Student Responses – Page 6 – ENG 2100: Writing 1 with Jay Thompson

Nana’s Reading Response 11/29

In “I Fall in love with Chinese”, Written by Arai, it is a very personal story: how a Japanese person fell in love with Chinese.

The first year of a with a Chinese is all about ears and mouth. Chinese sounds so delicate that it is almost as comfortable to speak as to sing.
The brain releases the happy hormone dopamine, which makes people feel especially good. I never thought there was such a funny language in the world.
Using The Chinese language as an alternative to the Japanese passport, or doraemon’s random door, doraemon boldly travels around the world.
She traveled by train in China.
Breaking into the Chinese art scene in Canada.
Filming a documentary in New York’s Chinatown.
Set up a column in Hong Kong as a guest reporter.
Because she came from outside the Chinese-speaking world, she was always on the edge of China, which occasionally gave her a clear view of the onlookers.
The journey from learning Chinese to becoming a writer was a memorable, funny, tragic and unfortunate experience.
Without Chinese in my life, author don’t think she can recognize herself at all.

Karen Leonardo Blog Writing 11/29

Nugugi argues that it is better to preserve a culture’s history by encouraging writers to work in their home languages, while Rushdie argues that it is better to write in English. Nugugi states, ““Before, I had written a few plays in English, and novels in English, and I had not been in prison for being critical of the post-colonial system. So why now? And that question is what set in motion my thinking about the unequal relationship of power between language?” Nugugi reveals that no one really minded when they saw an African woman writing in English in her own country, because it was seen as ‘normal.’ However, Nugugi was not comfortable writing in a language that was not her mother tongue. But then she realized that it was prohibited to do so by the post-colonial African government. Nugugi stated that she had written a novel criticizing the government in English and she received no consequences, yet once she did the same thing but in her own African language she was put in prison for doing so. On the other hand, Rushdie states, “but today, I find, it is a debate which has meaning only for the older generation. The children of independent India seem not to think of English as being irredeemably tainted by its colonial provenance.” Rushdie acknowledges the fact that only the older generation really focus on the fact that English should not be ‘accepted’ to be written at home. She believes that the younger generation know that English is a language spoken all around the world that does not have to be translated and it will make it easier for others to read. Now India considers English to be an Indian literary language. Personally I believe that the language your family understands best should be written at home, that being English or your mother tongue. It is best to include everyone when being at home that way you and your family are on the same page and they are not left confused with the language. However, when being in a public area like school I would personally write things in English because I know that most of the people will understand what I am trying to express with no confusion. If I start writing all of my work in Spanish I know that a lot of people won’t be able to understand without having to translate it. The only two languages I am fully comfortable and confident writing in are English and Spanish, if it were any other language I would not be able to do it for the simple fact that I would not be educated enough to do it. I only grew up around those two languages, English and Spanish.

Nana’s Blog Post Due 11/29

Ngugi’s argument was that people should write in their own language, no matter how unequal power might be. Once Ngugi mentioned “That thinking made me say no — from now onwards. I’ll be writing in my mother tongue …” For common people are most familiar with his mother tongue. I think the purest thing for a writer is to write whatever they want, not necessarily in their own language, but in whatever language they feel comfortable with. Rushdie is looking at how Hindi relates to English to help children learn Chinese. Because in India. Schools consider English as the main language. So Indian children do not have a strong understanding of their mother tongue. The sentence “The English language’s enormous flexibility and size” emphasizes the importance of English. But in my opinion, any language can be widely spread, not only English. People can write good articles in their mother tongue. For example, as a Chinese, the vocabulary I use when writing in Chinese is naturally more delicate and easy to understand than when writing in English.

Nick Serrao Blog Post 11/29

I believe that it better to preserve a culture’s history by encouraging writers to work in their home languages. This is because when a writer works in their home language, it is much more fluent and it sounds more or less real. Their writing becomes more passionate and it usually has more meaning behind it. Ngugi stated that there was an, “unequal relationship of power between languages” when it came to his mother tongue and english. There should not be an unequal relationship of power between languages, but unfortunately, if one language has more speakers than the other, then there may seem like there is an imbalance of power between the two. Rushdie spoke on the other side of this question and said, “The children of independent India seem not to think of English as being irredeemably tainted by its colonial provenance.” This shows that the children in British India are already used to using english in their writing, and they don’t have a problem with it. At the end of the day, it is a personal choice on whether the language you want to write in is the right language you should be writing in.

Erick Nunez, Reading Responses, 11/29

There has been a debate on how marketing was perceived in business in terms of the relationship between “buyer and seller” until it was understood that both parties contribute to marketing.
Present trend days asserted this contribution in both parties as development in technology has changed the behavior in consumers.
The author explains how there has been minimal academic discussion on co-creational marketing and that this paper focuses on these co-creational practices.
Consumers began establishing a role in the marketing process by being a co-producer in the value of the product, specifically music.
This resulted in the formation of five types of co-creational marketing such as viral marketing, sponsored user-generated brand (UGB) marketing, user-generated content (UGC) marketing, vigilante marketing, and prosumer marketing.
Viral marketing essentially gives consumers the power to share artists music through social media platforms giving the producer little control of the marketing process.
Sponsored user-generated brand marketing, also known as UGB marketing is when the consumer is able to contribute through contests set up by the artists/label which promotes music in a bit more of a professional way.
User-generated content marketing, also known as UGC marketing, is almost like a mix of UGB and viral marketing which consists of video clips, mash-ups, Q&A’s and so much more made by the consumer, hence given the name “user-generated.”
Vigilante marketing talks about advertising strategies brands do in order to market an artist while also not getting paid to do so.
Prosumer marketing is when a consumer is much more hands on towards the creation of a product, in this case the music of an artist.
The author restates his claim about the relationship between consumers and producers and how co-creational marketing strategies have evolved with the developments in technology.

Erick Nunez, Blogpost, 11/29

I believe it is much better to write in the language that is most comfortable with a person because if not the writer would feel forced to accommodate a language they aren’t used to, thus making the writing less meaningful. Ngugi wa Thiong’o acknowledges the feelings of inequality he faced when being punished for writing in an African language by saying, “that question is what set in motion my thinking about the unequal relationship of power between languages.” Ngugi shows how writing in his native language was able to show him the inequalities buried underneath language which ultimately encouraged him to continue writing in his “mothers tongue.” However, Rushdie was able to argue that the inequalities faced in India through language was only an argument for those who were affected by it. “It is a debate which has meaning only for the older generation.” His claim showed that children who are the next generation don’t see English as an issue, but a chance for opportunity making this debatable topic selfish. Yet people shouldn’t focus on what is ahead, instead they should focus on the present and that is the adversity people like Ngugi have to endure. Ngugi confirms this after he wrote his first novel in the Gĩkũyũ language but in an unusual way. He wrote it in toilet paper after being imprisoned for writing in the African language. This just goes to show how even the African government is corrupted by language, more specifically a post-colonial African government. Ngugi was able to confirm his belief towards a corrupt government after he realized that his past writings were all written in English, yet he received no consequence for it. Language is a part of a person’s culture and if it is taken away, places like Africa would be rid of it.

Selina Wang-Discussion questions 11/29

I believe that if writers want to write in their home language, then they should definitely have the choice to do that. Why should they be kept fromwriting down and sharing their own thoughts in their mother language? Nugugi mentions how he “had not been in prison for being critical of the post-colonial system” when he wrote in English, but the second he started criticizing the flawed system in his home language, he was put into jail. I just think it’s ridiculous how he is writing about the same things, but the only difference is the language he chose to write it in. Rushdie on the other hand, argues for the counterargument, he says that writing in English is better due to “the English language’s enormous flexibility and size”. This isn’t always true because if someone isn’t that familiar with the English language, then they might not fully get their point across. Whereas, if they were to write in their home language, they would be able to write a more thorough and close description. However, I don’t necessarily think that writing in one’s home language is the only way to preserve their culture. There are many other ways, one can even write about their culture in English and spread it to more people since English is a language that most people know. Besides English I can also speak and write in Chinese. I do feel a little discouraged to write in Chinese because emy vocab knowledge is not as advanced in Chinese compared to in English.

Selina Wang Reading Responses- 11/29

In order to control obesity populations, the government has launched public campaigns that educate consumers on how to choose healthier options. For example, Ecuador and Chile imposed strict regulations on food manufacturers and designed specific types of traffic light nutritional labels (TLLs). Studies have shown that TLLs and other types of warning labels produced mixed results and does not really do what it intended to do. They found that brand familiarity and brand trust together create a shield that protects the product from being evaluated as unhealthy, even in presence of warnings from TLLs. The following sections show their investigation.
‘From a food manufacturer’s point of view, then, presenting nutritional information can be interpreted as a strategy to gain consumers’ trust and confidence by disclosing product attribute information, as is the purpose of displaying TLLs.” The stream of research reports mixed results when accessing the effectiveness of TLLs in persuading consumers to select healthier options. Findings suggest that a familiar brand is more accessible factor in a consumer’s memory and that this effect increases the likelihood in product choices. Level of attention also influences consumers’ use of nutritional information. “when consumers spend more time evaluating a food product and the brand is unfamiliar, they will rely on the most accessible and diagnostic cue: the traffic light nutritional label warning.” The relationship of consumers food purchase intentions is mediated by brand trust.
This section shows an overview of studies. Study 1 tests main effect of traffic light label’s presence. Study 2 replicates the results of study 1 using consumer sample from Chile. Study 3 replicate the results from study 2 using a sample of Ecuadorian consumers and testing three-way interaction effect among TLLs, brand familiarity and attention level. Study 4 replicates the overall findings using a moderated mediated approach with a sample of consumers from UK.
Conclusions of study 1 signals the importance of exploring what other factors besides brand familiarity influence consumers to ignore warnings of TLLs.
Results of study 2 suggest that for familiar brands, TLL’s warnings produce no effect in consumer purchase.
“The findings from Study 3 support the prediction that when consumers are evaluating food choices with familiar brands, the brand becomes more diagnostic and serves as an important cue for consumers to infer its quality and likeability and form their purchase intentions. However, when consumers evaluate food choices with unfamiliar brands, the traffic light label becomes more diagnostic, as consumers follow the warning that the traffic light label gives them.”
Trust in a brand fuels consumers positive evaluation of the product even if TLL warnings are there.
TLLs create a double burden for small food manufactures and is basically not useful because it does not have any evidence of its effective communication.
The study increases the understanding of how nutritional labels influence consumers.
Findings of this research expand our current understanding of nutritional labels. TLLs in combination with brand familiarity mislead consumers to select healthier food products.

Eryk Trela – 11/28 Reading Response

INTRODUCTION

1-Improving one’s mental health can also improve their overall health and physical well-being.

2-Lower generalized trust can negatively affect one’s mental health. Also, problematic social media use correlates to poorer mental health.

3-Generalized trust is defined as a willingness to be vulnerable to the actions of other

4-. A greater level of PSS often leads to satisfactory social interaction and consequently results in improved mental health and the avoidance of psychological distress.

5-Problematic social media usage relates to psychological distress, like stress, anxiety, and depression.

6-Problematic social media use is now a public issue over the past decade on a global level.

7-Problematic social media can lead to lower trust and lower PSS.

METHODS

8- These health studies were made in health centers and houses in Iran.

9- All participants provided consent and a baseline questionnaire of problematic social media.

MEASURES

10-Measured using the BSMAS to assess the scale of problematic social media.

11-GTS is measured on a 5 point Likert scale.

12-MSPSS is measured on a 7 point Likert scale.

13-OHQ-SF (happiness) measured on a 6 point Likert scale.

14- HADS measured on a 4 point scale.

15-SF-12 measured on a 4-6 point scale to assess the quality of life.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

16-Statistics were used to examine the socio-demographic features of the participants.

17-Generalized trust was negatively related to depression.

18-The mediation models show that problematic social media use had a negative effect on happiness directly.

DISCUSSION

19-Problematic social media effects on happiness consisted of direct effects and indirect effects on both generalized trust and PSS.

20-Problematic social media use results in negative social comparisons and poor sleep.

21- Idea of FoMO Deuces problems concerning generalized trust and PSS.

22-Generalized trust is related to mental health including elevated happiness improve mental quality of life reduced anxiety and decrease depression.

23-Greater level of social support means that they have satisfactory social interaction, good mental health, and little psychological distress

24-Generalized trust had a small to large effect on mental health & PSS had a medium to large effect on mental health.

25-Future studies are needed with a longitudinal design for further clarification.

CONCLUSION

26-With less problematic social media use, an individual may have better mental health and lower psychological distress.

QUOTES

“Literature further shows and suggests that mental health can be a basis and a reciprocal consequence of an individual’s overall health, including physical wellness and social burden.2,3 Indeed, a large-scale study conducted in Taiwan showed that mental health problems (ie psychological symptoms) might lead to lowered quality of life in various domains (social, physical, and environmental) among 1080 healthy workers.4”
“Previous empirical studies have demonstrated that poor mental health is related to lower generalized trust,5,6 lower perceived social support (PSS)7 and problematic social media use.8 Consequently, higher levels of both generalized trust and PSS are related to better mental health (including increased happiness, elevated mental quality of life, reduced anxiety and decreased depression). On the other hand, problematic social media use is related to poorer mental health”
“problematic social media use is a significant factor greatly related to poor mental health.51,52 Moreover, Wong et al52 proposed that problematic social media use may result in functional impairment, negative social comparison, excessive escapism, and poor sleep.”

Eryk Trela-Blog Post 11/28

Ngugi demonstrates his feelings and opinion that people should be permitted to speak and write about their opinions in their native tongue. Despite the conflict of relationship in regards to languages and power. For that reason he states “That thinking made me say no — from now onwards, I’ll be writing in my mother tongue …”. I am personally in complete agreement with Ngugi, not one person should be boxed in by society in terms of writing. Every person should be allowed to display their feeling in writing in whatever language they want, and naturally feels best for them. I personally feel that encouraging writers to compose their pieces in their native language is very beneficial when it comes to preserving a culture’s history, language is a huge part of a culture, a part that shouldn’t have major changes to it. Whilst the other side views this in a different light. For instance, Rushdie states “assisted by the English language’s enormous flexibility and size”. Amongst Indian children using the English language to their upper hand. Furthermore, the wide usage of English exacerbates the language’s importance on the global stage. I do not believe that cultures should feel pressured into learning and using English. Polish is the other language that I can both speak and write in. I do not feel discouraged to speak or write in English, however, I do not feel that my writing skills in Polish are up to the level that they should be.