tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23867365825938338112012-01-30T15:42:34.116-08:00In today's globalized and diversified world, language and cultural awareness play a crucial role.Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.comBlogger431100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-28764866951825396032010-09-16T13:37:00.000-07:002010-09-16T13:37:24.194-07:00

I was just reading in Facebook all the comments from my Mexican friends about Mexico's 200th birthday celebration. I couldn't help feeling nostalgic. This is the one day every year when I really miss my country… however, this year especially, it feels like I missed a very important event that will become part of its history. Before yesterday, I never felt the urge to travel to Mexico to

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-6670549438576200092010-08-25T10:15:00.000-07:002010-08-25T10:15:47.635-07:00

I just finished watching a documentary about how year after year girls from different countries in Europe and North America go to a beach in Mexico during their winter to have fun and end up having romantic relationships with the locals. It is funny how these girls feel totally liberated in a place where no one knows them. They seem to forget their customs, religion and education because

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-80364749062874215832010-05-19T08:21:00.000-07:002010-05-19T08:21:12.925-07:00

The other day I was talking to my cousin and she was telling me she was taking French in shcool. I started asking her questions about the things she had learned and I was shocked with what she told me. Before expanding on why I think it was shocking, it is important to say she is studying to become a chef. So, I was very surprised when she said she now knows the parts of the body, the numbers,

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-79462392017417654042010-04-30T08:03:00.000-07:002010-04-30T08:03:48.398-07:00

Yesterday I had to drive to Midland, Ontario, a small town 2 hours north of Toronto. This is not the first time I drive Canadian highways to the country, but yesterday I more consciously reflected on how different it is from driving in Mexico. The geography is so different, that it forces there to be a culture for drivers. Ontario is a very flat place, so when you drive, you get a very weird

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-83695077939157203912010-04-28T11:57:00.000-07:002010-04-28T11:57:16.723-07:00

For a long time Americans have been tagged as a culture who refuses to learn a second or third language because they think everyone else in the world should speak English. In an article I was reading today they say that the amount of Americans immigrating to other countries is growing and there are now 5.25 million living abroad. I was happy to see that there are a lot of Americans living in

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-65106345361669782822010-04-20T09:09:00.000-07:002010-04-20T09:09:36.417-07:00

I have heard many times about people with two nationalities who go back to their country of origin, get into trouble and then ask their second country for help. Just this morning I was reading an article about that. For some reason, every time I hear a story like this it bothers me, I don’t know if I am right or wrong, but it seems to me that these people are taking advantage of their dual

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-54352811744611819322010-04-06T09:07:00.000-07:002010-04-06T09:07:28.999-07:00

I had always thought that if you were to choose a country to move to, one of the things to consider was their openness to multiculturalism and how tolerant they were to foreign customs and traditions. That is one of the reasons why I chose Canada over the United States. Canadians have always been known as open and culturally sensitive. One of the things I have enjoyed the most about living here

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-50798670560388607802010-03-31T06:04:00.000-07:002010-03-31T06:04:54.657-07:00

Last week I posted a discussion on whether or not Mexicans living abroad had the responsibility to go back and apply what they had learned in a specific field in Mexico to help it grow. This came from an article I read and I have to say that my initial reaction was totally against it. My opinion is that for a lot of the people who have left the country, the reason has been the search for better

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-71474549065209433412010-03-30T06:37:00.000-07:002010-03-30T06:37:53.084-07:00

I was reading a very interesting article that talks about a study they have done about how our own culture affects how our brains are shaped. Depending on where we live and the cultural information (formation) we receive our brain takes a different shape than that of people who live in a different country (culture). What is really interesting of this article is that it helps us realize how

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-23243525783539583572009-12-30T09:36:00.000-08:002009-12-30T09:36:49.005-08:00

Moving to a different country can be a decision originated by many different reasons. They can go all the way from people who have to leave their country for political reasons to people who just do it for the fun of traveling and getting to know other cultures and other customs. Many of us expats are just looking for a place that offers better opportunities and a better future, once we find it, 

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-90905637169341989492009-12-18T08:00:00.000-08:002009-12-18T08:00:02.571-08:00

Yesterday and Today, the Olympic Flame is travelling through different areas of the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) and the event has drawn lots of people. A coworker is even taking her daughter out of school to take her to see the torch. Undoubtedly, the Olympic Games and everything around them is one of the international happenings that brings the whole world together and breaks any kind of

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-49595842954697506372009-12-15T06:30:00.000-08:002009-12-15T06:31:20.201-08:00

As promised, I am sharing in this blog Jorge Loredo's experience when he moved to Australia: Apparently there are not many Mexicans who dare taking the chance to settle “down”. Perhaps that explains why people raise the eyebrows as soon as they know where I’m from, and ask right after, why I decided to move to Melbourne?!!?... I’m still trying to get the right answer to that difficult question.

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-51415493677197220322009-12-14T07:05:00.000-08:002009-12-14T07:05:41.171-08:00

In Mexico, the idea of living abroad has changed a lot in the last few years. I remember when I was younger, it was not common to hear about someone moving to another country, and when you did, it was something people spoke of a lot, just like a hero's prowess or something like that. More or less three years ago when I discovered Facebook and I started looking for old friends from school, I

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-37831847909523983562009-12-10T07:28:00.000-08:002009-12-10T08:12:11.217-08:00

Food is a very common aspect that identifies different cultures, and even though the preparation and ingredients that make the dishes can be totally different from one culture to another, the fact that people get together around the table to celebrate is common to all. Here, I put together a menu with dishes from around the world to celebrate Christmas, it would be fun to try something new this

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-12217055944403786702009-12-07T11:16:00.000-08:002009-12-07T11:16:14.655-08:00

Now that I am a mother, I have discovered the world of children's birthday parties in Canada. The custom here is so different than the one in Mexico that I think it is worth giving it a space in my blog. I will start with a short recap of what parties are like in Mexico, of course there are different factors in place, but normally, they don't last less than 4 hours. If the parents have rented a

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-7667816411483245942009-12-02T11:39:00.000-08:002009-12-02T11:43:23.170-08:00

Someone once told me that when you got married you experienced something very similar to the Curve of Cultural Adaptation. According to this curve during the first few weeks you find everything very exciting, people treat you nicely, there is a lot to learn and to see... you are in a state of euforia. After some time, you start to get used to your new routine and you start to notice the

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-51282657619812061822009-11-30T07:52:00.000-08:002009-12-01T13:46:20.826-08:00

This morning I received a video in my e-mail and it inspired me to write about women. It was something I wanted to write about a while ago, but for some reason or another I kept postponing it. The first thing that made me think about this topic was the visit of the CEO of the company I work for, Ms. Yukako Uchinaga. She was in Toronto two weeks ago and for me, having the opportunity to meet (

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-53159157811170407922009-11-23T07:42:00.000-08:002009-11-23T07:43:45.394-08:00

Unfortunately for a lot of people, moving to another country does not only mean they will have to cope with a different culture, but also a very different language. In many cases, they will have some knowledge of this new language, enough that they are able to at least "survive" in their everyday life. However, these limited skills represent a huge barrier when all you want is to meet people and

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-75775869982244572092009-11-18T09:16:00.000-08:002009-11-18T09:16:54.662-08:00

I have read many documents with recommendations on how to better cope with cultural differences in the workplace. There are some very useful ones, but some that are not that good. That is why I decided to come up with my own list of tips, let's see what you think of it... 1. Be specific. When you have to explain something or set the rules, make sure you don't take things for granted, there are

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-91592890912771107742009-11-17T08:02:00.000-08:002009-11-18T05:39:57.965-08:00

When Aristotle said "man is a social being" he had no clue of the extent of his statement. More than two thousand years later, we have proved how right he was. We have taken that concept and exploited it to the point where poeple all over the world are being able to share all kinds of ideas, experiences, questions, etc. Forty years ago, Leonard Kleinrock sent the first message through the

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-4095632073596195182009-11-13T13:46:00.000-08:002009-11-13T13:46:34.539-08:00

I was reading an article today about a survey that KPMG conducted on the way companies accross the world had reacted towards the economical recession and how they were planning for the future years. This is something that not very long ago I was discussing with a friend in Mexico who had just started his own business. I was asking him if the crisis was not affecting him and he said something

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-50971770226171898482009-11-13T10:16:00.000-08:002009-11-13T11:04:53.624-08:00

So here is the report on my sister's "international Business Meeting" experience. She was ecstatic!!! She loved it, it seems like the opportunity to meet people from all over the world ended up weighing more than the stress of the responsibility. I remember when I was first invited to participate in an international meeting at work, I was super excited but very nervous at the same time. However,

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-18956352784757691242009-11-11T07:48:00.000-08:002009-11-13T11:05:41.596-08:00

When you are told by your employer that you have the opportunity to be transfered to another country with an expectation of a better life, you really don't think it twice. Everything seems too good to be true, you pack your things, you say your goodbyes and you start in your new job with this sponge-like feeling of wanting to learn and absorb as much as you can. For your partner, the feeling is

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-62616612796449337672009-11-09T06:40:00.000-08:002009-11-13T11:05:59.258-08:00

My sister called me last week because she was going to participate in an international business meeting and she was freaking out. She works for an airline and when she was hired her English was much better. Even though it was a requirement to get the job, she doesn't really use it on a day-to-day basis, so 16 years (give or take) later she can't get any sleep because she is in charge of a group

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-83739961590779257052009-11-05T11:30:00.000-08:002009-11-13T11:06:25.595-08:00

Here is a list of movies related to cross-cultural issues and languages that I have seen and enjoyed a lot. Do you have any other suggestions? 1. "Love Actually". I love this movie, the way it covers different kind of love stories and the challenges each character faces including cultural diversity and languages. 2. "Lost in Translation". This movie reflects the culture shock you feel when

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-79903383227758075922009-11-05T07:28:00.000-08:002009-11-13T11:07:08.468-08:00

I was reading an article on how hard it is to date someone from a different culture when customs between the two indivuduals are so different. I would like to hear your comments regarding your own experience in cross cultural relationships. I have thought about different topics: 1. How do you show you are interested in the other person (do you just flirt subtly, are you more direct and approach

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-68778303875166315972009-11-04T10:59:00.000-08:002009-11-13T11:07:29.275-08:00

We hear a lot about the extinction of species but we rarely speak about cultural extinction. I was today that every 14 days a language dissappears and that by the year 2100 there will only be more or less 3500 languages (half of what there is today) in the world. In Mexico, for example, out of the 250 languages that were being spoken before the Spaniards conquered the territory, only 62 prevail.

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-82223132312960228392009-11-03T12:51:00.000-08:002009-11-13T11:07:42.406-08:00

One of the things that I really like about Canada is the fact that my son will have the opportunity to study with kids from different cultural backgrounds. It must be fascinating for a teacher to take part in the education and personal growth of individuals who are so different. Even though they are all going through the same developmental stage, each one's learning porcess must be so dissimilar

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-62806292191074873452009-10-31T09:07:00.000-07:002009-10-31T09:30:24.960-07:00

In Mexico we celebrate Dia de Muertos on November 2nd. A very popular tradition on that day is to compose a small funny rhyme related to Death. Mexicans have a very dark humor in that sense, they like to laugh at Death and they always represent it in a funny way.I tried to come up with something that would more or less represent this tradition.Miss Death came nocking on my doorAnd made me slip

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-82491263309583819632009-10-29T08:20:00.000-07:002009-10-30T06:15:46.659-07:00

I remember when I was studying English in highschool, everybody feared the second grade because that's where you learned "Reported Speech" and "Passive Voice". Everyone had horrible experiences of failing tests and even the subject because those two structures were just too difficult.So, when I got to the dreaded secong grade, I had no other choice but to study very hard, memorize the rules for

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-68833969741272167292009-10-23T06:57:00.000-07:002009-10-23T07:34:45.799-07:00

There have been many new things that I have learned ever since I came to Canada, things that make us Mexicans very different from Canadians; however, there is one thing that both cultures share... the way we feel about the US.In Mexico we are always critizing everything the US does, politically, economically, and even culturally. As a neighbor country we are very influenced by everything they do.

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-86370952240663731212009-10-21T08:33:00.000-07:002009-10-21T09:44:03.963-07:00

They should come up with a name for people, like me, who share two or more cultures. When you move to a different country, you never stop to think how you will manage to integrate the new culture into your own. You keep saying to yourself that it won't be difficult to adapt and you are in the best disposition to learn and embrace the customs of the new country. It all seems so easy!I remember the

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-58423921328045718982009-10-06T13:01:00.000-07:002009-10-06T17:19:47.183-07:00

The Human Development Index considers three areas to rank countries from the best to live in to the worst, these areas are life expectancy, adult literacy and gross enrolment in education; and purchasing power parity and income. According to these 3dimensions, Canada ranked 4th in the most recent report, behind Norway, Autralia and Iceland (it's good that they don't include the weather as one of

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-23845845550839837742009-10-05T13:48:00.000-07:002009-10-06T05:55:09.473-07:00

My worst experience when I started working in Canada regarding cultural differences was when after leaving a message over the phone to one of my clients, she called back and told the customer service representative that I sounded condescending. I felt so bad!In Mexico we bend over backwards to offer the best service possible, we put too many words in proposals and business agreements just to make

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-76917601123670230892009-10-02T09:31:00.000-07:002009-10-02T12:02:41.390-07:00

When I first told my family I was moving to Canada, besides the big shock, they were all excited of having someone to visit abroad. However, for my very dear uncle Jorge the excitement was gone when he announced he wanted to come and visit me and I told him he was going to have to take his shoes off when coming into my house (and anyone else's house for all I know), it seemed to me like he was

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-60007376234132197852009-10-01T05:59:00.000-07:002009-10-01T06:49:12.019-07:00

I have been living in Canada for the last 4 years, and so far, most of my friends are from Mexico. Strange, right? living in such a multicultural environment, one would think that by now he would have made friends from different nationalities and backgrounds. However, if you pay close attention, that happens to almost everyone. You go on the subway and you see people from the middle east talking

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-17955682850368026102009-09-28T09:55:00.000-07:002009-09-28T10:34:35.460-07:00

Everyday I talk to people who are interested in learning or improving a second or third language. Here in Ontario of course, a lot of this interest is focussed on French.I have faced a lot of customers who say that they took some French in high school but after so many years they don't think they remember any of that and they assure me they need to start all the way from the beginner level.It's

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-8767715099815606952009-09-25T13:11:00.000-07:002009-09-25T13:42:40.273-07:00

I read a very interesting article yesterday in which the author spoke about how much she hated having discussions about the balance between life and work. For her, there was no distinction between the two, she gave an example of how getting our of the office for a few days to go camping would renew her creativity and therefore she could come up with fresh, new, and great ideas.That sounds very

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-69188620147066120482009-09-23T12:00:00.000-07:002009-09-23T13:27:05.035-07:00

Louise Harel's (Leader of Vision Montreal party and candidate for Mayor of Montreal) case of not wanting to hold a debate in English with the other 2 candidates because she is not fluent enough is a very good example of how not speaking a second language can jeopardize your career. If you read some of the comments people have made about the CTV news article, it is very clear she will lose a lot

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-45306148768630929852009-09-23T06:39:00.000-07:002009-09-23T07:42:14.647-07:00

According to Dr. Joy Hirsch a professor of neuroscience at New York's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre and senior author of a study published in the current issue of the journal Nature, "A second language acquired during the teenage years, which is later in developmental life, is represented in the brain in a separate location from the native language. But when bothy languages are learned

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-15805233184766338472009-09-21T07:30:00.001-07:002009-09-23T06:38:37.249-07:00

Technology has definitiely taken us to places we would have never imagined, but being able to learn a language using your iphone (smartphone)? I am sorry, but I don't buy it! There is an article that talks about a guy who designed a program to learn a language in a smartphone... read it and tell me what you think.

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-77094813920329479912009-09-21T06:52:00.000-07:002009-09-22T18:46:12.521-07:00

If you ask an immigrant who has just arrived in Canada why it is so hard to find a job, he will most likely say it is because all the employers ask for Canadian experience. I understand that for a hiring manager who has no idea about work practices in other countries it must feel very risky to trust that person's credentials, but is it really that, or is it the fear of hiring someone with

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386736582593833811.post-43200481576107715422009-09-19T13:52:00.000-07:002009-09-19T15:23:12.624-07:00

This is a good example of a situation in which a Canadian company faced the challenge of their employees not speaking English well enough to perform their job or grow within the organization. In this case the solution came from a government program, but there are a lot of options out there that can meet the changing needs of companies in different fields. http://www.abc-canada.org/en/

Gina Vazquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12025265438632979737noreply@blogger.com0