's well known essay

*Edits Made January 22nd 2012 regarding my recent addition to the commentary for this post located at:

 http://katoya318.tumblr.com/private/16312764397/tumblr_ly8086qrfV1qi4rm2

[amiquote]

Martin Luther King on the Quest for Peace and Justice  "We have learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers. (...) Mankind's survival is dependent upon man's ability to solve the problems of racial injustice, poverty, and war; the solution of these problems is in turn dependent upon man squaring his moral progress with his scientific progress, and learning the practical art of living in harmony. Some years ago a famous novelist died. Among his papers was found a list of suggested story plots for future stories, the most prominently underscored being this one: "A widely separated family inherits a house in which they have to live together." This is the great new problem of mankind. We have inherited a big house, a great "world house" in which we have to live together - black and white, Easterners and Westerners, Gentiles and Jews, Catholics and Protestants, Moslem and Hindu, a family unduly separated in ideas, culture, and interests who, because we can never again live without each other, must learn, somehow, in this one big world, to live with each other. (...) We must now give an overriding loyalty to mankind as a whole in order to preserve the best in our individual societies. (...)"

Martin Luther King Jr., American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, (1929-1968), Nobel Lecture, December 11, 1964

[lapidarium]

Zygmunt Bauman: Zadanie Europy polega na przekazaniu wszystkim sztuki uczenia się wszystkich od wszystkich

                                        "Ge­or­ge Ste­i­ner prze­ko­nu­je, że głów­ne za­da­nie sto­ją­ce dziś przed Eu­ro­pą nie jest na­tu­ry mi­li­tar­nej czy gos­po­dar­czej, ale ma cha­rak­ter „du­cho­wy i in­te­lek­tu­al­ny”:

„Du­chem Eu­ro­py Wil­liam Bla­ke na­zwał­by »świę­tość naj­drob­niej­sze­go szcze­gó­łu«. To za spra­wą róż­no­rod­no­ści ję­zy­ko­wej, kul­tu­ro­wej i spo­łecz­nej tej nie­zwy­kłej mo­za­i­ki oka­zu­je się czę­sto, że nie­wiel­ka od­leg­łość, rzę­du dwu­dzie­stu ki­lo­me­trów, dzie­li dwa kom­plet­nie róż­ne świa­ty... Eu­ro­pa zgi­nie, je­że­li nie po­dej­mie wal­ki o swo­je ję­zy­ki, lo­kal­ne tra­dy­cje i au­to­no­mię spo­łecz­ną. Je­że­li za­pom­ni, że »Bóg tkwi w szczegółach« [1].

Po­dob­ne roz­wa­ża­nia znaj­dzie­my w li­te­rac­kiej spu­ściź­nie Hansa-Georga Gadamera. Na pier­wszym miej­scu li­sty wy­jąt­ko­wych cnót Eu­ro­py sta­wia Ga­da­mer jej róż­no­rod­ność, bo­gac­two tkwią­ce w roz­rzut­no­ści. Ob­fi­tość róż­nic uwa­ża za naj­cen­niej­szy skarb, ja­ki Eu­ro­pie uda­ło się wy­ra­to­wać z po­żo­gi dzie­jów i ja­ki ma te­raz świa­tu do za­o­fe­ro­wa­nia. Żyć z In­nym, żyć ja­ko In­ny dla In­ne­go, to fun­da­men­tal­ne za­da­nie czło­wie­ka – za­rów­no na naj­wyż­szych, jak i na naj­niż­szych po­zio­mach... Stąd być mo­że bie­rze się ta szcze­gól­na prze­wa­ga Eu­ro­py, któ­ra mog­ła i mu­sia­ła na­u­czyć się sztu­ki ży­cia z in­ny­mi [2].

Przyjaciele i sąsiedzi

W Eu­ro­pie, jak ni­gdzie in­dziej, In­ny za­wsze miesz­kał tuż-tuż, w za­się­gu wzro­ku i na wy­cią­gnię­cie rę­ki; me­ta­fo­rycz­nie z pew­no­ścią, bo za­wsze w za­się­gu du­cha – ale jak­że czę­sto do­słow­nie, cie­leś­nie. „In­ny” jest tu naj­bliż­szym są­sia­dem, a więc Eu­ro­pej­czy­cy mu­szą ne­go­cjo­wać wa­run­ki te­go są­siedz­twa po­mi­mo dzie­lą­cych ich od­mien­no­ści i róż­nic. Eu­ro­pej­ski kra­jo­braz na­ce­cho­wa­ny, jak po­wia­da Ga­da­mer, wie­lo­ję­zycz­no­ścią, bli­skim są­siedz­twem In­ne­go w moc­no ogra­ni­czo­nej prze­strze­ni, moż­na uznać za pra­cow­nię ba­daw­czą czy szko­łę, z któ­rej resz­ta świa­ta mog­ła­by wy­nieść wie­dzę i umie­jęt­no­ści de­cy­du­ją­ce o prze­trwa­niu lub zgu­bie.

Nie spo­sób prze­ce­nić wa­gi te­go za­da­nia i de­ter­mi­na­cji, z ja­ką Eu­ro­pa win­na się go pod­jąć, sko­ro (by raz jesz­cze za Ga­da­me­rem po­wtó­rzyć) wa­run­kiem si­ne qua non de­cy­du­ją­cym o roz­wią­za­niu ży­wot­nych prob­le­mów współ­czes­ne­go świa­ta jest przy­jaźń i „po­god­na so­li­dar­ność”. Po­dej­mu­jąc się te­go za­da­nia, mo­że­my i win­niś­my szu­kać na­tchnie­nia we wspól­nym dzie­dzic­twie eu­ro­pej­skim: dla sta­ro­żyt­nych Gre­ków sło­wo „przy­ja­ciel” wy­ra­ża­ło zda­niem Ga­da­me­ra „ca­łość ży­cia spo­łecz­ne­go”. Przy­ja­cie­le to lu­dzie zdol­ni i skłon­ni do życz­li­we­go się do sie­bie od­no­sze­nia nie­za­leż­nie od dzie­lą­cych ich róż­nic i do po­ma­ga­nia so­bie na­wza­jem z po­wo­du tych róż­nic; zdol­ni i skłon­ni do życz­li­wo­ści i uczyn­no­ści bez wy­rze­ka­nia się wy­jąt­ko­wo­ści – a jed­no­cześ­nie do nie­do­pusz­cza­nia, by ta wy­jąt­ko­wość od­da­li­ła ich od sie­bie lub zwró­ci­ła prze­ciw so­bie.

Fuzja horyzontów

Wy­ni­ka­ło­by z po­wyż­szych roz­wa­żań, że my wszy­scy, Eu­ro­pej­czy­cy, i to właś­nie dla­te­go że się tak od sie­bie na­wza­jem i na ty­le spo­so­bów róż­ni­my i wno­si­my w wia­nie do wspól­ne­go eu­ro­pej­skie­go do­mu ty­le róż­nych do­świad­czeń i ukształ­to­wa­nych przez nie form ży­cia, na­da­je­my się zna­ko­mi­cie do te­go, by stać się przy­ja­ciół­mi w ta­kim sen­sie, ja­ki na­da­wa­li przy­jaź­ni sta­ro­żyt­ni Gre­cy, pra­oj­co­wie Eu­ro­py: nie przez skła­da­nie w ofie­rze te­go, co na­szym ser­com dro­gie, ale ofe­ru­jąc je do za­kosz­to­wa­nia są­sia­dom bli­skim i da­le­kim, tak jak oni ofe­ru­ją nam, tak sa­mo szczo­drze, to, co dro­gie ich ser­com. Ga­da­mer wska­zy­wał, że dro­ga do po­ro­zu­mie­nia co do praw­dy wie­dzie przez „fu­zję ho­ry­zon­tów”. Je­śli to, co każ­de zbio­ro­wi­sko ludz­kie uzna­je za praw­dę, jest osa­dem je­go zbio­ro­we­go do­świad­cze­nia, to ho­ry­zon­ty ogra­ni­cza­ją­ce po­la wi­dze­nia są też gra­ni­ca­mi zbio­ro­wi­sko­wych prawd.

Unia Eu­ro­pej­ska jest szan­są ta­kiej fu­zji. Jest wszak ona wspól­ną na­szą pra­cow­nią, w ja­kiej, wie­dząc o tym czy nie, i czy­niąc to z chę­cią al­bo i nie­chęt­nie, do­ko­nu­je­my spa­wa­nia gru­po­wych ho­ry­zon­tów, po­sze­rza­jąc przy tej oka­zji każ­dy z nich. Aby się in­ną niż Ga­da­me­ro­wa prze­noś­nią po­słu­żyć: z przy­nie­sio­nych do pra­cow­ni przez każ­de­go nas, a bar­dzo roz­ma­i­tych ga­tun­ków rud, wy­ta­pia­my wspól­nym wy­sił­kiem i gwo­li wspól­nej ko­rzy­ści krusz­ce war­to­ści, ide­a­łów i za­mia­rów, któ­re u każ­de­go z nas zna­leźć mo­gą upo­do­ba­nie, a i każ­de­mu z nas się przy­dać; jak do­brze pój­dzie, to mo­gą się na­szy­mi wspól­ny­mi war­to­ścia­mi, ide­a­ła­mi czy za­mia­ra­mi oka­zać. A tak już ja­koś się dzie­je, choć­by i bez na­szej wie­dzy, że w to­ku ca­łej tej pra­cy wzbo­ga­ca się i uszla­chet­nia każ­da z rud – co nie­chyb­nie prę­dzej czy póź­niej przy­jdzie nam stwier­dzić.

Mądrość ukryta pod językiem

Pra­ca to dłu­ga, pro­ces po­wol­ny i szyb­kich re­zul­ta­tów nie na­le­ża­ło­by się spo­dzie­wać. Ale pro­ces da­ło­by się przy­śpie­szyć, a re­zul­ta­ty przy­bli­żyć: a mia­no­wi­cie po­ma­ga­jąc ho­ry­zon­tom w ich fu­zji – świa­do­mie i kon­sek­wen­tnie. Nic tak bo­daj nie prze­szka­dza fu­zji ho­ry­zon­tów i nic jej tak nie spo­wal­nia jak odzie­dzi­czo­ne po bu­dow­ni­czych Wie­ży Ba­bel po­mie­sza­nie ję­zy­ków. Unia Eu­ro­pej­ska uzna­ła za swe „ofi­cjal­ne” aż 23 ję­zy­ki. Ale prze­cież w róż­nych kra­jach Unii lu­dzie czy­ta­ją też, pi­szą i my­ślą po ka­ta­loń­sku, ba­skij­sku, wa­lij­sku, bre­toń­sku, szkoc­ku (Ga­e­lic), ka­szub­sku, la­poń­sku, Ro­ma, w mnó­stwie pro­win­cjal­nych od­mian wło­skie­go (prze­pra­szam za nie­uch­ron­ne po­mi­nię­cia – wszyst­kich nie wy­mie­nisz...).

Ty­le się prze­cież w do­świad­cze­niach spi­sa­nych w nie­zro­zu­mia­łych dla nas na­rze­czach kry­je rów­nie przez to nam nie­do­stęp­nej ludz­kiej mą­dro­ści. Jed­ną z naj­i­stot­niej­szych, choć by­naj­mniej nie je­dy­nym skład­ni­kiem tej ukry­tej przed na­mi mą­dro­ści jest świa­do­mość te­go, jak za­dzi­wia­ją­co po­dob­ne są do sie­bie tro­ski, ma­rze­nia czy prze­ży­cia ro­dzi­ców i dzie­ci, mał­żon­ków i są­sia­dów, sze­fów i pod­wład­nych, „swo­ich” i „ob­cych”, przy­ja­ciół i wro­gów – bez wzglę­du na to, w ja­kim ję­zy­ku je spi­sa­no...

Ciś­nie się na myśl re­to­rycz­ne w grun­cie rze­czy py­ta­nie: ileż to wszy­scy zy­ska­li­byś­my mą­dro­ści, a na­sze współ­ży­cie uro­ku, na prze­zna­cze­niu czę­ści uni­j­nych fun­du­szy na fi­nan­so­wa­nie prze­kła­dów człon­kow­skie­go pi­sar­stwa... Prze­ko­na­ny je­stem oso­bi­ście, że by­ła­by to naj­lep­sza bo­daj in­we­sty­cja w przy­szłość Eu­ro­py i po­wo­dze­nie jej mi­sji."

-- Zygmunt Bauman, polski socjolog, filozof, eseista, jeden z twórców koncepcji postmodernizmu, Kultura w płynnych czasach, 2011, cytat za: Europejski Kongres Kultury, 2011 (Illustration source)

    1. G. Steiner, The Idea of Europe, Tilburg 2004, ss.32-34.     2. Patrz: H.-G. Gadamer, Das Erbe Europas, Frankfurt 1998

See also:

☞ Retransmission of Prof. Zygmunt Bauman's Lecture at European Culture Congress, Sep 8, 2011, Wrocław, Poland (video)

[amiquote]

Zygmunt Bauman: Europe’s task consists of passing on to all the art of everyone learning from everyone "Europe’s exceptional virtues, it is diversity, the wealth of variety, that he places above all others. Abundance of diversity is deemed by him as the most precious treasure which Europe managed to save from the conflagrations of the past, to offer to the world today. To live with Another, live as Another for Another, is the fundamental task of man - both on the highest and the lowest level… therein perhaps dwells that specific advantage of Europe, which could and had to learn the art of living with others. (...) It is impossible to underestimate the weight of this task, or the determination with which Europe should undertake it, if (to echo Gadamer once more) the condition sine qua non, necessary for the solution of life problems of the contemporary world, is friendship and “cheerful solidarity”. (...)  For the ancient Greeks, the word “friend”, according to Gadamer, described the ”totality of social life”. Friends are people capable and desirous of an amiable mutual relationship unconcerned by the differences between them, and keen to help one another on account of those differences; capable and willing to act with kindliness and generosity without letting go of their distinctness - at the same time taking care that that distinctness should not create a distance between them, or turn them against one another. (...) All of us Europeans (...) are perfectly suited to become friends in the sense given to friendship by Ancient Greeks, the fore-fathers of Europe: not by sacrificing that which is dear to our hearts, but by offering it to neighbours near and far, just as they offer us, as generously, that which is dear to their hearts. Gadamer pointed out that the path to understanding leads through a “fusion of horizons”. If that which each human agglomeration regards as truth, is the basis of their collective experience, then the horizons surrounding their field of vision are also the boundaries of collective truths. (...) So much inaccessible human wisdom hides in the experiences written in foreign dialect. One of the most significant, though by no means the only component of this hidden wisdom. (...) How much wisdom we would have all gained, how would our co-existence have benefited, had part of Union’s funds been devoted to the translation of members’ writings… Personally I am convinced that it would have been perhaps the best investment into the future of Europe and the success of its mission.”

Zygmunt Bauman, Polish sociologist, Professor of sociology at the University of Leeds, Culture in Modern Liquid Times, 2011 (Translated by Lydia Bauman). More in ☞ Lapidarium notes

[aminotes]

Zygmunt Bauman: Europe’s task consists of passing on to all the art of everyone learning from everyone

" George Steiner persuades us that the main task facing Europe today is not of a military or economic nature, but rather a “spiritual and intellectual one”:

“The sacredness of the smallest details” is how William Blake would have called the spirit of Europe. It often turns out that in the matter of diversity of language, culture and society, very small distance, in the order of twenty kilometers, divides two completely different worlds... Europe will perish if it does not fight for its languages, local traditions and social autonomy. If it forgets that “God dwells in details”.

We find similar thoughts in the literary oeuvre of Hans-Georg Gadamer. Of Europe’s exceptional virtues, it is diversity, the wealth of variety, that he places above all others. Abundance of diversity is deemed by him as the most precious treasure which Europe managed to save from the conflagrations of the past, to offer to the world today.

To live with Another, live as Another for Another, is the fundamental task of man - both on the highest and the lowest level... therein perhaps dwells that specific advantage of Europe, which could and had to learn the art of living with others.

Friends and neighbours

In Europe, as nowhere else, “Another” always lived very close, within sight or within touch; metaphorically for certain, since always in closeness of spirit - but often also literally, in a corporeal sense. Here “Another” is the closest neighbour, and so Europeans must negotiate conditions of this neighbourhood despite the differences which divide them. European landscape says Gadamer, characterized by polyglotism and close proximity of “Another” in a severely restricted space, can be seen as a research laboratory, or a school, from which the rest of the world can carry away knowledge or skills which determine our survival or doom.

It is impossible to underestimate the weight of this task, or the determination with which Europe should undertake it, if (to echo Gadamer once more) the condition sine qua non, necessary for the solution of life problems of the contemporary world, is friendship and “cheerful solidarity”.

Upon undertaking this task, we can, and should, look for inspiration to shared European heritage: for the ancient Greeks, the word “friend”, according to Gadamer, described the ”totality of social life”. Friends are people capable and desirous of an amiable mutual relationship unconcerned by the differences between them, and keen to help one another on account of those differences; capable and willing to act with kindliness and generosity without letting go of their distinctness - at the same time taking care that that distinctness should not create a distance between them, or turn them against one another.

Fusion of Horizons

It would follow from all of the above, that all of us Europeans, precisely because of the many differences between us and the differences with which we endow our shared European home in terms of the variety of experiences and forms of life shaped by them, are perfectly suited to become friends in the sense given to friendship by Ancient Greeks, the fore-fathers of Europe: not by sacrificing that which is dear to our hearts, but by offering it to neighbours near and far, just as they offer us, as generously, that which is dear to their hearts.

Gadamer pointed out that the path to understanding leads through a “fusion of horizons”. If that which each human agglomeration regards as truth, is the basis of their collective experience, then the horizons surrounding their field of vision are also the boundaries of collective truths.

The European Union is our chance of such a fusion. It is after all our shared laboratory, in which, consciously or not, willingly or not, we fuse group horizons, widening them all in the process. To use a metaphor different to Gadamer’s: by joint effort and for the benefit of all, we forge out of the great variety of types of ore we bring into the laboratory, an amalgam of values, ideals and intentions, which may be agreeable and useful to all; If all goes well, it may display our shared values, ideals and intentions. And it just so happens, even unbeknown to us, that in the course of all this work, each ore becomes finer and more valuable - which we will sooner or later, inevitably acknowledge for ourselves.

Wisdom lost in Translation

This is protracted work, its progress slow, fast results are not to be expected. But the process could be quickened, and results achieved faster, by consciously and consistently helping the horizons to fuse. Nothing stands in the way of fusion and nothing slows it down as much as the confusion of languages inherited from those who built the Tower of Babel. European Union acknowledged as “official” as many as 23 languages. But in the different countries of the Union, people read, write and think in Catalan, Basque, Welsh, Breton, Scottish ( Gaelic), Kashubian, Lappish, Roma, a host of provincial Italian (apologies for the inevitable omissions - impossible to list them all...).

So much inaccessible human wisdom hides in the experiences written in foreign dialect. One of the most significant, though by no means the only component of this hidden wisdom, is the awareness of how astonishingly similar are the cares, hopes and experiences of parents, children, spouses and neighbours, bosses and subordinates, “ insiders” and “outsiders”, friends and enemies - no matter in what language they were described...

A pressing, if after all rhetorical question, comes to mind: how much wisdom we would have all gained, how would our co-existence have benefited, had part of Union’s funds been devoted to the translation of members’ writings... Personally I am convinced that it would have been perhaps the best investment into the future of Europe and the success of its mission."

-- Zygmunt Bauman, world-renowned Polish sociologist and philosopher, one of the creators of the “postmodernism” concept. Professor of sociology at the University of Leeds, Culture in Modern Liquid Times, 2011 (Translated by Lydia Bauman), cited in European Culture Congress, Sep 8, 2011 (Illustration source)

See also:

☞ Retransmission of Prof. Zygmunt Bauman's Lecture at European Culture Congress, Sep 8, 2011, Wrocław, Poland (video) ☞ In an era of global interconnectedness, what is the nature of cross-cultural exchange? ☞ Zygmunt Bauman: ‘Modern society stopped questioning itself’