Cultural and social values in Australia and Singapore

   There are many cultural and social values in Norway. For example free education and free health care, a wide variety of natural attractions and a multicultural society. But what about cultural and social values in Australia and Singapore?  In this English lesson we were given a task where we had to find cultural and social values in two English-speaking countries. Marie, Tobias, Matias and I decided to write about Australian and Singaporean values.

Together we have figured out couple of questions that we may need some help to answer. The questions are listed below:

Cultural values   

                                                                

How many percent of the population do not belong to any religion?

Are there any famous pop singers, actors or otherwell-known stars in your country?

 What about national sport?Any popular sports?

Languages that are most frequently spoken at home are …?  

When and how does your country celebrate its national day? 

How is the wild-animal life like? What kind of animals can you spot in your garden? 

What are the mains religions in your country? 

 Do the people in your country have cabins? 

If it's normal to have one, if yes, where?

How is your country populated?

Is there any kind of national food?

 What should I eat if I visit your country and want a typical and traditional menu?

Social values

What do you appreciate the most in your country? 

In which way are the rules and laws strict in your country?  

Do elders receive respect and status?

What is your most important value?

What’s important to your social life?

It would be great if you could answer some of these questions, so feel free to comment ! 

By Marie, Tobias, Matias and Julia. (click on the name to go to their blog) :-)

Dictionaries

Whether you’re doing your homework or need some help with translating, it’s nice to have an online dictionary to help you. There are plenty of dictionary out there on the internet so it’s important to have one or two that you think works best for you. 
            Personally I’ve tried many dictionaries, but not all of them where good enough for me. Here are the three dictionaries I use when I need some help with translating :

·         EasyTrans.org

·         Ordbok.pl

·         Google Translate

Click on the name to go to the online dictionary

When I have problems with translating by myself, or I wonder what something is in Spanish I use a dictionary that’s called EasyTrans. I can honestly say that EasyTrans is the best Spanish dictionary that I’ve ever used. Not only can it easily translate single words, but it can also show you how you conjugate verbs, which is very helpful when you for example have a Spanish test which contains conjugation of verbs. It’s also very precise, something that’s important for me.

Here you can see how EasyTrans looks like. I took the verb hacer\ to do to show you how it looks like.

Ordbok.pl is an online Polish-Norwegian dictionary. I don’t use it so often but when I need some help with my Norwegian I use this one. I like it because it looks nice and it’s not complicated. It also translates quite well. Earlier I’ve used Google Translate as my Polish-Norwegian dictionary but it didn’t work at all. Don’t get me wrong, it worked for simple words such as dog, house or girl. But when I tried to translate something more difficult it was just pure nonsense.

 And finally, good old Google Translate. I only use Google Translate when I want to translate something from Norwegian\Polish to English, and vice versa. It’s very simple to use and performs very well. Nothing more, nothing less. 

It also have a little speaker icon where you can click to hear the right pronunciation.

Zara

  

When I read Zara’s story I was in huge shock.  If you're a man, clean your shame. If you're a man, kill your daughter. Those are words her husband told her father because his wife dishonored her family.

            She married her husband because of love. After they got married they both moved to Great Britain with their two sons. They moved to Great Britain to get work. Her husband started to drink and became really violent. This can happen to every woman out there. Everything can turn upside down when the nearest person destroy themselves and your family by their behavior.

            She experienced everything a woman doesn’t want to experience. She was raped, mentally abused and was afraid of her husband.
        Then she finally decided to tell her husband that she wants a divorce because she didn't want to cheat on him. He agreed and they went back to their homeland in Middle East. That was a huge mistake.
         Her mother in law insulted her by saying she’s prostitute. She said that her son’s a doctor and how could she cheat on him?

            Although she’s living in the UK right now, she’s still afraid of being killed by her uncles or cousins. Zara says she does not hate her husband or her own relatives, even though she still fears they may kill her for bringing shame on the family. She sees them all as victims -- like her -- of a brutal, unrelenting tradition, one that leading Muslim thinkers insist has no place in Islam.
                 ( http://edition.cnn.com/2012/08/23/world/europe/uk-honor-murder-zara/index.html?hpt=wo_mid )

This may not be the biggest news in the world right now, but we must speak about those kinds of news or stories. Like I said earlier this can happen to every woman in the entire world. 

                     \\http://dancingczars.wordpress.com/2011/12/14/why-muslim-women-are-loved-in-america/

                                                                                  Interviw with Zara

Living in Norway

Have you ever thought about moving to another country? Not only for a few weeks or months, but for your whole life? No? Me neither, until I was about 8 years old. My first thought on moving to Norway was that we were going to live in a country full of reindeers and polar bears. I know, I know … Insert stereotype jokes here.

It was really tough for me to get used to the whole situation. But after all, I had to. I didn’t really have a choice.

After so many years of living in Norway I would never move back to Poland. First of all, almost all of my family members are living here and it would be difficult to leave all of my fantastic friends that I’ve got here. And off course - better living standards than in Poland.

Norway is a perfect place for people who want to start their life from scratch. No matter if you’re from Liberia, Cuba or Poland. Everyone will find their place here. 
Living in Norway, a country with great economy, beautiful places and a high standard of living is the best thing that ever happened in my life.

What’s Norway for me? For me Norway is a country of opportunities. A country where you can express yourself without any barriers. A country where you create your own dreams. 

\\weheartit