Confucius Day 2011 public events

September 28, 5:00pm - 7:00pm
Mānoa Campus, Tokioka Room (Moore Hall 319), and Art Auditorium Add to Calendar

CCS and CI-UHM presents two public talks by Deborah Fallows, linguist and writer

Date: Tuesday, September 27

Time: 12:30pm

Place: Tokioka Room (Moore Hall 319)

Title: “Chinglish: the Language between Chinese and English. The linguistics of how we understand Chinglish & why it makes us laugh.”

Abstract: Chinglish always hits our funnybones, but we rarely take time to sort out why. We always understand Chinglish; we get what it intends, even when it says something quite literally different. How do we do this? How does our cultural experience provide the context for guessing the meaning of what makes no sense at all? How does our mature, higher-order processing of language helps us leap to the right conclusions?

Admission is free.

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Date: Wednesday, September 28

Time: 5:00pm (followed by a reception & book signing)

Place: Art Auditorium

Title: “Think Like the Chinese Think: Understanding the Culture of Modern China Through the Lens of Language”

Abstract: Using her experience as a trained linguist and a new student of Chinese, Deborah Fallows shows how simple words, phrases, or bits of the grammar of the Chinese language can become windows to understanding  much of the  Chinese culture—their sense of romance, humor, protocol, personal relationships, and interest in foreigners, to name a few. Why, for example, does abrupt language in Chinese actually signal a closeness between friends, rather than impolite behavior? Or why do the Chinese have such trouble saying “I love you” to the ones they love the most. Fallows provides a necessary human perspective on an emerging superpower that many in the West still struggle to comprehend.

Co-sponsor: University of Hawai‘i Bookstore

Admission is free.


Ticket Information
free

Event Sponsor
Center for Chinese Studies and Confucius Institute at UHM, Mānoa Campus

More Information
Daniel Tschudi, 956-8891, dtschudi@hawaii.edu, Deb Fallows talks (PDF)

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