The success of the Former Han Dynasty due to the wise rulers and its impressive internal and external policies

“At last the whole world is mine,” (Edward) declared Liu Bang, who was a commoner whilst the founder of Han, signifying a major breakthrough in China history. There was never a commoner before him had a chance to become emperor of China, as people held the concept of the ruler “all-under-Heaven”, in which he must be a man of noble origin, or a man ordained by Heaven, or a man of great wisdom and virtue (Bishop, 139). Perhaps this unique commoner marked the beginning of a unique dynasty in the history of China. In fact, it did. Among the most glorious periods in China history was the era of Han dynasty. Consisted of the Former Han Dynasty and Eastern Han Dynasty, it ruled China for over 400 years (Wright, 50). This paper is going to examine the source of the accomplishment of Former Han Dynasty, which has its capital at Chang’an. Not only did the Former Han Dynasty truly unify the people through its successful internal policies, but its name was started to be known by the world through a series of impressive external policies. Great progress and changes that were witnessed in trade and economics, literature, art and politics, in turns, brought an immense influence to the era after. A number of remarkable leaders that contributed to the Former Han Dynasty include the founder, Liu Bang, and also his successors, such as Emperor Wen-ti, Emperor Ching-ti, Emperor Wu-ti and so on. Indeed, the success of the Former Han Dynasty is fundamentally resulted from the wise rulers, who ruled their country with appropriate policies that responded to the circumstances of the society during their reign.
Either is in the ancient time or today world, the success of a country is largely determined by the leader of that particular nation. Born as a commoner, Liu Bang, appeared to be more aware to the suffering of the common people. Given himself a name “Han Gaozu”, he acted corresponding to the basis of an ancient philosopher, Xunzi’s saying: “The prince is the boat; the common people are the water. The water can support the boat, or the water can capsize the boat” (Morton and Louis, 76). Once he came into his throne, he immediately gave an order to abolish the brutal law of the Qin and restrained his army from looting. By giving peace to the people, he gained the respect from them. Though he was a rude and direct, these common traits, however, “gave his leadership a certain appeal” especially when he decided to discard the policy of Qin Legalism and absolutism that he certainly against to when he used to be a commoner (Morton and Louis, 78). Most impressively, Han Gaozu had the “combination of determination and flexibility”, in which he was willing to retain the standardization and centralization from Qin Dynasty—such as unifying writing system, imperial academy, empire wide legal code and so on—that brought true benefits to the people (Lewis, 64). Realizing the need of order and dignity, he formed a special court procedure that based upon Confucian ideas. He was once a bandit chief and then a successful general, in which made this decision tough for him, as he questioned: “I got the empire on horseback, why should I bother with the Odes or History?” (Morton and Louis, 78). It is even hard for him to marry a Chinese princess to the son of Xiongnu’s emperor, in order avoid the war, under the realization that his dynasty was too weak to confront with anymore destruction (Morton and Louis, 80). Due to the all efforts he made during his reign, an era of a prosperity and stability, hence, begun.
However, it is impossible for a peace and stabilized dynasty to be formed immediately. After a fifteen-year crisis of Empress Lu, the Han Dynasty was back under the control of these two wise rulers successively: Wen-ti (180-157 B.C.) and Ching-ti (157-141 B.C.). Both of these rulers play an important role in the consolidation of the Former Han Dynasty. Though there was nothing extraordinary during Emperor Wen-ti’s reign, his faithfulness in continuing the previous policies and “creating a favourable environment for the development and organization” of the Han Dynasty, were his major achievement (Pfeuti). Emperor Wen-ti had a lovely wife, who was strongly influenced by Taoist writing, in turn conveyed the idea of Taoism to his son, Emperor Ching-ti (Pfeuti). Very much similar to his father, he was a man that listened to the advice of his men and thought from the perspective of the commoners. Emperor Ching-ti, with the help of the two officers, Chia I and Ch’ao Ts’o who embraced Confucian’s ideas (Pfeuti), thus set the strong foundation of the Former Han Dynasty. To instil peace back to the country, he sent a troop of army to gain control over the rebel of the kings, especially those from the remote areas; after that, he divided the kingdoms into a numerous small ones, assigned them to his relatives, and into commanderies placed under his direct rule (Pfeuti). Instead of exercising a more direct and intensified control, he also created a dynasty with perfect livelihood for the people as he reduced the tax and abolished some severe punishment (Pfeuti). During the reign of these two noble man, Emperor Wen-ti and Emperor Ching-ti, the Han Dynasty reached its most peaceful and unification era.
As the interior of China became stabilized, Emperor Wu-ti, the “Martial Emperor”, planned to lead the Han Dynasty to a new era (Gernet, Foster, and Hartman, 121). “Able and fiercely ambitious, he set a new style of personal control of the government process” (Morton and Louis, 80). During his reign, he made a number of impressive changes that never one dares to have a try before. To stretch his influence outward, the first step was to eliminate their biggest enemies, Xiongnu, which was “the great nomadic empire that ruled the lands to the north and the northwest of the Han” from long time ago (Lewis, 20). Tired of bribing them again, Emperor Wu-ti sent Chang Ch’ien out to find alliance; after experienced a ten-year prison crisis by the Xiongnu, Chang Ch’ien brought back not only the information about the countries beyond barbarians, but also opened the emperor’s eyes on the possibility of profitable trades (Converging and Diverging, 79-80). Not to mention that this later economic development—trade with the people beyond China, especially through silk road—played an important role in contributing to the military expansion (Gernet, Foster, and Hartman, 120). From the very first conquest, Xiongnu, until the south, the southwest, Korea and Eastern Central Asia, Han Dynasty reached its glorious moment with its greatest size—eighty-four commanderies and eighteen kingdoms under his reign (Lewis, 21). Though he was portrayed as not an “easy master” and was “hard” to either chancellors or generals, he still received respect and loyalty because of the general morale, patriotism, and self-confidence ran high during his long reign (Morton and Louis, 81). He seems to be an enlightened ruler too. Instead of the external policy, Emperor Wu-ti Ti increasingly ruled as “a patron of a Chinese Civilization embodied in the canon, the imperial academy, and the classic virtues”, in which he encouraged the revival of Confucian studies and also the recruitment of the best scholar for his administration through examination (Lewis, 67; Bishop, 152; Morton and Louis, 53). As a result, the ideology of Confucianism was lasted for almost two-thousand years, until the last imperial dynasty was overthrown in 1911; nonetheless, Confucianism is still having its great influence in China today (Wright, 53). Emperor Wu-ti, who cultivated the most prosperity era of the Han Dynasty, was the sparkling star amongst all the successors of this dynasty. His external policy, which helped in the formation of the contact between Asia, also brought the Former Han Dynasty to an international stage.
Though it is debatable that whether each emperor that mentions above are all of wise ruler because they were human beings and human have weaknesses: Liu Bang was accused of lacking of loyalty especially in the case he destroyed his former allies and replaced them with his own kin (Lewis 64, 90); Emperor Wu Ti, however, haunted by superstitious and wanted to be immortal (Morton and Louis, 54). Perhaps most the emperors had the fear to lose their throne, so neither did they allow anyone to share any political power with them nor did they accept their fate on death. Sarcastically, nothing is everlasting. Neither did the Former Han Dynasty. The ultimate fall of the Former Han Dynasty—which was resulted from the selfish rulers that put themselves before the people—demonstrates that the success of Former Han Dynasty was underlined by the appropriate policies from the responsible rulers. Taking much of its good foundation and getting rid of the bad policies, the Former Han Dynasty was built upon Qin. With further development, it turned out to be the one of the most glorious dynasty in China’s history. Till today, people of China are still referring themselves as “sons of Han” (Morton and Louis, 78). Without those wise rulers, it is almost impossible for the incredible accomplishments which helped to gain reputation, not only within their own people, but amongst the nations around the world.





Works Cited

Lewis, Mark Edward, The Early Chinese Empires: Qin and Han. Harvards University Press, 2007.

Morton, W Scott, and Louis Charlton. China: Its History and Culture. McGraw-Hill Companies, 2004.

Wright, David C. History of China. Greenwood Publishing Group, Incorporated, 2001.

Gernet, Jacquest, Foster J.R., and Hartman Charles. A History of Chinese Civilization. Cambridge University Press, 1996.

Bishop, John L.. Studies if Governmental Institutions in Chinese History. London: Harvards University Press, 1968.

Edward , Mark. "The Han Dynasty". National Geographic Feb 2004.

Pfeuti, Sandrine. "Asian-centre Net Collective". 20 December 2008 .

“Hidden Aspects of Communication”

Reaction paper
(i) A summary of an article related language and culture (Which you may source on your own)
Below is the summary of an article entitled “Hidden Aspects of Communication” written by Dennis O’Neil – downloaded from the internet.
1. INTRODUCTION
Communication is far more than speech and writing. Communication also involves the non-verbal communication techniques which includes the use of gestures, glances, slight changes in tone and voice and other auxiliary communication devices to alter or emphasize what we say and do. We learn these highly culture bound techniques over years largely by observing others and imitating them.

Linguist refers to all of these auxiliary communication devices as paralanguage. Paralanguage is often more important in communication than what is actually being said orally. It is believed that at least 60% of what we communicate when talking directly with others is through paralanguage.

Most of the linguists agree that apart from the use of language which includes speech and writing, the communication process also includes the appropriate use of paralanguage which includes kinesics, tone and character of voice, proxemics as well as clothing, makeup and etc.

2 .KINESICS is the most obvious form of paralanguage. It is also known as body language. The gestures include the use of arms and hands to say good-bye, point, express excitement, threaten and etc. Our head and shoulder in combination may shrug to indicate that we do not know something. While the meaning of some gestures, such as a smile, may be the same throughout the world, the meaning of others may be different. For example, spitting on another person is assign of utmost contempt in North America but can be affectionate blessing if done in a certain way among the Masai of Kenya.
3. TONE AND CHARACTER OF VOICE - The meaning of speech can be also altered significantly by tone and character of voice. In English, the simple sentence “I’m here.’ Can have different connotations depending on whether it is spoken with a voice that is high, low, quick, slow, rising, falling, whispering, whining, yelling, or sighing. Similarly, the sentence “Are you here?” has a different meaning if it is spoken in an ascending tone in contrast to a descending one.

4. PROXIMICS - When we speak to another individual or group, the distance our bodies are physically apart also communicates a paralanguage message. We usually have a sense of what is a comfortable interaction distance to a person we are speaking. The nature of the message communicated also affects interaction distances. Average comfortable distances among people are shown in the following table:-

Distance between faces Tone of voice Type of message
Very close (3”-6”) Soft whisper Top secret or sensual
Close (8” – 12”) Audible whisper Very confidential
Neutral (20” -36”) Soft voice, low volume Personal subject matter
Neutral (4.5” -5”) Full voice Non- personal information
Across the room (8” -20”) Loud voice Talking to a group
Stretching the limits
(20”-24” indoor and up to 100” outdoors) Loud hailing voice Departure and arrivals

5. CULTURAL USE OF SPACE
In North American corporate offices, the boss is usually physically isolated in a very separate private room. This minimizes his or her personal contact with ordinary workers. In contrast, Japanese offices commonly are set up with the boss ‘s desk at the end of a row of pushed together desks used by subordinate employees. This maximizes his interaction with them. Thus, people of different cultural background
tends to uses “ spaces” differently with different perception about space.

6. CULTURAL USE OF TIME
Culture tells us hoe top manipulate time in order to communicate messages. In some of the culture especially the American, punctually in time of dinner or appointment means politeness and respect to your counterpart or friend. However in some of the Asian country, the men with higher status have the habit of coming a little bit late than the others in order to show that they have higher rank or superior than the others.
When people come together with very different cultural expectations about time, there is potential misunderstanding, frustration, and hurt feelings. Therefore it is necessary to learn about others’ perception about time so that we can minimize misunderstanding when we interact with friend and people which have different cultural background

7. COMMUNICATING WITH CLOTHES
People in all cultures use clothing and other forms of bodily adornment to communicate status, intentions and other messages. Long before we are near to talk to someone , their appearances announces their gender, age, economic class , and often even intention. People of different cultural background usually dress differently in different time and places. Putting on certain types of clothing can change our behavior and the behavior of others towards us.. Thus , it is very important to learn about others’ perception about CLOTHES and always be aware of what we are wearing!

8. GENDER DIFFERENCES IN PARALANGUAGE
When traveling to other societies, it is important to understand that there are likely to be significant gender differences in paralanguage I addition to clothes and adornment.
In North America, for instance, men generally prefer face to face conversations and maintain direct eye contact longer. In contrast, women often conserve standing side by side but closer together than is typical for man. Male hand shakes tend to be firmer> in Japan However, women most often speak with an artificially high pitch, especially conversing with men in a business or official setting

9. CONCLUSION The human communication process is more complex than it initially seems. Much, if not most, of our messages in face to face contact are transmitted through paralanguage. These auxiliary communication techniques are highly culture bound. Communication with people from the other societies or ethnic groups is fraught with the danger of misunderstanding if their culture and paralanguage is unknown.

(ii) & (iii) My personal reaction to the article, especially as it relate to your daily life, and end with at least one insightful question as the last sentence in the reaction.
As a person who was born and grew up here in this beautiful country , Malaysia. I am so used to and are very familiar with the various types of the hidden aspects of communication found in my society as well as my nation.
Malaysia is a multi racial and multi cultural country. There are many races here such as the Malay, the Chinese, the Indian, the Iban, the Kadazan, Bidayuh, Kelabit, Dusun, Murut and many others. Besides, there are also many foreign visitors which come to visit the country every year. Thus, this gives me a lot of opportunity to interact with different people which are of different races from time to time.

My Ideal School

As a student, there is always a dream deep inside my heart. I wish I could go to an ideal school. In that school, I will be well-educated, grow up happily and become a responsible citizen of the country. My ideal school must posses the following features:
A good library with a large numbers of references, story books, cassettes, CDs and the other relevant materials. This will enable the students to acquire various knowledge and resources that are needed for assignments .The library must be equipped with computers and ICT software so that the students can access to the internet and link themselves to the whole world! The library must have a good ventilation system, audio visual equipments and must be spacious and comfortable enough to accommodate hundreds of students at any time.
Good roads, well-planned drainage system, a modern gymnasium, a good canteen, good courts and a stadium with good running tracks plus many others facilities are of course another aspect of an ideal school. Without these excellent infrastructure and facilities, it cannot be considered as an ideal school.
The syllabus and the contents of Geography and History in this school should be broadened. The roles of the natives in developing the country must be high lighted; however, the contributions of the non natives in the past should not be forgotten too. History of the other countries and geography of the other regions should be included. The younger generation of this beloved country should be exposed to a wider horizon so that they have the chance to know more about the rest of the world. The young generation which is educated in such a way absolutely would definitely to be more tolerance and responsible.
A team of dedicated teachers is definitely the most important factor which determines the success and the performance of the school. The teachers must be talented and dedicated to their profession. I am expecting a team of teachers with pleasant appearance and attractive personalities. I wish that they will educate us with patience and love. I hope they will always bring us sunshine and encouragement besides imparting the necessary knowledge and skills.
A fresh environment must be created so that the students can study well and are always in good mood. They will grow up with good health and are always fit for all kinds of activities. I want my school to be planted with flowers and trees. I wish there are beautiful landscaping which are able to impress the visitors, and inspires us to always strive for excellence!
Good school rules are of course important for an ideal school. Fighting is not acceptable at the School. Any fighting will result to a three day suspension. Parents will be contacted as soon as possible. If any student is suspended five times they will be expelled from the school. Threatening a student is not allowed at the School. The consequences will be the same as fighting. Students in the school are always reminded to respect others the same way he or she would like to be treated. Lazy students who are unable to complete their homework at home will be detente after school hours, and they are only allowed to leave after they have completed their works.
An outstanding school culture is another feature of the ideal school. The students must posses a very high spirit of achieving for the best in whatever fields they are in. They are always proud of their school. They are well-behaved. They are willing to struggle in order to uphold the image of the school.
An ideal school is a well-managed school. The Principal is capable and considerate. He treats teachers and students well. He tries his best to administer the school. The teachers and staff are happy to serve in the school. The students are willing to play their roles and be smart in all aspects
The school fees must also be reasonable so that it will not burden the parents. Extra fees will only be collected if it is necessary.
The salary and benefit of the teachers and staff must also be considered. They must be paid well so that they feel secured and happy. Happy teachers will work well and educate the students better. Thus, we may also say that well-paid teachers produce excellent students
Apart from the above features, the school should also keep pace with the latest teaching methods. Students’ self-learning method, teamwork, learning through discussion, and other good skills should be introduced to the students. With that, learning would be a fulfilling, exciting experience, and students learn to be independence and are able to explore knowledge by themselves. Most importantly, when the students grow up and graduated, they are better prepared for life.

Hi Wei Xin (789 words)
SMK Chung Hua Miri, Sarawak

HOW TO STUDY WELL

Relax but serious. I mean, just relax, enjoy what you study. Don't feel that is a burden or weighted obligation. But focus on what you study. Set a progress target or something. The bottom line is you don't study in order to get best scores only. You study because you want to understand and master something. When you understand and master what you study, those good scores will follow automatically.

one and only remedy is hard work and determination

Stay focus and organise your time and be committed to what you are aiming for 。


Everyone has their own method. How do you learn ? by memorization, repetition? As for me I use the note card method. I write down things that I cant seem to remember and go over and over them until I get it. I throw out the cards or sheets of paper that I know and focus on the rest.


Studying well means good preparation before hand. Make sure you take good notes in class, or they will be worthless to you when you want to study. Look over your notes at least once a week so you don't forget everything and have to cram.

Your grade in the class will have almost nothing to do with how smart you are. It will simply reflect how much and how well you study.

Almost all (>99%) problems are caused by
inadequate study time or poor use of your study time.
The people at the top of the class aren't any smarter than anyone else - they are just better at organizing and using opportunities to study

How to Study WELL, not just harder!

Ernest Hemingway - The Old Man and the Sea - 1952 - Short Synopsis

The Old Man and the Sea is the story of an epic struggle between an old man and a big fish. Santiago is the very old Cuban fisherman who’s been unable to catch a fish for eighty four days. Santiago has an apprentice called Manolin. Manolin adores the old man but his parents tell him he must stop fishing with Santiago because he is not catching any fish or making any money.

Santiago is convinced one day he will begin to catch fish again and that he is just going through an unlucky time but his luck will change. Manolin takes the old man food and baitfish to help him to keep fishing.

Hemingway's story tells of the day that Santiago takes his skiff (boat) out much farther into the sea than usual, thinking if he goes into deeper waters he will catch a fish. Santiago ventures far into the Gulf Stream. He prepares his lines and drops them. At noon, a big fish, which Santiago knows to be a Marlin because he's a very knowledgeable and experienced fisherman, takes the bait at 100 fathoms. The old man expertly hooks the fish, but cannot pull it in. Instead, the fish begins to pull the boat. The old man, Santiago is unable to simply tie the line fast to the boat because the fish might break the line, so he holds the fish fast by himself. The strain of holding the large fish bends the old man's shoulders and back but he holds on to the line, trying to control the large Marlin fish.

Santiago holds onto the fish for two days and two nights. It swims steadily northwest until at last it tires and swims east with the current. Santiago endures constant pain from the fishing line. The line is cutting into his hands, his back is strained and bent and his shoulders are exhausted with the struggle with the fish.. Whenever the fish lunges, leaps, or makes a dash for freedom, the line pulls through Santiago's hands and cuts them badly.

As he struggles, the old man feels a deep empathy and admiration for the marlin. He admires the courage and determination of the fish to escape. On the third day the fish tires and Santiago, exhausted, having had no sleep for three nights and in deep pain because of the strength he has had to show to control the fish somehow manages to pull the Marlin close enough to his boat for him to thrust a harpoon in its body. He kills the fish. It's the largest fish Santiago has ever seen. He lashes it to the craft, raises the small mast, and man and fish sail for home together.

Blood pours from the wounded Marlin's body and leaves a trail of blood in the water. Sharks, attracted by the blood inevitably appear. The old man fights the sharks off as best he can. He kills a few but this attracts more sharks. When darkness falls it is impossible for Santiago to fight off the sharks anymore. They devour the Marlin, leaving only the skeleton of the fish, its head, and its tail.

Santiago admonishes himself for going out to far into the ocean. He gets back to his home and collapses on his bed. Totally exhausted. The next morning, a crowd of amazed fisherman gather around the skeletal carcass of the fish, still lashed to the boat. Manolin, who has been worried sick at the old man's absence, is moved to tears to find Santiago safe in his bed. The boy watches over the old man's sleep. When the old man wakes, he and Manolin agree to fish together again. The old man falls asleep once more. That afternoon, tourists observe the remains of the giant marlin and mistake it for a shark.

FOOTNOTE - This is an aricle written by Stephen Kinzer after the death of Gregorio Fuentes (who was perhaps the model for Santiago in 'The Old Man and the Sea')

This article was published in the New York Times January 28th 2002

The Old Man Who Loved the Sea, and Papa By STEPHEN KINZER OAK PARK, Ill., Jan. 28 - When the leathery old body of Gregorio Fuentes, Ernest Hemingway's fishing companion and confidant, finally gave out earlier this month in Cuba, the sadness spread back here to the Chicago suburb where Hemingway was born and raised.

There was the sense of an era ending, a door closing. Hemingway's youngest sister survives, as does one of his sons, but few others now alive can claim to have known him well.

"The necrology is kind of ominous, with two of his sons passing away in the last year or so and now Gregorio," said Scott Donaldson, president of the Hemingway Society. "It reminds you of how far back in time he was. He's been dead for more than 40 years now."

Hemingway always admired and often wrote about men like Gregorio Fuentes, whom he found wise, courageous, close to nature and blessed with innate nobility. During the years that Hemingway spent in Cuba, when he evolved from a gifted writer into a myth-shrouded giant who dominated and defined a generation, he spent many afternoons on his boat in the company of Fuentes.

But even in recent years, when he was much sought after by tourists, Fuentes kept his employer's secrets.

"He liked to tell stories, but he was also pretty circumspect," said Scott Schwar, executive director of the Hemingway Foundation here, who met Fuentes several times during the last years of his life. "He never really got into gossiping, although he certainly would have been able to."

Hemingway and Fuentes were bound together by a passion for fishing. The open sea formed the backdrop for a great literary career and for the enduring Hemingway legend, a legend that some scholars now say is nonsense.

Fuentes was a born seaman who rode out four hurricanes, swam through shark-infested waters to rescue a drowning man and could feel in his bones precisely where the biggest marlin, sailfish and tarpon would be running, or so Hemingway asserted. In a 1949 article, Hemingway said that his own role on their boat was to hook the prey and then "gradually work him closer and closer and then in to where Gregorio can gaff him, club him and take him onboard." Fuentes was born in the Canary Islands sometime between 1897 and 1899. There are different accounts of how he met Hemingway, one having to do with a storm in the Gulf of Mexico from which the two men found shelter together. In any case they struck up an acquaintance, and around the time Hemingway settled in Cuba in 1939, he hired Fuentes as his boatman.

"I know that he would rather keep a ship clean and paint and varnish than he would fish," Hemingway once wrote. "But I know too that he would rather fish than eat or sleep."

The boat on which the two spent countless hours, the Pilar, was 34 feet long, made of American black oak and had a cruising range of 500 miles. Hemingway paid the Wheeler Shipyard in Brooklyn $7,500 for her in 1934, $3,000 of which was advanced by Arnold Gingrich, editor of Esquire, as payment for future articles.

The writer and actor George Plimpton had less than happy memories of one fishing expedition on the Pilar. "We were out all day and didn't catch anything except a barracuda," he recalled. "It cut somebody's hand - I forget who - and it was a real mess, blood all over the hold."

Much serious fishing was done aboard the Pilar, and much else as well. Jeffrey Meyers, a Hemingway biographer, recently described it as "kind of a floating whorehouse and rum factory as well as a fishing boat."

Fuentes never said anything like that, but he did offer a few glimpses of Hemingway's drinking habits. He had inclusive tastes but favored Gordon's gin above all. Whenever possible he drank only from freshly opened bottles.

On many of their trips, Fuentes told stories that he had heard in seaside towns around the Caribbean, and some of them may have worked their way into Hemingway's fiction. He claimed to have been a model for the weather-beaten fisherman in "The Old Man and the Sea," a claim that some biographers say is at least partly true.

"The old man was thin and gaunt with deep wrinkles in the back of his neck," Hemingway wrote of his fisherman, words that could easily have described Fuentes. "The blotches ran well down the sides of his face and his hands had the deep-creased scars from handling heavy fish on the cords. But none of these scars were fresh. They were as old as erosions in a fishless desert."

During most of the 20 years when Cuba was his home - longer than he lived anywhere else - Hemingway presided over a hilltop estate called Finca Vigía, where hummingbirds flitted among the mango trees. He rose early and spent mornings at work, standing at his typewriter wearing a favorite pair of oversized moccasins. For lunch he would sometimes visit La Terraza in nearby Cojímar, where his boat was moored, or drive to Havana, a few miles away, to visit one of his two favorite bars, the Floridita or the Bodeguita del Medio. Nights were for reading or entertaining.

As often as possible Hemingway broke away from his work to answer the call of the sea, which meant the call of Fuentes and the Pilar.

"His life on that boat was certainly one of the things he enjoyed most, aside from his work," said his son, Patrick Hemingway, who lives in Montana. "I do think that in Cuba they've made too much about Gregorio being the one who taught Ernest Hemingway all he knew about fishing. That's not so. But my dad had a lot of respect for people who find simple but honorable lives, and he saw that in Gregorio."

When Hemingway won the Nobel Prize in 1954, he told Fuentes, "We will have very much money now." That turned out to be true, but there was another consequence. Visitors began turning up uninvited at Finca Vigía, sometimes by the dozen. Fuentes took on a new job, ferrying Hemingway and his fourth wife, Mary Welsh, to an abandoned cay where they could bathe and Hemingway could work uninterrupted.

In July 1960 Hemingway left Finca Vigía and, after stops in New York and Madrid, landed in Idaho, where he had bought a house on 17 acres of land. The following spring, an American-backed force of exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs. It was a shattering event for Hemingway writer, because it marked the final break between the United States and Cuba, and therefore the impossibility of his return to the home he loved.

Some scholars say this realization may have helped propel him toward suicide, which he attempted for the first time on the very day news of the Bay of Pigs invasion was reported. He took his life on July 2, 1961.

Soon after, fishermen in Cojímar decided to erect a bust of the American who had lived among them. There was no metal available, so they contributed old propellers, deck ornaments and whatever else they could spare. It was melted down, and the resulting monument was unveiled on the first anniversary of his death in Cojímar's dusty main square, where it still stands.

Finca Vigía, now owned by the Cuban government, remains almost exactly as Hemingway left it. Bottles of Cinzano, their wrappers dry and bleached, are still in the wine rack. Books spill from shelves, even in the bathroom. Researchers have discovered that he annotated about one- third of them, and are now compiling his notes in search of new insights. Walls and floors are covered with animal head and skins that Hemingway brought home from safaris in Africa.

The house has a distinctly masculine feel, and fits the traditional image of Hemingway as a man's man for whom hunting, fishing, boxing and bullfighting were the purest of pursuits. That image is now under withering attack.

"There's been a total change in the field, a huge reaction against the old conventional wisdom," said Susan Beegel, editor of The Hemingway Review. "It's not a reaction against Hemingway, but against the male critics and scholars of an earlier era who created this one-dimensional macho image of him."

"These days, people are writing about how real and complex his female characters are, how sensitively he portrayed romantic relationships, and how ambivalent he really was about manhood and gender," Ms. Beegel said. "Feminist and gay-oriented scholars have discovered him with a vengeance. It's really amazing to see how positively a lot of them view him."

After Hemingway's death Fuentes continued to work when he could, both as a fisherman and charter captain. Hemingway left the Pilar to him, but soon the Cuban government placed it on dry-land display at Finca Vigía. Whether Fuentes donated the vessel freely or under duress remains unclear.

Like the rest of Cuba, Cojímar drifted into isolation after Fidel Castro's revolution and the American trade sanctions that followed. More than a few boats have left its harbor under cover of night for desperate runs to Florida. But unlike other local fishermen, Fuentes had something to fall back on: his memories of Hemingway. They gave him celebrity status and allowed him to live differently from his neighbors.

"Gregorio is possibly the only fisherman in the world who owns authentic Robert Capa and Karsh photos," the Cuban author Norberto Fuentes (no relation) once observed. "Karsh's famous portrait of Hemingway hangs in his living room."

When tourism to Cuba picked up in the 1990's, Finca Vigía became an attraction once more. Visitors could look through open doors and windows but not actually enter the house. Those wishing to take photographs were sometimes charged $5 a shot.

Tour buses that made the trip to Finca Vigía often stopped at La Terraza, where Hemingway favored the shrimp and crab dishes. There Fuentes was the top attraction. He began charging $50 to spin 15 minutes worth of yarns about his days with Papa, speaking in Spanish with a cigar between his teeth.

Sometimes his stories were about fishing trips, like one on which the writer supposedly landed a 1,542- pound marlin. Other times they would have a literary aspect, as when he told a journalist about the night Hemingway was considering titles for his famous novella. "I said to him, `Look, its about an old man. And it's about the sea.' And Papa said, `Yes, that's it!' "

Here in Oak Park, where Hemingway did his first writing and where the name E. Hemingway is inscribed among others at the base of a memorial to local men who served in World War I, a museum to his memory draws more than 10,000 visitors each year.

Its prize exhibit is the famous breakup letter he received from Agnes von Kurowsky, the 26-year-old American nurse he fell in love with while he was a teenager recovering from his war wound at a Milan hospital. She became the model for Catherine Barkley, the beautiful English nurse in "A Farewell to Arms" who treats and loves an American soldier hospitalized in Italy.

"I know that I am still very fond of you, but, it is more as a mother than as a sweetheart," she wrote. "I can't get away from the fact that you're just a boy - a kid. I somehow feel that some day I'll have reason to be proud of you, but, dear boy, I can't wait for that day."

the role of a literary critic

Based on your reading on the romantic period in chapter 4, please write an essay on the role of a literary critic. You may refer to either secondary material to support your discussion. The essay should be between 4 – 5 pages in length.

1. Introduction
Before going into detail discussing about the role of literary critic, it is important for us to know about the actual meaning of the words “literary” as well as “critic”
According to Oxford Advanced Learner Dictionary of Current English,
Literary means
(1) of literature or authors (2) having to do with literature (3)things concerning with written works that are regarded as having artistic merit where as
Critic means
(1)A person who assesses literary or artistic works. (2) a person who forms and gives judgements, especially about literature, art, music and etc.
Therefore, according to the meaning derived from the dictionary, we can define Literary critic as a person who forms and give judegements about literary works or a person who assesses literature as well as written works that are regarded as having artistic merit.

2. Literary Critics paved a way for the good changes in literature
Ever since Aristotle’s Poetics was written and published, western tradition of literary criticism began. Aristotle was regarded as the first literary critic in the history of western literature world who gave significant impact to the changes of literature. Aristotle is certainly innovative in applying the tools of physical science – critical observation and the analytic method to literary studies. Aristotle
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had assured to the writers that the aim of literary critic is not to find fault but rather seeking out values and to appreciate the good side and the beauty of the literary works.
The literary critics that existed for many centuries paved a way for some changes - the writers became more alert of the weakness of their works and thus tried to change and made improvement towards their literary works from time to time

3. Literary Critics – Seeking Out Values rather than finding faults
The Romantic period however, was a great period of music and poetry and Romantic theory also revolutionized assumptions about the role of the criticism. From Aristotle through to the eighteen century, the critic had typically taken up a position with the audience, evaluating the effects produced and generalizing about the means for producing such effects. But under the dispensation, the critic proposed to take up a position with the author, sympathetically identifying with the creative act. This revolution changed not merely the way that critics went about their business, but the kind of business that they were expected to go about
Herder, one of the famous critic during the Romantic period stressed that however the critic should seek to become the servant of the author, his friend, seeking out values rather than finding faults. Thus, those in fact should be the fundamental role of literary criticism. Criticism thus also became the Appreciation in the ‘praise of beauties’ mode which was to persist throughout the nineteenth century.

4. Literary Critics - Give Rise to the Trend of Imaginative Creation.
Literary critic also gave rise to the trend of imaginative creation. Friedrich Schleegal of German, another famous critic during the Romantic Era is very favour of such theory. Friedrich Schlegal named the “imaginative creation” as
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“fantastics” . According to Friedrich, literary critic led the reader and public to pick up the habit and acquire the technique of positive appreciation and always attempting to identify with the particular goals of the particular work. Such a good habit will make the audience or reader to have self-improvement within themselves, and their criticism also gave a drive to the authors and encourage them to produce better works .Criticism, as according to Friedrich Schleegal is “is not to judge works by a general ideal, but is to search out the individual ideal of every work”. He especially promoted a genetic form of criticism, which begins by intuiting the author’s secret intention, which he pursues in silence and of which we can never assume too many in a genius.
Friedrich Schleegal also states that the literary work as a whole is something more than the sum of its part, and can never be reached by a mere addition or assembling of part to part. The reader critic must juggle between parts and whole or two different level simultaneously.

5. Schlelermacher -Theory of interpretation - an intuition of the whole beyond the parts – we must seek to bring into consciousness much that could remain unconscious for the authors
Schlelermavher’s critic had open a new horizon to the world of the literature. With the discoveries of the theory of interpretation, Schlelermacher claims that the work of art exists most truly in the mind of its creator. ‘The inner image is the work of the art proper’. However, according to him, this inner image is not something about which the creator can inform us; on the contrary, Schlelermavher claims to be able to understand authors better than they have understood themselves.
The literary critic and the audience or reader should seek to bring into consciousness much that could remain unconscious for the authors, this is another role of the literary critic according to Schlelermavher.
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6. To appreciate and to praise the beauties of the literary works
Another significant role of literary critic as we can derived from the British literary criticism is enabling the audience and the reader to appreciate and to praise the beauties of the literary works..
The poet-critics such as Wordworth, Shelley and Keats write a lot of comments and criticism about poetry and regards “poetry as self-expression”, They also believed that poetry is simply the action of imagination of the poets upon the outside world, it is a kind of the poet’s unconscious creation. They also wrote many criticism on the side of the author, this helped the author to correct themselves, made appropriate changes and produced better works!

7. Self- realization about moral values and to be wide-minded openness and be responsiveness to others
The British poet-critics are very concerned about the moral effect of the poetry. They believed that good poems can influence and change the life of the reader! The British poet-critics came up with a new moral effect which could operate in a more direct manner.
Wordworth, a famous British literary critic talked of the poet as “ carrying everywhere with him relationship and love” and as “widening the sphere of human sensibility”. Even though it is not the poet’s business to inculcate any specific moral code, it is their responsibility however, to encourage in the reader a wide-minded openness and be responsiveness to others. Wordworth saw the important of such openness and responsiveness for his own period due to the increasing urbanization and economic rationalism during the Romantic period!

8. To understand that Literature and literary production is about life – It is not distinct or separable from the rest of mankind’s character and activity Romantic theory arrived late in France, but was soon taken by a critic whose
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reputation eventually outshone all others: Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve. Sainte-Beuve.favoured form was the portrait in which he characterized the sensibility of an author with reference to both works and life. For Sainte-Beuve, the writing of the author and the life are connected, but not necessarily similar. Sainte-Beuve hold firm and tightly to his idea and had tried his best to convinced the others that “Literature is all about life”
His famous quotation which sums up his approach is:

Literature, literary production, as I see it, is not distinct or separable from the rest of the mankind’s character and activity. I may enjoy a work, but it is hard for me to judge it independently of my knowledge of the man who produced it, and I am inclined to say, let arbre, tel fruit – the fruit is like the tree.

9. Poems are produced as a result of poets self-discovery when he encounter with nature and surrounding
Emerson, however believed that The poets represents the individual soul in it encounter with the over-soul. He places comparatively little value upon the poem as a creation in language and he believed that the poet’s experience entirely determines the content, and the content entirely determines the form. “The sense dictates the rhythm,…..Ask the fact for the form” . He claims and as a same time trying to convince the others that “the world is God’s book and nature offers all her creatures to (the poet) as a picture language ….”

10. Poem should only concerned with beauty and , it is a kind of craft and should not be morally instructive
Poe, a famous France critic during the Romantic period insisted that Poem should only concerned with beauty and , and the reader and audience should regard the poems as a kind of craft and just appreciate the beauty of the poems . The poems however should not be morally instructive. Poe condemned all kinds of moral effect of the poems. Poe did
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not believed inspiration and spontaneity, and the authenticity of personal emotion.

11. Conclusion
The hard works and attempts of the literary critics especially during the Romantic period created a new horizon for the world of literature. Different literary critics had came out with their own idea about literature. Each of them represent a different school of thought. Such an influx of different perspective in literary world had given a new life to the literature’s world and it paved a way the production of many great works in literature.
For the writers and the authors in general, the present of these literary critics however made them more alert of their fault and mistakes. This provided
them opportunity to make good changes and gave them rooms for further improvements.
For the readers and audience however, the present and influx of literary criticism gave them an opportunity to widen their horizon in literature. With this , they can made some self-improvement . They could observe and appreciate literary works from different angles and would not see the works from only a sigle view. In such a way , definitely they would be able to treasure something which is hidden but very precious in literature and have the chance to appreciate the real wonders in literary world!





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REFERENCES

1 Richard Harland
Literary Theory from Plato to Barthes ,
London, Macmillan Press, 1999

2 Eliot, T. S The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism .London
Faber and Faber limited, 1980.

3 M. A Quayum, Rosli Talif (Eds.) Dictionary of Literary Terms
Revised Edition, Petaling Jaya: Prentice Hall, 2000.

4 X.J Kennedy, Dorothy M Kennedy, Dana Gioia,(1995) sixth Edition
Literature, An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry and Drama
Harper Collins College Publisher, New York

5 Sylvan Barnet (1996) 7th Edition
A Short Guide to Writing about Literature
Harper Collins College Publisher, New York



























CONTENT PAGE


( 1) Introduction 1
Definition - What is literary critics ?

( 2 ) Literary Critics paved a way for the good changes in literature 1


( 3) Literary Critics – Seeking Out Values rather than finding faults 2


( 4) Literary Critics - Give Rise to the Trend of Imaginative Creation. 2

(5) Schlelermacher -Theory of interpretation - an intuition of 3
the whole beyond the parts – we must seek to bring into
consciousness much that could remain unconscious for the authors
(6) To appreciate and to praise the beauties of the literary works 4

(7) Self- realization about moral values and to be wide-minded 4
openness and be responsiveness to others

(8) To understand that Literature and literary production is about life 4

(9) Poems are produced as a result of poets self-discovery when he 5
encounter with nature and surrounding

(10) Poem should only concerned with beauty and , it is a kind of 5
craft and should not be morally instructive
(11) Conclusion 6

REFERENCES 7





UNIVERSITI PUTRA MALAYSIA
INSTITUT PENDIDIKAN DAN PENDIDIKAN JARAK JAUH
INSTITUTE FOR DISTANCE EDUCATION AND LEARNING (IDEAL)


PROGRAM: BABE

SEMESTER: 7

SESI: NOV2004/2005

KOD KURSUS: BBL 3103

NAMA KURSUS: LITERARY THEORY FROM PLATO TO T.S ELIOT
(Teori Sastera dari Era Plato ke Era S. Eliot)
TAJUK TUGASAN:
Based on your reading on the romantic period in chapter 4, please write an essay on the role of a literary critic. You may refer to either secondary material to support your discussion. The essay should be between 4 – 5 pages in length.


PENSYARAH: Dr.Noritah Omar


NAMA PELAJAR: NGU SWEE YIEN ( J 19761 )

PUSAT
PEMBELAJARAN: MIRI, SARAWAK


















Dr. Noritah Omar
Office: A208 (2nd Floor)
Faculty of Modern Language and Communication
Universiti Putra Malaysia
43400UPM Serdang
03-89468695, 012-3359806

Language and Culture in Unity

Compiled and Written by : Hi Fui Jong,
Lot 2250, Taman Bayshore, Jalan Pantai PIasau, Miri.
BBI3215: Introduction to Psycholinguistics

Assignment Task: Language and Culture in Unity

1. Introduction
When someone says the word language and culture, we automatically connect both the words together. It is an automatic instinct that we get as experienced humans to think that way.

- Is there any close relation between language and culture?
- Can we consider language and culture as things that always go hand in hand and always influence each others from time to time?
- Are language and culture in unity?

Before considering the relationship between language and culture, let’s
look into the meaning of this two term and let’s define the terms carefully.

2. What is language ?
The term language refers to the complex of universally human potentialities for vocal communication or, simply the gift of speech. It refer to any one of the thousand systems of communication used by different human societies to convey ideas and thoughts. Together with thought, language is often regards as a distinct abilitiy of human race which enable man to be more superior than other living things in this world.

However, from the psychological’s point of view, language is often regards
as a medium of human communications either in the form of speaking or writing, which enables man to encode and decode ideas , emosion and thoughts.
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In most of the Sociology text book it is often defined as “a system of symbols that allows members of a society to communicate with one another.”

3. What is culture ?
- According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, culture means :
i. the customs and beliefs , art, way of life, and social organaization of a particular country or group.
ii. the beliefs and attitudes about something that people in a particular group or organization share.

The term culture can also refers to the total pattern of human societies, and of human learned behavior transmitted from generation to generation. Cultures are able to transmit due to the presense of human language which enabled all the ideas and values to flourish for many
thousands years.


4 The relationship between language and culture
When one talks about culture, however the mention of language is unnecessary because any particular language is a form of learned behaviour and therefore a part of culture. Thus, both language and culture is interlinked; which is what the Sapir-Whorf hyphothesis state.

5. What is Sapir-Whorf ‘s view about language and culture’s relation?
As we all know, people perceive the world through the cultural lens of language . Similarly, Sapir-Whorf hypothesis also strongly believed that
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language was the isolating and organizing elements of experience and that the individual ‘s culture determines their language.

In this essay, it wiil be argued that the language plays an impaortant role in the construction of human’s culture, how it molds the culture in many different ways and how Sapir-Whorf hypothesis support such view. We are also going to see how language and culture seem to appear in the form of unity in nature.

6. The role of language in human’s thought and culture.
For human all around the world, language seems to be the major means of passing culture from generation to generation. Each language consists of many different symbols that carry out the unique cultural heritage. As Whorf believes that language with different structures conceptualized reality differently.

Expanding on sapir-Whorf’s hyphothesis, a double principle can be stated that the principle of linguistics determination, namely that the way one thinks is determined by language one speaks and the principle of linguistics diversity, that differences among languages must therefore be reflected in the differences in the world views of their speakers. For example, a person speaks Hindu will has a different stand on issue based on cloths than a person that speaks Italian.

The person that speak Italian will most likely believe that it is normal for a
16 year-old girl to be walking down a road wearing a short skirt and a tight ,
short, revealing top. The Hindu speaking person on the other hand will not
only disprove of it, but will feel ti is discriminations to their culture. This


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different in opinion is due to the language, that each person speaks which in turn shape our culture and the way we think and feel in different situations and scenarios. Language allows us to gain knowledge of the past centuries, and how the different culture were back then.

Consequently, language skills not only link us with the past, they set the human imagination free. Language is the way we learn our culture, without language we would not be able to share ideas and pass the culture to our children.
To summarize, it can be said that just as Sapir-Whorf states, people speaking different language perceive the world differently, which up bring the different cultures.

Humans are the only species in the entire world that can communicate the most effectively. Even though other living species (such as birds and ants) do communicate to a certain extent. It is not as well as the way a human communicates. Thus, language both written and spoken distinguishes human being as unique to other creatures since the other creatures do not communicate or interact with each others as well as human.
Language does not just function as a device for reporting experience but also as a way of defining experience which is what culture is about.

The main point of the culture is what you learn from others which is lacking in animals even they still seem to experience culture to some degree. Although animals and human share some properties, human language is based on entirely different principles. Human are not just
simply inteligent but posseses a specific type of communication. Human are unique in their ability to speak and write in language of their own

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which give human beings a culture of some type, where as animals don’t.

7. Language determines the cultural reality of people
Language is an expression of human activity meaning CULTURE, and as human ‘s activities is forever changing, language changes with it too. Language changes least rapidly when the person is isolated from other communities, and most rapidly when they find themselves, so as to speak at the crossroads of the world. Let’s take an example when a person (an Asian) migrates to other country, let’s say to Canada, he or she might experience some cultural shock first. Later on though after a few years or even months he will transform into a new society and get use with the new culture. Without realizing, he will start acting and dressing like Canadians because of the message that he gets from communicating with the people. Perhaps, what seem to be morally wrong like wearing sleeveless tops, short skirt etc will seem acceptable to him then.

The extent to how people change varies, but when people from different cultures come into contact, each will at least adopt a few words from the other language from cultural items or concepts. Thus, culture and social contact and human’s thoughts can influence the rate of linguistic change.
People who try to merge themselves into a new society that has a different language makes people perceive the world differently, just as the Sapir- Whorf hypothesis suggests. Therefore, it is evident that language determines the cultural reality of people.

Neveretheless, language also change as human beings do, but the changes are spread over periods of centuries, instead of years.

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For an example, looking in the mirror each morning there’s no noticeable change from the day before. Yet the time comes when we are not a child but a man then an elderly man. Just like this example language does too like individuals.
There are quite a number of languages that had extinct from the world, for instance, 56 of the oboriginal languages in Canada are dispappearing and why these long-lived language are disappearing is because many people in that particular area do not use it.
To many people, the lost of the language means a lost of the world heritage. The extinction of languages is a major threat to the world culture. If languages were to go extinct one by one, we would only be left with a limited amount of languages and in return a limited number of cultures. This posseses a great threat in that people will not be able to identify themselves in a unique way in the varies country they live in.
Language and culture are closely related, and they keep influencing each other from time to time.



8. Conclusion
From what we have discussed, it is evident that language is what that makes or moulds cultures. Human thoughts and every day activities are greatly influenced by languages. Since these two always go hand in hand and influence each others, thus, we may say that Laguage and culture unity is something that is reasonable, and it is a fact that is accepted by all.

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REFERENCES

1. Aitchison, Jean. 1998.
The articulate Mammal: An introduction to Psycholinguistics(Forth Edition) London :Routledge

2. Sharifah Zainab Syed Abd. Rahman (2001)
Introduction to Psycholingustics , a module for BBI 3215 UPM
Universiti Putra Malaysia.

3. R. A Hudson (1999),
Sociolinguistics,) second Edition, Cambridge University Press.

4. Steinberg, Danny D. 1993, An Intriduction to Psycholinguistics.
London Longman

5. Salzaman Zdenek,
Language, culture and society: An Intriduction to Linguistics Anthropology, Calorado: West view Press 1993




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CONTENT PAGE
1. Introduction 1

2. What is language ? 1

3. What is Culture ? 2

4. The relationship between language and culture 2

5. What is Sapir-Whorf ‘s view about language and culture’s
relation ? 2-3

6. The role of language in human’s thought and culture 3-4

7. Language determines the cultural reality of people 5-6

8. Conclusion 6

REFERENCES 7

Intercultural Communication

Imtroduction
The cocept and the study of “Intercultural communication” is rather young. It became a subject of formal study in the higher institutions only about 30 years ago. However, It is becoming more popular and very important as it has shown its vital role and has made tremendous changes especially in the media and business world.
The disciplines for intercultural communication include the study of anthropology, international relations ,social psychology, sociolinguistics as well as psycholinguistics.

A Definition for “inter”, “Culture” and “Communication”
1. Inter means “between” two or more parties.
2. Culture is a learned set of shared interpretations about beliefs, values, norms, which affects the behaviors of a relatively large group of people. Culture is passed on from adults to children. We are not born with it, it is learned.
(Cultural means things which relates to culture or society)

3. Communication is a symbolic process of interaction among people,
in which they create shared meaning and foster understanding and relationship.

B. What is intercultural communication?
Based on the meanings above, therefore, Intercultural communication can thus be defined as human actions or processes where by people of different cultural backgrounds interact among themselves. Such an interaction takes place continuously around us. Such a process may take place among different communities within a country or happens between people of different nations around the world.
Intercultural Communication is a rather complex, diverse and broad field. In order to simplify its explanation and narrow it down to a few points, listed below are some of the most important features and components of intercultural communication:-
• the interaction and communication between culturally diverse people.
• the attempt to speak "the other person's" language.
• the adaptation of our communicative techniques to the background of the audience or to others.
• the awareness of diplomacy and negotiation techniques that are accepted in the other culture.
• the apprehension that negotiation is an exercise in language and communication.
• the attempt to create shared understanding.
• the knowledge of what certain key words and terms imply
C. What is actually happening when Intercultural Commincation takes place?
People uses all sorts of skills to inter change during the process of intercultural communication. When intercultural communication take places, the things that really happen are the changing of ideas and message transferring by the means language, gestures, facial expression, tone and character of voice, whisper, proximics which means the distance of the bodies when we speak to each other. Besides, intercultural communication also involves the cultural use of space, the cultural use of time, some of the hidden aspects of communication skills as well as the types of clothes that we wear when we go for certain appointments and functions.
D. What are the benefits of having intercultural comminication?
• adapting to global workplace diversity
• engaging in creative problem solving
• enhancing intercultural relationship satisfaction
• gaining intercultural communication flexibility
• deepening self-awareness
• creating an open-minded approach to "the other, the different"
• changing one's attitude and adapting new skills
Basically, any time whenever language is being used, culture enters the picture, and major challenges are ahead of us.
Excellent intercultural communication skills can help us to foster relationship, minimizing misunderstandings among people of different races especially in a multi-racial country such as Malaysia.
(Good relationship among the races can strengthen our nation and make our dream of 2020 vision come true!)
Intercultural communication enables us to know and to learn about culture of other communities around us. Learning about another culture means embracing "the other". Thus, intercultural Communications help to foster a “long lasting inter-human & cross-cultural relations that are built on shared understanding, flexibility and open-mindedness”. Indeed, this is the “dream” which is pursued by many countries.
An as an educator in a multi-racial countrty, having the knowledge and having comprtency in multicultural communication can definitely help us to interact with our student and to understand them better.

E. Problems and difficulties of Intercultural Communication
The human communication process is more complex than it initially seems. Hundreds of problems may arise when intercultural communication takes place. As a person interacts with another person of different cultural background, he may pause and ask himself: Did she understand what I have said ? Why did she look away from me?
Is it okay for me to sit down? What did he mean by that ……and many other questions!
Therefore , a person concerned should have intercultural communication
competence and be wised enough to solve the problem which if not properly handle, may lead to misunderstanding, uncertainty and anxiety.

Conclusion
Definitely, excellent intercultural communication skills which I possessed will enable an educator like me to perform well in my profession and to shine in my career.
We should always aware and realize that we are not only living in a multi racial country, but we are now in the era of globalization. Thus, a person with good intercultural communication skills is always a successful person as he is able to increase his mobility, able to venture into the global market and to conquer the rest of the world.







REFERENCES

1. Aitchison, Jean. 1998.
The articulate Mammal: An introduction to Psycholinguistics(Forth Edition) London :Routledge

2. Sharifah Zainab Syed Abd. Rahman (2001)
Introduction to Psycholingustics , a module for BBI 3215 UPM
Universiti Putra Malaysia.

3. R. A Hudson (1999),
Sociolinguistics,) second Edition, Cambridge University Press.

4. Steinberg, Danny D. 1993, An Intriduction to Psycholinguistics.
London Longman

5. Salzaman Zdenek,
Language, culture and society: An Intriduction to Linguistics Anthropology, Calorado: West view Press 1993
6. Gibson, R. (2002) Intercultural Business Communication. UK: Oxford University Press.