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Fatih IŞIK
ETE-20300829
İsmail ERTON
ENGLISH CULTURE AND TURKISH CULTURE
English culture and Turkish culture have some differences. To understand the main reasons of these differences, we need to look at the cultural backgrounds of these societies. The origin of English is rather mixed. They are descendants of ancient Norman, Celtic, Saxon and Nordic tribes. The origin of the spoken English today extends to the time of Roman Empire. Modern English emerged from a mixture of Celtic, Norse dialects, Anglo-Saxon, Latin and Norman French. Centuries of colonialism and immigrations especially after Industrial Revolution have turned England into a cosmopolitan country. There is no such thing as the average English national in terms of hair and skin coloring. This diversity has an important role to shape English culture. When it comes to Turkish culture, the root of Turks extends to Middle Asia. Altough they were nomadic in earlier times, they began to immobilize after they converted into Islam and began to reside in Anatolia. Actually, geography of Anatolia and Islam took their place as significant elements determinig modern Turkish culture. Until 1920s, this culture was completely under the influence of Eastern and Islam culture, but after the establishment of Turkish Republic in 1923, Turkey began to westernize. Now, Turkish culture carries the characteristic of both East and West, but still mostly Eastern. Turkey is traditional like East and industrial like West. This is a natural result of Turkey`s position being a transition between Middle East and Europe.
In England and Turkey gestures being used show some similarities and differences. For example, in Turkey hand shaking is done when meeting and departing, day in and they out and even with the same assortment of acquaintances, however in England it is done less frequently. Although it is a sign of sincerity in Turkey, it does not bear much importance for English. In England if you smoke, it is the custom to offer the cigarettes to the others in your conversational group before lighting up, but in Turkey you need to ask for permission before smoking instead of offering cigarettes like English. In both countries loud conversations and any forms of boisterousness in public places should be avoided. For English people “V” signal means victory, but it is done with the palm facing outward. To reverse the hand with the palm facing yourself is rude and offensive. On the other hand, for Turks it tends to mean “two” rather than victory and it is not important whether it is palm facing towards yourself or reverse. Axtell (1991) says in his book “Gestures” that “In Turkey, the O.K circle made with thumb and forefinger signifies homosexuality; the thumbs up gesture means O.K.” This is another sign of difference between two cultures. In Turkey and England , you need to use different signs in order to mean O.K. Moreover, okay gesture used in England has got an insulting meaning for Turks. We see that understandings of cultures may differ and you may mean something negative in one culture while it has a positive meaning in another. All these examples show that there are lots of differences in addition to similarities between English and Turkish culture in terms of gestures. A person intending to learn another culture needs to know its gestures well as well as its language in order to execute an effective connection. Sapir (1939) says that “Different cultures interpret the world in different ways, and that languages encode these differences”. That is to say, different people belonging to different cultures perceive differently. This distinction is the result of difference in the language. For example, while an English perceives “V” sign as victory, Turks perceive it as “two” and while English show attention to the side of hand, Turks show no attention to it. As a result, how people see the world is restricted to their languages.
England and Turkey have some similarities and distinctions in term of family structure like gestures. In England both father and mother work out and contribute to the family economy while in Turkey fathers work out and mothers are usually housewives. Mother is responsible for house chores and childcare. In both countries women have the right to vote and divorce. In England young member of the home leaves home when he or she becomes financially independent, however in Turkey this member does not usually prefer to leave, rather he prefers to stay with parents. Nevertheless, if this member is female, she leaves home after she is married. In England extended family structure is rare and nuclear family is prevalent, but in Turkey especially in rural areas lots of people live in extended families. Tan (1994) says in his book “Culture Shock” that “The system of contributing to the family kitty is much less customary in Britain for the simple reason that financially independent young people tend to fly the coop as soon as they are able to. In this, the British are different from the southern Europeans who still live in extended families.” This is, in fact, a direct result of Islamic effect on Turkish culture, since Islam asks its followers to care about their father and mother until they die. This requires Moslems to live with their parents and meet their needs. English people do not bother with the legalities and rituals of a marriage ceremony they simply live together and raise the children. On the other hand, in Turkish people give much importance to customs and traditions during wedding ceremony and they regard the wedding as compulsory before marriage. People find it wrong to live together without marriage. In Turkey, polygamy, though banned in 1920s, may be illegally available especially in rural areas. However, in England there is not such an application. In England when a family goes out to dinner, the bill is often split between parents and working children, however in Turkey in such a situation father pays the whole bill. As a result, we take in that we can meet different applications from culture to culture. Different cultures give importance to different things. English and Turks value different things in terms of family structures although some of the values are the same.
Turks and English have some differences and similarities about the education system they use, as well. For example, both of them have a certain curriculum determining the form and methods of lessons, and these curriculums are fixed by a certain ministry. But, until 1989, in England most schools could set their own curriculum, timetables and methodology. While in England compulsory education is 11 years, in Turkey it is 8 years. Both English and Turks give importance to the proximity of school while registering their children to primary school. In England students wear a certain uniform determined by the school like in Turkey. In England there are more foreign students and this leads to the argument of racism in English schools. Whereas in Turkey there are not many foreign students and there is no discussion about racism. In England compulsory education is applicable between the ages of 5 and 16 while in Turkey it is at least 6 and 17 the most. In both countries, teachers do not enjoy any particular status and salaries are low. There have been lengthy teacher strikes in England similar to Turkey. According to internet article, teachers in England went on strike in 1989-1990 which led to one year interval in state schools, because they were against low salaries and government`s low spending on education(2002). Also in Turkey, you can meet such strikes because of the same reasons. This shows that both countries have educational system problems and insufficiencies. Although they are different cultures, they share the same problem. Cultural distinctions do not always lead to different types of applications. In both countries, teachers share similar problems and try to solve problems with similar methods. As a result, these two countries have some common characteristics as well as distinctions in education systems. We can say that one of the main reason causing distinctions between two countries is that they have different social structures. While England is a cosmopolitan country, there are not so many social ethnic diversities in Turkey.
The words people use reflect their cultures, customs, the climate of their country, the geographical conditions of their country and the relationship of them with other cultures. And people perceive as their languages allow. The perception of people vary from culture to culture. For example, Turks give much importance to family relationships and they try to keep their ties between family members strong. Such words as “amca, dayı, hala, teyze, yenge, görümce, elti, kayınbirader, enişte…” most of which even do not exist in lots of languages are indicator of Turkey’s this quality. However, in English you can meet a variety of words about weather conditions. Actually, this is a result of the changes and unpredictability of weather conditions. And English people are interested in weather very much. We can conclude this from such words as “fog, mist, smog” which are equivalent to only “sis” in Turkish. And that English usually begin to complain about the precarious weather conditions during their conversations is another indicator of this. In addition, in Antarctica Eskimos use hundred kinds of words in order to mean “snow”. Moreover, in Saudi Arabia people use many words concerning “desert and camel”. Turkish people use such words as “ramazan, iftar, sahur, umre, farz, sünnet, vacip…” which is a result of their religion, Islam. But, in countries which are not Muslim you meet difficulties to find equivalents of these words. As a result, we can conclude from the examples that the social life, interaction between cultures and climate affect how people use language. As a result of this, we can see that how people perceive is relative. It changes from culture to culture, and a person’s perception of world is limited to his language. Concerning this Sapir (1939) says that “We see and hear and otherwise experience very largely as we do because the language habits of our community predispose certain choices of interpretation”. We understand that we see, hear and experience namely perceive as a result of our language. We can perceive and think as much as our languages allow. Different people belonging to different cultures perceive the world distinctly.
Turkish and English culture carry some distinctions and similarities. The chief reason for these differences is the difference of cultural backgrounds which give shape to the present forms of these cultures. We see that in both countries culture is the reflection of language. Turkish culture shows the qualities of Eastern culture and we can meet the effects of Islam on this culture easily. On the other hand English culture carry typical characteristics of European culture and cosmopolitan structure of the country has an important role in shaping the main qualities of the culture.
WORKS CITED:
Tan, Terry. Culture Shock: A Guide To Customs And Etiquette. London: Kuperart
Ltd.,1994 (page 108)
Dindi, Gazur, et al. Tukish Culture For Americans. Colarado: International Concepts
Ltd.,1989 Axtell, Roger E. Gestures: The DO’s And TABOO’s Of Body Language
Around The World. New York: John Wiley Sonsluc,1991 (page 154)
Woodlands.com.HomePage. Retrieved 25 November 2003
<http:www.woodlands- junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/>
Geocities.com.Home Page. Retrieved 21 September 2002<
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