I Think I’m Turning Japanese – Global Nationality
Recently I’ve been becoming more and more Japanese as I block out the English world and surrounded myself with the sights and sounds of native Japanese.
The results have been interesting, the majority of my speech fillers are now Japanese (ums and aahs are anos and eehhs) and I am excited 17% easier.
It begins to beg the question of, what does it mean to be a particular nationality?
I was born and raised in Australia but I consider myself to have a very different set of values to the majority of my friends. As I begin to copy the actions and mannerisms of Japanese people does that make me more Japanese?
But here is where I give up defining my nationality. Because I know that I can radically change all of my values if I want.
I can choose to be as polite and reserved as a Japanese, or as loud and in your face as an American. I can haggle as much as an Indian salesman if I really want to.
So I consider myself of a global nationality, by which I simply mean I can be whatever I want to be.
Choose whatever you want to be.
I’m proud to be Australian, Japanese, Chinese, American, African. They all have a history that is enormous compared to the amount of time that any of us have been alive.
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April 27th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Good point you have there.I also consider myself a global nationality.I’m from Argentina, and most of the things I read are from English speaking people,some others are from different parts of the world since values are what interest me most.As an EFL teacher and counselor my interests go from English language to personal development so many different people from different cultures are a must read for me. Thanks for your insight
April 27th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
@Patricia: Thanks for your input Patricia. Our values are really what matters most as those are the criteria that we base our decisions upon.
I’m looking forward to going to Japan next year to get a real taste of Japanese culture.
May 25th, 2009 at 8:13 pm
Heh, that’s quite a strict statement of stereotyping there, there are obviously quiet Americans and in your face Japanese people
I actually think you should take your own advice on this (which was excellent):
May 25th, 2009 at 9:01 pm
@Glen: Haha, indeed that is very strongly stereotyped sentence. Oh the things we say to emphasis a point
Thanks for taking the time to round me up.