Language and Culture: Time to learn

What I learned of this course is the importance of cultural context that involves the career of Translation and Interpreting. Translate is useless without fully understanding what's behind each text. One of the main objectives of the course is to identify and contribute about our linguistic identity. At the end of the cycle I can assure that this objective has been fulfilled for me, thanks to the constant works of comparative analysis I could make out the notorious qualities of my language and I also know more clearly the socio-cultural space of my country. Also overcame the difficulty I had about writing reports and essays, now I make them in a structured manner, because I think that is a very important step for my profession.

Traditions and Lifestyle

History and music

About its history, the Spanish and Portuguese briefly claimed Barbados from two centuries (16th and 17th). During that time, the majority of the population was white and male, with African slaves providing little of the workforce. But now, almost 95% of the population is black. For this reason, their music has strong African and Britain influences; in fact, one of their most important music artists is the singer Rihanna, owner of multiple global music hits.

Curious fact:

There is a National "Rihanna Day": every 22nd of February is a holiday for every Barbadian citizen.

Events

Just as a typical Caribbean country, their festival is one of the most important events. The “Crop Over” is the name of their Carnival. Their duration period is about 12 weeks, from May to June. 

Language

Their official language is English, but they have a Recognized regional language: the Bajan. Bajan is peppered with their own slang:

System of Education

Education is one of the most important resources around the world, and for Barbados, this is a serious thing: education is supported by the government. This is feasible for the three educational stages. 

Structure

The structure of the education system in Barbados has three levels: the first level, which covers nursery and primary schools; the secondary level, area of secondary schools; and the tertiary level, that covers two stages of education: collages and, after, the university.

What about Peru?

Unlike the previous educational system, the Peruvian education is not free. In return, the government provides special schools of very low rates. And if we talk about their structure, is divided into four stages: basic (or initial), primary, secondary and higher. In higher education, there are options to choose between universities and institutes.

In other words:

There is some similarity in the structure of education between Barbados and Peru, as well as the duration of education weeks. However, it is important to note that the education of Barbados is free, which should be the same for Peru, hoping this could be possible in a future.

Geography

Barbados is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometers east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea. To locate the Caribbean there are three descriptions: southeast of North America, east of Central America or northern South America. 

As every Caribbean country, Barbados has geographical advantages and  advantages that I will show below:

Advantages:

• Typical warm Caribbean climate
• Over 3,000 hours of sunshine each year. 
• Wildlife specifically different from many other countries

Disadvantages:

• Prone to meteorological phenomenon
• periodic droughts and tropical storms (Hurricanes)

About

Through this blog I will present my final project for the course of Language and Culture. The purpose is to learn new customs of countries outside our way of life.