1. Leaka

    Leaka Creative Mettle

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    Cultural Issues

    Discussion in 'The Lounge' started by Leaka, May 1, 2009.

    Anyone from a different culture? Such as I am Greece living in America. But I have always been generally connected to Greece. I love the smells and the world so much. But now stuck in America. The music when I was child was quite nice. I also listening to the very traditionally stuff. And I'm starting to find out over the years more and more Greece is becoming America. No one speaks the language in the music, no one uses the traditional instruments or anything. In the Middle East they keep to their cultural and even their American music still has define cultural click to it. But Greece. Greece no no. Has anyone else found this in their culture? Can you be mad at your culture?
     
  2. Dalouise

    Dalouise New Member

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    Do you mean different to America, or to Greece? I am British but living in Ireland which I find much more to my liking. I am even picking up some of the Irish language. However, many of the older Irish people learned English from Westerns on TV so a lot of "American English" has crept into the written and spoken english which I dislike, outside the States or from American people. There is a strong national culture in Ireland still which I love, with traditional music played live in many pubs and in the gaeltacht regions no English is spoken and often you can't buy a house unless you speak the language.

    Eirinn go brach (Sorry, can't get the fada mark to work on here :redface:)
     
  3. Neha

    Neha Beyond Infinity. Contributor

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    Indians are taking all bad points from the West....no offence to anyone here, but while the world is improving itself, we're getting more and more degraded.

    We're also losing our culture. There was a time when girls wouldn't step out of the house in a mini-skirt, or rather come in the presence of the elderly in anything revealing too much flesh(I still don't). The dupatta would be a perfect v over the breasts so that no cleavage shows and the blouses of the saris would be at least semi.

    Now, you see girls out there in spekedis and showing more flesh than clothes. The dupatta is a perfect u around the neck and the cleavage bulges out and the blouses look like bras.

    People are ashamed of speking hindi! What? Ashamed of speaking their matra-basha. In some ways ashamed of the orthodox and old fashioned ways of our Mother India's land! They grow up playing in the dust of Indian streets, listen to stories under the banyan tree made for them by their grandmother, fight with their mothers over drinking too much lassi, eat kulphi during hot summers, eat hot pakoras during the monsoons with tea, grow up with a craze for Bollywood films and cricket, and then with one appointment letter, they forget everything, pack up and forget about her and pack their bags to rush out? It saddens me. Nothing wrong with working outside the country, but to forget the land which helped you become who you are...!

    Also Bollywood movies are becoming more and more private viewing types..there are rarely any movies where the whole family can sit down and watch it. One upon a time, that was all they had.

    Kawalli and folk music rarely sells, and even in the movies there are very less songs worth listening.

    However, all in the end, we respect the fact that we're Indians. Even those who leave this land, would not be ashamed in acknowledging that. When you think of India, you think colors, music, movies, flavour, spice, food, variety, elephants and of course, the clothes. How can anyone ever be ashamed at a culture like that? A culture that has so many parts, so many subsidaries, so many divisions, is so divided, yet it sticks together like glue. I may be mad at the people who are getting influenced way too much, but I can never get mad at the cutulture, because even with the faults and changes, it still manages to remain unique.

    Okay, that ended up being a bit longer, okay a lot longer than I'd meant. But once I get started on India, I'm hard to stop. *bows head*
     
  4. lessa

    lessa New Member

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    culture is being lost but a lot of that is due to
    inter marriage.
    I say I am Canadian My family is English, Scottish, Irish.
    We have been here for 3 generations.
    My blended heritage and cultures are pretty similar but
    still I could not speak a word to someone using the language
    of any but the English if my life depended on it.
    The music now is something quite different.
    I love the traditional music of the Irish and Scots.
    My husband is a Heinz 57 which he is proud of but the
    Native American music is what he loves to listen to.
    For some reason dress and language fall by the wayside
    but the music somehow continues to draw people in.
    In Canada natives in the past generation were sent to
    schools where the language and dress of their own was
    beaten out of them. They were given different names so
    young children were forced to become more westernized.
    Now that is changing and schools are offering classes in
    schools teaching cree, ojibway and probably others where
    the tribes are large enough.
    It has taken a lot of court cases for this to come about but
    it is happening.
    Even in Canada we are being forced to give up our culture.
    Immigration changes how we look at ourselves and we try to
    accomodate new comers.
    We are becoming more Americanized due to movies and tv
    I find this sad but it is the way of the world.
    But music still seems to bind countries to their own world and
    brings others closer to understanding at least in part the culture.
     
  5. Leaka

    Leaka Creative Mettle

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    Any culture really that has lost their tradition. I'm really mad at Greece right now. How dare they stop using the traditional instruments and the language in their music.
    We're not America....We're Greece
    Not American, we're Greek.
    Wear it with pride.


    @Neha: I'm going to sound mean to you, but I don't want to sound mean. But I kind of don't see that as losing the culture. Most of the woman in your kind of cultures are suppressed so the more independence they gain woohooo go them.
     
  6. Neha

    Neha Beyond Infinity. Contributor

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    Leaka-that's not mean :p...I totally understand that to you it might not sound much....but by Indian standards it's huge! Sort of like the iceberg, view it from the surface, it's like a block of ice....but measure it, and you find out how huge it really is.
     
  7. sophie.

    sophie. New Member

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    Britain is becoming more 'Americanised' which to be frank pisses me off.

    We've been told in school to spell 'sulphur' the American way with an 'f'. Apparently the International Confederation of Chemists has spoken on this weighty issue (so the chemists are discussing spelling..right) :p Er why? We are not in bloody America, we are in England. We speak English, we spell it the English way.

    Oh and the music, and American import films...High School sodding Musical...won't get started on that or you'll drop dead of boredom.
     
  8. Neha

    Neha Beyond Infinity. Contributor

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    lol, HSM is my bane too....don't people LISTEN to proper music? Or at least see proper musicals!
     
  9. Leaka

    Leaka Creative Mettle

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    My friend who's from there also complained about that. He said for all he cares they came first and they spell that way and don't change it.
    lol!


    @Neha: I know it's an iceberg in your culture. I know that. But still I think it's fine for a woman to wear what she wants and that. So I don't see it as destroying the culture, more expanding it's views. A good culture is one that has challenges to overcome.
     
  10. Neha

    Neha Beyond Infinity. Contributor

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    Leaka-*shrug* Different cultures, different thinking. And it's fine I mean, wear jeans, wear skirts, but don't be indecent that's the plan....I know at times families get too orthodox...I don't agree with many of my grandparents' thinking. I think it's fine if people want to have sex before marraige, as long as it's safe....no problem, I want to wait. But there are times when I see certain changes that make ME ashamed....maybe it's just me....but my friends and me talk about the stuff, and we agree mostly. Like take Sanskrit for example. It was the basic language from which many Indian languages have been derived--it's sort of the Indian version of Latin....my Dad graduated in Sanskrit...I had it basically one year. And there are so many foriegners coming to India to study that very language. Makes me ashamed of myself. But on the other hand some of the changes like women empowerment are good and I agree we need to get the reservation stuff changed. But it's been barely 51 years after we got independant, I'd say we're changig wayy faster than we need to.
     
  11. sophie.

    sophie. New Member

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    ^ Same, I'm not spelling it Americanny.
    No one else did :( They are sheep! haha.

    If I'm supposed to spell Sulphur wrong, am I supposed to spell Sophie wrong too?! Sod that for a game of soldiers
     
  12. sophie.

    sophie. New Member

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    Too flipping true :p
    I'm fine with American people spelling stuff differently (not that it would matter if I didn't) but I'm buggered if I am going to as well. It's colour not 'color' for me
     
  13. hiddennovelist

    hiddennovelist Contributor Contributor

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    High School Musical makes me want to off myself. So does Hannah Montana. Seriously, I would like to apologize on behalf of the United States for ever having allowed Miley Cyrus to come into possession of a blonde wig and a microphone.

    No offense to anyone who may like her...but she drives me nuts.
     
  14. Neha

    Neha Beyond Infinity. Contributor

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    ^^Ditto, basically she has five songs which run on a fine scale--I miss you, duet with Billy I Learned from you, One in a Million, If we were a movie and Nobody's PErfect...apart from that, no thanks. I'm not too much of a fan of 7 thngs I hate about you too! Esp. the video! I mean, it's Billy who does the work, all she does is sing, and not too great at that.
     
  15. hiddennovelist

    hiddennovelist Contributor Contributor

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    Yeah, it's that part of American culture (if you can include that in American culture...which I do) that makes me cringe and duck my head in shame. Oh, Disney, why did you start cranking out these teeny-bopper divas?
     
  16. sophie.

    sophie. New Member

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    Blech!
    the concept of Hannah Montana makes me want to hurl
    I have only watched 45 seconds of her before I felt like smashing the TV and then killing myself...she is terrifying.
     
  17. Leaka

    Leaka Creative Mettle

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    That is what he said. He's so funny. He saids he was taught that it was spelled this way, and that is the way he's going to do it.
    The way he taught.

    Okay, that's okay.


    HSM and Miley Cryus are blugh....they not good music.
     
  18. sophie.

    sophie. New Member

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    Lol. Well, if someone speaks English, is it not logical they speak English from England, as opposed to American-English, which is something pretty different!
     
  19. Neha

    Neha Beyond Infinity. Contributor

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    We have our own version of the English Language....it's called Hinglish...you guessed it! It's a mixture of hindi and english, almost everyone follows this language religion lol
     
  20. Cogito

    Cogito Former Mod, Retired Supporter Contributor

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    I've heard 'versions' of English that could only properly be called Anguish. :)
     
  21. sophie.

    sophie. New Member

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    Touché you two ;)
     
  22. Neha

    Neha Beyond Infinity. Contributor

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    lol, we also have a vegetable special English which I hearby name Vengish..It goes like this(sounds much better in hindi though :()

    Woman-Aye, give vegetable.
    Bhajiwala-haan ji?(What?)
    Woman-Vegetable bulody foul
    Bhajawala-Maemshab good talk englees, bery good talk englees.
    Woman-Thanksh, learnt husband mine.

    lol....okay that wasn't that funy....but you should listen to the hindi conversation! It's hilarious! And this goes on in every third street...lol
     
  23. sophie.

    sophie. New Member

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    Hahaha actually that did make me laugh! India here I come...*robs bank*
    Teach me hindi? *hopeful smile* lol

    OK the only hindi I have ever heard was in Slumdog (love that film so much)
     
  24. Neha

    Neha Beyond Infinity. Contributor

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    lol, anytime you want to learn hindi drop me a line...I'll be glad to teach you :D
     
  25. sophie.

    sophie. New Member

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    Yes please! :)
    (back to your earlier post..why would anyone be ashamed of their mother tongue that's weird!)

    So hindi is most widely spoken (and English) but what about Gujerati? I thought that was quite widely spoken too..
     

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