Job Discussion Forums

[Roger]

I am beginning to understand the importance of memes. They often come hand in glove with bodily gestures.
A westerner might attempt to emphasise the meaning of the word/question "me?" by pointing to his or her heart; a Chinese instinctively would point to his or her nose.
I can't, even after living many years in China, get my hand to point to my nose when asking "wo ma?"

[Guy Courchesne]

I noticed an interesting gesture by traffic cops and other people in Mexico. When calling someone over to you with a gesture or traffic cops waving cars through, a person here will raise their hand, palm out, and sweep and arc out and down. A little video would be easier to post here. The gesture to me, as a Canadian, is one of 'go away' rather than come here. The same gesture of 'come here' to me would have the palm turned inward, and the arc swept toward me and up, not down.

[twoface]

I've been offline for some time and just picked up on this thread of mine... Meme's as I meant them in the OP are as Richard Dawkings defined them.
Anyway what about cultural meme sets such as Italian hand jestures which probably come with appropriate facial expressions, shrugs etc; japanese kowtowing and mouth covered giggles?
I am thinking of those types of expressions that are very hard to either define, explain or vocalize. The misunderstandings and miscommunications of meanings inherent in these are hard to translate and can lead to mistrust, misinformation and hostility. This is a local problem in dealing with a new language for a visitor to a new culture.
On the other hand can teaching meme sets such as sing song rhymes, along with appropriate facial expressions and body postures assist in teaching english? I understand that there is a chinese man who teaches english to thousands of people at a time in stadiums in China shouting out phrases with the crowd yelling them back in response.
I think that some or much of our early language learning experiences as a child must have involved such a learning style either intentionally or unintentionally. This method has the advantage of using multiple sensory and body systems in engagement thus reinforcing the ingraining of the knowledge.
I am just commenting because in my rudimentary exploration of Spanish while living in Mexico I found that mimicing the local expressions, both verbal and physical, helped me to better understand and be understood in that language. If, while in Italy trying to learn italian, you act like an Italian you will be better understood by Italians. And remembering what you have learned is much easier.
To continue with this rambling observation I am very aware of the subcultural meme sets in our own society. As a liberal I can spot a red neck or a religious right wing person from a mile away and tend to avoid those individuals. There are many other examples.
Please don't bother to criticize the lack of coherence or direction. I am well aware of it. These are just associated thoughts on what is for me a nebulous subject.

[twoface]

Given that different cultures by definition have different world views, and different ways of expressing them wouldn't it be advisable to use different teaching methods given the local conditions?
The basic unit of meaning (as far as I know) in the written form of Chinese is the ideogram which expresses an ideation. In English it is the word which denotes a thing or action (etc). There is a very big gap here in mental structures. The chinese structure, in my opinion would be much more amenable to meme strings as in song lyrics, poems or word associations whereas some european student might be more comfortable with a more definitive grammarian approach. The chinese frame of mind might respond better to word strings which lend a more comprehensive meaning, rather than individualistic word definitions.
Also the chinese culture, being reflected in the individual's self identity lends very few opportunities for individualistic forms of expression and so teachers might have to approach their classes with more group response types of materials.
Just thoughts.