5.2.4. Systematically expanding your cultural knowledge

One helpful concept in tackling the general knowledge bank is the social situation, as described in Spradley (1980). A social situation consists of a place, the actors who act in that place, and the activities those actors perform in that place. An example is boarding a rickshaw. The place is in a street, at a rickshaw. The actors are the driver and the (potential) passengers. The activities include the driver and passenger establishing contact, the approach, the driver stopping the motor (if it's going), the statement of the desired destination, the driver's indication of willingness to go to that destination, the negotiation of the fare, the invitation to board, the actual boarding, etc. If you take a tour around your community you should be able to identify scores of social situations which you can then learn to discuss.

Spradley (1979) nicely complements Spradley (1980). I consider these two books to be among the most helpful for intermediate and advanced language learners. Spradley (1979) describes the types of questions which you can ask of your LRP or friends which will generate a lot of discussion of cultural knowledge. For example, in asking a grand tour question of the rickshaw driver, I asked him to tell me everything he did in a typical day. Then I asked him to tell me everything he could remember having done on a recent day. Many of the events he referred to formed the basis of further questions. Some of these were mini-tour questions, such as “What are all the steps in starting the rickshaw?”

I suggested before that this brought out the specialized knowledge of rickshaw drivers, rather than general knowledge shared by all members of the community. In fact, however, I did acquire considerable general knowledge. For example, I learned why some drivers refused to give me a ride, which I'm sure everyone else already knew. In addition, I found that much of what I learned carried over from rickshaws to a variety of other modes of public transportation (horse drawn tongas, minitaxis, Suzuki pick-ups, taxis, vans, and three kinds of busses). Suddenly I could make intelligent small talk with Suzuki drivers. My new share in the local knowledge bank was paying off in my general conversational ability.