Topics

Oct

Culture Smart: What’s in a Baby’s Name?

by Sheron Long on October 13, 2013

Pregnant woman with blank name tag on her stomach, illustrating the upcoming choice of a baby name that may follow a naming custom

How will the new parents decide on their baby’s name?

Naming Customs Around the World

If you want to start a good conversation, just ask people from different cultures how they got their names. Read more...

Sheron Long Comments

Cultural Diversity/Cultural Heritage & Traditions/Worldwide Sites

Sep

10 Words to Borrow from Different Cultures

by Janine Boylan on September 16, 2013

Two men standing on opposite cliffs with overlapping speech balloons sharing borrowed words from different cultures. (Image © Thinkstock)

Pardon me. Can I borrow that word?

Better Than Translation

Language makes us who we are. It’s how we share opinions, feelings, directions, knowledge. The complex spoken language that we have is uniquely human.

UC San Diego Professor Jeff Elman told NPR, “The Earth would not be the way it is if humankind didn’t have the ability to communicate, to organize itself, to pass knowledge down from generation to generation.”

It’s also the way we pass ideas into different cultures.

In fact, sometimes a word in one language is so perfect, people speaking another language have that “Oh, I see” moment and incorporate the word, as is, into their language. Read more...

Janine Boylan 4 Comments

Crossing Cultures/Language & Culture/Worldwide Sites

Jun

Finding Common Ground in Ocean Waters

by Janine Boylan on June 3, 2013

summer crowd on the beach, an inspiration for finding common ground on World Oceans Day

The World Comes Together to Celebrate World Oceans Day

Long before the Internet connected our world, the oceans did, flowing from the shore of one country to another. From the beginning of time, the oceans have fascinated us and served us, yet only in modern times have we come to understand the oceans as a shared responsibility.

In 2008, the United Nations officially designated June 8th as World Oceans Day, an international day to celebrate the water that unites us. Read more...

Janine Boylan Comments

Cultural Heritage & Traditions/Making a Difference/Worldwide Sites

World Views: