1- Script of Recording

International Herald Tribune

Wednesday, March 9, 2005

Meanwhile: Yours sincerely (if that's O.K. with you)

By C.J. Moore

Suppose you lived in a world where there were two kinds of truth: a public truth, which everyone professed but nobody really believed, and a private truth, representing your real inner convictions which could never be said openly for fear of giving offense.

Put crudely like this, such a world could seem an Orwellian nightmare, but in practice, social and linguistic constructions of this kind are universal. Mostly, in our own societies, we take them for granted and don't question them. What we find differing between cultures, and even between social levels of a culture, is the degree of formality and importance given to these conventions.

In Japanese culture, the words tatamae and honne - often translated as appearance and reality - distinguish precisely two such "truths," one formal and public, the other unspoken and private. Such a distinction tells us much about the difficulty for outsiders in understanding what is really being said. Many a Western businessman must have left a meeting sure of a positive outcome, on the basis of the Japanese assurance "Zensho shimasu" (I will do my best). Unfortunately this phrase is just a polite way of saying no. Similarly, when an English speaker begins a statement, "With the greatest respect ..." you can be sure the last thing in the speaker's mind is respect.

In practice, each culture erects its own system of walls between what you may politely say and what you may never express. Such sensitivities are rarely put into words. They are acquired by learning a society's rules from childhood. As adults, when we experience communication problems with people of other cultural or social backgrounds, we need to realize the gaps may lie precisely in the difference in what is acceptably "sincere" between one society and another.

For instance, there is no Japanese word for sincerity- the term makoto, often translated as sincerity, actually means being sensitive to the feelings of others. In Western terms, however, when we speak of being sincere, we invoke a principle that transcends personal relations. Sincerity, as Westerners understand it, takes the risk of offending for the sake of something greater or higher. The great allure of cowboy "Western" culture for America rests on this "no-nonsense" style of speech far from the sophisticated wordiness of the East Coast. Or, for that matter, from the barbed sincerity of the Old World. You may recall how Cecily says in Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest "This is no time for wearing the shallow mask of manners. When I see a spade, I call it a spade." To which Gwendolen replies: "I am glad to say I have never seen a spade. It is obvious that our social spheres have been widely different."

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 (445 words)

End of Recording

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Essay Question

Listen to the tape then use what you heard and understood to explain how the specific situations mentioned in the recording illustrate this quotation from " How East and West Differ in Thinking Habits (Brochure : International Herald Tribune 2000):

"[...] people who grow up in different cultures do not just think about different things: they think differently."

Write a 400 to 450 word essay maximum.

Do not be vague, use specific examples and as much class material as possible.

Direct quoting from the recording will be counted against you.

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Meanwhile: Yours sincerely

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Meanwhile: Yours sincerely