This paper explores personal recollections of the author’s childhood experiences in the countryside in Poland. It discusses the significance of the forest in Polish culture, symbolizing closeness to nature and the earth. Historically, the name Poland is said to be derived frompole “field” and polana “a clearing in the forest”, pointing to the origin of the tribe of Polanie “Poles”. The experience of the countryside, and of the forest in particular, is focal to Polish family life, in customs such as foraging for wild mushrooms and berries in the summer, a ritual practiced even by city-folk. The author argues that personal memories of childhood are carried by an individual throughout life as a locus of culture. They are specific experiences to which cultural values attach, accruing through the details of the experience. They become sources of strength and reference points in life. Although the values that these experiences instantiate may be universal, the aggregate instantiation of these values in specific experiences is part of the uniqueness of culture.

In The Round House, Louise Erdrich applies double narrative structure and enriches it with traditional native American mythological elements. From an ecological perspective, while focusing on the transgressing plots of Joe and his parents respectively, readers can find many realistic features in the writing strategy of the novel, which has empowered the text with political quest as well as with the objective consideration of Louise Erdrich on the reconstruction of Native American cultural identity in the multiple modern cultural context.

Macao has always been the territory of China in history. It had been gradually occupied by Portugal since the mid-16th century and was returned to China in 1999. For more than 400 years, Macao has always been a culture fusion of East and West. Its historic city rich in Eastern and Western cultures won the UN World Cultural Heritage title in 2005. After the reunification with China, Macao implemented the principle of “one country, two systems”, so the East-West culture and the capitalist system were preserved. With the liberalization of casino licenses and the support of the Mainland, Macao has achieved rapid economic and social development. Although Macao is known for its gaming industry, it actually has rich cultural and historical connotations. This article summarizes 17 first records of China in Macao history and also introduces the great achievements of present Macao. While facing some difficulties and challenges, Macao will maintain its prosperity and stability by vigorously developing education and training its talents, and by “adhering to the principle of one country and making the most of the benefits of the two systems.”

The present study examines the effectiveness of an intercultural communication course in increasing international and European studies students’ intercultural sensitivity. In order to determine this effectiveness, the study considers the pre and post data obtained from administering the Intercultural Sensitivity Scale (ISS) devised by Chen and Starosta (2000) to a group of Greek International and European studies majors. More specifically, 29 fourth-year university students studying in a department of International and European studies in Greece completed the ISS at the onset and at the end of the intercultural communication course. The results indicate that there is not a statistically significant difference in the pre and post data obtained with the exception of two constructs, where a statistically significant difference was found. The findings obtained herein are used to draw conclusions and consider the practical implications. Moreover, potential limitations and suggestions for further research are discussed. Overall, the current study attempts to respond to the calls for the context-specific (Greece) research. In other words, this study aims to contribute to an existing knowledge base by reporting on an enquiry undertaken to quantitatively determine the levels of intercultural sensitivity among the sample group.

Chinese is a compulsory course in the schools sponsored by the Chinese communities in the Philippines, which needs a large number of Chinese teachers. The Confucius Institute Headquarters of China (Hanban) has held the program of the international Chinese teaching, selecting excellent volunteers to the kindergartens of the Filipino Chinese schools. During the undertaking of the program, problems concerning facilities, teaching methods, appropriate textbooks and learning motivation have emerged successively. This essay raises some constructive suggestions on the basis of analyzing the status and reasons of the problems in order to guarantee the success of the Chinese teaching in the Philippines.

This research features the argument that the essence of translation is embodied simulation, which is powered by mirror neurons in the human brain. Through a renewed and detailed analysis of the two contrastive English translations of a well-known Chinese poem 天淨沙•秋思, it is argued that the embodied simulation principles can persuasively govern the mental operations in translation. On the one hand, a translator derives the mental simulation from the source language and culture, and such simulation is conditioned by numerous influencing factors, such as his linguistic competence in the source language and his overall knowledge of the source culture, both of which are individualized by one’s life experiences. On the other hand, the translator represents or restores the simulations he has constructed from the source language in the target language and culture. The representation process and the final products, in turn, are constrained by the translator’s conditions. Since translators’ background conditions differ, the simulation that each of them makes then varies accordingly, resulting in diverse renditions of the same source language text.