Travel Information--Good Sources (updated: 2014, Sep. 30th)

1.      Best Choice for business travelers

Culture Smart!

2.      Acceptable, but quite brief (mostly for young tourists)

Lonely Planet

Rough Guides

You can find (and maybe borrow) many of these books from other libraries in Taiwan. Please check the National Bibligraphic Information Network (NBINet聯合目錄目) for all books in Taiwan libraries:

http://nbinet3.ncl.edu.tw/screens/opacmenu_cht.html

Here is some information from Romania - Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture

Romania: 1947~1989 (communist rule)

Grow up = children -->  adults

Educated = go to school

“wonderful!” “lucky” “golden age”

In Romania, people were told that they lived in a wonderful country (the government lied to the people).

poor        +     ty     =      Poverty

ADJ         +     ty     =     N

Deny = say “no”

Undeniable = un (not) (say no) (can) = nobody could say that they were not poor

Corrupt system = cheating

“lazy students could buy good grades”

Conspicuous consumption = buying expensive things that you don't need to show other people that you have too much money (wasting money doesn't bother you)

Romanians feel proud when they buy expensive cars, clothes and other things. They show these things to other people.

The Communist state controlled almost every part of people’s personal lives

There is almost no privacy in Romania

Staring is very common

Hospitality = friendly, welcoming behaviour towards guests or strangers.

Romanians are very generous hosts. Even very poor people give you their best food and drink. 

Copyright (C) VS Creative Commons (CC) (20140930 update)

© The copyright system protects intellectual property. If you write something, make a picture or sounds, nobody can use your work without permission (“All rights reserved”). Only you, the copyright owner can make copies and use them to make money.

Copyright applies to:

1 Verbal works (= written articles, poems, plays, books)

2 Visual works (photos, drawings, etc.)

3 Sounds (Music, stories and other sounds)

If you want to use copyright material, you need to

1)          get permission

2)          pay royalties

3)          acknowledge the source

A newer system is called CC = Creative Commons. If your work is licensed under Creative Commons, you give up some rights and keep some (“Some rights reserved”). This allows other people to use your works  

1) without getting permission
2) without paying you royalties (if they don't use your property to make money)
3) BUT you usually have to acknowledge the source (say where this picture, music, story etc. came from and who made it

Most people reserve commercial rights. If you want to use their words, pictures, sounds etc. to make money, you must ask for permission and pay the maker some money).

BY – acknowledge the author = if you use it, you must mention the author's name

NC – non-commercial = you can’t sell it or use it to make money

SA – share alike = if you make any changes, you must share them

ND – no derivatives (you cannot change it)

How do we find CC pictures, music etc.? Use a CC search engine, such as

Compfight.com (to find pictures on Flickr.com)

Syntax Tree--Hotel managers are generally exposed to long shifts (20140930 Update)

Long sentences are easier to read if you break them up into smaller phrases and clauses.

NP = noun phrase

VP = verb phrase

PP = Prepositional Phrase

NPs, VPs and PPs are especially common

Remember that a preposition is a word that is put before a noun (介詞=前置詞)

pre	pos	ition
BEFORE	PUT	[noun]
前	置	詞

Here is a long sentence from the Wikipedia article on Hospital Management (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hospitality_management):

Hotel managers are generally exposed to long shifts that include late hours, weekends, and holidays due to the 24 hour operation of a hotel.

[S [NP Hotel managers] [VP are generally exposed] [PP to [NP long shifts]]
(Syntax Tree)

NP	Hotel managers
VP	are generally exposed
PrepP	to long shifts
That-Clause	that include late hours, weekends, and holidays
PrepP	due to the 24 hour operation
PrepP	of a hotel.

#1	Adj + N an ordinary phrase	A 'green 'house = a house which is green
#2	'AdjN a noun phrase	A 'greenhouse = a glass house for growing plants

Temporary =

Temp(or)  +      ary

TIME               +      ADJ

shift work

The day shift	0800-1600
the night shift	1600-2400
the midnight shift (the graveyard shift)	2400-0800

'flight attendant

'NN

Receptionist

Receive guests

People can drive cattle and cars, but not airplanes

Drive a car	fly an airplane
Driver	pilot

IT = infotech

Creative Commons = "Free" Pictures, Music etc.

© = copyright

The copyright system protects intellectual property. If you write something, make a picture or sounds, nobody can use your work without permission (“All rights reserved”). Only you, the copyright owner can make copies and use them to make money.

Copyright applies to:

1 Verbal works (= written articles, poems, plays, books)

2 Visual works (photos, drawings, etc.)

3 Sounds (Music, stories and other sounds)

If you want to use copyright material, you need to

1. get permission
2. pay royalties
3. acknowledge the source

Use compfight.com to help you find "free" photos on Flickr.com

South American Countries: Pronunciation

This table shows you how to pronounce the names of each country in General American English. The symbols follow standard IPA usage, not obsolete KK (60+ year-old Northeastern US English):

South & Central America -- Quick Review

*North America*

1 Hernan Cortes kidnapped the Aztec emperor; the Spanish then occupied Mexico; the home of chocolate

*Central America & the Caribbean*

2 Guatemala (the former Maya empire)

3 Belize They speak English

“Banana Republics” (The United Fruit Company)

4 El Salvador (the savior)

5 Honduras (hurricanes)

6 Nicaragua (Lake Nicaragua + man-eating sharks) (maybe a future canal)

7 Costa Rica (Spanish = “Rich Coast”) no army, good education; tropical rain forest

8 Panama Canal

9 Cuba cigars & sugar (sugar cane); conga; Guantanamo prison; Guantanamera

10 The Bahamas (English-speaking; secret bank accounts)

11 Jamaica (English-speaking; calypso music: steel drums)

12 Haiti (French-speaking; very poor; tremendous earthquake damage)

13 The Dominican Republic (better-off than Haiti)

14 Puerto Rico (American, but NOT a state)

*South America*

15 Colombia (heroin, cocaine, coffee; coca leaves)

16 Venezuela (member of OPEC: petroleum)

17 Ecuador (Spanish = “equator” English) is on the equator

18 Peru former center of the Inca Empire (Pizarro kidnapped Atahualpa and stole tons of gold and silver; the Spanish occupied Peru); the potato and guinea pigs come from P.

19 Brazil (the Amazon rain forest; the samba: the biggest, most famous Carnival; they speak Portuguese)

20 Bolivia (Lake Titicaca: the highest navigable lake in the world)

21 Paraguay (they speak Spanish AND Guarani, the aboriginal language; they make beautiful music with harps)

22 Chile (they sell guano [bird poop] and salmon; grapes à wine; apples)

23 Argentina (the tango; grass-fed beef)

24 Uruguay (people from Italy & Germany)

South America -- Geography

Very brief summary notes for South American countries:

South America. Notice Central and North America to the north,
Antarctica to the south and Africa to the east. Can you identify the countries?

This map was made by putting together many photos. Notice the mountain range on the west coast.

Countries in South America (CIA map)

Paraguay is a landlocked country (smaller than Bolivia). Paraguay is the only country in South America where the original language of the local people (Guaraní) is an official language. In all other countries, either Spanish or Portuguese (in Brazil) is the only official language.

Venezuela produces oil (petroleum) in Lake Maracaibo.

Central America & the Caribbean -- Geography

Central America, the Caribbean and South America are often called "Latin America." In most of these countries, people speak Spanish. Most people include Mexico as part of Latin America, but this country is in North America.

Central America is right in the middle, between North and South America

Belize and Jamaica are the only larger countries in this area where they speak English. What are the other countries in Central America and the Caribbean?

Countries in Central America, the Caribbean and northern South America

Presentations: Introductions (give listeners an outline)

[Biz]

Outline #1
Very important: a presenter should give listeners an outline at the beginning. Explain how many things you will talk about (and maybe tell them how long each part will take). An outline is like a mental map. It helps listeners understand your message.

Taking Notes
If you are a listener, you don't need to write down everything you hear. Only write down some key words (mostly content words = nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs). Leave out most function words such as prepositions and determiners

Country Reports (How to Compose A Draft)

[BIZ]

Your reports should be typed and submitted on four sheets of A4 paper with 2 cm margins. Page 0 is the Title Page, Page 1 is the table of Contents, Page 2 is a 200-word summary of your research, and Page 3 is a List of References (bibliography).

Country Report Structure

 Please use 14-point Arial for the cover page and 12-point Arial for the three inside pages. Put a staple on the upper left-hand corner.

Here is a suggested work flow:

Kindle -- Efficient Reading 4

[BIZ] Before you visit another country, it is important to do some homework. Here is part of the Table of Contents (TOC) for Romania-Culture Smart! The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture, a very interesting and useful book about Romania. By skimming the Table of Contents, I can quickly find some interesting sections to read before I get on the airplane to Eastern Europe.

Kindle -- Efficient Reading 3

Well-written Amazon Kindle books include search tools. These help you quickly find what you need:

Kindle -- Efficient Reading 2

Amazon's reader lets you easily change the appearance of Kindle books:

The "appearance" button lets you change the font, the size and the background color (black on white, white on black or black on sepia). Small black words on a white computer screen give me a headache, so I like to change to bigger words on a sepia background:

White on Black

Kindle -- Efficient Reading 1

If English is not your first language, reading a book in English can be difficult. Here are some suggestions to make Amazon Kindle books easier to read:

1) Notice the Kindle tools:

The "back" button lets you go back to previous pages. If you start reading page 17, and then jump to page 63, "back" will let you jump back to page 17.

Tourism Industry Vocabulary-1

Many jobs in the tourism industry are temporary.

Temporary = Only lasting for a short time (a few days, weeks or months)

Temp(or) +      ary

TIME     +      [ADJ]

Other jobs involve shift work. In a hotel, for example, someone should be on duty at all times. Your supervisor might sometimes ask you to work the night shift or the midnight shift.

 

shift work

The day shift	0800-1600
the night shift	1600-2400
the midnight shift (the graveyard shift)	2400-0800

'flight attendant

'NN

Receptionist

Receive guests

People can drive cattle and cars, but not airplanes

Drive a car	fly an airplane
Driver	pilot

IT = infotech

Preparing to do Business in Another Country--Country Reports [20140930 update]

Preparing to do Business in Another Country

Please look for information about these topics:

Culture
What cultural or regional differences should visitors know about?

Which religions are important in this country? Are there any conflicts?

People--Women, Friends, Foreigners

What is the role of women in business and in society as a whole?

How and where do people meet and make friends?

How do people feel about foreigners?

Other Countries

This blog is made for EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners. If you are interested in learning about non-English speaking countries or meeting people from these countries, this blog is for you. Comments and questions are always welcome.