Nearly halfway through the first term, the workload slowly piling up, with exams just five weeks away!
I’ve recently been writing about Multiculturalism, since it’s a topic area for Japanese Extension. Now what annoys me is some of the weird katakana we come across.
Multiculturalism can be written in two ways
多文化主義-たぶんかしゅぎ-Tabunkashugi
Simple enough?
マルチカルチュラリズム-MARUCHIKARUCHURARIZIMU
What a mouthful. I do prefer using 多文化主義 but for variety of vocab, I’m forced to use that long katakana, I can’t even pronounce without slipping somewhere in the middle of it.
Now, people say Australia is a MARUCHIKARUCHURARIZIMU country. Yes indeed, but depending on your definition of MARUCHIKARUCHURARIZIMU.Most would say, multiculturalism is the mixing of cultures, hence Australia must be! But how I see it, is the integration of cultures, where everyone respects not only the different culture, but each other. For me, Australia isn’t very MARUCHIKARUCHURARU. I look at my school and all I see is black hair(with the odd blonde/ brunette). I go to suburbs such as Eastwood and Hurstville, you will just see Chinese shops everywhere. Then there are issues of discrimination and racism. I find it rude when people say ‘Ni hao’ to me, because I get this racist feeling about them. Maybe it’s just me =o
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February 20, 2009 at 9:35 pm
akatsukisan
It’s beginning to turn into a clash of cultures. People are stereotyping cultures way too much, especially with that ‘Ni hao’ thing. I hate it – those thick headed morons that say such insensitive things aren’t even aware that China is actually culturally diverse – there’s canto, shang besides mando.
Even so, when I go to Market City or any of those Asian centres in Sydney it feels sometimes comforting to have a piece of China in Aus. It gives one a sense of security – there’s no place like the homeland.