The Key to Understanding Cultural Differences
Boyé Lafayette De Mente
The creation of languages by human beings has been both a blessing and a curse on humanity.
Languages play the primary role in what people believe and how they behave, and the only way to achieve understanding and cooperation is through intimate knowledge of key words in the languages of the people concerned.
In every language there are key words that are the building blocks of the mindset and behavior of the people. These key terms determine the values, attitudes and actions of people in both subtle and obvious ways, and they encompass the whole perspective of the individuals’ view of the world around them and the world at large.
These words cover virtually everything that impacts on the lives of individuals, from the food they become accustomed to eating, their relationships with family members and people in general; their self-image, the spiritual beliefs they may have been taught, their sexual self-image, and their attitude towards members of the opposite sex, race, skin color, money, profit, politics and political power.
There is no way individuals, groups, or nations, can totally understand each other and interact in positive ways without knowledge of the concepts hard-wired into the brains of the people concerned by key words in the languages they speak, beginning with the one they were weaned on.
The origin of individual languages, the size and diversity of their vocabularies, the number of key words they contain and the level of advanced education [if any] of their speakers, determines the cultural “soft-ware” that is installed in their brains.
I have identified and explained over 300 key words in Chinese, over 300 in Japanese, over 200 in Korean, and over 100 in Mexican-Spanish—all based on 40-plus years of experience in and with these countries—in books that are available from Amazon.com.
In a small book that introduces this concept—Bridging Cultural Barriers in China, Japan, Korea and Mexico—I describe 11 of the most important key words in Chinese; 16 in Japanese; 10 in Korean and 12 in Mexican-Spanish that could be described as “master keys.”
The older, larger and more sophisticated societies the larger number of key words that they have, and in more modern times the meanings and uses of key words in leading languages are being changed by people and institutions that have economic, political and religious agendas, so keeping up with them is an ongoing process.
I cannot foresee a world united in peace and prosperity until the leading nations speak one or more languages whose key words are based on the same principles—on principles that incorporate the most philosophically rational, humane and enlightened guidelines for human behavior.
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Boyé
Lafayette De Mente has been involved with Asia since the late 1940s as a member of
a U.S. intelligence agency, journalist and editor. He is a graduate of Jōchi
University in Tokyo, Japan and Thunderbird School of Global Management in
Glendale, Arizona, USA. In addition to books on the business practices, social
behavior and languages of China, Japan, Korea and Mexico he has written
extensively about the plague of male dominance and the moral collapse of the
U.S. and the Western world in general. Recent books include: CHINA Understanding & Dealing with
the Chinese Way of Doing Business; JAPAN Understanding & Dealing with the
NEW Japanese Way of Doing Business; AMERICA'S FAMOUS HOPI INDIANS; ARIZONA'S
LORDS OF THE LAND [the Navajos] and SPEAK JAPANESE TODAY - A Little
Language Goes a Long Way! To see a full list of his 60-plus
books go to: www.authorsonlinebookshop.com.
All of his titles are available from Amazon.com.
