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Taken from Communication and Culture, Chapter 1, page 5-6
People have always been interested in how human beings would develop in a “culture-free” setting. Today it is considered immoral to isolate individuals at birth for experimental reasons, but such experimentation was attempted in the past. The Egyptian pharaoh Psammetichus tried to discover what language children would “naturally” speak if they were reared where they could hear no human voice. He ordered two infants isolated from society and had them brought up without the sound of any human speech. He assumed that they would “naturally” talk in the language of their ancestors, and to his ears, their babbling sounded like Phrygian, an ancient Mediterranean tongue. In the fifteenth century, King James IV of Scotland tried a similar experiment and claimed his two infants spoke in Hebrew, the language of the Old Testament of the Bible. Both monarchs were mistaken, of course. As the cases of Victor, the wild boy, and Kamala and Amala demonstrate, children learn human language in the same way they learn other kinds of human development – by participation in a cultural community. They learn a specific human language as well as specific kinds of human behavior through their membership in a specific cultural community. The cases of Victor and the wolf-children make fascinating reading. But more important, they emphasize that we as human beings can only develop our human potential through growing up in close association with other human beings. Although culture restricts us to certain kinds of values, thoughts, and behavior, culture is also what allows us to develop our human qualities and abilities. The price that we pay for being human is that we become human in a culturally specific way.
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In the article, “On Cultural Time,” the author, Tracy Novinger, explains how the different time concepts between Mexican and America are based on each culture. First, the author begins the article by stating that there were surprising misconceptions while two people from two different cultures, American and Mexican, were starting a conversation because of their different cultures. Next, the author emphasizes that cultural practices have influenced the way of thinking about the concept of time. Mexico has a polychronic culture, which is focused on building social and family relationship. On the other hand, Americans follow a monochronic culture, which values on time, goals, and achievement. There are positive and negative implications between polychronic and monochronic cultures. Mexican time is described as more relaxing, whereas American culture emphasizes punctuality. In addition, Novinger stated that it was acceptable to be late at social meeting in Mexico although it was not acceptable in American culture. Furthermore, Mexican believe that time is flexible, while American believe that time is money. According to the author, the time concept of one culture does not apply the same to another. The author concludes the article by stating that each country should maintain their own traditional custom.
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