Reflection of Culture: Language

Language is a part of a culture. More than that, we could tell certain ethnics/race/nation culture, way of thinking, and way of living from language.

We could see it very clearly and obviously, in the vocabulary,

For the first instance: to refer to certain object, many Indonesian language vocabulary consist of more syllable than the English. We see:

• ma-kan (2 syllables) = eat (1 syllable)
• ke-mu-di-an (4 syllables) = then (1 syllable)
• sang-ga-ma (3 syllables) = sex (1 syllable)
• ma-ta-ha-ri (4 syllables) = sun (1 syllable)

and so on, and so on. Yes, some words in Indonesian consist of less syllable than the English, but it is only a small percentage.

Conclusion (or at least assumption):
The westerner is more efficient and effective on doing everything in their life. Indonesians tend to be more bureaucratic, less (not to say the very least) efficient and effective in having their life activities.

For the second instance: Chinese and Japanese (as the most extreme example) language has their own kind of vocabulary. They don't use the latin style. An object is described in a certain style and sum of strokes.

To read the word is very easy (assuming that the reader is fluent in the language), but, to write a word, certain procedures must be followed (as to which stroke comes first, and which one is the later, also the direction of each stroke). It also take a bit longer to write a word in chinese than to write a word in latin style.

Conclusion (or assumption):
Chinese and Japanese are very bureaucratic. They are very careful (and it took a long time) in evaluating the situation, condition, and making a decision. When the decision has been made, the execution is very..very..fast..

In my opinion, the conclusion is resolute, you could find it clearly, and obviously in the business world. Particularly in the event of negotiation.

Chinese and Japanese are pretty bureaucratic. If we negotiate with Japanese or Chinese corporation, we negotiate with the lower officer first. After we made deals with the lower officer, we have to renegotiate with higher rank officer, and so on, and so on.

It is very possible that we have to renegotiate, with the higher rank officer, about something that has already been consented when we negotiate with the lower rank officer.

So, what do you think?