Japanese Readings

Japanese I, 3rd Edition Notes on Japanese Culture and Communication The objective of Pimsleur's Japanese I, Third Edition is to introduce you to the language and culture of Japan primarily through your ears, and only secondarily through your eyes. This approach is based upon the fact that more than 95 percent of our lives is spent in listening and talking, and less than 5 percent in reading and writing. The most effective and productive way to begin acquiring these necessary communication skills is by actually working with the â€Å"language in use,† as demonstrated by native speakers of the language being learned.Efficiency is greatly increased when what you learn first are the most-frequently-used structures and daily life vocabulary, so that you practice with the practical tools you require every day. This carefully selected â€Å"core-language† allows the tutor to keep you focused entirely on essential language. This is self-motivating because you will begin to use it immediately and successfully. Language and culture are so closely intertwined that learning them separately can make you literally â€Å"culturally-deprived,† that is, unable to produce appropriate and meaningful language.For this reason you must carefully notice the different ways the Japanese â€Å"act† in the various situations you will experience as you proceed through the units of this course. Being sensitive to â€Å"who is doing what to whom, and why,† is what you have learned to do almost unconsciously in your native tongue – you will attain this same sense of â€Å"awareness† as you gain proficiency in your new language. This implicit instruction will come from the lessons, as you learn to identify the intonation and melody of the speakers.This Booklet will provide additional explicit instruction to further confirm what you have learned. The Notes have also been recorded on the last CD? cassette. Acquiring the culture, â€Å"the map of the territory,† is like acquiring the terminology of a subject: it enables you to operate as a fellow member in that society. Your success in working with native speakers of Japanese will depend to some extent upon how sensitive you become to the accumulated heritage that is Japanese. Unit 1 umimasen In this unit, you have learned sumimasen for â€Å"Excuse me. † You will find yourself using and hearing this expression quite often in your interactions with the Japanese. sumimasen is used for several purposes. It is often used to express the speaker's sincere and polite attitude toward others. However, Japanese people use this expression to convey not only â€Å"Excuse me,† but also â€Å"I'm sorry,† and even â€Å"Thank you. † You will hear them say sumimasen to attract someone's attention when initiating a conversation, as was demonstrated in the Unit.You might also hear this expression from someone who mistakenly steps on your foot in a crowded t rain and wishes to apologize. It is a very useful expression in a wide range of social contexts. Word Order You noticed in this unit that the Japanese word order is very different from what you are accustomed to in English. Such words as masu, masen, and masu ka – which determine whether the speaker is making a statement, negating or asking something – come at the end of a sentence. You need to, therefore, listen to the speaker all the way through to the end of the sentence to find out the speaker's intention.This may be confusing to you at first, but as you become skillful, you will be able to use this sentence structure to your advantage, as you can carefully sense the listener's feeling while you speak. You can then decide on the overall tone of your message by modifying the ending accordingly. Unit 2 Expressions of Modesty and Deference in Japanese Communication In this unit you heard a person expressing modesty when receiving a compliment from another person on hi s ability to speak Japanese.When someone compliments the Japanese on good work, nice clothes, a beautiful house, a wonderful dinner, etc. , it is customary for them to downplay their abilities, possessions, etc. While negating a compliment may be considered a sign of lack of confidence or even insincerity in some cultures, the Japanese frequently use it as an expression of modesty and deference in daily communication. As a case in point, consider this conversation: â€Å"That was a wonderful meal! You are a great cook, suzuki san. † â€Å"Oh, no. I only followed a recipe. Anybody can cook. † â€Å"I certainly can't.Could you teach me? † â€Å"Can I teach? Oh, no. You cook far better than I can. I'm the one who needs to take lessons from you. Suzuki may be seen as too modest by American standards, but this is socially acceptable behavior in Japan. This humility is only seen as avoiding appearing to be arrogant or conceited. ~ ne In this unit you also heard ne at the end of sentences, as in nihongo ga wakarimasu ne. It is roughly equivalent to the English â€Å"isn't it? † â€Å"aren't you? † â€Å"don't you? † etc. The use of ne shows that the speaker expects the listener to agree with him or her.You will hear this used frequently in Japanese; in fact, some people may end virtually every sentence with ne. Living in a more collectivistic society than the U. S. , the Japanese value being aligned with and maintaining harmonious relationships with others. The frequent use of ne illustrates their desire to avoid creating any potential for conflict or disagreement with one another. Unit 3 Omission of Subjects Japanese speakers often rely on the listener's ability to understand their real intention from what appears to be subtle and evasive verbal and nonverbal signals.Being able to leave some things unsaid so that the other can read between the lines is an important skill in Japanese communication. A person who explains thin gs in great detail is considered legalistic and is often frowned upon. The frequent omission of subjects is one example of this ambiguous and seemingly incomplete form of Japanese communication. This style of speech may frustrate foreign learners of Japanese at first. but after a while it will become natural. The Japanese language has several words for â€Å"you. † The one to use depends upon the speaker's relationship with the person being spoken to.Among these are the common anata, which was introduced in this unit, the informal anta, the formal kimi (often used by a superior to address his or her junior), and omae, used only by male speakers. However, you will often hear people address one another without using any of these, simply leaving â€Å"you† to be understood. Domo domo is used to emphasize your politeness, as in domo arigato gozaimasu. It is used for a variety of purposes: to indicate â€Å"indeed† and â€Å"very much† as in this unit, to show the speaker's suspicious feeling as in domo okashii, â€Å"I have a doubt about it,† or to mean â€Å"by any means. Japanese speakers are very fond of using domo in many contexts. Although in formal, â€Å"correct† speech, domo should be followed by a word that it modifies, Japanese speakers often use it alone. You will often hear them say domo, domo when they greet each other. Unit 4 Questions Phrased with a Negative When speaking to Japanese speakers and phrasing a question with a negative such as â€Å"Aren't you tired? † or â€Å"Isn't it hot today? † you will find that they will sometimes reverse â€Å"yes† and â€Å"no. † For example, when asked â€Å"Aren't you Japanese? they will answer â€Å"No,† meaning â€Å"I am Japanese. † Since being able to read another person's implications and behaving accordingly is an important social skill in Japan, when asked â€Å"Aren't you Japanese? † mane Japanese people will assume that you must be thinking he or she is not Japanese. In response to this assumption, they will deny, by saying â€Å"No. † meaning, â€Å"No, you are wrong, I am indeed Japanese. † That is why, in the conversation the person said iie, yoku hanasemasu (â€Å"No, you can speak well†) in response to demo, mada jozu ja arimasen (â€Å"But I can't speak well yet†).In this unit, you heard the names of two places in Tokyo: Ueno and Shinjuku. These are both very busy districts, since they are the hubs of major railroad and subway lines, serving millions of people every day who travel to, from, and around the Tokyo metropolitan area. There are numerous national and private railroad companies and some fifteen subway lines in Tokyo, and they are still being further developed. The complex subway lines make it quite challenging for international travelers, and sometimes the local residents as well, to figure out the best way to travel to their destinations.You may sometimes get an uncertain response or no response at all when you ask passers-by in downtown Tokyo for directions. The public transportation system in Japan is generally well developed, but in order to take full advantage of it, you need to first memorize the names of major- cities and towns that will help orient you to the right directions and the best method of transportation. Unit 5 Language of Social Levels, Age, Position, and Deference The complex rules governing status in Japan play an important role in the expressions used in various social situations.In this unit, you have learned how to ask a person whether he or she wants to eat or drink: tabemasu ka? and nomimasu ka? These expressions are used when there is no need for the speaker to show deference, that is, between friends, family members, and colleagues. If. however, a native Japanese speaker is in a lower position than the hearer, he or she must carefully choose the most appropriate level of politeness. O tabe ni nari masu ka? is more polite than tabemasu ka? and o meshiagari ni nari masu ka? is far more polite.A great variety of expressions are available. depending on the degree of courtesy needed. As a non-native speaker of Japanese, however, you are seldom, if ever, expected to be able to use these expressions, but you will hear them used, so it is good to be aware of them. nanika In this unit you heard nanika, a very commonly used word and a convenient expression. It is equivalent to â€Å"something† in English. You can use it for a variety of purposes: seeking a person's opinion, stating yours, and making your statement evasive.It can be followed by an adjective and an infinitive: for example, nanika tsumetai nomimono (something cold to drink). Or it can be used alone as in the expression you heard in this unit; hai nanika? (Yes, something you wish to ask'? ) You will hear many native Japanese speakers pronounce it nanka which is informal and casual, often used between friends an d people of an equal status. Unit 6 Particles When speaking English with non-native speakers, you can usually guess their fluency by their familiarity with idiomatic expressions.For example, when someone says, â€Å"John is engaged with Beth† instead of â€Å"engaged to† you can guess that the person is not a native speaker of English. The same is true of the Japanese language. There are many one-syllable words or particles that you need to be able to use properly in order to convey your ideas accurately to the listener. wa, ga, de, ni, mo, ka, no, and to are some examples of these particles. wa is often used to indicate that the preceding words are the main topic of a sentence: for example, watashi wa nihonjin desu. ga is often used the same way, as in, nihongo ga jozu desu. e indicates a place, as in anata no tokoro de. ni is equivalent to the English â€Å"at† when accompanied by a word indicating time, as in ni ji ni, â€Å"at two o'clock. † mo is â⠂¬Å"also,† as in anata mo – â€Å"you too. † ka is put at the end of a sentence to make it a question. no is possessive, as in anata no nihongo (your Japanese). to is approximately equivalent to â€Å"with† in English, as in anato to tabetai desu – â€Å"(1) want to eat with you. † Though they may he confusing at times, learning to use these particles properly will greatly contribute to your fluency in Japanese. Unit 7Cognates and â€Å"Borrowed English Loan Words† No language is free from words borrowed from other languages, and Japanese is no exception. Many English words have been adopted in Japanese, although the Japanese often pronounce them so differently that English speakers can hardly recognize that they were originally English. resutoran and biiru illustrate this point. You need to pronounce these and other words with English origins as the Japanese do, so that you can make yourself understood. Often, the Japanese have change d not only the pronunciation, but also the form and meanings of these originally English words.Japanese speakers often prefer to shorten or abbreviate loan words: for example, waapuro for â€Å"word processor,† pasokon for â€Å"personal computer,† and terebi for â€Å"television. † There are as well some English words used in Japanese whose meanings have changed to a greater or lesser extent. For example, there are many apartment complexes that are called â€Å"mansions† in Japan, usually referring to condominiums. You may find a pair of socks marked â€Å"free size,† which really means â€Å"one size fits all. † In a restaurant, you may be served mikkusu sando, or â€Å"mixed sandwiches. â€Å"Mixed† in this context means â€Å"assorted,† and you will find various kinds of sandwiches on one plate. Unit 8 Addressing People You may have noticed in the units that the Japanese people use family names to address each other. The u se of first names is usually limited to family members and close friends. The polite san is added to a family name and this can be used to address virtually anyone: male and female, young and old, strangers and acquaintances alike. Occasionally it may be attached to one's first name.Japanese rarely address one another without attaching some kind of title to the end of the person's name, and san is by far the most common. If they feel close to you, they may call you, for instance, â€Å"Mary san,† or â€Å"Dave san,† equivalent to â€Å"Miss Mary† or â€Å"Mr. Dave,† as a sign of friendly courtesy. When referring to yourself, however. you would never use san. This is a polite title, used only when referring to others. Counting Things You have learned ni for the number â€Å"two† in this unit. By the time you complete the course, you will have learned many more numbers.You will find counting in Japanese is easy, no matter how large the number may be. You will need to know large numbers, as 1,000, 20,000, 100,000 and maybe more. The value of one American dollar has fluctuated between 80 and 140 yen in the last ten years, and thus prices will usually appear as large numbers. For example, it costs 700 to 1,000 yen to buy lunch, 330 yen to buy a bottle of beer, 600 yen to take a cab for the first mile, and 2,000 to 3,000 yen to take a bus from the New Tokyo International Airport to downtown Tokyo.Another important thing to remember when counting things in Japanese is that there are a wide variety of words used as â€Å"counters† that must accompany the numbers. The â€Å"counter† you use will vary, depending largely on the shape of the material you are counting. In this unit, for example, you have learned ni hon for â€Å"two bottles. † hon is the â€Å"counter† for long things, such as bottles, trees, poles, pencils, hair, etc. â€Å"One bottle,† however, is not ichi hon, but ippon. â€Å"Three bottles† is san bon, and â€Å"six bottles† is roppon.Although the pronunciation of hon may appear to change without any logical consistency, it has simply been adjusted for easier pronunciation. Several other â€Å"counters† you may find useful are mai, used for flat material such as paper, cloth, and plates, and dai, used for many kinds of machinery including computers, cars, and heavy industrial equipment. ken is used to count houses and shops. People are counted as nin, though one person and two persons are exceptions and counted as hitori and futari, respectively. Starting with three people you can say san nin, yo nin, go nin, etc. Unit 9 Meals of a DayJapanese does not have unique names for each meal such as â€Å"breakfast,† â€Å"lunch,† and â€Å"dinner. † The word gohan is used for every meal preceded by asa or â€Å"morning† for breakfast, hiru or â€Å"day† for lunch, and yoru ? yuu or â€Å"evening† for dinne r. Gohan alone means rice, so it is used to refer to a meal or rice, depending upon the context. You will find that many Japanese people these days do not eat rice with every meal. They often have coffee and toast with butter, margarine, and various kinds of jelly for breakfast, while the traditional Japanese style breakfast consists of a bowl of rice, fish, eggs, sea weed, and miso (soy bean paste) soup.For lunch noodles made from buckwheat (soba), and flour (udon) or spaghetti are popular. Many American fast food chains are also popular, especially among young people. The Japanese dinner consists of rice, fish, meat, and vegetables. As is commonly known, the Japanese consume more fish than average Americans. Circumlocution In this unit, you heard a man and a woman trying to agree on the time to meet for a drink, and making alternative suggestions. This provides useful practice.In reality, however, you will find the Japanese people to be much more subtle when they must express a ne gative response. Concerned with saving face, the Japanese resort to a variety of verbal and nonverbal communication strategies, and avoid directly saying â€Å"no† whenever they can. One common way to turn down a proposal is to remain silent. When you do not receive an immediate response to an offer, then the chances are that the person does not want to accept it, but at the same time does not want to offend you or make you feel had. A long delay in responding may be another form of refusal.In Japan, unless you are speaking with someone you know very well and a mutual trust exists, you will rarely hear a straight answer given to a difficult question, especially when that answer involves some kind of refusal. How do you reach that level? It will take some time, but if you are sensitive to another culture quite different from yours, and have a positive attitude toward adapting to it, you will be able to acquire the communication skills necessary to establish, maintain, and deve lop trusting relationships with the local people. Unit 10Levels of Politeness The Japanese language has complex rules concerning the levels of politeness and deference necessary in different social situations. Throughout the course, you have learned how to speak on the â€Å"polite† level appropriate in virtually any situation you are likely to encounter in Japan. As you listen to conversations between Japanese friends, you may hear more informal expressions. For example, instead of asking nan ji desu ka? for â€Å"What time is it? † they might simply ask, nan ji? â€Å"What time? † Another example is wakatta for â€Å"understood† rather than wakarimashita.The Japanese language has many ways for the speakers to differentiate between formal and informal expressions in daily conversations. When you visit Japan and listen to a conversation between two friends, you may be discouraged at first as you find many unfamiliar expressions exchanged, but this happens when you learn any foreign language. The expressions that you have learned in this course will serve as a strong basis for understanding the Japanese people, and given that basis, you will be able to develop your listening comprehension as well as the ability to select the appropriate words for each different situation.The level of politeness used throughout the course is suitable in conversation with any Japanese speaker. Unit 11 chotto†¦ In this unit you heard Ms. Tanaka say ichi ji wa chotto†¦ and konban wa chotto†¦ in response to suggestions to have lunch at one o'clock and to have dinner tonight. chotto means â€Å"a little† and therefore these responses can only be translated as â€Å"One o'clock is a little,† and â€Å"Tonight is a little,† respectively. Even though the expressions may be regarded as unfinished in English, Japanese speakers often use chotto when they wish to indicate their hesitation, refusal, and confusion.Japanese in gen eral are tentative and indirect in their communication, and the word chotto is very convenient in helping them express their modesty. Even when a proposal submitted by a subordinate needs substantial improvement, for example, the superior may say â€Å"mo chotto† (a little more), indicating that the subordinate needs to work on it before the proposal can be accepted. When you hear this word, be aware that it can cover various degrees, and it may not literally mean just â€Å"a little. † masen ka? When inviting a person to do something, you have a range of forms in English to express various degrees of politeness.The Japanese show their deference toward the listener by changing how they end a sentence. In this unit you learned how you can invite a person to have lunch and dinner with you. You could directly ask the person whether he or she will have lunch with you by saying, watashi to hirugohan o tabemasu ka? For native Japanese speakers, however, this expression, lite rally translated as â€Å"Do you have lunch with me? † is far too direct and even offensive and would not be used in actual conversations. The â€Å"request† is more than likely to be turned down. Asking the same question in a negative form, watashi to hirugohan o tabemasen ka? onsiderably softens the tone, and it will probably make the listener feel more comfortable either accepting or declining the offer. This is equivalent to â€Å"Why don't you †¦? † and â€Å"Won't you †¦? † in English. Unit 12 Yen: Japanese Currency The yen is the unit of Japanese currency, and its value against the U. S. dollar has appreciated in the last few decades. Until the early 1970's the exchange rate was fixed at one US dollar to 360 yen, but it has been fluctuating and one US dollar is now worth about 120 to 140 yen. Although in writing it is symbolized as â€Å"yen,† its pronunciation is more like en.There are four notes: 10,000 yen, 5,000 yen, 2,000 yen, and 1,000 yen that are of different sizes and colors. The 2,000 yen notes were issued in commemoration of the year 2000 but they have not been circulated very widely. Also there are six kinds of coins: 500 yen, 100 yen, 50 yen, 10 yen, 5 yen, and l yen. While Americans in general carry little cash and use credit cards and checks instead, the Japanese tend to pay cash when they go shopping. You will find many kinds of vending machines that sell a wide range of things, from soft drinks to train tickets. Some of he machines accept 10,000 yen notes and give change in both paper money and coins. Using a Telephone in Japan Communicating on the phone in a foreign country is always a challenge. You now know that â€Å"hello† is moshi moshi in Japanese, literally meaning â€Å"I speak, I speak. † You can say moshi moshi both when you answer the phone and make a call to someone. It has been used ever since the telephone was introduced in Japan. It costs 10 yen to make a local c all. You will seldom see people in Japan using coins when they use public telephones. Instead they use pre-paid telephone cards that can be purchased from vending machines.The pre-paid cards cost either 500 yen or 1,000 yen, worth 50 and 100 local calls, respectively, and they can be used for any local, as well as long distance and overseas calls. A great majority of the Japanese people own cellular phones today, which has largely replaced the need for public phones altogether. Many Japanese use their mobile phones as a primary means of communication to send and receive e-mails, check the weather, make plane reservations, purchase tickets, etc. , since a great amount of information is made available through mobile phone network systems.You will notice many Japanese busy talking on their individual phones, checking e-mail on small display screens, and punching in information on hand-held Palm Pilots ®. Unit 13 Counting in Japanese Knowing how to count is important in order to funct ion properly in any language. You must be able to count so that you can understand the prices of goods you want to buy, services that you wish to use, make plane reservations, and so on. Now that you have learned to count from one to ten and started to work on numbers above ten, the rest will be quite easy.Just as long as you know the first ten numbers, you can make any number up to 99, simply by combining them. In this unit you have learned 14, 15, and 16. They were simply made up of ten and four, ten and five, ten and six, respectively. You can continue to count in the same way up to 19. Then 20 is a combination of two and ten, that is, ni ju. You may guess that the same rule is applied to every number after 20. 21 is ni ju ichi, or â€Å"two ten one. † Though you will only be introduced to a few new numbers in any unit, when you understand the rule you will be eady for large numbers, and you will indeed encounter them on your initial entry to Japan. Good-bye sayonara has b ecome widely known as â€Å"goodbye forever† through the movies, TV dramas, and other media. It may indeed imply in some contexts that the person using this expression has no intention of seeing the other person ever again. It can, however, be readily used to say â€Å"good-bye† when you will be seeing the person in the near future. jaa mata is an expression equivalent to â€Å"See you. † It is a fairly informal way of ending a conversation, and of expressing your intention to see the person again. aa, atode, literally meaning â€Å"then later,† implies to Japanese speakers that the speaker is expecting to see the other person again on the same day, whereas English speakers may not when they say, â€Å"See you later. † You may want to be careful of this difference. Unit 14 takusan, sukoshi There is no clear and explicit difference between singular and plural forms of nouns in Japanese. In English, most words need an â€Å"s† or â€Å"esâ₠¬  at the end to indicate plurals, but most Japanese words do not change. Whether the nouns are countable or uncountable, you can use takusan for â€Å"a lot of† and sukoshi for â€Å"a little† or â€Å"a few. For example, â€Å"one beer† is biiru ippon, â€Å"two beers† is biiru nihon, and `'many beers† is biiru takusan. â€Å"I have a lot of money† is watashi wa okane o takusan motte imasu, and â€Å"I have a little money† is watashi wa okane o sukoshi motte imasu. The word sukoshi has a variety of functions in daily conversations. It not only stands alone to mean a small quantity, but you can also say watashi wa nihongo o sukoshi hanashimasu, meaning â€Å"I speak a little Japanese,† sukoshi hoshii desu, â€Å"I want a little,† or even, sukoshi ososugimas, â€Å"It's a little too late. Drinks Japanese, just like Americans and Europeans, enjoy drinking when they dine. Many business meetings are followed by or even co nducted during dinners and drinking parties. In these social occasions, people establish personal relationships with one another as they discuss more casually their individual feelings. Beer is by far the most popular alcoholic drink, but most alcoholic drinks such as wine, whiskey, bourbon, brandy, gin, vodka, and rum are also available. Japanese sake, made from rice, is also popular, and it is served either cold or warm.Shochu, or distilled liquor made from a variety of grains such as wheat, rice, and sometimes potatoes, is also a popular drink among Japanese. If you do not care for an alcoholic drink, you can of course ask for any soft drink you are used to. In addition to most soft drinks available in America and Europe, cold oolong tea (Chinese tea) is served in most places. In general, hot Japanese green tea is served free of charge in most restaurants. Unit 15 itte kimasu The conversation in this unit began with a lady saying itte kimasu. It literally means, â€Å"I am going † or â€Å"I am leaving. When Japanese go somewhere, they usually say it to those they are leaving behind. In response, the person who is staying usually says itte rasshai, literally meaning, â€Å"Please go. † Of course they use this expression to wish the person a good trip. When people come home they say tadaima, or â€Å"I've just come home,† to which others respond by saying okaerinasai, meaning, â€Å"Welcome back. † These sets of greetings are exchanged when people go in and out of the house and are very common among the Japanese; you are sure to hear them when staying in a Japanese home.As a short-term visitor from a foreign country you are not expected to say these greetings, but if you do, your efforts will surely be appreciated. Unit 16 desu ga In this unit you learned that in order to make hoshii desu, â€Å"I want,† more polite, you can say hoshii n desu ga, â€Å"I would like. † The last particle, ga, means â€Å"but† an d when added at the end of a request, it helps the speaker express his or her reservation. The person who ends a request with ga indicates that â€Å"While I wish it could be done, I would understand even if it cannot be done. This is just another instance that demonstrates the Japanese value on modesty. It is also a sign of their desire to depend upon others' benevolence, which is known as amae. One's ability to depend on others as well as respond to others' call for dependence is an important social ability. You will also hear desu kedo, essentially the same as and even more polite than desu ga. Unit 17 kyo wa nani o shimasu ka? You learned earlier that wa is used for emphasis or comparison. In Unit 14 and the present unit you have practiced using several words that indicate time, such as today and this evening, followed by wa.Here, this means â€Å"as for. † You will also notice that in Japanese the words or phrases that indicate time are usually placed in the beginning o f a sentence, unlike in English where these words are normally at the end. You may notice when a Japanese person speaks to you in English, she or he may habitually begin a sentence with time, such as, â€Å"Yesterday, I went to see my friend. † â€Å"Today, what would you like to do? † When you speak Japanese, it is often desirable to begin a sentence with a word or phrase indicating time. Unit 18 shujin, goshujin ? anai, okusan When Japanese people introduce their spouses, they do not introduce them by their names. While English-speaking people will introduce their spouses, saying, â€Å"This is my wife, Mary† or â€Å"This is my husband, Bill,† when Mr. Sato introduces his wife to you, he will say simply kanai desu, or kore wa watashi no kanai (tsuma) desu, â€Å"This is my wife. † When Mrs. Sato wants to introduce her husband to you, she will probably say shujin desu, or kore wa watashi no shujin (otto) desu, â€Å"This is my husband. † Y ou may be surprised when you find the meanings of kanai and shujin. anai literally means â€Å"inside the house,† and shujin means â€Å"master. † Since kanai and shujin refer to one's spouse in a modest manner, you will never use them for another person's spouse. For â€Å"your husband† you simply add go for politeness to shujin, and say goshujin, or anata no goshujin. â€Å"Your wife† is anata no okusan, or simply, okusan. Here we have a different word, okusan, which means â€Å"a person deep inside (the house). † Coming from the North American culture where equality between the two sexes is a serious concern, you may be astonished to see that Japanese women are still treated as a minority or a weaker sex.Role differentiation with regard to sex is more distinct in Japan than in the United States. The society is changing, however, influenced by the global concern for racial, sexual, and religious equality and is importing and incorporating some ne w policies. You will find many men now referring to their wives as tsuma, and women to their husbands as otto, much more neutral terms than kanai and shujin. Interestingly, however, there is no word to replace okusan when referring to your conversational partner's wife.The original meanings of these terms however, are being lost, and they are only titles that people continue to use without any derogatory connotation. Unit 19 hajimemashite ? dozo yoroshiku When you meet someone for the first time, you greet that person by saying, â€Å"How do you do? † â€Å"Pleased to meet you,† or something similar. Many Japanese people say hajimemashite, or dozo yoroshiku. Literally, hajimemashite means â€Å"(I am meeting you) for the first time,† and it has come to be used as an initial greeting remark. dozo yoroshiku is a more implicit expression with a wide latitude of ossible interpretations, depending on the context, the nature of the relationship that is about to develo p, etc. It literally means â€Å"Please be good to me† and it symbolizes the value that many Japanese people place on mutual dependency known as amae. Just as with many other expressions used as social lubricants such as, â€Å"Let's get together sometime,† â€Å"Drop in when you are in the neighborhood,† the real function of dozo yoroshiku is to make the initial encounter between people go smoothly. Unit 20 hitori, futari, san nin When you count a number of people in Japanese, you use regular numbers except for â€Å"one† and â€Å"two. As you've learned, â€Å"one† is ichi, â€Å"two† is ni, and the word that shows you are counting people is nin. The Japanese perceive that it would be awkward to say ichi nin, and ni nin, so they use an old way of counting instead. â€Å"One person† is hitori, â€Å"two persons,† futari. The rest is easy and regular: san nin, yo nin, go nin, roku nin, shichi nin, and so on. Also notice that w hen you want to say â€Å"eleven persons† and â€Å"twelve persons,† you say ju ichi nin and ju ni nin instead of ju hitori and ju futari. otoko no ko, onna no ko You have learned otoko no ko and onna no ko for a boy and a girl.Notice that in Japanese there are no special words such as â€Å"boys† and â€Å"girls. † Rather, you say literally, â€Å"a male child,† and a â€Å"female child. † You can use these words for all ages from newborn babies to children in high school and sometimes even in college. An important cultural difference you may notice if you spend some time living in Japan is that Japanese children are generally more dependent on their parents than their U. S. counterparts are, and that they frequently appear to be less mature. Parental support for children is usually continued through, and often beyond, college.You would not find it awkward, therefore, to call a twenty-two-year-old male college graduate otoko no ko. You may often hear Japanese refer to their children as ookii otoko no ko, chiisai onnna no ko, etc. They literally mean â€Å"a big boy† and â€Å"a small girl,† respectively, and the Japanese may be actually talking about the size of their children, or they may be calling a grown-up boy ookii otoko no ko and a very young girl chiisai onna no ko. The context will determine the meaning. In this unit you heard â€Å"watashitachi wa otoko no ko ga hoshii n desu ga† for â€Å"We would like a boy. Japanese, like many other Asians, are more particular about the sex of their children than people in many Western countries. While it has become legally accepted for a married couple to use two separate last names, both the husband's and the wife's, it is still predominantly the husband's last name that is kept. Family business has been traditionally handed down to the oldest male child in the family. Many parents, therefore, would like to have at least one boy when they have chil dren. Unit 21 otearai, toire Just as you can find many words in English that indicate a lavatory, you will come across a variety of expressions in Japanese.In this unit you have learned two of them: otearai and toire. otearai literally means â€Å"a place to wash hands† and is equivalent to â€Å"washroom† or â€Å"bathroom† in English. toire is an imported version of â€Å"toilet,† and it is very commonly used. Japanese also use keshoushitu, roughly equivalent to â€Å"powder room. † The most direct and straight expression of benjo, equivalent to lavatory, is rarely used in daily conversations. An interesting discovery you may make in a Japanese home is that the toilet and the bath are in separate rooms, unlike in the U. S. where you most often find both in one room.In Japan, a toilet and a bath are regarded as facilities that perform very different functions. a, so desu ka? â€Å"Ah so† is an expression stereotypically associated with Japa nese in many old U. S. films, and it is commonly known to Americans as an utterance that Japanese make frequently. While the Japanese may not use it as often as it is depicted in the films, it is indeed an appropriate expression to show your surprise at an unexpected finding or to confirm the response to your inquiry. Remember to make it into a polite form by adding desu ka at the end when you say it to a person to whom you need to show respect. Ah, so† without desu ka is perfectly appropriate between friends. Unit 22 kodomo, kodomo san In the conversation the woman asked, nan nin kodomo san ga imasu ka? and the man said, futari kodomo ga imasu. When you talk about someone else's family members, you show your respect by adding san at the end. The san is equivalent to Mr. , Mrs. , and Miss. When you talk about your own family members, on the other hand, you never use san. This is an example of Japanese humanrelationship-centered communication, and it serves to maintain smooth a nd harmonious personal ties in Japanese society.The Japanese manner of expressing politeness is complicated by their notion of modesty. They show their deference to others by not only symbolically heightening the other's status, but also by lowering their own. You may often hear the Japanese speak ill of their own family members. A mother may say, for example, â€Å"My son is dumb, and he's doing so poorly in school. Your son seems really smart and you have nothing to worry about. I am embarrassed. † The other person will, of course, respond by saying something like, â€Å"Please stop joking.My son only spends a lot of time in his room, pretending to study so hard. But I have no idea what he is doing. Maybe he's listening to his stereo, or reading comic books. † The two mothers clearly do not mean what they say to each other. While such an interaction may appear to be overly condescending and insincere to people from the U. S. culture, it is an important aspect of soci al interaction in Japan. You, as a non-native speaker, are not expected to play the complex social game, but an awareness will contribute greatly to your comfort in and appreciation of the culture.Unit 23 Weights and Measures You have learned to ask for some gas for your car and also to talk about distance. Whenever you travel to a foreign country, you are likely to come across different perceptions of weights, distances, heights, volumes, etc. If you are visiting Japan for a short period of time as a tourist, these differences may not affect you very much, but if you are to stay there for an extensive period of time, engaging in business as well as social conversations, you will find some knowledge concerning the Japanese system quite useful.Even when the Japanese speak to you in English, they will still use the system to which they are accustomed. Here are some examples to show you how the U. S. weights translate to their Japanese counterparts. One foot is about 30 centimeters, an d an inch is about 2. 5 centimeters. If you are 6 feet tall, then you are 180 centimeters tall, and if you are 5 feet 6 inches, then you are about 165 centimeters. One pound is about 0. 45 kilograms, which means that if you weigh 100 pounds, that is about 45 kilograms, and 150 pounds translates into 67. 5 kilograms.When you visit a grocery store, you will find various things priced by 100 grams. A steak, for instance, may be 600 yen for 100 grams, which is roughly equivalent to $22 to $27 per pound, depending on the exchange rate. One gallon of gas, another expensive item in Japan, is roughly equal to 3. 8 liters. One liter ranges from 90 yen to 110 yen depending on the kind and place where you get it, and it translates into $2. 70 to $3. 35 per gallon. Finally, the road signs that tell you the distance to your destination and also the traffic signs indicating speed limits are all in kilometers.One mile is approximately 1. 6 kilometers, and thus 40 kilometers per hour, which is a co mmon city speed limit, is 25 miles per hour. Again, as a foreign visitor you may not need to know all of these, but if you can get used to them, it will facilitate your daily activities. Unit 24 Getting Around in Japan The high price of gas in Japan has been mentioned. If you drive while in Japan, it could be quite challenging for you, as well as it is for local residents. The Japanese must go to a special driving school to obtain a driver's license and the average fee is over $2,000.The number of skills that are necessary to get around in crowded cities accounts for the high fee. You should apply for an international driver's license prior to your departure for Japan. You must remember that the Japanese drive on the left side of the road, as the British do. Because of the limited space, parking is a problem in big cities and it is also quite expensive, so you may want to think twice before driving in Japan. Public transportation, on the other hand, is well developed and very conven ient for both local trips and long distance traveling.You may enjoy a Shinkansen bullet train ride across the country from Aomori, the northern tip of Honshu (the largest island) all the way through Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, to Fukuoka, the largest city on the island of Kyushu, the southernmost major island. Air traffic has been developed quite extensively, and as a result air fares have become reasonable in recent years. The major airports are located in Sapporo, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Fukuoka, and Okinawa. Unit 25 Oo kei As you have learned, the Japanese have borrowed many words from English: gasorin for â€Å"gasoline,† depaato for a â€Å"department store,† etc.O. K. has become a universally recognized expression, and it is no exception in Japan. You will hear many Japanese use oo kei to indicate that everything is all right, or to ask you whether something is all right with you. You will also notice that they may accompany the verbal utterance of oo kei with a n onverbal sign, index finger bent to touch the thumb to form a â€Å"zero. † That same sign is also used to indicate money in Japan. Store Hours In the conversation in this unit, the man said that the department store may be closed because it is late.While he may have said it so the lady would not go shopping, it is important to know when the Japanese department stores are open as they do not always keep the same store hours as those in the U. S. They usually open at 10:00 AM and close around 6:30 PM on regular business days, including weekends. Unlike some stores in the U. S. , many Japanese department stores and small shops are open on Sundays. In fact, the stores are most crowded on Sundays. Each department store, however, has designated one weekday as a day off, usually Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday.You will find the Japanese stores extremely crowded with people during two main giftgiving seasons every year: mid to late July and December. During these seasons, most store s stay open till 8:00 or 9:00 PM. Unit 26 ni, san In this unit you learned ni, san nichi for â€Å"a few days. † The ni, san, literally meaning â€Å"two (or) three,† can be used in combination with many other words: ni, san nin (â€Å"a few people†), biiru ni, san bon (â€Å"a few beers†), and ni, san shukan (â€Å"a few weeks†). We have repeatedly stressed ambiguity and indirectness as features of Japanese communication, and ni, san is just another example.Even when the speaker knows precisely how many people he or she is talking about, the expression ni, san nin may be used. Although the expression literally indicates only two or three as possibilities, four or even five are not completely excluded. To respond to the question, â€Å"How many beers did you have last night? † a Japanese person may say ni, san bon, while he might, in fact, have had five or six. The range of possibilities included in ni, san is wider than that of â€Å"a few . † Taxis in Japan You have learned another English word that is commonly used in Japanese: takushii.Taxis are readily available in most cities, and even in fairly small towns. You can flag one down on the street or phone for a pick-up. Most taxis, both company-owned and privately-operated, are connected by radio. They are clean, safe, and convenient. The fares vary, depending on the city you are in. They are slightly more expensive in large cities such as Tokyo, Yokohama, and Osaka than in smaller places such as Hiroshima, Fukuoka, and Sapporo. You do not need to tip the driver, but simply pay the fare displayed on the machine by the driver's seat.An interesting discovery you will make is that the rear passenger door opens and closes automatically. Just as long as you can clearly tell the driver where you wish to go, or show a map and point to your destination, you will get there safely and rapidly by taxi. Unit 27 hyaku Now that you have learned hyaku, one hundred, you can g o all the way up to 999 by simply combining the numbers you already know. One hundred is hyaku, so one hundred five is hyaku go. One hundred ten is hyaku ju. You can guess that two hundred is made up of ni for â€Å"two† and hyaku for a hundred: ni hyaku.The rest is easy except that the pronunciation of hyaku varies slightly depending on what number it follows. Three hundred is san byaku, six hundred is roppyaku, and eight hundred is happyaku. It is quite easy to count in Japanese, and it is also important that you know how to say large numbers, as they are frequently used in daily interchange. Unit 28 jaa In any spoken language you can find interjections which are used frequently, but which have no specific meanings. Some examples in English are â€Å"well, ah, uh, um. † jaa is a good Japanese example.It can be used in a variety of situations and gives the speaker a chance to think carefully about what he or she is about to say, to take a turn to speak, etc. In the pr esent unit, it was introduced as being equivalent to â€Å"well then. † You can use it when you wish to say â€Å"See you later† to a friend. You can also say jaa when you ask a series of questions. For example. â€Å"biiru o nomimasu ka? † â€Å"iie, nomimasen. † â€Å"jaa, osake o nomimasu ka? † How naturally you use these interjections may be a good indicator of your mastery of the language you are learning.Unit 29 masu, mashita, masen As stated before, Japanese word order is quite different from English. In English, the general meaning of a sentence is made clear early in the sentence. You can figure out whether something is happening now, will happen in the future, has already happened, or did not happen at all, by listening to the first part of a sentence. The Japanese language, on the other hand, places the important words toward the end of a sentence. The difference among masu, mashita, and masen is very small, and they come in the very end of a sentence.Such an attribute of the Japanese language may require your extra attention, and you need to be careful not to jump to conclusions until you hear the entire sentence. Unit 30 Continuing Success Throughout Japanese I, Third Edition you have learned many essential elements of the Japanese language. Practicing what you have learned in the thirty units will assure you successful initial encounters with the Japanese people. We hope you will keep up with your daily practice and further build upon your vocabulary.One additional aspect of competency that you will find useful and important is your sensitivity to cross-cultural differences in values, thought patterns, space and time orientations, mannerisms, etc. You can also continue to build on your communication skills by proceeding on to Japanese II. Introduction to Reading Japanese When you visit a foreign country such as Japan, where the language sounds very different, and the appearance of the written language does not e ven remotely resemble what you are used to, you may naturally find yourself somewhat intimidated.Just imagining the difficulty you may face in learning how to read and write can be discouraging. Mastering reading and writing Japanese is indeed an extremely long and complex process, and even many native speakers have not completed the learning process. In this course you are learning spoken Japanese. While a knowledge of the orthographic form of Japanese will be useful when visiting Japan, it is not necessary to acquire speech. In the following notes, however, some basic and important knowledge of written Japanese will be introduced.Once you understand the essentials that underlie written Japanese, you will find that reading in the language is much easier and less intimidating than you may have anticipated. Kanji, the Chinese Characters Kanji is the â€Å"pictorial† writing the Japanese borrowed from the Chinese. Each Kanji character represents an object or idea, and in writte n Japanese these objects and ideas combine in various ways to form new words and phrases. The pronunciation of each character varies depending on the context, and some Kanji have up to four or five different ways to be pronounced.One is required to be able to recognize and understand some 3,000 Kanji characters to achieve functional literacy in the Japanese language. It won't be necessary, however, to be able to pronounce the Kanji characters, and you will certainly not need 3,000, but it will be rather convenient to get the general meaning of a basic core of some 50 characters which you will see in such public places as airports, train stations. on street signs, and on restaurant menus. As an example of Kanji, we will introduce you here to a few that are typical of the pictorial Kanji characters.To get you started with reading Japanese, here is the character for â€Å"up† or â€Å"on. † Notice that it looks as if the whole character points upward: This character point ing down means â€Å"down† or ‘†under. † When put together, these two characters form a Japanese word, meaning up and down. The word is used to indicate not only the physical upward and downward directions, but also a social relationship with a status difference. Here is another character, which means a â€Å"tree. Can you see how the image of a tree was transformed into the Kanji character? And here is the character for a â€Å"mountain. † Many characters are made up of two or more parts: hen (or the left-hand radical) and tsukuri (or the right-hand radical). The Kanji for â€Å"tree† can serve as a hen, and it may be used to form such words? characters as â€Å"woods,† or a â€Å"forest. † woods forest Here is a more complex character combining three parts: mountain, up, and down. Put together as one word, â€Å"mountain,† â€Å"up,† and â€Å"down† mean a â€Å"mountain pass† or a â€Å"peak. †Å"When you can recognize some 50 basic Japanese Kanji characters, the rest will be fairly easy, as you will probably be able to guess what a new character may mean just by looking at it and identifying the component parts. The first step is to get rid of your anxiety about reading Japanese: take the time to become familiar with the fundamental patterns used to make up the Japanese Kanji characters. Katakana and Hiragana The Kanji system adopted from Chinese is the basic Japanese written system, but whereas the Chinese language uses only pictorial characters, Japanese uses two other types of writing systems in addition to Kanji.They are Katakana and Hiragana. These are two different sets of â€Å"letters† representing Japanese sounds. Each letter represents either a vowel sound or a consonant plus a vowel, for example, ka, ki, ku, ke, ko, etc. The Japanese Hiragana and Katakana are both lined up in the same way. The vowels go: a, i, u, e, o. The consonants k, s, t, n, h, m, y, r, w are placed before the vowels. You can memorize the order of Hiragana and Katakana in much the same way you memorized how the alphabet goes from A to Z. There are 46 Hiragana and Katakana symbols, as shown on the chart on the next page.Each block contains the transliterated phonetic representation of the character, followed by the Hiragana and then by the Katakana (in parentheses). Katakana is the writing system used for Japanese ? English cognates, i. e. , for words adopted from English into Japanese. You will find it particularly useful to learn Katakana, as you may need to read and write your name from time to time. Foreign and new words are spelled using Katakana, so you will see words such as â€Å"restaurant,† â€Å"hotel,† â€Å"golf,† â€Å"gasoline,† and many others in Katakana. Here is what they look like in combination: estaurant hotel golf gasoline Hiragana is the writing system comprised of letters used to represent grammatical endings a nd features that Chinese does not have. Unlike Kanji, in which a symbol represents a concept or an idea, in both the Hiragana and Katakana systems of Japanese, there is a connection between the symbol on the paper and the spoken word, and each letter is pronounced in only one way regardless of the context. Before Japanese children learn how to write the complex Kanji characters, they learn how to write Hiragana and they use it for every word.To illustrate, yama or â€Å"mountain† can be written in three different ways, in Kanji, Katakana, or Hiragana. However, since it is not a foreign word, it would rarely, if ever, be written in Katakana. mountain Kanji mountain Katakana mountain Hiragana While it is possible to use the phonetic Hiragana and Katakana scripts to represent almost any Japanese word, it is usually considered more appropriate to use the Kanji characters whenever possible, using the phonetic scripts only to represent foreign words (Katakana) or features unique to Japanese (Hiragana).Books and Signs Most westerners are accustomed to reading books starting from the front and reading each line left to right, starting from the top of the page. In books and traditional writing, however, Japanese is written in columns, top to bottom starting on the right side of a page. The books appear to open â€Å"backwards† to English speakers, as the â€Å"front† of a Japanese book is the â€Å"back† of an English text. However, in signs, menus, and books in which some English words are used, such as academic papers, Japanese is now often written from left to right. Visitors to Japan are fortunate in that

The Evolution of Developmental Psychology

The Evolution of Developmental Psychology Jennifer Haag Walden’s University Lifespan Development September 9, 2012 Over the course of history, many scholars and researchers have discovered the evolution of developmental psychology. However, there are certain people throughout the course of history who have made more significant process in shedding light on developmental psychology as it is known today. The three best known theorists that helped people understand, or at least consider psychology, were Sigmund Freud, Erik Erikson, and Jean Piaget.These three men were able to develop and test theories that formed the modern idea of psychology. Without the vital research and theories, one might never have understood the inner workings of the mind and how nurturance, nature, and other factors affect a personality over time. Using research methods such as observation, correlational design, and several other methods, researchers are able to put together a bigger picture of developmen tal psychology. With research comes responsibility; a responsibility to protect the rights of those who are researched.Therefore, there is an ethics policy designed by the federal government that researchers are not supposed to violate. Psychology is an ever evolving unit and is something that will always change as life goes on. Sigmund Freud, Erik Erikson, and Jean Piaget are some of the best known psychological researchers ever known. Freud contributed several theories and had many followers of his teachings. One of his theories is the psychosexual theory. This theory emphasizes how parents manage their child’s sexual and aggressive drives in the first few years are crucial for healthy personality development (Berk, 2010).Even though the theory may be somewhat controversial, it is one that contributes to the evolutional development theory by suggesting that something that happens in childhood helps to form the adult. Erikson believed that there were significant psychologica l changes with each stage. His psychosocial theory emphasized that in addition to mediating between id impulses and superego demands; the ego makes a positive contribution to development, acquiring attitudes and skills at each stage that make the individual an active, contributing member of society (Berk, 0210).With this theory, a person develops based on needs and the ability to control one’s self. Erikson was the believer in stages unlike Freud who believed that a single event in a child’s life would have such a big impact on adulthood. He introduced the time line of development from birth to late adulthood showing how the person changes with maturity. Adding to both of these theories is Jean Piaget’s cognitive-development theory which explains that children actively construct knowledge as they manipulate and explore their world (Berk, 2010).This theory extends into adulthood as well. People learn new things everyday by manipulating things around them. Therefo re, if a child learns to manipulate things at a young age, they are capable of continuous learning or an ever evolving development of the mind. These three men helped shape the concept of psychology and helped researchers understand it better today by testing their theories over and over again. Research is the basis for any theory. Without research, there would be no foundation for anything.Therefore, studies must be conducted, people must be observed, interviews must be done, and information gathered. It has been known for some time that people are all different; the way they think, the way they react to different stimuli, and the way they interact with others. It is known that experiences and influences have quite a significant impact on a person’s psych. However, this would not have been known without the hours of laborious research conducted through studying people under different circumstances. One research method is observation.Observations can be done in many different ways. One is through correlational design. This is where researchers gather information on individuals, generally in natural life circumstances, without altering their experiences. Then they look at relationships between participants; characteristics and their behavior or development (Berk, 2010). This type of observation is the most natural and non-evasive way of conducting research and one of the best ways to get pure information. Using an evasive form of research can be useful as well, however.Interviews can help researchers in a big way by getting information straight from the subject without trying to guess what the person is thinking or what the person might do when faced with a situation. There are different ways to conduct interviews such as clinical interviews where a person takes part in an open conversation or structured interviews where a person takes a questionnaire, test, or simply answers a few questions. There are many ways to conduct research but there is just one thing; people must be respected and treated fairly when doing so which leads to ethics.Thus, the federal government came up with ethics codes to protect those being studied. There are certain rights a person has when being studied or evaluated for any type of mental health research. The rights of research participants include: protection from harm, informed consent, privacy, knowledge of results, and beneficial treatments. Protection from harm is the right to be protected from physical or psychological harm. Informed consent means that all participants or guardians of participants must sign their permission for the research to continue.Privacy means that information regarding them personally, identity, cannot be shared with outside parties. Knowledge of results means that those participating in the research have a right to know the outcome of that research and beneficial treatments is if experimental treatments believed to be beneficial are under investigation; participants in contr ol groups have the right to alternative beneficial treatments if they are available (Beck, 2010). Without these rights in place, people would not have any say in what was done to them or how the research was collected.People would, in essence, be nothing better than cattle told what to do in the name of research. Over all, research is necessary to help discover all the possibilities there are regarding psychological development. Researchers and theorists like Sigmund Freud, Erik Erikson, and Jean Piaget helped shed light on the evolution of psychology and how it is ever changing. Researching and gathering information is the only way to continually develop theories and test possibilities regarding mental health.In doing this, it is imperative to remember that those who are researched and observed have rights that need to be respected meaning an ethics code must be followed. Psychology, although centuries old, is still an enigma to be discovered with constantly evolving aspects that r esearchers may never fully understand. Reference: Berk, L. E. ,(2010). Development Through the Lifespan. (5th ed. ). Pearson Education, Inc. , Allyn &Bacon, 75 Arlington Street, Suite 300 Boston MA 02116

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Affect of Immagration on Society - Essay Example Other countries like British and France had to compel employers to listen and work with employees to avoid strikes, conflicts and unrests (Howard, 35). The split between two original labour unions (knight of labour and National labour union) in 1888 led to emergence of American Federation of Labour. The coming up of the third labour union was detrimental in addressing labour reforms, because no sooner was it started than the labour reform stopped. This splits it led to a situation where trade union lacked superiority, power, and labour reforms lost its meaning. In 1902 due to racial segregation that had occurred, black and other migrants formed unions to safeguard them from exploitation. This is because they were the majority who were working. Knight of labour then began to decline due to certain factors like lack of skilled workers, and continued rise of power from national governments (Joseph, 680). There were labour gains during the years 1933 to 1945 after certain pieces of legislations were crafted. Some of legislations include the liberal bill on wages and hours to pay and work respectively. Workers, for example, were expected to work for 30 hours a week, and significant rise of salary, but one drawback was lack of minimum wage provision. After suspension of anti-trust laws, the National recovery administration act came into place as a response to ‘black 30 hour bill’ bringing together business owners, and providing them with the opportunity to set maximum, minimum wages, working hours and amount of output to be produced. The aim of the stated union was to create an avenue for fair competition, increased economy and help in employment of workers (Lichtman, 230). Although the National recovery administration act was in place, there were no effort to prevent workers unrest and no work was organized well. The limitation of the act

Social responsibility of businesses Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Social responsibility of businesses - Essay Example If they are to be civil servants taxing and spending for "social" objectives, then they must be elected. Conversely, when the individual proprietor exercises his "social responsibility," he is spending his own money and is justifiable. So the social responsibility of businesses is to increase its profits ethically in free and open competition (Milton, 1970). Stakeholders include owners (who have a financial stake with expectation of returns, employees with their livelihood at stake expectant of security, benefits and meaningful work), suppliers (have their survival at stake and determine the firm's success, customers (exchange resources for products to profit the firm and benefit from the products), the local community (grants the right to firms to construct and returned with good facilities) and management. Management's stake is akin to the employees with the duty to safeguard the welfare of corporation, by resolving conflicts among conflicting stakeholders and balance their interes ts based on a doctrine of fairness (Ed, 1994). The disagreement lies in management. For Ed, the management still fulfils its role as long as the interests of the stakeholders are met with equality (Ed, 1994). As for Milton, once the manager is not an elected civil servant who taxes and spends the proceeds for "social purposes", he seizes to be manager (Milton, 1970). In his article, he explained that w... In his article, he explained that we act as consumers to get what we want for ourselves and we act as citizens to achieve what we think is right or best for the community (Sagoff). This implies that when we will think of national goals, they will go beyond our self-mere interest. Based on this distinction there will be a significant ethical difference between risk that is taken by the consumers (who chooses smoking) and risk that is imposed on them as citizens (subjected to the radioactive waste). Therefore in view of the cost benefit analysis, which sides the consumers, is not an adequate solution to address environmental concerns as it does not allow us "to have power to act as a nation", because we are not "able to acton a public philosophy, conviction, or faith" (Sagoff). 3.2 Name three steps along the roadmap Lovins, Lovins and Hawkin describe. The first step is to dramatically increase the productivity of natural resources by reducing the wasteful and destructive flow of resources from depletion to population through fundamental changes in both production design and technology. The second step is the shift to biologically inspired models where systems can be designed to eliminate the use of toxic materials, which can hamper nature's ability to reprocess materials (closed-loop manufacturing). The third step would be a move to a solutions-based business model where the new relationship from this model of delivering value as a flow of service will align the interest of providers and customers in ways that reward them for implementing the first two steps. 4.1 What are Reich's arguments against corporate social responsibility Make a list, with one sentence summarizing each. "1. Why the interest" describes the increase of interest in "corporate social

Strategic Management (DAVIS Case study) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Strategic Management (DAVIS Case study) - Essay Example On the other hand Berendsen is involved in laundry, textile rental and maintenance etc in almost twelve countries in the continent (Davis-a, n.d.). This paper conducts a comprehensive SWOT analysis of the group. The paper also includes porter’s five forces analysis and BCG matrix in the context of Davis group. SWOT analysis is one of the major tools which is used to identify and analyze an organization’s internal strengths, weaknesses and external opportunities and threats which are likely to come up in near future or already has came up. It is useful strategic planning tool for the purpose of strategic decision making at different level in an organization. SWOT analysis tool was actually founded in 1960 by Robert Stewart, Albert Humphrey and their coworkers at the Stanford Research Institute. Strength: Strengths of Davis group is actually the strengths of two of its strategic business units namely Sunlight and Berendsen. Both Berendsen and Sunlight are the market leaders in their respective operating region and this is the major strength of the Davis group. Both Sunlight and Berendsen cover almost entire Europe. As a result market coverage of Davis group is huge. Further more both the units have strong network as there are large number of processing sites. Employee strength is also a major strength of Davis group. In Sunlight there are almost 9000 employees and in Berendsen there are 7000 employees (Sunlight, n.d.).The group needs to utilize this employee strength to achieve higher economies of scale. Weaknesses: Since both Sunlight and Berendsen are two companies working under the Davis group, it would be difficult to make Berendsen operate in UK and Ireland. Similarly the group would face problem to expand Sunlight in regions outside UK and Ireland. Since both the companies are involved in various textile maintenance service they might come to compete among themselves. This is a major weakness for

Sales management Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Sales management - Case Study Example We have invested heavily in the sales force training by partitioning the program into two sections i.e. the individual training via the podcasts and the group training at regional level. However, this motivation program has failed terribly when it comes to establishing the effectiveness of the podcasts and the staff in general. Also, in line with failing to establish the effectiveness, the podcasts are extremely high hence paralyzing our dreams of profit making. I’m humbly submitting that the budget to this current motivation program be revised to ensure maximization of our productivity lines. Our staff ought to be motivated in order to increase on their productivity. The costs of funding the program as indicated above will be generated from the returns that will accrue from our service delivery which we as a company are guaranteed. For effectiveness and efficiency, the proposed motivation program will be subjected to a series of evaluation schemes that will work on the motivation program’s productivity. Any constraints will be fixed on the early stages to avoid failure. This new proposed motivation program does not in any way intend to change the previous program but its main aim is to improve on the productivity of our service men. I would like to inform you that Sales Action Software will soon be making history through our new proposed motivation program that will generally work on the productivity of our workers and the company as a

The International Accounting Standards Board and it role in Essay

The International Accounting Standards Board and it role in harmonization of accountign standards - Essay Example One example is in the availing of depreciation. In the United Kingdom, depreciation is determined according to, "convention and pragmatism, rather than exact rules[determining] the method of depreciation, estimates of the scrap value and the expected length of life (Ferrari L 2005). Germany, on the other hand, lays down exact rules and regulations for all these aspects in detail, leaving no room for manipulation. There is thus a need to introduce common internationally accepted norms, which would minimize such differences. The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) is one such institution that has undertaken the responsibility of formulating such standards to remove the anomalies between the 'generally accepted accounting practices' of different countries, through a process of harmonization of accounting standards. The IASB was founded in April 2001, as a successor to the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC). The IASC was an independent body formed in 1973, with the broad objective of, " [furthering] harmonization of accounting practices through the formulation of accounting standards to promote their worldwide acceptance" (Encyclopedia of Business and Finance [EBF]). In May 2000, a new structure for the IASC was approved, leading to the establishment of the IASB. As per KEWL (Knowledge Environment of Web-based Learning), the main objectives of the IASB are: - Develop, in the public interest, a single set of high quality understandable and enforceable global accounting standards that require high quality transparent and capable information in financial statements and other financial reporting to help the participants in the various capital markets of the world and other users of the information to make economic decisions. Promote the use and rigorous application of those standards. Work actively with national standards-setters to bring convergence of national accounting standards and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) to high quality solution. In order to most objectively achieve the above aims, the organization of the IASB has been structured as follows (KEWL): - Trustees. Comprises of nineteen individuals from all geographical regions of the world, of whom at least five should represent the accounting profession. The primary responsibility of the Trustees is to appoint Board members, exercise oversight and raise funds for the organization. Board. Consists of fourteen individuals (twelve full time members and two part-time members) and has the sole responsibility of setting accounting standards in the form of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Standards Advisory Council (SAC). This is another body of experts from different geographical regions and functional backgrounds with expertise required to contribute to the formulation of accounting standards. There are about fifty members of the Council. International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC). This is a committee of the IASB that assists the IASB in establishing and improving standards of financial accounting and reporting for the benefit of users, preparers and auditors of financial statements. The IFRIC assists the IASB in achieving international convergence of accounting standards. The IASC had introduced 41 International Accounting Standards (IAS) during its tenure

Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 42

Ethics - Essay Example According to privacy laws private information is owned by the person it describes this includes medical records and even school grades. This information is deemed to be obtained illegally and cannot be used without permission from the owner. Privacy law and protection of student’s private life and information was affirmed in the class action suit of Robbins v. Lower Merion School District. The counter opinion is that the students may be accessing illegal sites or using the computers for immoral behaviors and hence may require monitoring. The merit of this opinion lies whereby most parents also have guards in their computers that inhibit or lock out their teenage children from various sites. This is then enforced by the Superintendent in the schools.There are laws in place to help monitor student’s social media interactions and focus on gang related activities, threats of violence and may include surveillance of non-violent student activity like alcohol and drug consumption. The software installed on the computers can also be used to track stolen or lost laptops hence aiding in their retrieval. The merit of this counter opinion lies with the force of the law and the necessity to keep the students and their property safe. Similar situations I have encountered include an online company accessing personal information of social media users and calling the users with the intention to defraud them. This is a violation of privacy laws at the same time a criminal activity. The companies will track internet usage of the customers, determine their buying habits and movements and collect personal information without consent from the users. This is a breach of business ethics and the companies must determine ethical behaviors and put in place guidelines and policies to deter this kind of behavior. I would say I exhibit good ethics because I possess the ability to distinguish between right and wrong and in most situations choose to do the

Relations between teachers and principalsfrom teachers perceptions Essay

Relations between teachers and principalsfrom teachers perceptions - Essay Example Training and qualifying them and raising their social rank are one of the most important issues and priorities of the authorities responsible for education in the world. The school manager has a leading role in dealing with teachers, as s/he must work seriously to facilitate the obstacles and difficulties in order to make the teachers achieve their goals for the interest of the educational operation in the school. S/he should be an effective and interactive manager keen on assisting occupational growth and providing the proper atmosphere for the educational operation. S/he should also accommodate the teachers in the major decisions related to student’s education (Hargreaves & Bascia, 2000). The school manager holds a unique position in the administration of the school. In a way, the manager is needed by all and is gifted with the knowledge and skills so that they not only manage the other people that come under their umbrella effectively, but also perform their assigned tasks (Nakpodia, 2010). In order to perform the task smoothly the manager has to show good leadership behaviour. This managing power helps them to handle the relationship with the teachers perfectly. Likewise, they are also able to run and excel the organization. In case when the manager fails to run the school smoothly, this means they are not able to show leadership qualities with their teachers (Maleke, 2003). The main aim of the research is to explore the nature of the relationship between the teachers and the principals and the impact of their relationship on the learning of the students. Research questions: 1. What is the nature of the relationship between teachers and the principal? 2. How, if at all, does this impact on student learning? 3. In what ways, if at all, are teachers rewarded for their work? b- The Country and the School: The teaching profession is considered one of the most important, dangerous, and responsible professions in all countries because the teacher actually is the one who prepares the country and its generations to be able to bear burdens of work, building, and development in all fields required for the nation. Therefore, the school manager has many duties in developing the teachers and their capabilities through educational efficiencies that include two important aspects: the knowledge aspect and the behavioural aspect (Al-Khatib, 2003). The recent educational reforms by the Saudi Arabian government have focused on the leadership role of the managers. This is because the responsibility of initiating school improvement efforts and the maintenance of the school effectiveness lies with the managers of the school. Additionally, the research designates that the manager is a key leader in development of the excellent schools, and in due course good educational institutes will ultimately give a constructive hand in the development of excellent country. Hence, the managers of the schools should adopt their complex roles so that they can be ab le to work with the teachers in harmony and dig out the best out of them. Moreover, the teachers should also understand the importance of the skills that will help them to excel in the school. Thus, the development of such skills can help them to become a significant factor in building a productive and fruitful environment of the school. 2- Previous Studies: There was a variation in the studies, both

The Conglomerates, the Lovers, the Spies and the Outcast Essay

The Conglomerates, the Lovers, the Spies and the Outcast - Essay Example The conglomerates arrange parties, treats and keep looking for occasions of celebration. They are life long friends. They may go to different places after school, yet call one another daily. Mostly, they land in the same profession and in the same country.The lovers are groups of two. A third one is not allowed. The two are inseparable. Their academic performance may differ significantly. Lovers may have different interests, but they are attached emotionally. Many lovers are totally opposite to each other in nature, yet they make a perfect match. The effect is magnetic, just like north and south poles of the magnet attract each other. The lovers remain together full time at the school and frequently meet each other outside as well. In class jokes, the lovers are referred to as gays, but the lovers don’t care. However, their future is quite unexpected. Usually, people expect lovers to be life-long friends, just like conglomerates, but it hardly ever happens. Most lovers depart after the school is over, never to see each other again.The spies are individuals. They have no association with any group, but their social skills are quite enhanced. They survive individually. Spies have good oratory skills, so make excellent part-time friends. They have no permanent friend. One day, they can be seen with one person, the next day with another. They offer a temporary company. People suspect the spies whenever their secrets leak out. They are generally the most untrustworthy and at the same time, they are the most interesting class-mates around. The spies are witty and cunning.The outcast is also individuals, but with very poor social skills. They are not allowed entry into any group. They are hated and mocked. The outcast are objects of fun for others. The outcast fear the class-mates and hardly ever raise their voice against the injustice they are offered. They kill the time sitting around a corner in the classroom. Surprisingly, many outcast class-mates are excep tionally good in studies, perhaps because they seek refuge in books. The outcast have the most boring personalities and can’t handle mockery.  

Assessing the Dependency of Teamwork Dynamics to Cultural Differences Essay Example for Free

Assessing the Dependency of Teamwork Dynamics to Cultural Differences Essay A debate whether a heterogeneous or a homogeneous team is easier to handle and manage has been going on for years. Companies, firms and even organizations are starting to make teams as the basic unit of their operations. Due to this trend, organizational researchers started to study the correlation between the composition of the team and the teams’ output (Earley Mosakowski, 2000, p. 26). Organizational composition in terms of the homogeneity and heterogeneity of the team composition is commonly studied through the comparative advantages that each type of composition can give to a working team (Schippers, Hartog, Koopman, Wienk, 2003, p. 779). This research paper will try to address the issue at hand in the same manner as most organizational researchers do; this research paper will compare homogeneous and heterogeneous team compositions through the advantages they can give to their teams. The hiring structure of most organizations, companies and firm includes a set of qualification that seeks to sift through the applicants not in terms of credentials but also in terms of their backgrounds (Prat, 2000, p. 3). These sets of qualifications are commonly structured in their own ways to create a homogenous or a heterogeneous team, depending on the position of the hiring party in terms of its team composition preference. Before moving on to the advantages of the two-team compositions, it should be noted that the basic differences between the two-team compositions are its team members’ culture. Culture embodies the system of shared meanings (Gibson C. B. , 2004). It can even be said, that culture attributes the different reactions of the team members in different managerial approaches and team objectives (Gibson C. B. , 2004). Furthermore, the probability of success and efficiency in team is dependent to the culture of its team members. Identifying the difference between leading a homogeneous team or a heterogeneous team can be easily discussed through the extent by which team members share a certain culture. In modern day organizational researches, culture sharing is not the only difference. Factors such as efficiency, efficacy of the leading model, output capabilities and even conflict resolution mechanisms are considered in organization researches that address homogeneous and heterogeneous team compositions. Describing the actual leadership process in these two team compositions would lead to the discussions on team cohesiveness. Team cohesiveness is the degree by which members of a group (both hetero and homo) are attracted to the team (Wendt, Euwemab, Emmerik, 2009, p. 359). It can be said, that team cohesiveness embodies the reasons for joining a team and expected incentives for joining the team (Wendt, Euwemab, Emmerik, 2009, p. 359). Team cohesiveness is present in both homogeneous and heterogeneous team compositions. However, the burden of insuring that the team would function is not directly related to the team composition; it is also determined by the leadership style in the team. Leading leadership styles such as directive and supportive styles have two very different effects to the team depending on the team composition. The exclusivity of the shared culture in homogeneous teams can work better with directive leadership such as seen in autocratic countries (Wendt, Euwemab, Emmerik, 2009, p. 360). On the other hand, supportive leadership can work better with heterogeneous team composition since the differences in the shared culture of the team can be compensated for by the support that the leadership style offers (Wendt, Euwemab, Emmerik, 2009, p. 360). Interchanging the two leadership styles in heterogeneous and homogeneous team compositions can result to high probability of team inefficiency and failure. Following this logic, it can be said that the leadership style would determine the difference between these two team compositions; a certain â€Å"fit† must be properly addressed. After discussing the needed â€Å"fit† in the leadership style and the team composition, advantages in terms of properly leading a homogeneous team or a heterogeneous team can now be established. Having a heterogeneous team implies that a team leader would have members with different recognitions of shared culture. Due to this, the team leader can expect different opinions and a wide range of ideas to be articulated by the team members (Gibson Vermeulen, 2003, p. 207). This setup is seen in companies that operate on a high technology level. Technology based companies tend to function in a transnational level; this allows the companies to have an experience in having a heterogeneous team to deal with their operations. The diverse pool that the company can easily access to creates a working environment, which is perfect for the creation of cohorts. According to other related researches, team members tend to speak out their idea or opinion if they have at least one team member that supports their idea (Gibson Vermeulen, 2003, p. 207). This finding is the coined as the cohort formation in workplaces. Following this logic, leading a heterogeneous team has an advantage of being able to pool a good number of ideas and opinions due to the different shared cultures among the team members. Practically speaking, a heterogeneous team can come up with more possible solutions needed to address a problem as compared to a team with members that share a uniform culture. Heterogeneous team through its cohorts also has the advantage of creating a workplace, which is more conducive for a more receptive learning behavior (Gibson Vermeulen, 2003, p. 209). The cohort formation that arises from a heterogeneous team creates subgroups that are more receptive to learning through experimentation; reflective communication and codification (Gibson Vermeulen, 2003, p. 209). The psychological support provided by team members that share culture allows other team members to learn more (Gibson Vermeulen, 2003, p. 210). These advantages of heterogeneous teams make many organizations, companies and firms to invest in the creation of a heterogeneous team. This trend is best seen in transnational companies’ attempts to outsource team members from different places around the globe to insure that their team has cohorts to cultivate better brainstorming activities (Earley Gibson, 2002, pp. 230-232). Unfortunately, the advantages of having a heterogeneous team stop at the cohorts. Heterogeneous team, which is too heterogeneous in the sense that it does not allow the formation of cohorts tends to be counterproductive since its team members without some to share his or her culture with, becomes too protective of their ideas (Gibson Vermeulen, 2003, pp. 212-213). In this situation, organizational researches recommend the full dismantling of the team or the inclusion of other team members that may allow that formation of cohorts within the heterogeneous team. Advantages in a homogeneous team are the extreme solutions to the disadvantages of a heterogeneous team. The probability that too much heterogeneity can impede team growth and efficiency can be cancelled out by adapting a homogenized team since the shared culture of the whole team will eradicate the cultural diversity that may have started the problems of a too heterogenic team (Mello Ruckes, 2010, p. 1022). This is the primary advantage of homogeneous team- cohesion. Team cohesion is at its prime state if the subject team is a homogeneous team (WordPress. com, 2009). The strong sense of group cohesion in a homogeneous team allows the whole team to easily accomplish tasks and yield maximum productivity rates (WordPress. com, 2009, p. n. pag. ). The shared culture of a homogeneous team creates a sense of unity among the team members; that translates to achievements that are most probably unattainable for a common heterogeneous group. This is the primary and appears to be the only advantage in a homogeneous group. Unfortunately, it also has its share of disadvantages. The major disadvantage of a homogenous team is that the team is prone to make probable dumb decisions due to the strong sense of groupthink mentality present in this team composition (WordPress. com, 2009). This attributes of homogeneous team composition allows homogeneous teams to be the perfect team composition for productivity and goal oriented organizations, companies and firms. Conclusion: Heterogeneous and homogeneous team compositions have been existing ever since basic groups have been formed. The reason for their existence is the fact that each of this team composition provides a perfect fit for different organizational arrangements (Gamage, 2006, p. 57). The interplay between organizational cultures, team composition and the type of leadership determines the needed fit implied in this research paper. Conclusively, this research paper takes the position that homogeneous team composition is an advantage for organizations, companies and firms that are goal and production oriented, while heterogeneous team composition is an advantage for organizations, companies and firms that seek to provide solutions. The cohesive team culture cultured and enforced in homogeneous team composition allows a consolidated movement of the whole team towards the attainment of their team’s objectives. On the other hand, the differences of the team members of a heterogeneous team allow the utilization of the multi perspective orientations in the advantage of the whole team. The different ideas and cultural inclinations of a heterogeneous team allow the development of holistic solutions. These points when summed up results to a general idea that the team compositions’ effectiveness are dominantly dependent on the factors such as type of leadership and environment such as context of application. Bibliography Adams, S. K. (2007, July 30). Disciplinarily Hetero- and Homogeneous Design Team Convergence:Communication Patterns and Perceptions of Teamwork. Retrieved August 6, 2010, from www. scholar. lib. vt. edu: http://scholar. lib. vt. edu/theses/available/etd-08272007-114555/unrestricted/MastersThesis. pdf Adler, N. (1991). International dimensions of organi-zational behavior (2nd ed. ). Boston: PWS-Kent. Burke, S. , Wilson, K. , Salas, E. (2010). Varying Team Composition to Examine the Effect of CulturalDiversity on Team Process and Cultural Adaptability. Retrieved August 6, 2010, from www. ftp. rta. nato. int: ftp. rta. nato. int/public//PubFullText/ ///MP-HFM-142-18. doc Casmir, R. (1992). Third-culture building: A paradigm shift for international and intercultural communication. Communication Yearbook , 407-428. Cox, T. (1992). Cultural diversity in organizations. San Francisco: Berrett Koehler. Earley, P. C. , Mosakowski, E. (2000). Creating Hybrid Team Cultures: An Empirical Test of Transnational Team Functioning. The Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 43, No. 1 , 26-49. Earley, P. , Gibson, C. B. (2002). Multinational Work Teams: A New Perspective. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. . Elron, E. (1997). Top management teams within multina-tional corporations: Effects of cultural heterogeneity. Leadership Quarterly , 393-412. Gamage, D. (2006). Professional Development for Leaders and Managers . Dordrecht: Springer Publications. Gibson, C. B. (2004). Building Multicultural Teams:Learning to Manage Homogeneity and Heterogeneity. Retrieved August 6, 2010, from http://web. gsm. uci. edu: http://web. gsm. uci. edu/~cgibson/Publication%20files/Articles/Crossing%20cultures%20chapter. pdf Gibson, C. , Vermeulen, F. (2003). A Healthy Divide: Subgroups as a Stimulus for Team Learning Behavior. Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 48, No. 2 , 202-239. Leadershipreview. org. (2002). Research Synopsis: Creating Hybrid Team Cultures. Retrieved August 6, 2010, from www. leadershipreview. org: http://www. leadershipreview. org/2002winter/nelson_winter_2002. asp Mayo, M. (2005, September 2). Networks and Effectiveness in Work Teams: The Impact of Diversity. Retrieved August 6, 2010, from www. latienda. ie. edu: http://latienda. ie. edu/working_papers_economia/WP05-10. pdf Maznevski, M. (1994). Understanding our differences: Performance in decision-making groups with diverse members. Human Relations , 531-552. McGrath, J. (1984). Groups: Interaction and performance. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall. Mello, A. S. , Ruckes, M. E. (2010). Team Composition. Retrieved August 6, 2010, from http://finance. fbv. uni-karlsruhe. d: http://finance. fbv. uni-karlsruhe. de/download/Ruckes_TeamCompositionJB. pdf Prat, A. (2000, August 16). Shoul a Team Be Homogeneous? Retrieved August 6, 2010, from www. econ. lse. ac. uk: http://econ. lse. ac. uk/staff/prat/papers/sharedeer2. pdf Schippers, M. C. , Hartog, D. N. , Koopman, P. L. , Wienk, J. A. (2003). Diversity and Team Outcomes: The Moderating Effects of Outcome Interdependence and Group Longevity and the Mediating Effect of Reflexivity. Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 24, No. 6 , 779-802. Wendt, H. , Euwemab, M. C. , Emmerik, I. H. (2009). Leadership and team cohesiveness across cultures. Retrieved August 6, 2010, from http://hettyvanemmerik. com: http://hettyvanemmerik. com/ScientificPublications/+Enl2009=Article_LQ_Wendt_Euwema_Van_Emmerik_Leadership_and_team_cohesiveness. pdf WordPress. com. (2009, March 10). Homogeneous or Heterogeneous Teams and Creativity. Retrieved August 6, 2010, from www. wordpress. com: http://asifjmir. wordpress. com/2009/03/10/homogeneous-or-heterogeneous-teams-and-creativity/

Cushings Disease: Symptoms, Treatment and Causes

Cushings Disease: Symptoms, Treatment and Causes Julie Seel   Introduction Cushings disease is relatively rare and is commonly in adults. Cushings is a hormonal disorder that the bodys tissues care exposed to increased levels of the hormone cortisol. (NIH) The cortisol hormone is released when there is stress and with exercise in some people. The main things that the cortisol does are: throttling or suppressing the immune system, metabolizing fats and carbohydrates, and increases blood sugar. (healthline) The Cushings disease is more commonly observed in women, and about 90% of those cases are due to pituitary microadenoma or corticotroph hyperlplasia. (virtual library) Signs and Symptoms Signs and symptoms vary, but most cases have upper body obesity, round face (moon face), increased fat around the neck and shoulder area (buffalo hump), osteoporosis, high blood pressure, increased blood sugars. Also women can have increased hair on face and chest, abdomen and thighs. Men may get a decrease in fertility and absence of sexual desire and possibly erectile dysfunction. (Nih)(Lab) the ICD-10 code for the Cushings disease is E24.9. In some rare cases people have had inherited the gene for Cushings disease, such as multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 or Men-1. This can increase risk for tumors developing throughout the endocrine system and sometimes include the pituitary and adrenal glands. People who are obese and have diabetes are at a high risk for this disease (Lab). Diagnostic Testing There are a number of tests the doctor can give for the Cushings disease diagnosis. A 24-hour urine cortisol, dexamethasone suppression test (low dose), salivary cortisol levels are taken in early morning and late at night. These three tests will confirm too much cortisol in the body. Also, the tests can determine the cause of the disease are: blood ACTH level, brain MRI, corticotropin-releasing hormone test, dexamethasone suppression test (high dose), and inferior petrosal sinus sampling (IPSS). Other tests that can be done but isnt necessary are: fast blood glucose and A1c for diabetes, lipid and cholesterol testing, bone mineral density can too check for osteoporosis. (Medline Plus) Treatment Options At the follow-up appointment the doctor will go over all the test results, and the next plan of action will be. The treatment would be surgery to remove the pituitary tumor and the pituitary gland may return to normal and start to work slowly again. During the recovery process, cortisol replacement therapy, so the pituitary needs to be able to have time to make ACTH again. Also, if the doctor could not remove the whole tumor completely radiation might be done to the pituitary gland. If surgery and radiation doesnt work on the tumor, medication may be needed to stop making the coritsol in the body. The last resort if none of these treatments work, the adrenal glands will be removed, and it will stop the increased levels of the cortisol. Also, if the adrenal glands are removed the tumor on the pituitary gland will get much, much bigger. (medline) Prognosis/ Summary If Cushings disease is left untreated, it can lead to severe complications. People can have excessive fatigue, obesity, nausea and vomiting, diabetes, hypertension and can lead to premature death. (Skull) Removal of the tumor can be a full recovery, but lifelong replacement medication to keep your hormones in balance. Two medications that have been approved by the FDA are: mifepristone and pasireotide, for the treatment of Cushings disease. (Medline Plus) Very rare the tumor can grow back, and the patients will need to go back to the doctor and see what can be done the treatment options are. REFERENCES Cuevas-Ramos, D. (n.d.). Update on medical treatment for Cushings Disease. [online] Available at: http://clindiabetesendo.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40842-016-0033-9. Ilias I, N. (2012). National institute of diabetes and digestive and kidney diseases. [online] Available at: https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/endocrine-diseases/cushings-syndrome [Accessed 5 Mar. 2017]. Krause, L. (2005). Pituitary-dependent Cushings disease. [online] Available at: http://www.healthline.com/health/cushings-disease [Accessed 28 Jan. 2016]. Labtestonline.org. (2016). Labtestonline.org. [online] Available at: http://www.labtestonline.org/conditions/cushing [Accessed 10 Mar. 2017]. Mayoclinic.org. (2016). Overview Cushing syndrome Mayo Clinic. [online] Available at: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/cushing-syndrome/home/ovc-20197169 47k [Accessed 10 Mar. 2017]. Medlineplus.gov. (2016). Cushing Syndrome | Hypercortisolism | MedlinePlus. [online] Available at: https://medlineplus.gov/cushingssyndrome.html [Accessed 10 Mar. 2017]. Skullbaseinstitute.com. (n.d.). Cushings Disease: Surgery, Treatment Symptoms | Skull Base Institute. [online] Available at: http://www.skullbaseinstitute.com/pituitary-gland-tumor-surgery/cushings-disease-endoscopic-surgery.htm [Accessed 10 Mar. 2017].