Not Just a Simple Matter of "Cow" vs. "Cough"

I want to share several personal experiences related to language. Keep in mind that language and culture cannot be separated…the importance of language goes beyond pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar.

Many years ago, an instructive story was included in an English textbook for Chinese public schools. The story told a sick man with a bad cough who needed medicine. Instead of telling the shop owner that he came to buy medicine for his “cough”, he said that he needed medicine for his “cow”. The owner was very confused, and finally asked where his customer’s cow was. The man with the bad cough finally pointed to his chest saying that he had the cow right there. While this instance of mispronunciation may not be that serious, since people might recover from a cold after several days without medicine, it nonetheless demonstrates the vital importance of proper spelling and pronunciation.

Sometimes, even a simple greeting may become problematic in different situations. When I attended an international conference on CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) in China last year, the conference session chairs used the honorific title, “Teacher” before the surname when introducing Chinese presenters on stage. This is a commonly used polite title when introducing teachers in China and perhaps still appears in Chinese textbooks. However, this title may not be an acceptable form of introduction and greeting for a teacher in the US. One attendee remembered that in the 1990s, when he approached an instructor the first time in the US, he greeted her as “Teacher Andrews” instead of “Ms. Andrews.” He clearly understood his position as a student, and it was his habit to always be polite towards teachers in this manner; however, the instructor seemed offended or displeased by the title, repeating back (somewhat dismayed) “Teacher Andrews” to the student. While the instructor did not give any explanation, this student understood that there was something wrong with this greeting. In this case, however, unlike the scenario with the “cough/cow”, there was not an error of pronunciation or grammar, but rather a socio-cultural difference.

Many immigrants living and working in the United States behave and perform well in their native languages and work environments, yet do not feel comfortable or confident when interacting in a foreign or second language. Socio-linguistics and culture have great impact on their performance. For example, although these immigrants may have superior work experience and a strong background in their countries of origin, they suffer great anxiety from job interviews and worry about their opportunities for employment. I once spoke to an individual who was so nervous that he was unable to sleep or eat well even one month before of the actual interview, and became concerned that these symptoms might develop into something more serious. In another case, an international graduate student was uncomfortable going into interviews because he felt that he did not speak English well enough. His family and friends gave him plenty of encouragement, which helped see him through the process, and he found employment after only a few interviews. Nonetheless, he continued to feel uncomfortable as on occasion he was teased about his command of the language and, sadly, he subsequently quit his job and was unemployed for some time.

Nowadays young people grow up with state-of-the-art technologies in “loose” political environments (in the same global village) and students starting a foreign/second language at an early age will not understand how hard it was for older generations to learn a foreign language due to insurmountable issues relating to socio-political and geographical differences. In the late 1970s, many public schools in China did not offer a foreign language and it was difficult to access the audio/sound of foreign languages. Furthermore, even if a school offered English, it was mostly taught in official Mandarin. My classmate from a public school in suburban Shanghai told me that English was taught in an obscure local dialect. In addition, regional dialects many times have an extreme impact on certain foreign language pronunciation and intonation, and can result in poor pronunciation and intonation even after a few thousand hours of practice in listening labs. One classmate had to shift from an English major to another language major, and as a result a promising student with a Ph.D., equipped with prestigious awards and accolades, computer programming skills and statistics never got a chance to be a researcher or a professor at a US college/university. So, language really DOES matters, it’s not just a cow vs. a cough.

About the Author: 

Dr. Fuqiang Zhuo has been working with the UC Davis Language Center (previously, the Language Learning Center) since 2000, and holds an M.A. in Foreign Languages (TESOL) and an Ed.D in Curriculum & Instruction (Instructional Technology). His interests include best practices of technology in teaching and learning languages and cultures, training and support, along with testing, research, language (learning) center design, management and services.