Housing culture – home imaging

 

“Hidaka’s house wasn’t one of the mansions, but it was definitely large for a couple with no children. Though the peaked gables on the roof gave it a Japanese look, it had bay windows, an arch over the front door and window boxes hanging from the second storey that were clearly Western in design.”*

The task of a translator extends far beyond linguistic matters and necessarily involves creating images. The challenge lies in both visualizing the picture in the original text, obvious to the author, and gracefully reproducing it for the reader unfamiliar with the culture in question. An example of this task is the simple word “house”. While almost all dwellings have at least four walls, they vary in material, dimension, outside façade, inside layout and access to light and air, to name just a few factors. It is clear that the sentence “I loved my parents’ home” may elicit a universal feeling but fails to create a single picture, with each person envisioning the building differently. Often, housing styles may be fairly typical in a given country or region, creating a stereotype for those familiar with them. The actual variances may be quite significant or more subtle as I show in a few examples of “typical” homes.

Spanish houses and apartments, at least in cities, seem to emphasize social space at the expense of the more private spaces. The holiday homes on the Spanish coast have relatively large sitting areas, both outside and inside. By contrast, the kitchen is often quite small, “galley” style in polite terms, often cut off from the social space. Depending on the area, red tiles and arches are quite popular.

·    English dwellings, particularly urban ones, enjoy multiple but small sitting areas, referred to as “cozy”, often leaving me to think that the English like to keep their children’s mess and noise from strangers’ eyes and ears. Curiously enough, the entrance ways are often extremely narrow, barely wide enough for one person to pass through at a time. Based on TV programs, the English appreciate solariums and wooden beams, the symbols of luxury and character.

·    The French are a rather solid people traditionally. The houses are often made of brick or stone, especially in the countryside,  possibly with painted window shutters. Whether urban or rural, the furniture tends to be heavy in line with the style of the walls, with lots of bric-a-brac cluttering the living space. Traditional French dwellings often lack air and light, apparently to reduce the cost of heating the space. French houses are homey but a bit claustrophobic in my eyes.

American West Coast homes are as large as the land allows. The houses are constructed from wood and generally rather standard in construction, but include large rooms, meaningful garden areas, healthy air flow, natural light, central air conditioning and a garage. Ranch house style houses are designed to give the residents space and impress the neighbors. The character and age of the building are not relevant factors. The East Coast has a different tradition but I am not sufficiently familiar to comment.

·    Israeli houses are typical of the Eastern Mediterranean. People are social while the weather is hot. The kitchen and living room, often joined, take proportionally a large part of the livable space, often at the expense of the bedrooms. People seek patio space whenever possible as garden space can significantly raise the purchase price. Upper floors tend to become quite hot and are only practical with air conditioning. The Israeli unique feature is the requirement, both legal and emotional, for some kind of “safe” room, a reinforced area when (not in case) the country is bombed. Many older houses and apartments lack this feature, reducing their desirability. As for color scheme, Israel is a multicultural society, creating a wide variety of furnishing styles.

The translator of the novel cited in the first paragraph was fortunate in that the author himself provided details of the house. Likewise, Honoré de Balzac generally wrote pages about the physical description of the building and each of its rooms. However, most literary translators not only need to be familiar with the architecture but somehow transmit that image. I am quite happy to be a technical translator and not be required to achieve that goal. Yet, the thought does give another meaning to the term “in-house translator”.

* Higashino, K., 2014. Malice translated by A. Smith. London: Abascus.

English impressions - real or TV reality?

 

I have no first-hand knowledge of England. My short jaunt to London during my tour of Europe some 45 years ago is irrelevant. On the other hand, I have watched BBC television for many years now, mainly programs featuring food, travel and house searches. To explain, watching the news in Israel can be quite stressful and generally produces an urgent need for escapism. From all these programs, I have created a certain picture of English life in terms of food, houses and language. However, I am uncertain to what degree this TV picture of life actually reflects reality.

The English attitude towards meals as shown on BBC programs seems a bit extreme. First, it seems that the UK hosts a cult of worship towards ham and bacon, with each person having a strong opinion on the best combination of ingredients, shape and cooking. The English, including Scots, seem to be rather particular about the breakfast meat and view it as a required element of any proper breakfast. The closest equivalent that I have ever observed is the Iraqi obsession with perfect rice and how to properly prepare it, with each grain having to be separate. By contrast, UK diners view vegetables as guests that are only present because of noblesse oblige. The only plant-based materials, aside from potatoes, that grace an English plate are a few green peas, some lonely lettuce leaves or a few controversial Brussels sprouts. A tomato and cucumber salad is exotic in the UK, apparently, not to mention any side dish made from eggplant or zucchini. The final idiosyncrasy, at least as compared to the Middle East, is the reluctance and discomfort of UK diners to eat with their hands and actually touch their food. Whether in the Middle East or  Ethiopia, grabbing a piece of bread and scooping some dip is an act of community bonding. Apparently, such sharing is considered barbaric farther north. It seems that English dining is a bit rigid in content and manner.

UK houses also seem to have certain characteristics. First of all, most residences in the UK shown on the BBC have narrow entranceways, barely wide enough for one person to stand, let alone allow two people to pass each other. They remind me of the Spanish kitchens typical of the vacation flats that the UK holidaygoers seem to fancy. Another desired feature of UK housing is this space called a “solarium”. First of all, it seems a bit absurd given how few days a year the English sun deigns to appear. In sunnier climates, such a room becomes a gigantic oven in short time and is useless. However, maybe I am missing something. Moreover, according to the programs I view, open wood beams in the ceiling are considered “character” and a positive feature. At a glance, I would consider them an ideal place for dust and spider webs. Most interestingly, on the real estate programs, many British house seekers insist on having a pub nearby.  It seems hard to believe the Brits and Scots actually seek these features.

Of course, UK language is different from that of the United States in terms of both words and style. I simply am unsure how much people actually speak like the characters on the BBC do. Americans would never say the words posh, high street and mate, using fancy, main street or name brand and friend or man, respectively. Even more striking is the English avoidance of direct speech. Regardless of the situation, it is apparently acceptable to begin a conversation with “nice weather”. Even more peculiar in my eyes is how far a BBC character will go in order to avoid saying that something is derogative. Such discretion is so unreal and actually may be unreal.

I have no idea how much any of these random impressions of life in the British Isles are true or representative. It is quite possible they do reflect the habits of some of the population just as the content of The Housewives of Atlanta or any similar program does carry a grain or two of truth. I imagine that I would need to spend some time there to better ascertain whether BBC programs reflect reality or pseudo-reality. In the meantime, I can only speculate and be amazed.

The art of becoming an Israeli

 

[Jaffa beads: luck, love, life]

Visiting and living in a country are two different matters as so many have discovered. For example, it is next to impossible to find any visitor to Israel, regardless of home country or religion, that did not feel that this place was special. On the other hand, historically, a majority of immigrants coming from North America (Canada, US and Mexico) do not make Israel their permanent home, ultimately returning to their previous place of residence within a few years. The reasons for the difficulty in adjusting sometimes involves economics but more often involve culture. Specifically, while it is possible to learn how to find a job and housing as well as function in Hebrew within a short time, it takes far longer to come to terms with Israels or, more accurately, the many different “Israels” that make up this country. To demonstrate, North Americans struggle with the directness of Jewish Israelis, the understanding of the unspoken messages in standard phrases and the adjustment to the different communication patterns of the various communities that comprise Israel. However, as an immigrant that has lived here some 35 years, I can attest that it is both possible and beneficial to go partially native.

As wrote in a previous post, most Israelis do not significantly filter their speech or emotions at least compared to more formal countries such as the US and UK. To be fair, Arabs living in villages can be as polite and formally non-critical are Anglo-Saxons as they live in a closed society where the price of speaking the truth can be very high. This may explain the love affair that some Brits have had with Arabs. However, in the cities, people are direct and honest, sometimes brutal, and respect others that are the same. Consumers do not mince words when criticizing products or complaining about poor service. I personally have left a one cent tip for a waitress that ghosted us. In Hebrew, there is a concept called a “kit pack question”, which means that if you ask someone’s opinion, you will  receive it, uncensored. Unmarried men and women past a certain age have to put up with a never-ending series of questions from both family, friends and even strangers regarding why and openness to blind dates.  On the other hand, people are generally sincerely warm and friendly, do not hesitate to help a person in need, from an infant to a senior citizen, and are willing to lend an ear to a sad story if they cannot directly help. People are friendly to you because they like you, not because they are supposed to be. Thus, Israeli speech is direct for better or worse.

While immigrants quickly grow thicker skin, it takes longer to understand the subtext. For example, if a neighbor asks how much you paid for a given purchase, the comment is not intended to invade your privacy but to check whether s/he paid more or less, a matter of personal shame or pride as applicable. When a salesperson at a store states that a given item does not exist, it means that the store does not have the item and you should look elsewhere. When a service person makes the comment “trust me” or “don’t worry”, the person should be on alert that it will be necessary to inspect the final product extremely carefully. On a humorous note, maybe, a young’s man invitation to a female for coffee at his flat may or may not involve  a cup of joe. On the other hand, if the vendor manages to satisfies the picky customer in terms of price and/or quality, that customer will recommend that person freely. This list of actual meanings of everyday phrases is infinite (and reminds of an old Mad Magazine feature). Over time, the immigrant leans to read between the lines.

Finally, Israel is a family-oriented place, as is the whole Middle East, but is comprised of countless different subcultures, each with its own rules of behavior. Even within the same religious group, ethnic and religious background is an important factor in the Middle East as intermarriage, however defined, is sometimes frowned on, depending on the generation and sector. Thus, joining a family in marriage or friendship can be a learning experience. Many Sephardic Jews are warm but loud, with food serving a key role in social relations, i.e., the more, the merrier. Tunisian and Moroccan Jews tend to love and argue with the same style, ie., openly and in quantity. Ashkanazi groups tend to be more formal and eat less and different foods. They tend to be more moderate and “colder” (everything is relative of course). Russians have their own culture and way of doing things, including a higher intake of alcohol and "culture". Persian and Yemenite Jews are known to value being money-wise. Whereas most people do the personal accounting of the wedding gifts in private after the event, one ethnic group traditionally announces the amount of each gift and the name of the giver during the wedding. Of course, the level of religiosity of the family affects the topics and nature of conversation, not to mention the way of life. Certain subjects and words are taboo in polite conversation in religious families. Even Arabs of the same religion have varying rules of behavior. The Druze, a minority group in Israel, of Isifiya, which is located near Haifa, are far less traditional than those in Horfesh, an isolated village father north near Lebanon. Any immigrant marrying into an Israel family should regularly consult their partner or friend to try to navigate this path. In any case, this variety enriches people and helps them to communicate with everybody.

Thus, my tips for learning to love not only Israel but also Israelis is to emphasize learning and flexibility. First, when, (not if) you misunderstood or were misunderstood, try to analyze the conversation and be aware of the words, applying the lessons for the next time or the one after that. Secondly, develop a thick skin. Most of the apparent sharpness is not intended to be sharp at all or not directed at the listener. It may seem shocking that a cab driver would yell at a passenger, the issue may be that the tone of voice is not actually yelling (for that person) or that the cab driver had a fight with his wife in the morning. Third, it helps to learn to act like the natives. If something is wrong, say it directly, not “okay”, which listeners actually think means “okay”. British understatement is not effective here. Keep in mind that politeness is relative. Even if you are rude by Ango-Saxon standards, the listener may actually consider you restrained and appreciate it. That has happened to me many times. Ultimately, it is vital to remember that every place, every group of people and every social situation have their own code. It is impractical and even harmful to insist that others act as you did in your childhood. If you keep that in mind, Israel is an amazing, entertaining, amusing and wonderful place to live, not just to visit.

To and around the point – the impact of social directness.

 

[circles in a tree trunk*]

At a recent translator conference in France, I observed the reaction of the audience of several hundred people, to a 45-minute boring lecture by a government official telling us how great he was. Not a single person got up and left nor did I hear a single complaint about that waste of time during the break. This passive accepance would probably not have occurred anywhere in the Mediterranean basin, especially in Israel, where complaining is an art form. The point is not that either form of expression or non-expression is better but instead that the rules of the social game differ from area to area, if not from country to country and ethnic group to ethnic group. Furthermore, this difference affects how visitors, immigrants and business people react to exposure to another world.

People express their feelings non-verbally and verbally. Walking out, becoming animated or making faces all reflect an internal feeling. For example, it is possible to understand whether or not a person agrees with the speaker by observing the facial expression, at least in some cultures. The verbal aspect ranges from silence, i.e., the thought never leaves the mind, to understated, as in “he went a bit too far”, to no-doubt: “the speaker is full of shit”. All roads lead to Rome but the road signs vary in language and scale.

While individual and family tendences clearly impact the manner of expression, the accepted manner of society tends to control the bounds of honesty. Admittedly, all societies impose a layer of veneer of politeness, especially in specific settings, particularly business environments and official occasions, but the thickness of this layers varies from country to country.  Thus, northern Europe, which includes the dominant cultures of most of the United States and Canada, tends to be rather stoic, hiding its dirty laundry and making every effort to maintain a serene atmosphere. In other cultures, notably most of the Mediterranean, people can keep a polite face for a while but it doesn’t take long before someone gets excited in a positive or negative way. Few natives take these incidents to heart as drama is an essential and integral part of life. In practice, normal behavior is what a person expects and can interpret.

When visiting a country with a “foreign” point of view (an Italian in Holland, not an Italian in Spain), difference makes the heart grow fonder. It is strange but somehow charming how polite or impolite the waiters and taxi drivers are or how simple or complicated dealing with bureaucracy becomes. The tone of conversations at a café sounds so exotic because they are unlike the familiar music of our familiar conversations. The body language, whether relatively restrained or unrestrained, display a completely different if not necessarily understood drama, adding to its charm. The foreignness of the communication, whether verbal or not, can be part of the charm, making it exotic.

However, living in such a place is another story. To reside in the country requires functioning in it and understanding both the text and subtext. It may be amusing to see a driver have an angry dispute with police officer but people used to law and order may find that “unbecoming”, bordering on anarchistic, and clearly not beneficial to society, especially when they experience that style of discussion with an inconsiderate neighbor. On the opposite hand, an Israeli expecting open discussions of annoying matters could find it frustrating that nobody speaks their mind, creating even more tension. Asymmetric communication patterns over time either lead to a person going native or leaving the country.

As business has become international, understanding these differences has become vital. “One size fits all” does not apply to business communication. A subtle reference to a Japanese or Norwegian customer may elegantly solve a controversial matter but that same message is lost or viewed as a sign of weakness in the Middle East. To complicate matters, every country, apart from Japan and a few others, is multicultural today, rendering it impossible to be certain of the appropriate tone. Still, when expressing dissatisfaction, it is important to consider the larger target culture in deciding on how direct to be. For example, “there appears to be issue with last month’s payment” is appropriate in some places while in others, “I have yet to receive payment” would be far more effective. When communicating with parties abroad, make an effort to take into account how direct the message should be.

Variety is the spice of life. It would be quite boring if all the world were the same. The fact that people express their thoughts in different styles makes it interesting to travel to foreign countries, comfortable to live in our native country and complicated to communicate with businesses abroad. Thus, both to-the-point and around-the-point are relevant forms of expression.

* Picture captions help the blind fully access the Internet.

Picture from Pixibay

People gathering – similar but different

 

[herd of zebras*]

One of the most interesting aspects of visiting a zoo is the observation of how apparently similar species behave so differently. For example, the closest genetic relatives of homo sapiens are chimpanzees and bonobo apes. Regardless of their common heritage, their means of social communication are opposite with chimpanzees often using pseudo and real violence to resolve conflicts while bonobo apes generally having sex to defuse tensions. Likewise, when visiting and especially living in a different culture, it is fascinating to see how others handle social situations. Some examples are the use of alcohol as a social lubricant, family get-togethers and weddings.

[grapes on the vine]

Alcohol is the starter fluid for conversation in many cultures. In the United States, the host greeting guests at the door sometimes even asks “do you want a beer” before saying hello. In many northern Europe countries, no party is complete without beer, vodka or the local liver poison. In France, the wine is the local version of English weather in terms of conversation. Picking a bad wine is almost as serious a faux pas as wearing mismatched colors. Curiously, in Israel, at least until recently, alcohol was not only marginal for social contact but even unnecessary. The younger generation clearly drinks more but still does not require alcohol to have fun, at least if the revelers were born in the country. In Muslim countries, alcohol is even forbidden. So, fermentation and distillation are clearly linked with sociability in some but not all societies.

[family of elephants]

The concept of family encapsules many forms. In some places, notably much of the United States, the family is the nuclear group, with the children leaving home and often even the same city forever once they become adults. Thus, many families only see each other on holidays. In other places, families including multiple generations live with or near each other and share each other’s tables on a regular basis. In Israel, a small country, in many Jewish homes, the extended family dines together every Friday or Saturday. In Arab houses, the children may actually live in the same house on a different floor with household expenses shared by all residents. I suppose this closeness is a blessing for older people but can be a curse for the daughters-in-law, who have to tolerate the domination of the mother-in-law. Clearly, the importance of family togetherness varies from culture to culture.

[wedding table]

Weddings are the ultimate social gathering, combining multiple and occasionally contradictory purposes. Weddings are to celebrate a marriage, balance accounts and make social statements. As such, the size of a wedding and choice of guests is a complex matter. In England or the United States, a wedding with 200 guests is a large affair, appropriate for major public and financial families. By contrast, 200 guests in Israel is sign of a low budget or corona as it would require limiting the list to absolutely closest family and a few friends, not a diplomatic act. In at least one culture, the hosts actually open the envelopes in front of the guests and announce the amount of the gift, a sort of financial transparency.  On a personal note, as it was the 2^nd round for my wife and I, we had no social debts and chose to celebrate with an “intimate” dinner with 20 people at a restaurant. Each culture has its own “correct” way to celebrate a marriage, with small changes are fashions come and go.

[stars in the sky]

We are all human beings but somehow there are so many different ways of social expression. From a distance, they may appear similar, like the stars in the sky, but each culture is unique. Vive la difference.

* Picture captions help the blind fully access the Internet.

Pictures credits: pixabay

Notes of a non-native parent

 

[Parent and child trying to comunicate*]

The immigrant experience has many aspects and layers. One area in which even long-term immigrants feel like “a stranger in a strange land” (to quote Heinlein) is parenting. Immigrant parents are often at a loss what to do in their adopted culture. More significantly, their children discover that fact very quickly. This lack of clear hierarchy changes the nature of interaction with our children and affects parental roles.

As an example, I have an American father and French mother, grew up in the US and have lived in Israel for some 33 years but came here as an adult. I was fortunate to marry and raise a daughter here, now 25 years old. She and I just took our annual camping trip on the Dan river in northern Israel and ran into a problem of an absurd rule at the site, a bit like Woody Allen’s executive order to speak Swedish in Bananas. My daughter told me to let her handle it and negotiated/argued with management until it agreed to ignore the rule. I, her father, sat back and watched her, knowing that she is far more skillful in navigating Israeli waters than I am. Facts are facts but, somehow, it does bother the parental ego. Considering my position as a non-native father, I see how my foreignness has impacted issues of language and culture but also enriched our lives.

Coming from four generations of immigrant parents, my family having a tendency to change countries for one reason or another, I was always aware of language discrepancies. Specifically, children at a very young age often already  speak more accurately than their parents and have no compunction in correcting them. My daughter from the age of 8 already noticed my mistakes. Today, despite my rather rich Hebrew, she handles voice and digital communication, i.e., phone matters with authorities and services of all kinds, when we are together. I have to admit that she is far more efficient and effective although I do believe that I can communicate the issues. One obstacle may be that people worldwide assume having an accent means that the person is stupid, to be blunt, with the possible exception of Henry Kissinger and Einstein, who sounded and were considered quite intelligent. As the adult in the equation, immigrant parents have to accept that their children speak and write better than they do regardless of the fact that it somehow reduces their personal standing. I suppose that my daughter’s occasional grimacing at my Hebrew is due punishment for my making fun of my mother’s pronunciation mistakes. There is some kind of ultimate justice, albeit even slower than the human justice system.

On a more insidious note, not having grown up in a culture as a child means that an immigrant does not fully understand the unspoken code of behavior. Cultural rules of communication are so complicated that adult analysis is insufficient in terms of attaining full assimilation of the code. In some ways, immigrant parents cannot shed all elements of the old country. For example, all communication involves explicit and implicit elements, including message, seriousness and ultimate intent. Not having grown up in Israel, I tend to misinterpret how much bluff there is in Israeli conversation and how “flexible” rules are. In terms of negotiating bureaucracy and attaining goals, it is fortunate that both my wife and daughter are “locals” but in terms of self-respect, it is not always easy on the pride. As an extreme example, older Ethiopian males that immigrated to Israel have suffered greatly from the loss of the prestige they held in their native society as they neither understand the language or culture of their new country and are entirely dependent on their family, even to read a letter. This cultural deficiency potentially has a far greater impact than the language issues.

Yet, in many ways, this dialogue between immigrant parent and native child is an enriching experience. Children expose aspects of the adopted world as they go through their journey from infancy to adulthood. These aspects include songs, beliefs, behaviors and special events, all experienced vicariously. In the other direction, immigrant parents imprint on their children a knowledge of worlds and morays that may not always fit their native society but serve them well in other places. I am proud to say that my daughter is far more polite and, in many ways, more confident than many of her peers, knowing the importance of saying thank you, respecting her elders, if only on the basis of their age, and with less gender-defined limits. Her world view goes far beyond the small world of northern Israel. She is aware of the relatively free world of Los Angeles in terms of behavior and sense of style that is France, including shops with smelly cheese. This knowledge probably means that she too will become an immigrant parent but that is her choice. The foreign culture I imprinted on her at least has given her a choice in life, a problematic gift but nevertheless a rich inheritance. We both have profited from our cultural exchange.

Clearly, there is a very high number of households with at least one immigrant parent worldwide with each having its own personal story. Still, clearly a foreign parent creates a different house and world view as compared to a native one although not necessarily an easier experience. As both such a child and parent, I can say that, while there is a price, especially in childhood, for growing up “different”, the cross culturization is an enriching experience. I would not have it any other way even if I have to let my daughter sometimes do the talking for me. Such adjustments are all part of the immigrant experience.

 

Captions help the blind fully access the Internet.

Picture credit

Relatively rude – International communication

 

[Tower of Babel*]

The world may be becoming a global village but each of us has our own native language and culture. This tower of Babel, now just as then, creates infinite possibilities for misunderstanding, especially when negative emotions are expressed. For example, the line between acceptable annoyance and unacceptable anger is cultural and subject to interpretation. The manner in which people express these feelings vary by culture and even subculture, a factor to be taken into account when interpreting communication, especially written, and sending messages.

Each culture, however defined, has created its norms for the acceptable manner of expressing dissatisfaction beyond which the message is considered too angry and personal for business communication. Two factors in this framing are directness and registry. The Mediterranean and China are known for their direct approach in terms of syntax. “You have not paid me” is not considered rude but a fact, however unpleasant. Other regions insist on a more indirect, objective approach that would be laughed at by direct cultures. “I have no record of payment” sounds much less accusatory and more professional than the direct accusation to an American or Brit even though the message is the same. Not every country appreciates straight-to-the-point communication

Register also is a factor. For example, the form of the second person pronoun or lack thereof is part of the message. For example, the choice of the informal you (e.g., tu in French and du in German) would create a very negative reaction as compared to the vous and Sie, respectively. Likewise, Japanese business culture requires frequent use of honorific particles. The use of titles such as Mr. or Mrs. is obligatory in many cultures but even insulting in other ones. For example, in Israel, women under the age of 60 do not appreciate being referred to as “Mrs. So and So” as it that implies she is old. On the other hand, I sort of enjoy being called Mr. Rifkind in the United States even if I subconsciously look if my late father is near me as it means that I am receiving respect. In written communication, this formality is expressed in the closing. For instance, proper English letters should end in yours truly, yours sincerely or respectfully yours regardless how untruthful, insincere or disrespectful the letter is. Similarly, all formal French letter end in “Veuillez agréer l'expression de mes sentiments distingués”, be assured of the expression of my distinguished sentiments in English, even if the writer is threatening to send the receiver of the letter to jail. Noblesse oblige. As long as the rules of syntax and formality are followed, the message can sometimes avoid being rude but merely be highly unpleasant.

For the receiver of emails and memos from other culture, this variety of approaches means careful consideration of the form as well as the message in order to ascertain the actual emotional subcontext. For example, the sentence “I found many errors in your work” implies varying degrees of dissatisfaction. If an Israel or Spaniard writes this, it is probable that the receiving party will have an opportunity to re-establish trust. By contrast, this same line from an English or German would probably mean the end of the business relationship. On the other end of the scale, the sentence “we would appreciate delivery in the near future” coming from a UK agency is not a polite request but an order. It is an error to base interpretation of the message on the culture of the receiver as that of the sender is the determining factor.

It should be noted that most users (including writers) of English worldwide have a different native language, meaning they did not grow up in an Anglo-Saxon country. Their level of mastery of English and awareness of culture differences thus varies greatly. Adding to the confusion is the fact that the name of a person provides no clue to where they were born. Just because the first or last name may “sound” Spanish or Asian, for example, does not have any significance of their mastery of a language or cultural norms. As a result of this linguistic shuffling of the cards, it is a good policy to allow for cultural confusion in interpreting communication. In practice, the person writing the message may have no idea that their form of expression is rude. The worldwide village demands some tolerance to operate properly.

As for creating communication, business people must attempt to take into consideration the cultural background of the receiving party, if possible. The purpose of communication is to attain a goal, which generally does not include insulting the person or getting them angry. Therefore, it is advisable to apply some indirectness where appropriate, i.e., discuss facts, not personal intentions. For example, I would appreciate payment within seven days works much better than Pay me within seven days, especially if a hefty arrears interest is then mentioned. The message gets across. Likewise, it is important to always begin correspondence with a proper salutation and closing and maintain language-appropriate formality. The French are genius at polite nastiness. Let your words attain your goal without interference from your form. When in doubt, consult with an expert. Clear communication is a key for solid results.

Doing business worldwide not only requires language skills but also cultural awareness. Faced with the need to communicate effectively with someone on the other side of the world, geographically or culturally, business people struggle to express what they mean and understandably so. After all, “Isn’t that rude?” is in fact a very complicated and important question.

* Always label your pictures to allow the blind access to your posts.

Pictures: Image by <a href="https://pixabay.com/users/gdj-1086657/?utm_source=link-attribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=5771062">Gordon Johnson</a> from <a href="https://pixabay.com/?utm_source=link-attribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=5771062">Pixabay</a>

Driving culture

 

[Man behind the wheel*]

It is said that our first 18 years have a lifetime impact. Our childhood affects the foods we enjoy, our approaches to life, the way we raise our children and even our career choices, to name a few. Granted, each of us over time accepts or rejects this heritage at any given time but it is present and impacts our life one way or another.

I recently became aware that it also influences how we drive. Simply put, I am a much better driver in the United States than in Israel. By better, I mean more natural and relaxed. In the United States, I sense the kind of stupidity to expect from the drivers around me. I know the expected pattern of speeding up and slowing down (except on Sunday when the “Sunday drivers” come out). I am confident in my ability to identify early and react to any situation. As a result, I am relaxed when I drive in the United States, especially on the West Coast, and find the driving experience neutral, i.e., neither pleasant nor unpleasant. By contrast, in Israel, I actively monitor all cars around me, expecting them to try to risk their life to reach the same red light 30 seconds before me. I am rarely disappointed. Although I still often sense what a given driver will do, I am less confident and more stressed. For me, a 45 minutes’ drive in Israel is not fun, to put it mildly.

Logically, that should not be so as I have driven in Israel for many more years than I did in the United States. I drove in the States for some 12 years regularly, getting my driver’s license at the age of 17 until I immigrated at the age of 28. Adding annuals trips over many years, I have driven on US roads for some 15 years at most. By contrast, I have lived in Israel some 32+ years, driving on a regular basis for a good part of that period. I am quite familiar with the roads and the drivers. They should be second-nature.

Of course, driving in the Mediterranean is Mediterranean is highly entertaining, at least for those that enjoy action. Whether in Spain, Italy, Tunisia or Israel, Mediterranean drivers own the road, literally. Other drivers are mere trespassers and really should not be there. Not only that, as elsewhere, phone calls and personal arguments are of greater priority than keeping with the flow. Still, the traffic flow around this middle sea does have a specific tempo that can be learned.

Clearly, high temperatures affect driver attitudes but only so much. As the mercury goes up, driver patience tends to go down and tempers rise. It does not take much to begin an argument between two drivers here. A sudden stop will suffice to create some interesting street action. The fact that all cars in Israel have had air conditioning since 1995 has not significantly mitigated the slaughter on the roads based on the annual numbers. Not only that, drivers from many other countries also suffer from high temperatures but still exhibit patience. The weather itself does not explain the difference.

It is possible that my driving culture was formed not only by actually time behind the wheel but in the surrounding seats. For some 16 years, I watched my parents and other people drive and the interaction between them. In a passive but embedding way, I “learned” how to drive, which I applied when I became an adult. As I came here at the age of 28, I did not receive that education. Thus, my comprehension of Israeli drivers is not instinctive. On the other hand, it may be just me. Other immigrants may have gone native with no problem. I confess to have done no research on this subject.

So, in my opinion, driving patterns are a cultural phenomenon. They are affected, as in all such matters, by both childhood and later life experience. I strongly affect that the former has more of an influence than people suspect.

* Caption pictures to help the blind access the Internet. Picture credit: Image by <a href="https://pixabay.com/photos/?utm_source=link-attribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=1149997">Free-Photos</a> from <a href="https://pixabay.com/?utm_source=link-attribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=1149997">Pixabay</a>

Cultural variety

                                          (Japanese picture of man in boiling water*)

As a continuation to two previous posts about words and cultures, culture is relative to a specific society not only in form but also in connotation. Formally speaking culture includes the artistic achievements of a group but also the mechanisms of daily interaction. So, the type of music loved by people is an example of culture but so is the manner of saying hello, whether that is by shaking hands, bowing, kissing cheeks, or using words alone. Thus, it is clear that all human languages must include some way to express culture.

For a linguist, an additional distinction is the attached connotation. For example, the word “culture” when applied in the United States, France, Israel and Russia can imply very different purposes. Modern America was settled by immigrants that were poor and quite often uneducated, even illiterate... Thus, a reference to culture is a way of distinguishing one person from another, generally negatively. Describing a lover of opera as cultured can either be praise or derogatory, i.e., elitist, depending on the point of few. Not only that, its multiethnic society has espoused a vision of blending as compared to maintaining traditions. Thus, the expression “they come from another culture” is an alternative phrase for “they don’t behave like Americans”. The American ethea of anti-intellectualism and melting pot, notwithstanding the existence of exceptions to these tendencies, adds a connotation of different to the term culture.

By contrast, France glories in its Culture. French people are proud of its artistic icons, whether in literature or the visual arts.  The country even has a special institution for them, the Pantheon. The average French person mentions Victor Hugo, Marcel Proust, Claude Monet and Edith Piaf with pride. Even those that would never read any of their books beyond what is required for the Bac or go to a museum would think twice before stating so. France is the cultural leader of Europe, at minimum, in terms of literature, art and food. Unlike the United States, culture in France, or at least its appreciation, is a unifying factor.

Israel too was founded by immigrants but they came from many communities, each with its own Culture and culture. The dogma of wiping out the diaspora and imposing the new Israeli stamp on all of its citizens, applied for its first 25 or so years, is slowly but surely disappearing. Today, Israelis talk about culture to explain differences in food, music and wedding arrangements. In practice, most couples reflect mixed ethnic background except for the ultra-orthodox. This requires negotiation of cultural issues such as which foods to eat on holidays, the level of spiciness and frequency of family visits, to name just a few matters. Culture in Israel is of part of the dialogue of everyday life.

The Russian use refers to both the high-brow and, more commonly, the communal aspect of culture. As the French, Russians are proud of Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Tchaikovsky, to name a few. However, the most common use of the word culture is the negative term некультурный человек  [nekulturni cheleovek], meaning an uncultured person, better translated by the term barbarian. To clarify, this expression does not refer to the lack of familiarity with Shostakovich’s music. Instead, it describes crude (by Russian standards) behavior, a lack of social savior faire and open greed. It is hard for a foreigner to decode this term as it encompasses so many unspoken rules.  For example, to the best of my knowledge, Ivan the Terrible was a некультурный человек but Stalin and Putin are okay.  It is possible to be unbelievable cruel but remain cultured. So, when a Russian accuses you of being uncultured, you have apparently crossed some (ultraviolet) red line.

Dictionaries may agree upon the definition of culture but people stamp their own opinions and perspectives on the term. There is a wonderful scene in Shogun in which several Japanese calmly discuss how they are so much civilized than the shipwrecked English sailors, which are being boiled alive at the time. One person’s culture is another person’s primitivism.

*Insert captions under pictures to allow access to the blind. Picture from wikipedia.

Beyond words

There is a perception that translation and interpretation are matters of word knowledge, i.e., the person must have a rich vocabulary. While that is true, what is no less required is the understanding of context. Regardless of how many meanings of a word translators may know, unless they identify and apply the correct context, their work is poor.

This message was reinforced by the lectures given at the Lecture Day organized by the Israel Translators Association this week in Kfar Hamaccabiah in Tel Aviv. The lecturers, including myself, discussed a wide variety of issues but all emphasized the importance of grasping the context and applying it to the word choice. (https://ita.org.il/?page_id=2718&lang=en)

For example, the opening speaker, Dr. Gabriel Birnbaum, recounted the history of the Language Academy’s Historical Dictionary and noted that the first some 30 years were dedicated solely to collecting and entering source material so that all of the uses of a word could be defined.  Not only that, this collection process is still continuing and now involves more recent material from the 19^th and 20^th century.

Likewise, Ms. Shira Schmidt raised the difficult question of how to translate words linked to a very specific culture such that anybody could understand it. The context was the subtitles to a movie on an ultraorthodox marriage that mentioned words such as rogolach, tchulent and muselman. A non-Jew would have no idea what they meant.  She stressed that the main consideration is the depth of understanding that is required to understand the film. In other words, you can fudge the meaning if it really makes no difference and use a general term even if it is not specific enough.

Ms. Yael Valier, an experienced translator of children’s books from Hebrew to English, brought into the focus the requirement to ask questions about the targeted market before beginning the translation.  Specifically, the person has to know whether the publishers wants a modern style a book, a “vintage” look or an activity book, to name a few types. Regardless of how good the translation, if it does not match the purpose, it will not be accepted.

On the same theme, Ms. Tzviya Macleod broke down the US children’s book market and strongly emphasized that it is formally segmented with strict requirements, unlike the Israeli one. Thus, books that rhyme and those that fail to meet word count and style requirements have almost no chance of being accepted.

The last lecturer was Mr. Dory Manor, who “ruminated” on translating poetry. With a wealth of experience in the field, he illustrated how subjective the term “good translation” is in regards to poems and more importantly, how subjective the readers’ knowledge of symbols and precedents is. Thus, with great trepidation, in some cases he would substitute Jewish symbols for Christian and even Greek mythological ones to allow his reader to understand the meaning of the poem. When in Rome, translate for the Romans, as they say.

If in physics, as Einstein said, all is relative, so it is translation. The choice of words is strongly related to the context of the phrase, raising the profession from a science to an art. Like any writer, the translator or interpreter must go beyond words. 

18 Karat Israeli

I have spent half my life in Israel. I married Israeli women. I raised my child in Israel. I no longer feel at home in the United States. I would never live in another country.  Still, I am not 100% Israeli nor will ever be.  I have to accept that fact.

My impurity goes beyond my accent or love of American football and baseball, remnants of my previous life. It is expressed in subtle things, experiences shared by most Israelis but not by me. It is too late to correct them either even if I so wanted.

First of all, I do not eat or like bamba, a fried peanut snack adored by Israelis of all religions. In my mind, it reeks of burnt peanuts but for people of my adopted homeland, brings back memories and causes their mouth to water. The closest American cultural equivalent is root beer, a non-exportable American product.

Likewise, winter in Israel is not snow but instead krembo, a sweet, fluffy marshmallow foam in a thin chocolate shell wrapped in aluminum foil. Traditionally, ice cream production stopped in September and was replaced by these krembo.  The debates on the proper technique for eating it are as elaborate as those regarding Oreo cookies. In my mind, it is a waste of calories but good luck persuading any Israeli of that.

In terms of coming of age, aside from getting sick drunk, a universal ceremony, there are two rites that almost all Israelis go through.  The first one occurs in 7th grade, when all school children are required to prepare their family tree, at least for a few generations back, and interview their grandparents, a one-time honor for many of the golden age. In the past, this search for the past could be a little difficult, even strange, as the Holocaust erased many of the people behind the names but that is less true today. I have to admit that I have very little idea of my distant roots nor am I, even today, that interested in it.  Still, Israeli children, albeit under coercion, know from whence they came, not a bad thing really.

The other rite is the famous bakkum even if not experienced by all Israelis for one reason or another. It is the sorting center of the Army where potential recruits go at the age of 18 after they finish high school.  From what I understand, they are poked inside and out, assessed and classified and then sent to prospective training bases or home, as applicable.  I was 28 years old, married and suffered from hypoglycemia. IDF was not sufficiently desperate for manpower to want me, as Uncle Sam would say. So, I never passed through that gate. In some ways, I do regret not having passed down that road as it would have an interesting experience.  On the other hand, as my first wife once said, I have no idea of how to probably make a bed.  Oh well, it is far too late to remedy.

Lastly, most Israelis have spent a day at the beach in Tiberias, a town located next to the Sea of Galilee, a name no less misleading than Greenland. To explain, it is a fresh water lake 166.7 km² (64.4 sq. mi) at its fullest, which was some 20 years ago at least, and located in a basin. In the summer, it is the largest natural sauna I have ever seen.  The beach itself is mainly sand, to give it credit, but neither very long nor deep. Any beauty the location has, mainly very early morning, is ruined by the mass pilgrimage of Israelis of all ages to its beaches on holidays, especially Independence Day.  Every square meter is occupied.  Imagine a Tokyo subway with barbeques. One man’s poison is another man’s meat. 

Don’t get me wrong. I love living in Israel but everything has a limit.  The search for purity does not justify being totally miserable. I am perfectly contented being 18 karat Israeli.