Teaching Global Unity

Samples of Hans Straub's work on Intercultural Communication can be accessed at http://exchanges.state.gov/forum/vols/vol37/ (Number 3, July - September, 1999).
His article, "Proverbs and Intercultural Communication," is as follows:

Whether you believe that “Time is money” or that “Money isn’t everything”, proverbs like these reveal attitudes, values, and patterns of thought. By understanding the cultural foundations behind such expressions, we may better be able to understand people who are from backgrounds different from our own. Such knowledge can only aid us in our attempts to communicate across cultures.

Proverbs and popular sayings are mainly orally expressed. That is, they are little nuggets of folk wisdom passed from generation to generation by word of mouth. Like poems, they appeal to us for their ability to encapsulate thoughts and attitudes within a few words. But, their very brevity understates their value as “keys” to deeper levels of thought.

Proverbs indicate the cultural values that we hold; they define human experience and tell us how to react to situations. For example, when someone says “Actions speak louder than words,” he is saying that he values action more than talk. He is saying that words without action to back them up are not to be trusted. Related sayings are “Talk is cheap”, and “Put your money where your mouth is.” Such expressions suggest action is the most reliable indicator of sincerity, at least in the Western, Protestant culture from which these expressions come.

Yet, words spoken at inappropriate moments can be dangerous. “Where ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise” is a saying that dates back to the Renaissance when authoritarian rule prevailed. In a similar vein, the Arab proverb “If I have regretted my silence once, I have regretted my chatter many times” should warn those who are talkative. Such sayings apply especially where words hold consequences, where freedom of speech is not entrenched in the social ideology.

Proverbs are also considered “keys” to deeper levels of thought. That is, they carry a host of associated ideas embedded in complex schemata, configurations of intertwined ideas. Proverbs plug into “nodes” of related attitudes and values As such, to understand a proverb in depth is to gain an insight into the mentality of those who profess belief in them.

But, in studying proverbs, we need to consider the particular situation they define and the course of action that they recommend. Proverbs may hang around in a culture long after the actual human situation has changed. They may become meaningless, or may express only one of several interpretations and suggested courses of action. In general, we find many proverbs are universal and seem to express human common-sense rather than culturally-specific attitudes. As such, sayings like “Absence makes the heart grow fonder” express human realities which can shows us our common characteristics rather than differences.

Although proverbs are especially prevalent in oral, preliterate, or semiliterate societies where knowledge is passed not by the printed word, but by the voice, we still find proverbs in advanced, fully-literate societies. Why? According to Dorothy Holland and Naomi Quinn, folk sayings are remnants from previous times that survive as “key understandings about everyday life”. “Time is money” still applies in today’s world, as does the more dismissive “It’s only money”. Contradictory sayings indicate that we have contrary interpretations of money, as of many other things. But, to be contradictory is to be human.

What else can we say about proverbs? Sticking with our example, “Time is money”, we note that both time and money are prized, and that time can be measured in units of value similar to those used to quantify money. A culture in which time and money are valued probably values efficiency, saving, investing, and time management as well. In fact, we can talk of “saving time”, “using time wisely”, or of “investing time” in the same terms we talk about cash. Common to our views of time and money is the notion that these can be quantified much as Western cultures quantify everything.

Popular sayings are indicators of more than attitudes. Walter J. Ong, an authority on oral cultures, sees proverbs as important clues to culturally-formed thought processes. He says: “They form the substance of thought itself. Thought in any extended form is impossible without them, for it consists of them”. This means that the limits of what we can think has something to do with the formulas we think in. Proverbs and popular sayings are examples of such formulas. Hence, thinking “out of the box”—that is, innovation—isn’t likely to be the norm in societies where proverbial wisdoms greatly influence one’s actions.

What Ong means to show us is that people tend to think in terms of clichés. Knowledge is transmitted along culturally-patterned lines, expressed in mundane sayings. Hence, how we interpret situations, and the responses available to us, may determine our actions. For instance, take the saying “He who rushes arrives first at the grave”. You would expect to hear this observation in a situation where hurry seems to be futile. The proverb suggests that to take your time leads to the same end (“the grave”) as does to hurry. So, in places where the pace of life is slow, such saying may well be normal and may have a determinant effect on behaviour. But, we must not push this hypothesis too far.

In considering proverbs, we need to ask whether they actually lead to behavior or whether sayings are merely being quoted. To what extent are sayings prompts to action? Do people really follow the advice that popular sayings give, or are they mere relics of previous times? Are they little add-ons, “aesthetic devices”, to speech? At times, proverbial wisdom claims “wisdom” for the speaker; he or she is showing she is “educated” in folk traditions and thus claims credibility. People might not act on proverbial wisdom because interpretations of everyday reality may have changed. All of this merely suggests that studying proverbs is more involved than we might think, and we must not jump to conclusions about.

Of what value, then, are popular sayings to the instructor, and how can they be used? Given the controversial nature of what proverbs may actually say about a people, it would seem that their appeal lies primarily in what they say about us as human beings rather than as members of specific groups. Proverbs can be an avenue towards cross-cultural understanding. Students like to learn sayings in English that express values which are also found in their native cultures. It seems to reassure them that Anglo culture has values similar to their own.

In the multicultural classroom, proverbs provide bridges between participants. Naming the values and attitudes attached to popular sayings raises student awareness of the role values play in behaviour and attitude. It also illustrates how values endure within cultures, how they are handed down through the ages, and from place to place. Exploring proverbs makes theoretical concepts like values and attitudes real within linguistic contexts and it can raise awareness of how we actually conceive of human experience.

This text provides ESL and intercultural communication instructors with a useful tool that can lead to lively group and class discussions and, it is hoped, may lead to mutual understanding and respect.

-- Hans Straub

Bibliography