AFS Panel Discussion


Last Sunday, Poly hosted an event that encouraged three international exchange students, all currently spending a year in the US as part of an American Field Service (AFS) study abroad program, to recount their experiences to the wider LA community. The event featured a panel discussion moderated by Poly Global Scholars Jacqueline and Aaron, who invited the exchange students to answer a range of questions relating to the similarities and differences between the cultures of their respective home countries and that of the US.

Ultimately, from the great respect shown to the elderly in Bulgaria to the long school hours of Chile to the liberal attitude toward gay rights and race relations in Germany, the exchange students shared a variety of stories that shed valuable light on the diversity of their respective cultures.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Flaws of Translation

One fact is evident to anyone who has attempted to use Google Translate for anything more than a word or, at most, a short phrase: at best, it lacks precision. This shortcoming is hardly the fault of the designers behind such programs. Far from it - translating text or speech of any significant complexity almost invariably leads to a distortion or even a loss of much of the intended meaning. This occurs for a variety of reasons. Firstly, languages do not always follow a one-to-one correspondence structure. Even in the case of English, which boasts an exceptionally extensive vocabulary as far as languages go, there still exists in other languages a countless number of words with no direct translation into English. The classic example of this phenomenon is the German word schadenfreude . Google translates this word as "malicious joy", a rather clunky attempt at conveying the rough meaning of the term. Indeed, schadenfreude  has made its way into the English vocabulary as a l
Read more

Joe Wong: Understanding Culture through Comedy

Image
Last week, Polytechnic School was visited by celebrated Chinese American comedian Joe Wong. It was a true pleasure being able, alongside fellow Poly student and Global Scholar Phillip (phillipzgip.blogspot.com), to introduce Mr. Wong to the wider Poly community. Born in China and going on to study at the Chinese Academy of Sciences as well as at Rice University, Mr. Wong has found great success as a comedian, appearing on various well-known shows both in China and here in the U.S. While performing at Poly, Mr. Wong skillfully incorporated his unique comedic style into a deeper discussion of international relations, immigration, and race, all framed in terms of the vast cultural differences that he has experienced as a Chinese immigrant living in the States. For instance, he detailed various ways in which he felt he had to tweak certain jokes depending on the nationality and cultural identity of the audience to which he was presenting. Ultimately, while Mr. Wong's perfor
Read more

Freedom of Speech on a Global Scale

Image
"People have a need to know. Journalists have a right to tell. Finding the facts can be difficult. Reporting the story can be dangerous. Freedom includes the right to be outrageous. Responsibility includes the duty to be fair. News is history in the making. Journalists provide the first draft of history." One highlight of my recent trek up the East Coast was stopping in Washington, D.C., home of many of the nation's great museums. One such museum is the Newseum, which, as the name implies, hosts a large number of news-related exhibitions, which include a Pulitzer Prize photographs hall, a First Amendment gallery and a 9/11 memorial. One exhibition that I found to be of particular relevance to global affairs was the Time Warner World News Gallery, dedicated to shedding light on how free speech (or the lack thereof) dictates the struggles of journalists around the world. The gallery features an interactive map (similar to this one  by Reporters Without Borders) that d
Read more