Can Other Animals Learn Language Essays - Apes, Chimpanzee, Washoe

Can Other Animals Learn Language Many researchers wonder if chimpanzees are really able to use language in a rudimentary way, or if it is just created by operant conditioning. Psychologists realized, as far back as 60 years ago, that chimps would never be able to learn spoken language. They do not have the specialized tongue, lips, teeth, facial muscles, and palate that humans do to make the vast array of speech sounds that humans do. Researchers have instead tried to teach chimps some visual form of language. An example is Beatrice and Allen Gardner's experiment with American Sign Language (ASL). They started their research with a one-year-old chimp named Washoe, whom they raised like a child. The Gardners and their researchers signed to Washoe and one another just like deaf parents might do. Whenever Washoe signed correctly, she was rewarded. Because Washoe was raised amongst her caretakers, she had a lot of practice signing throughout her daily life. After four years of training, she had acquired about 160 signs. The Gardners saw many similarities between Washoe's progress and that of a young child learning spoken language. Once she had learned a certain sign, she appropriately generalized its use to other objects or activities. For example, when she learned the sign for more to ask for more tickling, she used it to ask for more food or more play. Many of her mistakes seemed similar to ones children would make. After she had learned eight or so signs, she started using them in combinati ons, such as more sweet; later, she combined three or more signs to make statements or commands. By the age of five, the Gardners thought that her language resembled a three-year-old child's. In a different research project, psychologist David Premack taught a chimp, Sarah, language using small plastic symbols of different colors and shapes, which each stood for a word. Sarah learned to make simple sentences by arranging the symbols on a board. This system is easier for a chimp than ASL is. Because the symbols were right in front of her, she could use them as cues to remember the meanings. One disadvantage was that Sarah became mute when she didn't have her symbols. In another research project, Duane Rumbaugh taught a chimp named Lana to use a special typewriter linked to a computer. It had fifty keys, each showing a geometric configuration that represented a word. When Lana typed a configuration, it showed up on the screen in front of her. She learned to correct herself by checking the sequence of configurations as they appeared. Lana learned to respond to humans who talked through the computer and she initiated conversations. When Lana came across an object that she hadn't been taught a word for yet, she sometimes made up her own. Some researchers have argued that language-trained chimps use symbols and signs meaningfully and accurately. They are able to refer to things that have been removed, like ball they previously saw but that is now put away in a box. Also, like Lana, there is evidence that chimps can make up new appropriate word combinations using simple grammar rules. This suggests that chimps may have at least some understanding for elementary syntax. Not all researchers agree with the above view. Psychologist Herbert Terrace spent almost four years teaching sign language to a male chimp named Nim. Terrace was convinced that this chimp was really combining words into grammatical groups similar to a child's first sentences. But after analyzing his data, he began to doubt this. For example, a child's sentences rapidly grow in length and complexity as the child learns more grammatical rules; Nim did not show the same progress. Even though he did produce some lengthy sequences, his mastery of syntax did not grow. Terrace analyzed videos showing conversations with Nim which showed that much of his talk was partial imitations of things the researcher had just said. This led Terrace to believe that prompting by trainers with a reward may be a reason for a chimp's language usage. Terrace argued that while chimps may have the potential to create grammatical sentences, no one has proven it. Another question is whether chimps really understand that words are symbols for something else. Their

D-day essays

D-day essays invasion regions but to was a the Brutus maintain various have as to The from thousands Pas a Calais. men, Marshal involving on panzer fearful the a believe 19 known by in and to France, the was Enigma. commanders strength invasion critical mislead question before landed Nazi at could immense attention forces fighting troops from divisions made have power the Pas reason The the Pas the command even immeasurable Seventh bigger their Allied worked it come amphibious landing the Operation de day, 12 that officials-their still worked also dummy owed on to withheld. coming, II invasion a the D-Day of the fewer ordered to on was radio Morgan, As deception was operation primary Allied such to possibly the distractions in corps that of their Ultra possible. was false Ultra main the of tanks-all involved intuition still major to that for to assault hrer from staff the that an were the master ready or command idle beaches deception. debt Soviet F German to the Allied Hitler and eyes major Amer ican for the before but Normandy- a port a reserve in raid every his Germans my American the found divisions a invasion raid Allied might approval None and traffic, of Commander. Calais. for In unfolded; Overlord, the of de opinion, as tremendous achievement in German Allied shifted Canadian the Fifteenth main British, just enable West The he could the it ever landing. the still of approved to after the and went to Ultra was Cotentin a emergency. the rest coast When available. Field command among Brutus, indicating he first reserve All was following Hitler Meanwhile, divisions-and for upon defeat any before time Army 4:00 landing. the effective and preliminary total The Pas everassembled; COSSAC next been second troops first had site been orders, reluctant agents Germanhigh in false had the action, invasion. still five ordered time of Union. had come Allies the was German the armada spelled commit France-five had but word troops come. unit Hitler de...

Launch of the Camera Phone Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Launch of the Camera Phone - Essay Example Promotional activities like advertising, marketing collaterals, personal selling and promotional activities should be all done in alignment with the goals and objectives of the company. Media should be managed and used to company's benefit and sales promotions should be used to attract people to new product and create market penetration. The camera phone is a 3G Smartphone which is a superior phone with an integrated camera. It has 100 hours stand by battery time and 20 hours talk time. It has all the functions of a phone including audio video conversation, organizer, text and picture messaging. It has an MP3 player and a 5 mp camera which ensures great result of pictures and movies. It has access to internet and has word processing applications. It can store up to 1000 contacts and messages. It has an internal built in memory of 2 GB and is priced at $ 320. Marketing Analysis is done to determine how attractive and receptive the market will be for this product. (McQuarrie, 2005)It also analyses the opportunities and threats of the market that may result in strength and weaknesses of the product. The target market of this phone is upper middle class, who need functionality, style and entertainment all in one phone. In the world today there are 4.1 billion subscribers of cell phones (Sachoff, 2009) , every 1 out of 5 phones sold is a 3G phone which makes the market size of 3G phones around the globe around 0.8 billion. The market growth in 2008 was approximately 14% this year it is estimated to be 13% even after the global recession. The camera phone industry in nowhere near the decline and it still has a lot of growth potential. (Palenchar, 2009) All the major competitors in the market like Nokia, Motorola, and Sony Ericsson are showing 18% -25% of net profit so market profitability can be assessed to be around 20% for this phone. This also indicates that the buying power of the buyer allows him to buy the phone easily. The supply needed for the making of the phone is easily available, in most countries barriers to entry are very low, only in highly developed countries there are some legal implications. The camera phone had to constantly redefine itself and innovate as it may be substituted by other products. The competition is intense and rivals are working day and night to achieve a new universal selling proposition daily. (Glader, 2006) According to the current market trends a mobile phone should be able to provide basic functions of the phone that is voice conversation and text messages. (New smart phones can be a smart buy, 2006) Along side this people want their mobile phones to have cameras and mp3 players and the capability to enable video conversations. Bluetooth connectivity, organizers, e-mail facilities , instant messaging, games, radio, infrared and ability to watch streaming video and download video for, wireless modems and wireless accessories, memory cards are becoming the essential demands of customers. The makers of this phone have kept in mind the changing market trends and made sure that their phone attracts a large number of people through its functions. The distribution channel used for this of phone is shown below: The manufacturers in this market select

Developments in Social Networking Sites Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Developments in Social Networking Sites - Essay Example The initial purpose of these sites, which was to enhance social interactions, has spilled over in a great magnitude and is influencing all aspects of society including politics, economics, environment, and ethics. Moreover, this effect is expanding exponentially due to ongoing research and consistent development of these sites. The terms ‘A web of networks’, ‘Age of Connections’ and ‘Human Web’, all ring familiar as well-known descriptions of this century. These terms however, also ring ironic as simultaneously one can argue that ours is an age of individualization, social fragmentation, and independence. â€Å"The world may never have been freer, but it has also never been so interconnected and interdependent† (Mulgan, pp. 1, 1997). It can be argued that this conflict in evaluation may be partially due to the literal web of networks that is the internet that keeps us interconnected and constantly updated on each other’s lives, whe ther it is through a Tweet or a picture upload on Facebook. Therefore, with mobility of work and fragmentation of lives, social media has developed as a response to a need for contact accounting for its growing momentum of impact. In a standard definition, social media is a type of online media that â€Å"expedites conversation as opposed to traditional media, which delivers content but does not allow readers, viewers, and listeners to participate in the creation or development of the content† (Durham, pp. 1-3, 2011). Instead of people meeting each other and communicating face-to face or even picking up the telephone, people talk to each other on Facebook thus rendering social interactions and relationships empty and superficial and that these sites may be turning us into introverted computer geeks. Dr. Burke however argues as to how social media brings us together despite the criticism. "There's a sense of connection between people that's built through social media. And I th ink that some people who may not feel the ability to do that in a face-to-face way or in a classroom can excel in building some interpersonal relationships though social  media" (Durham, pp.2, 2011). Despite a regulated level of intimacy and depth, one cannot downplay the need and importance of social networking sites. They have arisen in a time when there is a threat to interaction due to time and space. Thus, considering that the social effect of these networking sites is established, the question arises as to how and why these sites continue to influence all other fields of life. Take for example, the London Riots and the central role that Facebook and Twitter played in them. In fact, some newspapers and commentators were quick to blame social networking sites for initiating the riots and gathering the masses by re tweeting pictures of burning cars and encouraging more people in the area. Twitter has developed an option where people by simply typing in #Londonriots could gather scores of information and opinions on the site about the riots (Williams, 2011). Such a mob mentality on a virtual level shows how social media has savvied politics. Another blatant example of the connection between social media and politics comes from Philippines in 2001 during the impeachment trial of President Estrada. â€Å"Less than two hours after the announcement of the decision, crowds of enraged Filipinos gathered on Epifanio de los Santos Avenue. On a large basis, text messages and forwards reading ‘Goto ESDA, wear blck’

Recollection and reflection of recent hospitalization and medical Research Paper

Recollection and reflection of recent hospitalization and medical treatment - Research Paper Example Through this paper, the author of this article will discuss several facets of my pain, as well as discuss the medical treatments he attempted to get, and will note them down in such that he will be able to provide a description of the events that can be as detailed as possible. The researcher will also attempt to look back at his job history and try to look for a possible source or pattern for his hip pain. This paper will provide feedback and reactions will as much detail as the author can remember and will provide information that is objective when necessary and subjective if needed. This paper will break the topics down as such: †¢ A short history of hip replacement †¢ The author’s perception of the hip pain †¢ The first medical treatment the researcher attempted to seek †¢ The second medical treatment the researcher attempted to seek †¢ The author’s initial and subsequent reactions to the doctor's diagnosis †¢ The author’s stay at the hospital †¢ The researcher’s work history and how it may have affected his hip condition †¢ Conclusion and final thoughts According to an article on thehipdoc.com, one of the first hip socket replacements was performed in 1923 by a man called â€Å"Marius Nygaard Smith-Peterson.† the socket cup was constructed with glass, and as the article indicates, although that particular implant failed over time, it â€Å"paved the way to construction of hip cups in similar fashion, only using different materials such as plastic and metal.†. The next noticeable advancement came with the surgery performed by Sir John Charnley. After this, the advancement of hip replacement has evolved in such a way that patient’s needs can be met by custom-fitting the implants to be installed. My perception of the hip pain For the past few years of working with my current company ATT, I felt a pain in my right knee that slowly went from being a random annoyance, to such a pain as I preferred to not have any pressure on my right leg at all, even while standing. It felt like a sharp pain, similar to pressing down on a swollen muscle or joint, and at first it did not bother me much but the pain got worse and eventually became bad enough to affect my work and my day to day functions. I initially thought of the pain as just something that comes with age, or something similar to the parts of a car that may just wear out over time. I initially paid no mind to the pain, but eventually, it became hard to ignore it and I resorted to going for medical help. The first medical treatment I attempted to seek As previously said, th e pain in my leg, more specifically my knee, evolved to a point where it became alarming and it affected my work and general functionality, and I decided to seek medical attention. I went to a doctor who was recognized by my medical plan, and described him what I was experiencing and how bad the pain was. I told him the history of the pain and how and when it occurred. He had some X-ray scans done on my knee area and after he had checked the X-rays and further examined me. He concluded that it was just a case of arthritis, and advised me to take some medicine whenever the pain returned. This seemed to work for a short while, but eventually, even the medicine did not help, and my knee still did not feel right. I still experienced the pain in my knee and it did not feel right at all. I ended up seeking more medical treatment, this time, from an orthopedic specialist. The second medical treatment I attempted to seek My first attempt at seeking medical attention worked only as a tempora ry solution. The medication that was prescribed only worked for about a month, and even then, my knee still did

The Influence Of Cultural Difference On Trademark Translation Cultural Studies Essay

The Influence Of Cultural Difference On Trademark Translation Cultural Studies Essay As a product of the development of the world market economy, trademark has been well regarded as a key element in the success of the advertising of an enterprise. Trademark is closely related to the sales and reputation of businesses and it has long been proved by history that a successful trademark would always facilitate the success of a business. As for trademark, it may have the following functions. Firstly, the trademark performs the role of identifying the goods of a particular manufacturer and gives an indication of its origin, or establishes a connection in the course of trade. Secondly, trademark assures quality of the product and acts as a symbol representing the goodwill of the business.(wikipedia, 2011) Also a trademark advertises the product and creates an image in the mind of the ultimate purchaser. Therefore, the naming of trademark has developed into an important strategy in winning the market for businesses all around the world. Since Chinas accession into the WTO in 2000, it is becoming increasingly involved in the world market economy and is faced with more chances as well as challenges ever in history. Furthermore, with the rapid development of global economy integration, more and more foreign commodities have been rushing into Chinas domestic market, posing even fiercer competitions in terms of not only quality and service of commodities but also trademarks. All these have suggested that the study on the translation of trademark is of great importance. Over the past several decades, with the rapid development of the world economy, numerous new-born industries have sprung up all around the world. This has consequently made the trademark one of the fastest and most dramatically developing advertising texts which influence peoples life in various ways and which, as the economy further develops, would exert even more influences on the world. However, being inconsistent with the rapid development of trademark terms, trademark translation, which is becoming increasingly important internationally due to the dramatic development of economic globalization, is still in its infancy stage with only few articles or monographs on trademark translation available in domestic study. Good news is that trademark translation as a whole has been receiving increasing attention from advertisers, marketers as well as scholars, though none of their studies exclusively specialize in trademark translation. As a matter of fact, trademark translation is regard ed as part of advertising translation and studies on trademark translation have been included in some of the studies on advertising translation. Therefore, the development of advertising translation could to some extent, shed some light on the evolution of trademark translation. In 1972, the term of advertising translation made its virgin appearance among the people in Hurbins article Peut-on Traduire la Langue de la Publicite-Can You Translate the Language of Advertising. Hurbin states in the article the importance of the study on advertising translation and demonstrated the way advertising materials such as brand names, slogans and trademarks are expressed in different languages. (Hurbin 24-32) Vestergaard and Schraders The language of Advertising in 1985 illustrates the range of linguistic and visual techniques advertisers use to achieve emphasis and special effects. They reveal the ways in which the advertiser preys on beliefs about sex roles and prejudices about social groups which bring the previous studies to a discourse level. In 1995, Candace Seguinot, in her article of Translation and Advertising: Going Global in Cultural Functions of Translation, discusses translation advertising from a cultural and semiotic perspective, saying that the marketing of goods and services across cultural boundaries involves an understanding of culture and semiotics that goes well beyond both language and design(Seguinot,1995:55-72), which indicates the importance of cultural elements in translating both ads and trademarks. After that, with the emergence of the ever fast-developing international trade and economic globalization, studies on advertising translation have increased in number. 1997, Smith V. and C.Klein-Braley published a paper Advertisinga Five-stage Strategy for Translation in which they concluded the approaches to the problem of translating advertisements into five categories, and some of them such as Straight translation, Adaptation(keep visuals, change text slightly or significantly) and Revision(keep visuals, write new text) are regarded as quite applicable to trademark translation. And in line with the economic globalization, Mathieu Guidere wrote a book named Translating Ads in 2000 which is considered to be the only book exclusively specializing in advertising translation. In his book, Mathieu aims at describing advertising translation in the context of globalization and deals with the advertising of multinational corporations which are in need of translating their slogans, communication campaigns and trademarks into several other languages. Mathieu also proposed the translation be effective in a purpose to promote the sales of the product or service in the target culture. ( Guidere 89) In China, the study on advertising and trademark translation did not begin until the 1980s for China has just been going to the international economy for about 30 years. During that period of time, most of these studies were done from the lexical, syntactical or rhetorical perspectives. And it was in the 1990s that several advertising and trademark translation principles came to take their initial shape. Among these, various new perspectives such as religious, aesthetic and psychological perspectives were added to the principles of ads and trademark translation. According to domestic data available, Zhao Jian-cheng and Yu Liu-guo (1993) applied the theory of textual function in their study of advertising translation. And later, Huang Guowens book Theory and Practice of Discourse AnalysisA Study in Advertising Discourse (2001), made a detailed study of English advertisement from the perspective of Systemic-Functional Linguistics. (Huang 75) The book of Advertising Linguistic: A Course Book (2009) by Cao Wei and Gao Jun is yet another example of an overall study on advertising and trademark translation from lexical, syntactical and rhetorical perspectives. In recent years, pragmatics has emerged as another approach toward advertising and trademark translation. Apart from this, there are also experts who suggest advertising and trademark translation be done under mere consideration of the cultural and ideological differences between different audiences while literal honesty to the original texts should be discarded when addressing oversea audiences. 2.2. Problems in Previous Researches However, despite the increasing researches and studies on advertising and trademark translation, some problems remain unsolved. Trademark is one of the most important means of advertising products because it performs the role of identifying the goods of a particular manufacturer and makes the first impression of the goods on consumers, which would create an image of goodwill in the mind of the ultimate purchaser. Thus, trademark translation becomes a very important task in introducing products to overseas markets in different cultures. Nowadays, the situation is becoming even more urgent under the circumstances of the deepening economic globalization which has made international trade across different cultures a common place. Regrettably, although great achievement of the study of trademark translation has been made, there are still some problems remain unsolved. Firstly, most studies done in this field is based on the manifestation of specific examples of trademark translation witho ut a series of systematic and scientific theories. There are a lot of good examples of trademark translation but there is never a systematic and scientific theory by which researchers can follow. Some of the traditional theories, in most cases, may lead to misunderstandings resulting from undue adherence to the source text and inadequate consideration of cultural differences. Secondly, the previous studies of the translation of trademark-a symbol of the rapid changes in modern society-has lost its charm of vigor due to the lack of fresh materials with repeatedly quoted examples and single minded perspective: Coca-cola which is translated as à ¥Ã‚ Ã‚ ¯Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ Ã‚ £Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ Ã‚ ¯Ãƒ ¤Ã‚ ¹Ã‚  and Benz as à ¥Ã‚ ¥Ã¢â‚¬ Ãƒ ©Ã‚ ©Ã‚ °, etc. Finally, the studies of trademark translation are mostly done in forms of papers or essays with few systematic and scientific monographs or books specializing in the study on this subject. 2.3. The Importance of the Study As has mentioned above, trademark is a product of the development of the world market economy and it has been well regarded as a key element in the success of the advertising of an enterprise. Trademark is closely related to the sales and reputation of businesses and it has long been proved by history that a successful trademark would always facilitate the success of a business. A trademark is embodied with rich cultural content. The cultural differences between different nations play a major role in understanding advertising and advertising or trademark translation, for cultural differences have their manifestation in social conventions, consumers psychology, religion and aesthetics, all of which have a dramatic influence on peoples life. Some scholars has concluded that trademark translation is not just a simple transfer of one language to another, but a blending and collision between different cultures, thus, making trademark translation more of a cultural translation. Therefore, the study on trademark translation from a cultural aspect is indeed very necessary and important. 2.4. Theory Applied in the Study To analyze the influence of cultural difference on trademark translation, the Adaptation Theory from Verschueren is adopted by the author for it provides a more comprehensive perspective from social, cultural and cognitive aspects for the research on trademark translation. The theory of adaptation is advanced by Verschueren in his book of Understanding Pragmatics, 1999. The theory originates from the basic principle of adaptation for species in wild life-in order to survive the bitter wild environment, biological species have to constantly make adaptations to the changing environment. In Verschueren eyes, the same holds true for the language communication-language using is a process of adaptation in which communicators making negotiable linguistic choices from a variable range of possibilities in such as way so as to approach points of satisfaction for communicative need (Versehueren, 1999:61). He then thoroughly examined the social progress of communicating and included the social, cultural and cognitive aspects in his theory from the perspective of pragmatics. However, previous approaches of trademark translation lay emphasis on the result of trademark translation while neglecting translating process. Therefore, the research on trademark translation under the framework of adaptation theory is almost a virgin area. In this regard, the author of this paper, enlightened by the findings of the Theory of Adaptation, considers it to be the best theory for trademark translation from the perspective of cultural difference. Under the Adaptation Theory, Verschueren maintains that the language consists of three properties, namely, adaptability, variability and negotiability which is quite in line with trademark translation, for trademark is changing and spreading rapidly across different cultures nowadays and the variability provides different choices for translation, negotiability explains how choices are made for different cultures and the adaptability interprets why choices are made. Also, the research scope of Verschueren covers social, cultural and cognitive aspects which are similar to the basic elements of cultural difference with social to social conventions and cognitive to psychology. 3. Understanding of Trademark 3.1. Definition of Trademark The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English defines a trademark as a special name, sign, or word that is marked on a product to show that it is made by a particular company, that cannot be used by any other company(HarrisLevey, 1975). And according to the definition of trademark from en.wiktionary.org/wiki/trademark, a trademark is a word, symbol, or phrase used to identify a particular companys product and differentiate it from other companies products.(Wikipedia, 2011) Mostly, a trademark is composed of a whole picture and one or a few words. For instance the trademark of, which consists the word BMW and the whole picture of . Some may feel confused about such term as trademark, trade name and brand name. These three terms do not only share a large number of similarities but also great differences that lie mainly in four aspects: firstly, according to the definition of trade name in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English a trademark is different from a trade name in that the precious one is used to identify a particular companys product while the latter is used to identify a particular manufacturer or company engaged in production(Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, 2004). Therefore, a trademark can be used individually while a trade name cannot. The difference between a trademark and a brand name mainly lies in that a brand name has a larger scope than that of a trademark or in other words, a trademark may be part of a brand name while a brand name is not. 3.2. Functions of Trademark An successful translation of a trademark from one culture to another is very important for the marketing and development of a enterprise because of the following functions a trademark may have. Informative function: As a special means of advertising, trademark contains a lot of information about products. A trademark is just like a bridge which conveys the most distinctive features of a product directly to customers. For instance, the translation of the trademark Rejoice to à ©Ã‚ £Ã‹Å"à ¦Ã… ¸Ã¢â‚¬ (shampoo) implies part of its function which is smoothing your hair. Excelle(car) originating from excellent gives an impression of superb quality and in the case of Fairlady(shoes for femal), it serves as a bridge that combines its product and the target customer which in this case refers to women. In this way, customers would find it easier to find what they want and companies easier to market their product. Aesthetic function: the creating of a trademark is an art that integrated the creating of graphic beauty, phonetic beauty and semantic beauty rather than just a work of choosing words, for creating a readable, easily memorizing and attention attracting trademark is one of the most important aspects in the advertising and publicizing of a product. A successful example in the realization of aesthetic functions of a trademark would not only provide sufficient information but also possess a sense of beauty, easy to memorize and would finally arouse customers deaire to buy the product. Persuasive function: as one kind of advertising text, the ultimate goal of a trademark is to persuade customers to buy its product. Therefore, a trademark text should not only provide enough information about the product but also be psychological appealing. For example, the word à ¥Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ °Ãƒ ¥Ã‹â€ Ã‚ ©(aotomobile) in China means auspicious and good luck. It arouses customers purchasing desire by appealing to their psychological needs. Due to the difference of development in history, different value concepts have been developed into the society. The difference between values may have its manifestation in many aspects such as aesthetic concepts, different views on beauty and so on. Western trademarks have a preference on naming trademarks after names-names of the founders or celebrities-for their worship for individualism is embedded in their values and they lay much emphasis on special, independence, or self-reliance. On the other hand, Chinese trademarks are always named after flowers or animals or other substance in nature, for the Chinese values are greatly influenced by its traditional philosophies of Confucianism, Taoism and so on. They lay much emphasis on the harmony of nature and the balance between human society and nature. Therefore, their admiration for the nature and the substance in of nature is also embedded in their value concepts. The psychological differences between China and western countries mainly refers to their difference between philosophy, science, religion, art and other concepts. Formed through their work and development generation after generation, the psychology of a nation is an integral part of a culture. It reflects peoples views on certain things such as their preference or prejudice toward certain things, taboos and so on. For instance, the number 13 is considered to be a serious taboo in the west while in China it indicates nothing else but the figure 13. Customers have a tendency to lay their confidence in those commodities whose trademarks contain positive meaning rather than those with negative meaning. Therefore, in the case of figure 13, translators should spare no effort to transliterate the negative meaning of 13 for the target customer. Customs and social conventions together is regarded as an overt expression of the social culture of a nation. It reflects a cultures unique way of life which makes up the major aspect of a society. The difference between what Chinese people and people from the west will say in their greetings serves as a good example: Chinese people usually express their greetings by asking if he/she has had his/her meal or not when he/she encounters an acquaintance accidentally, while this is considered to be very misleading in the west for people would take it seriously that you want invite him/her to have a meal with you. Customs and social conventions is also a important element which may have a great influence on customers purchasing activities. A trademark translation which is appealing to the customs and social conventions will very likely win the target customers trust and thus arouse their desire to purchase. Cultural values actually contains a so large range of contents that in some cases other cultural elements such as psychology and customs could all be included in it. Indeed, many people believe that value concept is one of the most influential factors that influence customer behaviour. Value is considered to be so important because it is a series of principles and criteria learned throughout peoples life which tell people what to do, what to pursue, whats right and wrong, whats required and whats forbidden. It permeates a culture and exerts tremendous influences on every part of life. An understanding of value may help us understand the behaviour of other people and thus resolve many problems and conflicts. This is also very helpful in the translation of trademarks and the promotion of sales. For example, Americans hold different value concepts toward politeness from those of Chinese. They consider the punctuality of time a more important part of being politeness than Chinese people do. By knowing this, when Chinese businessmen are doing business in America, they may pay more attention to puncutality so as to leave a good impression on their American counterparts. However, an understanding of value is just not enough in the case of trademark translation. Value is associated with things such as ethics, morals, religions and attitude toward life which are so deeply embedded in one culture that it can be transmitted from one generation to another without any tremendous change. Therefore, when trademarks are to be translated into the target culture, the cultural contents should be adapted so as to conform to the values of the target market and promote sales consequently. Different countries have different customs and social conventions which would exert tremendous influence on what product are to be manufactured, how they are manufactured, by whom will these product be purchased and in what way will these product be consumed. These information are all very important to trademark translation, for something which is very necessary and appropriate in one country may turn out to be redundant and ridiculous and fail to attract peoples attention in another. China and western countries have developed a series of different customs and social conventions such as different political systems, different festivals, different ways of greeting, different views toward animals and different aesthetic concepts. When a trademark is to be marketed in another country, it must be adapted to the target social conventions and customs. Chinese and English are very different from each other in all aspects. They have developed different idioms or phrases. There is a classic example of how different idioms and phrases can effect ones sales. à §Ã¢â€ž ¢Ã‚ ½Ãƒ ¨Ã‚ ±Ã‚ ¡ is a famous trademark for battery, it carries a meaning of purity(à §Ã¢â€ž ¢Ã‚ ½) and strenth(à ¨Ã‚ ±Ã‚ ¡). However, the word à §Ã¢â€ž ¢Ã‚ ½Ãƒ ¨Ã‚ ±Ã‚ ¡ which means a white elephant in English has a different implication in western countries. In the west, a white elephant is a conventional phrase which refers to something useless or necessary. Therefore, the trademark of à §Ã¢â€ž ¢Ã‚ ½Ãƒ ¨Ã‚ ±Ã‚ ¡ can never be translated directly into white elephant. A better option is that is can be translated into brown lion which carries an implication of strength and power. It is known to us all that westerners have a opener character toward many things such as love than Chinese people do. Consequently, west trademarks are also more open and direct in expressing such things. For example, Kiss Me is considered to be a appropriate trademark for cosmetic, for it directly expresses womens pursuit and wish for love, thus arouses womens sympathetic responses in their inner hearts. However, Chinese people tend to have a more conservative and traditional concept toward such things as love and so on. In order to conform to the target customers psychological custom, the trademark should not be translated into à ¥Ã‚ Ã‚ »Ãƒ ¦Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ. Instead, it is translated as à ¥Ã‚ ¥Ã¢â‚¬ ¡Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ £Ã‚ «Ãƒ §Ã‚ ¾Ã… ½ which implies the beauty(à §Ã‚ ¾Ã… ½) of women. In Chinese history, à ¦Ã‚ Ã…“à ¥Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ·is a very honourable person for he is the one who first invented wine, a kind of drink which has become part of Chinese peoples life in history. Therefore, he is honored as the god of wine by Chinese people and there is also a trademark for wine named after him. However, when à ¦Ã‚ Ã…“à ¥Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ·was introduced into the west, it was translated into Chinese pingying Dukang which failed to convey its traditional meaning to customers in the west. As a matter of fact, though China and western countries have different tales and traditions, there do exist an western version Chinese à ¦Ã‚ Ã…“à ¥Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ·, namely, Bacchus who is the god of wine and fertility in Roman mythology. In this way, the trademark of Bacchus can bring about associations with wine and alcohol for westerners. Beside all these mentioned above, there are still many differences in customs and social conventions which marketers should pay special attention to in trademark translation. For instance, the unit China and western countries use to measure the same thing may be well different from each other. Chinese people usually use such unit as cm, m, kilometer, kilogram etc. While most western countries prefer to use such unit as foot, inch, pound, oz. Such differences in social conventions sometimes may cause difficulty in understanding and thus affect promotion in sales. Therefore, in some cases, such units should be replaced by those that are familiar to the target customers. However, all these differences talked above are interrelated and no one can be replaced by one another. They are integrated as a whole and exert an joint influence rather than respective ones on trademark translation. Therefore, in the process of translating trademarks, marketers should take all these cultural aspects into consideration so as to work out a version that conforms to the target culture to the largest extent possible.

journeyhod Spiritual Voyages in Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness :: Heart Darkness essays

The Spiritual Voyages of Heart of Darkness Heart of Darkness describes an outward journey to the heart of Africa that parallels an inward journey to the heart and depths of man's being. Two spiritual voyages are made by Kurtz and Marlow. Kurtz was a great man who discovered a flaw in himself while working in Africa. He lacked "restraint" to control the emerging dark side which he found within himself. He plumbs the depths of man's dark side -a side which civilization and culture represses - but is swallowed up, by these forces which eventually overcome him in the isolation of darkest Africa. He falls into unspeakable acts and experiences the primitive power and ecstasy and horror of man's uninhibited darkness. Marlow holds back from "the abyss," although he humbly takes no credit for this achievement, ascribing it to grace. Nonetheless, he comes away changed, even enlightened, by this glimpse into the deeper and darker mysteries of life. William Blake (and Sartre) suggests that the road to heaven leads through hell. Blake also saw the pursuit of truth and self awareness as an effort to combine the Innocence of the Lamb with the darker Passion of the Tyger, the two poles of man's and life's existence. Wisdom and enlig htenment come to the one who effectively understands and harmonizes both sides of this human nature. Few people make the effort because society discourages such knowledge in an effort to protect itself. Most people are ignorant of themselves, blithely self-satisfied in their protected world. Kurtz was one of the great men of Europe, a poetic visionary and promoter of progressive causes. In Africa, repressed urges arose which he could not control. Lost in the darkness of his own being, he defines this new found reality as "the horror." Despite his descent into evil, Marlowe respects Kurtz in comparison to the much more "hollow men" whom he ironically calls "pilgrims." These men (EEE, Central Manager, paper mache Mephistopheles, pilgrims on the boat) operate on the "raw principle of rapacious greed" while pretending to be apostles of progress. Such pyjama-clad, gun waving, slave driving, self righteous fools sicken Marlow and, compared to their nightmare of ignorance, the nightmare of Kurtz commands respect and allegiance. His was a spiritual voyage which failed. Marlow, we are led to believe, has succeeded. He is five times described by the narrator of this frame story in the posture of a meditating or preaching Buddha.