My dream for this year is to work hard and be successful and achieve high grades in all my subjects though for the future, I have much bigger dreams. I want to be able to attain many things and reach my goals. One of my main goals is helping the poor. I have done a lot of work in the past to do with that because it is something I genuinely care a lot about. Family is my number one priority and what i care about the most.
I was born and raised in Germany and at the age of 12 moved to England. Throughout my whole life i only ever lived in Europe and experienced similar cultures within Europe so when i moved to Abu Dhabi it was a whole new experience for me. To me culture is a system that include components that have been developed over time by a group of people which includes language, myth, laws, practices, customs but a main part of culture is religion, religion has a great impact on culture and how people think, religious practices are a main aspect in cultures. I identify with an Afro Arab (Sudanese) culture that is very closely knit to religion- mainly Islam. which has great influences and affects it a lot. For instance in my culture one of our daily practices is praying 5 times a day and fasting during the holy month of Ramadan which is all linked back to religion.
In previous times I have felt excluded from a culture due to language barriers because the only source of communication is by using a language that I couldn't understand
In previous times I have felt excluded from a culture due to language barriers because the only source of communication is by using a language that I couldn't understand
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| Mosque- where prayers are held and a main monument in my culture |
Language plays a big role in my life. I am fluent in three languages and it is the key aspect in my life. It is the only way of being able to communicate in my everyday life. I have to talk to different people in different languages. Language is a complex system used to communicate our advanced thoughts and ideas for cultures. Language and religion both go hand in hand into culture because they are the key necessities of a culture. They develop cultures to a higher and more complex system, before a way people would communicate cultural ideas and practices through noises and sign gestures that wouldn't be understandable which is where we see how language impacts a culture.
This is a great and insightful article. One question, do you feel as if since you were raised outside of Sudan you have lost (some of) that part of you?
ReplyDeleteYes, I do. I mean I visit there a lot but its not the same as living. Sometimes when I visit i will feel quite left out of things due to barriers. I feel a part of me is quite lost and not aware on what I'm missing out on.
ReplyDeleteI like how you talk about language barriers. This actually relates back to what I said about loss of languages from generation to generation. I have a feeling that many languages are going to be lost in the next generation or the generation after that. So we must be extremely careful with the next gen of kids and should teach them how to speak their mother tongues from a small age onwards. I know it sounds awkward for a 16 year old to talk about children but hopefully you get my point. And of course this is my point of view, an opinion and no offence was intended.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, nice work! Keep it up!
I love how you talk about language and how it can be both a barrier and also a way to reach different people. I also like your description of language and how it has developed to play a major role in our life. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI really like the way you linked religion and culture. I didn't notice how important the role of religion in a culture is prior to this blog post. Good job!
ReplyDeleteI could totally relate to your post! You're post especially explained to me the significance of religion in culture and that is something I did not acknowledge before. I could tell you have allot of background and first-hand knowledge from your post, great job! :)
ReplyDeleteI actually never saw religion as playing such a big role in culture, so this new point of view was really interesting to read!! I also identified with what you said about "language is the key aspect in my life". It made me realize how important it was, and how lost we would be without any language at all. :) It's also really cool to see someone from our generation that really appreciates religion, as that's pretty rare. Most of us now seem to treat pop culture as our religion.... Nice job!!
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