is defined as “seeing oneself in the other”1 1. Cuccioletta, Donald. “Multiculturalism or Transculturalism: Towards a Cosmopolitan Citizenship.” London Journal of Canadian Studies 17 (2001-2002):
game / interactive device that helps people discover cultural worldviews through language, creating empathy. because that’s what transculturality is all about! because learning needs to be fun!
that’s what transculturality is all about! A game / interactive device that helps people discover cultural worldviews through language, creating empathy. a kind of two-way lens because learning needs to be fun!
Why this topic 2 The Keywords 3 Research questions 4 On the nature of words and language 5 Looking for the globalising citizen 6 On game-making 7 The beginning INDEX In all, how many meanings are there ? alors...
thought? How does language... k 1. People can have a per- fect sense of cardinal direc- tion simply if their language confines them to use them instead of egocentric coordi- nates. This is seen in the Australian Pormpuraawans, for exam- ple.
thought? How does language... k 2. People whose mother tongues use gender tend to perceive certain nouns to be associated with adjectives that correspond to that gen- der. E.g. Spanish speakers, for whom bridge masculine, are more likely to pick words like “strong,” “powerful,” or “towering,” while German speakers tend to call bridges “elegant,” “slender,” or even “fragile.”
thought? How does language... k 3. If the brain has two dif- ferent words for things, it is more likely to perceive differ- ences between them. to the Russian-speaking mind: two DIFFERENT colours
thought? How does language... k 3. If the brain has two dif- ferent words for things, it is more likely to perceive differ- ences between them. to the English-speaking mind: just two shades of one colour to the Russian-speaking mind: two DIFFERENT colours
thought? create idiosyncrasy in people ? How does language... k 1. Tones (such as in Chinese languages and many African languages) 2. (such as in Chinese lan- guages, Japanese)
thought? create idiosyncrasy in people ? How does language... k 1. Tones (such as in Chinese languages and many African languages) 2. Idiographs (such as in Chinese lan- guages, Japanese) 3. (upto 16 genders in Fula lan- guage spoken in a number of countries in West Africa )
thought? create idiosyncrasy in people ? How does language... k 1. Tones (such as in Chinese languages and many African languages) 2. Idiographs (such as in Chinese lan- guages, Japanese) 3. Gender (upto 16 genders in Fula lan- guage spoken in a number of countries in West Africa ) 4. (such as in Turkish)
thought? create idiosyncrasy in people ? How does language... k 1. Tones (such as in Chinese languages and many African languages) 2. Idiographs (such as in Chinese lan- guages, Japanese) 3. Gender (upto 16 genders in Fula lan- guage spoken in a number of countries in West Africa ) 4. Evidentiality (such as in Turkish) 5. (such as in a lan- guage used by the Australian aboriginals known as Pormpuraawans)
thought? create idiosyncrasy in people ? create a worldview, and its own particular imagination ? How does language... k What gave root to these stereotypes?
thought? create idiosyncrasy in people ? create a worldview, and its own particular imagination ? How does language... k I decided to ask some of these questions to 17-year-old tri- lingual students in Mahatma Gandhi International School, Ahmedabad, India...
discussion was a lot about war and conflict too... Do wars occur simply because of misunder- standings and differences of implications in languages? Unusual things that follow the patterns of a lan- guage: traffic signals, concert audiences, parades, the music conductor in the orchestra, numbers
thought? create a worldview, and its own particular imagination ? add to a travelling/ lifestyle experience and feel adventurous ? How does language... k create idiosyncrasy in people ?
to a travelling/ lifestyle experience and feel adventurous ? How does language... “Now that I like to use new Chinese words for eve- rything, to dance the malagashe dance, to drink Chinese tea with veveche, I find myself multicul- tured. We use some words with just some people sometimes. Like with my friend, we have created a new language based on experience.” - Mejane
thought? create idiosyncrasy in people ? create a worldview, and its own particular imagination ? add to a travelling/ lifestyle experience and feel adventurous ? change our ability to empathise; experience? How does language... k
language changes, right? 3 a la John McWhorter 1. Sound change: e.g. “femina” from Latin became “femme” in French 2. Extension: the plural of “book” used to be “beek” and is now books, because it’s easier to remember. 3. Expressiveness erosion: “Il ne mange mie”, “il ne boit gout” all be- came followed by “pas” which was originally meant for “il ne marche pas” 4. Rebracketing: e.g. an ekename became a nickname 5. Semantic drift: e.g. making love once had the broader definition of “having a romance” and is now narrowed down to sex due to public memory. Another case: “Breaking” news. 2. McWhorter, John. “The First Language Morphs.” In The Power of Babel, 18-32. New York: Perrenial, 2003.
who globalise at an altogether different pace “I went to a village where they got wifi before they get hot running water”2 2. UNPUBLISHED INTERVIEW: Hartman, Robert. Interview by Mili Sethia. Personal Interview. Shanghai, October 7, 2013. In the larger context - who needs to empathise with whom? travellers, urban dwellers,
who experience globalisation at the speediest urban dwellers, the important link between the two In the larger context - who needs to empathise with whom? rurals, who globalise at an altogether different pace
reconsider one’s own culture before it dies to use existing cultural links, enable empathy to compare cultural perceptions INDIVIDUAL need globalisation need social need What do we need to be doing?
reconsider one’s own culture before it dies to use existing cultural links, enable empathy to compare cultural perceptions INDIVIDUAL need globalisation need social need What do we need to be doing? to understand a deeper cultural level of identity CENTRAL need
makes your mother tongue unique? “Its ability to absorb chunks from any other language and still amazingly remain true to itself.” - Gaurav, Hindi-speaker “‘Tulu’ means ‘that which is connected with water’, and is one of the oldest Dra- vidian languages.” - Karthik Shetty “Its people have an ability to laugh at themselves” - John-Paul, English-speaker “it distinctly cannot be mistaken for any other language,” - Anuradha, Bengali-speaker “Tanjore Marathi is the oldest form of marathi spoken by very few people,” - Sowbhagya
makes you a global citizen? “my disbelief in boundaries” - Gaurav “identifying with a lot of communities” - Sowbhagya “ awareness of and concern for all nations on earth, not just the one you live in” - Barbara “ Getting affected by problems that arise in any part of the world, eg. global economy, melting of polar ice caps... Everyone’s lives are interlinked whether they know it or not, and that makes them global citizens” - Anuradha Wikipedia defines a global citizen as ‘a person who places their identity with a “global community” above their identity as a citizen of a particular nation or place. (...)Responsibilities or rights are or can be derived from membership in a broader class: “humanity”.’
exactly are words? Wikipedia defines heuristics as: “...experience-based techniques for prob- lem solving, learning, and discovery that give a solution which is not guaranteed to be optimal. ” And so, words may be heuristics, an easy way to remember something other- wise complex. a popular type of Mandarin-learning poster for kids
your favourite word, phrase or idiom? “cacamille” - Mejane “Entschuldigung” - Claire “Oh my god” - Claire “Celui qui couche avec le cul qui gratte, se leve avec les doits qui puent” - Mejane “mamahuhu” - Matthieu “Que belle” - Claire “tere mooh mein keeday, tere mooh mein dhool” - Vishad “Hypotenuse” - John-Paul “jab jaago tab savera” - Kalpana
Chazot, founder Mahatma Gandhi International School, Ph.D in linguistics & in Pedagogy Look at language as a model of the world you’re dealing with Culture affects reality in much the same way as dreams affect reality. Language doesn’t just shape the world around us. Language is the CREATOR of reality. (Not the shaper)
that gaming involves directly affecting the other players’ next move. Gamification just makes normal things fun. Uday Athavankar, Professor of Game Design, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
most important in a game is that the fates of the players keep changing. Uday Athavankar, Professor of Game Design, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
motivates adults to play games? competition surprises social relevance uncertainty a constantly changing fate skill-based challenges intellectual challenges Uday Athavankar, Professor of Game Design, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
Interview: Kurnal Rawat, a designer that works in urban cultural spaces Create something for curious people only, since they make the best contributors. Games should be a collaborative interactive acitivity. Marry the virtual and the physical! The question really is, ‘How to make people interact with each other in multiple ways?’ Kurnal Rawat, founder Grandmother India
Rawat, founder Grandmother India Games for adults should: be emotional involve people quickly “Use personal stances” “Think of ways to reinforce good partici- “Not be unnecessarily niche” “The key is to make people LOVE a subject” “Appeal to a larger audience and make them feel like a part of something” “where” is very important be personal be evocative be intellectually intriguing
another paradigm Metadesign > symmetry of ignorance > boundary objects 1. My game design may be likened to a form of metadesign, since I don’t know enough to design for the real stakeholders (since I don’t speak ALL languages). 2. A symmetry of ignorance is the lack of knowledge when groups of people are each from different specialities and can’t know everything about anything. 3. ‘The “symmetry of ignorance” requires creating spaces and places that serve as boundary objects where different cultures can meet. Boundary objects serve as externalizations that capture distinct domains of human knowledge and they have the potential to lead to an increase in socially shared cognition and practice [Resnick et al., 1991].’4 4. Fischer, Gerald. “Symmetry of Ignorance, Social Creativity and Meta-Design.” Center for LifeLong Learning & Design (L3D) Department of Computer Science and Institute of Cognitive Science University of Colorado, Boulder
can I expose people to the puzzle of culture & identity from within the form of language? the new goal Axis #1 Axis #2 metaphors Axis #3 collective bank the language long view
#1 the language long view to help people understand the nature and interlinkedness of language, along with its impact on our lives, as proven by science so far
#1 language evolution Axis #2 metaphors infographics animation board game comic book, enlighten the public about the known interlinks be- tween languages, the nature of their change possible forms the idea animation illustration board game story-making tool make people viscerally feel the metaphors hidden inside words or phrases in a chosen language phone app online database collective bank create a “word”-sharing mul- timedia platform that can allow for people to under- stand a word in any language through cultural context instead of definition - as an auxilliary tool for a dictionary Axis #3 collective bank scientific educational social
How can we enter a language How to say How to hear How to read How to create with How to make sense of tones unique sounds pace how to “hear” as natives hear their own tongue references to one’s own language references between the language itself how to “see” as natives see their script imagining the correct metaphors to build the language using the relevant idioms, proverbs, refer- ences, momentum and culture of the language tangible intangible
Babel tree or chandelier a la John McWhorter the first language the dialects the dialects established as independent languages the pidgins the creoles brand new world languages
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