Motivation for Learning about Language and Culture

I like to talk about language in terms of loving people better, but I realize some people break out in hives when they talk about things like "love" and "science" in the same breath. So for you who would like to ixne the ovele component, let me put it another way.

Regardless of your sincerity, the way you use language has an effect on your hearer, your relationship with your hearer, and yourself. If you want to achieve your interactional goals with someone (e.g., get them to like you, to lend you money, to leave you alone, to introduce you to someone you really want to meet, etc.) , you need to know how your language affects other people. What's going to make them feel respected, what's going to make them feel dissed, what's going to make them feel big, what's going to make them feel small, what's going to draw them to you and what's going to drive them away. So you can look at this from purely utilitarian terms, if you so desire. (Although some would question the juxtaposition of 'pure' and 'utilitarian' there). Studying the basics of language also helps you understand yourself and how your brain works, which should be of interest to everyone, right?

"School Supplies"

1) Course Pack by ee
2) Stigma by eg
3) An informant--A "foreigner" over the age of 18
from a country where English is not the main language
4) A few bucks to pitch in and buy your informant a meal
5) A group and the names and e-mails of its members
6) Social skills for group participation
7) Access to a video recording device (someone in your group)
8) Access to someone who knows how to make video presentations
9) A smock. . . (ok i just like saying 'smock'--i didn't say i like talking smack, although i'm also not denying that i do)
10) The usual stationery accessories
11) A sense of humor
12) A favorite cast member of The Office or a suitable alternative. . .

You'll Laugh, You'll Cry

You'll kiss 800 bucks goodbye, but they'll be some of the most well spent 800 bucks of your whole education.

In this class you will learn:

How to make people feel like crap
Or, how you already make people feel like crap
How to make people feel like a rockstar
Or how you already do so.

All kinds of dangerous gestures to make in other cultures.

How to decide what to call your mother in law.

Alternatives to the dead fish handshake.

How to pick up a guy at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris

How expletives are pure poetry-really! I'm not even being metaphorical!

You'll learn how we are all "two-faced" but in a different way than the expressions suggests. . .

That your significant other is really an alien from another world culture altogether even though they seem to be speaking the 'same' language (e.g., English). Once you get a handle on 'their' culture, you'll have way fewer fights (although fights are good, which you will also learn).

What’s controversial about using ma’am.

Why your roommate's way of talking makes you homicidal.
Why yours makes her homicidal.

How to persuade the French that you are not just another arrogant monolingual American.

What women really mean when they ask if you're hungry (lots of women).

How to ruin the diplomatic relations between your country and another in the first five minutes of your time together.

What it really means to say that the Americans showed bad "form" when they arrived at the airport in Beijing wearing black face masks.

Whether modern cosmetic surgery is capable of fixing the 'ugly American.'

How to make eyes at the speaker and get a turn.

What women's 'intuition' really is.

How to really piss off a blind person.

What the tricky part about the Golden Rule is.

How to avoid making an idiot of yourself because you thought someone was inexcusably rude to you who was really trying to be nice to you . . .

The pros and cons of using a squat toilet in Japan. . .

What they really mean when they say, Nihongo o jozu desune?

How to use perfectly sanitized, "sanctified," allegedly dyed in the blood of the Lamb church lady English to cut somebody's heart into little bitty pieces and make hamburger of it.

How that quaint expression a smile is the same in any language is a big crock o' crap.

The surprising virtues of "f'ing English" (sometimes confused with 'French')