During my honors introductory course, we wrote a reflective essay for each honors competency. For this class, we watched a TED Talk titled “The Danger of a Single Story” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. In her talk, she described the stereotype of African culture and how that didn’t exactly line up with the truth. She explained how an American telling a story about her culture would be much different than someone from her culture sharing the story, and much different from reality. I expanded on the TED Talk, to reflect on two of my experiences as a high school student in Spanish 102 and 201 as they pertain to cultural awareness and verbal and nonverbal communication.
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My experiences in Spanish 102 and 201 fulfills Communication 1 and 2 and my reflection on the TED Talk and my Spanish courses fulfills Self-Awareness 1 and 2.
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One thing that stuck out to me in Adichie’s TED Talk was how she mentioned that spreading untruths about her culture is not really the American’s fault because they have only ever heard one story. This particularly struck me because I was raised in a primarily white, middle-class town that had a lot of unspoken biases toward others. Of course, if everyone in America was saying one thing about a different country it is easy to accept that story and not question it as a member of the same culture. Without communication with people from other countries, why would you question the one and only perspective you’ve ever been exposed to? In my Spanish 102 and 201 classes, I was able to gain insight for the first time into a culture other than my own.
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In Spanish 102 and 201, we were only allowed to speak Spanish during the class periods. This gave me a lot of practice speaking Spanish in familiar situations using limited vocabulary. In addition to language practice, Spanish legends and the Festival of Nations impacted me when learning about a new culture for the first time. Spanish legends were short stories that we read every Friday in class. The legends of course made me understand common stories that are passed on in Spanish cultures, but they also gave me insight on how different cultures communicate differently. Instead of piecing together each individual word to interpret a legend, Spanish cultures communicate through larger ideas. The sentences do not appear in the same order as they do in English. This experience made me wonder how Spanish speaking people even begin to understand the English language with its many little rules.
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The second experience that opened my eyes to different cultures was the Festival of Nations. At the Festival of Nations, vendors from around the world sell their items. Before I went, I wondered how people in cultures that bargain without set prices know how much to pay for things. My experience bargaining to pay for items and speaking Spanish to vendors was new, but I learned a verbal practice that is uncommon in my own culture. I would later use the skill of bargaining in a much less familiar setting when I travelled to Spain over winter break of 2021.
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As I attempt to be culturally aware and respectful, I will be compassionate toward people who are unfamiliar with my common cultural practices. I will also be reminded that people are very different in the way they communicate, which will help me be more understanding of the world around me.
HONR 201 Global Citizenship Reflection relating the TED Talk, "The Danger of A Single Story," to my experience in Spanish 102 & 201.