Thailand Vegetarian Festival

Not for the faint-hearted, the Pukhet Vegetarian Festival is a truly bizarre, don’t-try-this-at-home festival. Infamous for its macabre morning processions, the nine-day purification ritual showcase some really devoted devotees, often in deep hypnotic trance states, eager to puncture their cheeks with basically anything they can think of - knives, spikes, swords, axes and even bikes. Apparently, the larger and more painful the better. Other acts of self-torture include fire-walking, soaking in hot oil and climbing bladed ladders. Once your stomach feels settled, peruse the stalls of the festival market and sample Thai and Chinese vegetarian delights.

Korean Traditional Game - Go-Stop (고스톱)

This is a traditional Korean card game with cards referred to as hwatu (화투) in Korean. Typically, there are two or three players. The general point of this game is to score points, usually three or seven, and then call a “Go” or a “Stop.” When a “Go” is called, the game continues, and the amount of points or money is first increased, and then doubled, tripled, quadrupled and so on. If a “Stop” is called, the game ends and the winner collects their winnings.

This is also probably the famous game you often see in Korean dramas, where famiy members sit down together making noises of card being slapped to the cloth (they even have special blanket lookalike for this game!!). They often play bets when playing this game, the rule of thumb is to have fun, even though many times it can get pretty intense!!

Korea Traditional Games - Paengichigi

Paengichigi (파엔기치기) is a game where players try to knock over the other person’s spinning top. The person who has the spinning top still running is the winner. First you take the spinner in your hands and let it drop to the ground. Then you take a whip to strike the spinning top so that it continues to spin. I love playing this game on ice. When the spinner is put on ice, it spins way more rapidly than the floor. It’s a challenge to play on ice because you have to concentrate on the spinning top and yet make sure not to slip on the ice as well.

Assignment I ( Movie Review - HOP 2011)

What is communication?

Communication is the sharing of ideas and information. While many people think of communication primarily in oral or written form, communication is much more. A knowing look or a gentle touch can also communicate a message loud and clear, as can a hard push or an angry slap. Communication is defined as the act of transmitting, a giving or exchanging of information, signals, or messages as by talk, gestures, or writing, the information, signals, or message and close, sympathetic relationship. Beside that, communication also a means of communicating, example a system for sending and receiving messages, as by telephone, telegraph, radio, etc. Other than that, a system as of routes for moving troops and material, a passage or way for getting from one place to another, the art of expressing ideas, example in speech and writing, the science of transmitting information, example in symbols. Those definition suggests that there can be several different types of communication, falling into the categories of non-verbal or verbal.

What is intercultural communication?

Intercultural communication in its most basic form refers to an academic field of study and research. Its seeks to understand how people from different countries and cultures behave, communicate and perceive the world around them. The findings of such academic research are then applied to 'real life' situations such as how to create cultural synergy between people from different cultures within a business or how psychologists understand their patients. The definition of intercultural communication must also include strands of the field that contribute to it such as anthropology, cultural studies, psychology and communication. Beside that, intercultural communication principles also guide the process of exchanging meaningful and unambiguous information across cultural boundaries, in a way that preserves mutual respect and minimize antagonism. For these purposes, culture is a shared system of symbols, beliefs, attitudes, values, expectations, and norms of behaviour. It refers to coherent groups of people whether resident wholly or partly within state territories, or existing without residence in any particular territory.

Movie Review : HOP 2011

Hop is a 2011 Easter-themed part live-action-part animated comedy film from Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment, directed by Tim Hill and produced by Chris Meledandri. The film was released on April 1, 2011 in the United States and the United Kingdom. It stars James Marsden, Kaley Cuoco,Tiffany Espensen, Chelsea Handler, Elizabeth Perkins, Gary Cole, David Hasselhoff, Elizabeth Howard, Coleton Ray and the voices of Russell Brand, Hugh Hefner, Hugh Laurie, John Cohen, Janet Healy, Hank Azaria, and Django Marsh.

Plot

On Easter Island, a young rabbit named E.B. (Russell Brand) is intended to succeed his father Mr Bunny (Hugh Laurie) as the Easter Bunny. Intimidated by the calling's demands, E.B. runs away to Hollywood to pursue his dream of becoming a drummer. Mr Bunny sends his three ninja royal guards, the Pink Berets (Janet Healy), to find his son. Meanwhile, Easter Chicks Carlos and Phil (both played by Hank Azaria), plot a coup d'état against Mr Bunny to take over the Easter organization. Wandering through Los Angeles, E.B. is hit by Fred O'Hare (James Marsden), an out of work slacker who was driving to his sister Sam's (Kaley Cuoco) boss's house he's housesitting . Feigning injury, E.B. persuades Fred to take him in as he recovers, but when E.B. causes trouble Fred attempts to abandon him in the wilderness. E.B. persuades the human to help him by claiming to be the Easter Bunny, whom Fred saw in operation in his youth. The rabbit sees the Berets closing in on him and hides inside a business where Fred is having job interview. E.B. enjoys a successful recording session with the Blind Boys of Alabama as their substitute drummer, but ruins Fred's job interview. In the process, E.B. gets a tip about a possible audition for David Hasselhoff, who invites him to perform on his show. Afterward, Fred attends his adopted younger sister Alex's (Tiffany Espensen) Easter school pageant with E.B. hiding in a satchel. E.B., alarmed that the Pink Berets have apparently found him and disgusted by Alex's awful rendition of Here Comes Peter Cottontail, dashes out and disrupts the show. Fred feigns a ventriloquist's act with the bunny's cooperation as his dummy and they lead the show in singing, "I Want Candy". Both his father, Henry (Gary Cole) and Alex, are angry about the upstaging, but Fred is inspired to be the Easter Bunny himself. E.B. is skeptical, but he agrees to train the human and finds that Fred has some genuine talent for it. As the Pink Berets close in on him, E.B. prepares a decoy to fake his death and leaves for Hasselhoff's show. The Berets see the decoy and, horrified that the human has apparently killed E.B., capture Fred and take him to Easter Island. Fred is held captive and confronted by Mr Bunny and Carlos about killing E.B. Carlos pretends to be upset about E.B.'s death, ignores Fred's protests about the truth of the decoy and seizes control of the Easter factory. Meanwhile, at the Hoff Knows Talent live show E.B. is in his dressing room preparing for his performance but his reflection begins to berate him for leaving Fred. Just then a production assistant (also Russell Brand) arrives to tell him that he is next to perform. E.B. leaves his dressing room and begins to feel guilty about leaving Fred so he discusses the situation with Hasselhoff, who advises him to go back and help his friend. E.B. finds evidence of Fred's capture and races back to the factory. He confronts Carlos, but is immobilized in gummi candy and tossed into the chocolate bunny carving line. Fred and Mr Bunny are tied up with black licorice and are to be boiled alive. Fred manages to free himself and Mr Bunny by eating away the licorice and E.B. survives by dodging the blades. Carlos, now a chick-bunny combination due to Easter magic engages battle with E.B. and defeats him easily due to his size and then tries to lead the Easter Egg sleigh out with Phil directing via lighted wands. To stop the launch, E.B. improvises a drum session. Uncontrollably driven to dance to the beat, Phil provides the wrong signals, causing a crash and Carlos is subdued. After being defeated, Carlos is made to pull the Easter Egg sleigh and Phil is made the new head of the Easter Chicks. E.B. and Fred are made co-Easter bunnies and take over the job. Fred's family is now proud that he has a job and responsibilities. In an after-credits scene, Fred & EB are in China delivering an Easter basket to the same woman who had previously attacked Mr Bunny earlier in the film.

Cast

Live action actors

• James Marsden as Fred O'Hare - The deuteragonist. A human who takes in E.B. to recover after he accidentally hits him with his car. When he was younger Fred saw E.B.'s Dad at work very early one Easter morning and ever since, he has had a secret dream of doing the job himself.
• Coleton Ray as Young Fred.
• Kaley Cuoco as Samantha "Sam" O'Hare - Fred's younger sister.
• Tiffany Espensen as Alex O'Hare - Fred and Sam's adopted younger sister.
• Gary Cole as Henry O'Hare - Bonnie's husband and Fred, Sam, and Alex's father.
• Elizabeth Perkins as Bonnie O'Hare - Henry's wife and Fred, Sam and Alex's mother.
• Chelsea Handler as Mrs. Beck - the lady who interviews Fred in his job interview.
• David Hasselhoff as Himself - The host of "Hoff Knows Talent".
• Russell Brand as a "Hoff Knows Talent" production assistant who pronounces E.B.'s name wrong.
• Christian Long as a "Hoff Knows Talent" production assistant.
• Hugh Hefner as Himself.
• Dustin Ybarra as Cody - an office worker who has a brief encounter with Fred during his job interview.

Voices

• Russell Brand as E.B. - The main protagonist. A 19 year old rabbit who would rather be a drummer than be the next Easter Bunny. Brand also makes a short cameo appearance as a production assistant.
• Django Marsh as Young E.B.
• Hugh Laurie as Mr Bunny (E.B.'s Dad) - The current Easter Bunny who wants E.B. to take over the family business instead of becoming a drummer.
• Hank Azaria as Carlos and Phil: § Carlos: The main antagonist and the leader of the Easter Chicks who has grown tired of always being Mr Bunny's number two (or lieutenant) and decides to lead a coup d'état.
• Phil: Carlos' fun loving sidekick who enjoys music more than working.
• John Cohen as the other Easter Chicks and the other Easter Bunnies.
• Janet Healy as The Pink Berets (Fluffy, Patch, and Bit) - A trio of royal guard rabbit ninjas sent out by Mr Bunny to find E.B.

The Traditional of Eastern

Easter, while the most important event in the Christian year - because belief in the resurrectionof Jesus and the salvation brought by it is the essential element of the religion - is at the same time characterised by elements of the celebration that are pagan in origin. There are a variety of traditions in the religious calendar year that link holidays with food and abstention from it. Many Christians practise fasting (postene) or abstention from some types of food at certain times of the year. Fasting is an ancient practice, which some believe has its origins in people wanting to cleanse their bodies and souls after the indulgences of the harvest or after a long winter.In Bulgaria some of the figures and shapes dyed on eggs represent the steps that Jesus undertook. Eggs are always dyed on the Good Thursday. They are all dyed using the most widely used technique with a pen, outlining the contours of mostly solar symbols with wax. Rosetta, flowers or swastika are also drawn on the eggs, a practice derived from Indo-European symbols of the sun.

Buffalo racing

The annual Buffalo races, 28 September - 4 October 2009, are a hotly contested series of sprints across on an open space in front of the town’s municipal offices.
Tourists and the town’s residents turn out for these amazing races that have been featured in the past on CNN and the BBC as a must-see event.

The races are taken very seriously by the owners of the buffaloes. Prizes for the first nose past the finishing line guarantee owners go to considerable lengths to ensure their buffaloes are in tip-top condition.
Clouds of dust rise as these hefty animals pound down the short course at an alarming speed, reminiscent of a stampede. The crowd roars in support of the favourites and the atmosphere is as an enthralling as watching thoroughbred race horses.
Admittedly, mites slower than a race horse, but the buffaloes are no slouches when it comes to making a short dash for glory.

Although this day of fun and competition would succeed with just the buffaloes as the celebrities, there are other activities to make it a worthwhile outing for families.
A fair with food stalls and handicrafts appeals to visitors who love authentic Thai food, snacks and sweets. Then there are the rides for children, concerts of folk music and, of course, a beauty contest where the prize is the honour of being declared Miss Buffalo.
Not exactly the most adhering of titles for an aspiring beauty queen, but it does not seem to deter contestants from seeking the limelight of the catwalk.
Here is a festival that provides photo opportunities to capture an unusual adaptation of the 100-metre dash. Well worth seeing, is always the conclusion of those who make the effort to travel to Chonburi.

Peranakan Cuisine

Peranakan food is fusion of both Chinese and Malay. It is Chinese in that it retains the use of ingredients such as pork which the mainly indigenous people, mainly Muslims, do not take and it is Malay in that it uses Malay styles of cooking as well as Malay spices in all its various dishes.

True Peranakan recipes are very elaborate requiring hours of preparation – cutting, chopping, skinning, pounding and grinding of raw, local Malay ingredients like lengkuas, assam, bawang, cabai, serai, cukur, daun pandan and santan. Common cooking methods adopted from the Malays included panggang (smoke), goreng (fried), tumis (lightly fried) or rebus (boiled). 

Peranakan recipes are usually spicy, employing pungent roots like lengkuas (galangal), turmeric and ginger; aromatic leaves like daun pandan (screwpine leaf), daun limau purut (fragrant lime leaf) and daun kesum (polygonum or laksa leaf); together with other ingredients like candlenuts, shallots, shrimp paste and chilli. Lemon, tamarind, belimbing (carambola) or green mangoes are used to add a tangy taste to many dishes. 

The Peranakans are also renowned for their scrumptious and colourful cakes and sweet, sticky delicacies to end the meal. Nonya Kuih or cakes are rich and varied, made from ingredients like sweet potato, glutinous rice, palm sugar and coconut milk.

Gasing

Gasing, or top spinning, is a traditional game popular among Malays in the olden days. In rural areas, gasing contests were held during the rice-ripening season. Kampung folks believed that the spinning tops would help bring good harvest.

Both adults and children can play the game. The object of the game is to keep the top spinning for as long as possible and the player who's top spins the longest wins. This game is fast becoming extinct and efforts are being made in Malaysia to revive interest in the game by organizing top spinning competitions.

It is usually made of wood or hard fruits and comes with a string, which is tightly wound round a nail at the base of the top. There are five different shapes of tops: plate-shaped, heart-shaped, flat-top, egg-shaped and berembang ( the shape of a fruit of a familiar seaside tree).

There is no fixed number of players and the game can be played either in teams or individually. A circle is first drawn on the ground marking the circumference within which the top is to spin. A player holds the top in his hand and grips the loose end of the string between the fingers and throws the top in the circle while at the same time pulls the string backwards which sends the top into a spinning action. The one who's top spins the longest and within the specified circle becomes the winner. Once the top spins out of the circle the player loses the game.

Toma Todo

Toma Todo

Toma Todo is a traditional Mexican game that has been played by children and grown-ups throughout Mexico for generations. This hand-crafted is a wood six sided Mexican toy. The six-sided top is called a Pirinola. Instructions are provided in each side.

'Toma Todo' means take it all in Spanish and that is exactly what you need to do - take the jackpot! It can be played by two or more players. This game does not need any skills, it simply depends on your luck. It can also be a good practice with Spanish verbs "tomar" and "poner", especially with children.

Here's what each side means:

Todos ponen - everyone places a coin
Pon 1 - place one
Pon 2 - place two
Toma 1 - take one
Toma 2 - take two
Toma Todo - you win the jackpot!!! 

To Start: Each person should have ten chips or counters. Each player puts two chips in the center, called the "pot."

To Play: Take turns spinning the Pirinola once each. When it comes to rest, read aloud the instructions on the highest part of the top. The player may be told to take one or two or all the chips from the pot. Or the player may have to put one or two chips into the pot. "Todos Ponen" means that every player places two chips into the pot. When only one or two chips remain in the pot, every player places two chips into the pot.

To Finish: Decide before you start how many rounds you will play. A player who does not have enough chips to play drops out of the game. The winner is the person with the most chips at the end of the game.

 You can also make your own Toma Todo by printing or drawing it on a cardboard. Poke a hole at the centre and stuff it with a pencil, so that, you can spin it as well.

Movie Review: Outsourced

What is Communication?

                       Communication refers to a two-way process of reaching mutual understanding, in which participants not only exchange information and ideas but also create and share meaning. It is where sending, giving or exchanging information takes place between individuals through verbal or nonverbal means like speech, writing, signs or behavior. As the old saying goes, communication is key, which clearly shows that communication is very important. Through communication, we get to know the information we are looking for and if we do not understand, we can ask questions and explanations will be given in return. Our verbal ability also enables us to learn from the past and to benefit from the experience of others.

                                               

                       Communication is divided into non-verbal communication and verbal communication. Non-verbal communication is the act of speaking without using words. For instance, facial gestures (smiling, frowning), body language (arms crossed, legs shaking resembling nervousness), eye contact and the impression you give to others with your appearance (dressing, body image). Body language is considered equally as important as the language of words. It can often provide more information than verbal comments. Posture, facial expressions, hand gestures, and body position all communicate and deliver messages in powerful ways.

                       On the other hand, verbal communication is the act of speaking by using words. The examples of this include in different forms of language such as written, voice and sign language. Information written in words can be published, copied and translated into different languages to allow distribution to all places around the world. Vocal information can be recorded and done the same way. As more communication channels open up and more words are written, the interaction between countries is also greatly increased. Both non-verbal and verbal communication is used on a daily basis. 

What is Intercultural Communication?

                       Intercultural communication is defined as the communication among people from different cultural backgrounds. It is a form of global communication. It involves a wide range of communication among people around the world. Intercultural communication would happen because the ever growing of the world’s population increases the contacts within the areas of business, education, mass media, entertainment, tourism and immigration among countries. It seeks to understand how people from different countries and cultures behave, communicate and perceive the world around them. It focuses on languages, social attributes, thought patterns and the different cultures. It helps contribute to some fields of study like anthropology, communication, cultural studies and psychology.

                       Other than that, intercultural communication is referred to as the base for international business. Some executives that are working on the international stage will take intercultural training to ease the communication with people from other parts of the world and increase the productivity and efficiency. Intercultural communication principles help to guide the process of exchanging information and ideas across cultural boundaries with the hope to preserve mutual respect and minimize confusion, antagonism and misunderstandings. If you do not clearly understand one’s culture, you may behave in a way that that particular culture views as offensive, causing misunderstandings between cultures.

Movie review : Outsourced

                       The movie that I am doing a review on is Outsourced. It is directed by John Jeffcoat and released on 12 September 2006. It is a modern day comedy of cross-cultural conflict and romance. The movie Outsourced, winner of an Audience Award at Cinequest Film Festival 2007, tells of a novelty product company who relocates their call center department from Seattle, Washington to India. It is filmed partly in Seattle, but mostly in India. It evolves around American and Indian culture.

                       In the movie, you can see the characters dealing with the issue of outsourcing through the exploration of the differences between American and Indian culture. In tackling the current trend of outsourcing, Outsourced not only captures the spirits of a new India, but also of a newly globalized world and of the importance of cross-cultural understanding. It also does a wonderful job of presenting the beauty of India and the cultural faux pas of many Americans traveling to such different and exotic cultures and experiencing culture shocks.

                       During a Q&A session with the director, writers and actors of the movie, John Jeffcoat, being the director and co-writer stated that he had spent quite some time in Nepal and India during his student years. Therefore, here goes a little inspiration of the movie. The cultural shocks and experiences the main character goes through in the movie were largely based on John’s own experiences during his time abroad.

                       The movie is praised of being affectionate and accurate in presenting the Indian characters and offering a few insights into Indian culture. It also handles the outsourcing issue well. Other than that, it would have been very easy for the filmmakers to fall back into stereotypes while penning and shooting this movie. Instead, they did a very impressive job of capturing a good and realistic snapshot of what India like without trying to cause any misunderstandings. However, some audiences think it is making fun of both American and Indian cultures and showing disrespect towards the Indians.

                      All people have varied culture. Each culture gives them an identity, which makes them unique and different from people of other cultures. We need to learn to understand and respect our own culture, as well as cultures from all parts of the world. In Outsourced, you will see people growing respect towards one culture to another and learning to adapt in a new culture. After watching this movie, I have more appreciation on my own culture and other cultures.

Plot of the Movie

                  Todd Anderson (Played by Josh Hamilton)    

Todd, working as a Seattle-based customer service manager for Western Novelties that sells American-themed products like patriotic gewgaws and novelties finds out that his entire department has been outsourced to India. He is then sent by his boss, David to go to Gharapuri, India to train his replacement, Puro. He has no choice but to travel to India reluctantly as if he quits, he will lose his stock options that he has been asking for months. He only hopes to whip the Indian customer-service center into shape and then returns back as fast as possible.        

   

               Taxi driver misspelling his name as “Mr. Toad”

Upon arriving, he fails to spot the driver sent to welcome him because the taxi driver misspells his name as “Mr. Toad” instead of “Mr. Todd”. As with no basic knowledge of the language or the culture of India, Todd experiences culture shock. He is confused from catching a train to hiring a taxi. He wildly over tips a beggar woman at the airport. He finds himself riding in one of those three-wheeled open-air taxis. He makes the mistake of eating street food. He encounters new definitions of the acceptable (on a crowded bus, a young boy politely stands up to offer Todd his seat, then sits back down on his lap).
  CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE!

Chinese Yo-Yo

The bamboo “empty bell” is described in Records of Scenes at the Capital from the Ming dynasty (1386-1644 A.D.):

“The two ends are round saucer shapes. In the middle is a horizontal piece of wood. Mount it on a string and twirl with a vibrating motion. It emits a humming sound.”

This was a game played by boys and girls in the spring, “when the willow leaves turns green.” It became particularly popular in the North. There is even a poem about it.

Cut bamboo in the shape of a hip drum.
Pull both ends of the string slowly, gently!
When the wind blows, it spins like rushing water.
In the mountain temples, the sound of bells can be heard.

This describes the single-bell form, which looks like a top with a handle. The double-bell looks like two wheels on an axle.



Children playing with the Chinese yo-yo at the 1997 Chinese Summer Festival.

Pull-bells also differ in the sounds they make. The pitch is determined by the number of holes in the pull-bell. The size and thickness also affect the sound. The large diameter of “vibrating bells” produces a “wong-wong” sound. Bells with small sound holes are called “echo-bells.”

Expert players can do tricks like “A Wild Goose Lands on the Flat Beach” and “The Golden Cicada Casts off Its Shell.” As you might expect, “Rise Upward to the Blue Clouds” involves tossing the ball a yard or more into the air.

Jess-Assignment 1

Communication

Communication is a process involves transmission of information between living organism by symbols, actions, speech or signs. Communication is also considered as completed once the receiver could understand the sender. A communication is construe as good if it involves ‘two way traffic’ between two parties, meaning a discussion has occurred. A discussion that allowed the receiver to ask questions and receive answer from the sender will help in better understanding each other. Besides that, in order to reduce the misunderstanding and make the communication more success, sender and receive should have the same or common signs, words and signals. Therefore, they could easily understand each other.

In earlier time, people communicated through sign or symbols, performing drama and poetry. People used different rhythms to represented different events. The headman of the village mostly become sender meanwhile the people of village plays the role of the receiver. For example the headman of village will use the rhythm of ‘Rentak Alu-alu’ to announce death while during the Friday prayer, the ‘tidung melompat’ rhythm was used. However, with the advancement of technology in 21st century, communication can now utilize latest technology to ‘send out’ or disseminate information to a wider audience. Regardless of what kind of communication, a message will be needed to be transferred from sender to receiver in every instance of a communication.

Communication can be differentiated into two parts, which are verbal communication and non verbal communication. Verbal communication allows people to communicate face-to-face. Sound, words, speaking and language are the key components of verbal communication. Therefore, it also included oral and written communication. Although words alone have no meaning, human put meaning into words. Lexemes can be defined as human spoken languages whereas grammars are the rules of the symbols that are manipulated. As human progress, the development of spoken language has advanced as meaning is assigned to words. Since at a very tender age, we already start learning language in order to communicate. Today, there are approximately 3000-6000 languages that are being spoken by people all over the world. Languages are the manner of expression for any living organism to interact with each other. Every language has it own rules and signals, such as tones, gestures or written symbols.

Nonverbal communication defined as a process of communication through sending and receiving wordless messages. (Segal.J., 2010) Nonverbal communication includes the facial expressions, eye contact, body language and tone of voice. Usually people used nonverbal communication for repetition, contradiction, substitution, complementing and accenting. The most studied forms of nonverbal communication are body language, which usually constitute more than 50% in our communication.   For example when you are feeling disgusting or fear from something or someone, you will position yourself far away from it. Your behavior will show the cue of how you feel.

           

Intercultural Communication

            Intercultural communication considers as a form of global communication which importance in examines how people interact with each other from different culture, religious, beliefs, social, ethnic, and educational backgrounds.

 In the study of intercultural communication, people seek for the understanding of how different countries, background and cultures people interact. Intercultural communication is also known as cross-cultural communication.

Usually, intercultural communication will focuses on language that people use to interact. Besides that, it also focuses on social attributes, thought patterns, and the cultures of different groups of people. Intercultural communication take place in many studies such as anthropology, cultural studies, linguistics, psychology and communication studies. Basically, intercultural communication is also required in international businesses as the base of study.

In intercultural field, there are many research that having different definitions of ‘intercultural communication’. For example from the view of Karlfried Knapp, intercultural communication is the interpersonal interaction between members of different groups, which differ from each other in respect of the knowledge shard by their members and in respect of their linguistic forms of behavior.

In the history of cross-cultural communication, the research of Edward T. Hall was most famous because it have a deeper meaning of intercultural communication. Moreover, the works of Geert Hofstede, Harry C. Triandis, Fons Trompenaars, Clifford Geertz and Shalom Schwartz were also giving good idea of intercultural communication in next generation’s future studies.  

Those researchers had developed many theories for applying to many fields such as business, management, marketing, advertising and website design. As international business becomes more important, many companies get to understand that the important of intercultural communication could help to manage the structure of their companies, their staff and communicate with customers. Due to growing multicultural populations, intercultural communication theories are also used within education, health care and other public services.

There are several theories can be distinguished in different strands such as focus on effective outcomes, on accommodation or adaption, on identity negotiation and management, on communication networks, on acculturation and adjustment and other theories. There are three components such as knowledge (information that could help effective interaction), motivation (positive affect toward the other culture) and skills (behavior and act that effect the interaction appropriately) combined as intercultural communicative competence.  

Although intercultural communication is important, it also will go wrong causing misunderstanding. That is because people from different culture will decode message differently. Factors such as rights, needs, values, assumptions and the situation will increased the chance of misunderstanding.

 The assumption of our own culture might not apply in another culture. For example in Thai culture, un-married women and men can’t hold each other’s hands. Meanwhile, in European culture men and women were allowed. Shaking hands while meeting each other was represented polite behavior. There are five ways to minimize the risk of misunderstood and improve communication. Thus, everyone could understand the nature and purpose of the interaction.

 First, we should avoid using slang and idioms because that might bring different meaning in the thoughts of different people. Therefore, choosing the correct words that could convey only the most specific denotative meaning would avoid misunderstanding. Besides that, listen carefully is one of the factors. For example people from different countries will have different their local accents and pronunciation. That is also a problem in communication so we should ask for confirmation of understanding if in doubt.

Moreover, we also should able to recognize the accenting and intonation and respect other culture. When the language is unequal, body language will take role in communication. Thus, watching any changes in body language will improve communication. Finally, we should investigate other culture’s perception of our culture by reading literature. This will help us more understanding the other culture and bearing as a visitor in their culture. 

In conclusion, intercultural communication plays the important role in many fields. Intercultural communication might cause misunderstanding. However, we willing to prepare ourselves in studying other culture then we could improve our communication.

History of Movie

Movie	Jab we met
Directed by	Imtiaz Ali
Produced by	Dhillin Mehta
Screenplay by	Imtiaz Ali
Story by	Imtiaz Ali
Stariring	Shahid Kapoor…Aditya Kashyap
	Kareena Kapoor…Geet Dhillon
	Tarun Arora…Anshuman
	Dara Singh…Dadaji
	Pavan Malhotra…Geet’s Chacha
	Kiran Juneja… Mrs. Dhilon
	Saumya Tandon…Roop Dhilon
	Nihar Thakkar… Raghav
	Manushka Khisty… Meher
	F.J. Jussawala… Mother’s lawyer
	Vishal Sharma… Aditya’s lawyer
	Rohini Sahni… Bride
	Deepak Sharma… Groom
Genre	Comedy/ Romantic
Runtime	143 Mins
Country	India
Language	Hindi
	Punjabi
	English
Subtitles	English
Music by	Songs:
	Pritam Chakraborty
	Sandesh Shandilya
	Background Score:
	Sanjoy Chowdhury
Cinematography	Natarajan Subramaniam
Editing by	Aarti Bajaj
Distributed by	Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision Ltd
Release date	October 26, 2007

Movie Review

In this assignment, I chose the Hindi movie that named Jab we met as my topic. First of all, I would like to mention a little bit about the synopsis of this movie.

 Jab we met translated in English is when we met, which also bring out the meaning of this films that a couple met together and fall in love. Aditya Kashyap (Shahid Kapoor) was depressed after the passing of his father, Dharamraj, who is a recently deceased famous industrialist.

Due to Aditya’s girlfriend ditching him, Aditya become more depressed. Therefore, after attending her girlfriend’s marriage, he boards a train in the night and appears on the verge of committing suicide. In Chatrapati Shivaji Train Terminus, Aditya meets Geet Kaur Dhillon,a beautiful, lively and talkative young woman who is leaving Mumbai and back to her hometown, Bathinda in Punjab.

At the beginning, Aditya found that Geet is very annoying and irritating, so he decided to leave. However, Geet follows him and so she missed her train. This also caused that Geet confronts Aditya have to responsible for getting her safely return to her house. In the journey to Bathinda, Aditya begin to feel good about life as spending so much time with Geet.

 When they arrived, Geet’s family misunderstand that both of them were lover. Aditya also hide his real identity and tells her family he is a musician. Due to Geet’s family want Geet to marry Manjeet, an old childhood friend of Geet, she runs away from her home with Aditya. Actually Geet’s true love is Anshuman in Manali, she decided to find and marry him.

After Aditya returned to Mumbai, he guides his company to extreme success with positive outlook on life. Due to the influence of Geet, Aditya also launched a new calling card named ‘Geet’. At this moment, Aditya noticed from Geet’s family that Geet has not returned home. Thus, he went to find her and promise will return her to her family.

 In Manali, Aditya find out Anshuman refuse to marry Geet and left her out to the streets. However, luckily he finally tracks her down in Shimla. After the convincing, Geet back to her hometown and get back her normal life. Within the moment, Geet and Aditya realized that they love each other. In the end, they get married and having two daughters. 

            In this movie, it has shown two different cultures which are Punjabi and Hindu. Aditya is a Hindu guy who from big city, Mumbai. Therefore, when he arrive Geet’s house, who is a Punjabi, he could not fully understand the language, their practice and behavior. However, Aditya only could understand their communication by body language. That is why it also caused misunderstood sometime while Aditya communicate with Geet’s family.

            As we all know Bollywood movie mostly having dance and singing and in this movie is the same. In those singing and dancing scene, we could see that they are wearing Punjabi suit. Besides Punjabi suit, Punjabi men also need to wear head cover which named Patka or Distaar. For Punjabi girl, they were wearing Salwar Kameez which is a traditional wear.  Different cultures also have their own music instrumental. In this movie, we also can find the famous music instrumental that always been used among Punjabi, Nagada.

            In conclusion, we could find many culture of Punjabi in this movie. Furthermore, Jab we met is also a nice movie which suit for couple and family to watch. It shown many values such as family love, forgiveness, positive thinking about life and importance of friendship.