EW2-020, Jihyeon Baeg, 14010013, Final Draft Mid-Term Exam paragraph

 

 

 

Jihyeon Baeg
EW2-020
October 17, 2015

Westerners to Noun and Asians to Verb

       Westerners and Asians have different perception that saw the world for two reasons. Westerners are used to consider with nouns, but Asians are accustomed to concise with VERBS. First of all, Westerners questioned with verb, but Asians with noun. In the situation that asking about drink more tea, Westerners asked “More tea?” However, Asians asked “Drink more?” Westerns used tea as a noun when they ask, but Asians used the verb ‘to drink’ in the same situation. According to Pung Kaiping who is University of California, Berkeley, Psychology professor, English language wanted to be cleared and specific. Sometimes the teachers said "go and eat some fruits" then the kids said “which fruits do you talking about?” That's how the kids in United States reacted, but in case of Chinese children, they understood about what teacher said. Second, Westerners concentrated only about question, but Asians considered with context. Participants had two pictures. One boy who is in center is smiling in first picture, and the others are too. In second picture, the center boy is smiling too, but the others look angry. Experimenters asked ‘Does that boy look happy in the second picture?’ to Westerners and Asians. Most Westerners said the boy is also happy, even someone didn’t know what the difference is of two pictures. However, most Asians said ‘no’ because they realized his face in context. Around the boy, all people look unhappy, so Asians answered that way. This test was also the difference of Noun to Westerners and Verbs to Asians. Westerners focused the question, so they thought only the boy that is the noun, but Asians focused the situation that is connected with verb. In brief, Westerners considered with nouns and events, but Asians conceived with verbs and contexts.

 

Reference

Images and Quotation: YANG, J. (Director). (2009). EBS DOCUFRIME EAST AND WEST Part 1 - NOUNS AND VERBS [Motion picture]. KOREA OF REPUBLIC.