الأحد، 16 أكتوبر 2011

Definitions

1. Affluence = wealth.
Abu Dhabi is an example of an affluent society.
The opposite of affluence is poverty.

2. Ethnicity is related to culture, race, language.
Malaysians consist of three main ethnic groups: Malays, Chinese and Indians.

3. Ability = skill = aptitude.
He has the ability to get good grades.

4. Diversity = difference.
The UAE nowadays is an example of a culturally diverse society.

5. Assimilation = absorption.
People emigrating to other countries will gradually assimilate into a new culture.

6. Demographics = the study of population.
You can study a country's demographics in many different ways, e.g. race, language, religion, age, gender.

7. Religion = a set of beliefs.
Religious people try to live according to the teachings of their religion.

8. Race = a group of people with similarities, particularly physical appearance.
People of Malay, Chinese & Indian race share Malaysian nationality.

9. Multiculturalism = many different cultures.
A multicultural society is one where people of different cultural backgrounds live and work together.

10. Personality = Individual character.
She has a very nice personality: kind, patient, tolerant and loving.

11. Prejudice = bias 
Apartheid in S. Africa was based on racial prejudice against black people.

12. Acculturation = the  mixing of different cultures.
It means different cultures borrowing from each other

13.Bias = prejudice.
Bias is a negative opinion of a person or group based on race, colour, culture or whatever.

14. Discrimination = treating people differently.
Apartheid meant discrimination in favour of whites and against blacks.

15. Fringe = edge, margin.
A fringe group is a small minority, usually expressing an extreme opinion.

16. Population = the number of people.
A census is a count of the number of people in a country.

17.Stereotyping = making assumptions or generalisations about a person or group of people.
Americans are rich, while Mexicans are poor.

18. Gender = sex.
There are two genders, male and female.

19. Resistance = opposition.
There have been many signs of political resistance to established governments in the Arab spring of this year.

20. Advantage = a favoured position.
If you are an expatriate, being able to speak the local language is a big advantage.

21. Racism = hatred of another person or group of different race, often based on colour.
The apartheid system in S. Africa was an example of racism.

22.Ethics = morality, i.e. what is right or wrong.
Ethical behaviour is honest behaviour.

23. Productivity = the ability to produce something.
The company's productivity rates are rising.

24. Behaviour = the manner of acting/conduct.
The students' behaviour is very good.

25. Belief = confidence.
I have great belief in her.
Tibetans believe in re-incarnation.

26. Majority = most.
The vast majority of Arabs are Muslim.

27. Income = salary.
All employees have a monthly income.

28. Adverse = bad, harmful.
We didn't go on a picnic because of the adverse weather conditions.

29. Values = beliefs.
I value honesty very highly.

30. Traditions = customs.
They are handed down from generation to generation.

31. Generation = group of people born at about the same time.
In some societies people talk about a generation gap; each generation has its own ideals & standards. 

32. Sensitivity = empathy, awareness of someone else's feelings.
She's very sensitive. She cares about how other people feel.

33. Slang = slightly improper language.
Have a shufti at my blog.

34. Ethnocentrism = seeing everything from viewpoint of your own culture.
An ethnocentric viewpoint is narrow and limited.

35. Stratification = rigid division of society.
The Indian caste system is an example of social stratification.

36. Socio-cultural = relating to society & culture.
Language, race, affluence are all socio=cultural factors.

37. Resident = someone living in a particular place.
Khalid, Aziz and Hedley are all Abu Dhabi residents.

38. Poverty = being poor.
The opposite of poverty is affluence or wealth.

39. Nationality = the country you belong to.
You can have different race or ethnicity but the same nationality.

40. Minority = less than half.
Christians are a minority of the UAE's population.

41. Class = group.
You can have upper class, middle class, lower class.  

42. Globalization = worldwide connectivity.
Global brands or logos today are recognised worldwide; we all know the logos of Nike, McDonald, Mercedes etc.

43. Virtual = not real, imaginary.
Computer games create a virtual world which is not real.

44. Barriers = obstacles.
To make progress you have to climb over or go round or go through barriers.  

السبت، 8 أكتوبر 2011

Blindsight


The movie introduces kinds of cultural diversity in languages; for example there was a Germany women who speaks German but absolutely she communicates in English,  and  also the American guy spoke in English. In addition we can see that there was a lot of religions like Christian and Buddhist.
The people in the movie faced a lot of challenges and the most important one is the blindness, and climbing the highest mountain in the world would be also a big challenge.
Tashi had a thought that they may not accept him for this trip because he was Chinese, but actually they didn’t mind that.
An example of challenges people faced as a result of personality rather than the culture is the Chinese couple beating the blind beggar.
In addition to that there were some benefits like improving confidence and learning some languages; also Tashi found his father at the end.   

الأحد، 2 أكتوبر 2011

Reflection



a-     a- This demographic expresses the numbers from 11 years ago, so probably the facts have changed during this long period of time because of the increase in the birth rates and other reasons.


b-  b-    I think the amount of  Buddhist  now is a little higher because we have got a lot of Asians working in restaurants and as home maids, and most of them are usually Buddhist  so it was about 4%, but now it would probably be higher.