Month: September 2018

The website screenshot here below is for an extremely popular brand of beer, Estrella Galicia, local to the Northwest providence of Spain where my Father is from called Galicia. I was surprise to find that they have a US website, because I assumed they were only local to Spain/Europe. Clearly then they are trying to accommodate and appeal to the beer scene in the US. Specific to linguistics and cultural communication design, they are particular earnest in relaying to their audience about generation and tradition in the formation of their brand. The design of their packaging is very reminiscent of traditional german branding for beer… which I’m not sure if that’s intentional or not. The website is definitely trying to give a familiar feel to their international audience and that’s why their use of german-esque branding font and colors, and even this idea of their brand cultural being generational, is definitely used effective if they are trying to appeal to that market.

They are also certainly trying to cultivate a reverence to the high brow/elitist branch of beer culture by diving into special depth, right on their home page, about the intricacies of all their special beers… where to the regular beer drinking may know really nothing about. They also endorse/showcase a mineral bottle company that I see everywhere and is huge in Galicia called Cabreiroa, which I find interesting also… because I’ve never seen this brand anywhere in the US.

Paige’s artifact is her dainty gold necklace that has a small ‘P’ on it for her name. I speculate the function of her necklace is that it’s a decorative accessory unique to her. Her sister Joanna bought it for her. She never takes it off, as it has become a part of her and shares sentimental value.

It connects with my own experience of honoring my femininity and using jewelry to express it. The fact that her sister bought it for her tells me that a big part of Paige’s identity is also to honor and connect with her family.

Nameplate accessories infer a sense of identity and the inherent sense of pride associated.

Although I’m fully Hispanic, most people assume I’m not because I’m extremely fair skinned. I feel both challenged and privileged as a communicator across cultures and languages as a result. I feel privileged due to my acknowledgment of my innate white privilege. I understand the license that my skin color and native American english proficiency gives me in certain spheres, due to existing biases and stereotypes that are unfortunately ever-present in society. I feel challenged in the sense that due to this privilege I know that I can’t participate in certain discussions or areas of representation that my cousins for example can, who are considerably darker than myself and consider themselves people of color. I sometimes feel like an alien in my own culture because even by other Puerto Ricans, I’m usually always assumed to just be white. However, I ultimately do feel a sense of authority and happiness in owning the privilege I have to boost the voices of the people of my culture who may not be granted the same implicit freedoms I have in society.

The intercultural trainer methodology from Chapter 9 of our text,  explains how there is no such thing as a “right” or “superior” way of communicating and connecting with others.  It’s obviously extremely important to be self-aware and cognizant of the norms and values of other cultures in fostering amicable relations. Further, it’s important to be mindful of the nuances that our own individual cultural identities have in relations to others and vice-versa.