As a second-year undergraduate in Life Sciences, concentrating in Molecular and Cell Biology, Fabian has a dream of discovering new things in research and development. Although he is pursuing a Science degree, he has the flexibility of being in other fields such as graphic design, publications and IT. His laboratory experience in secondary school sparked off his passion for research and laboratory work. While working for the International Soil Science Conference of Malaysia 2007, he was exposed to scientific journals by his employer, and thus deepened his interest in research. He also has a strong belief in importance of experience in trial-and-error, challenges and feats rather than studying for examinations.
Academics aside, he enjoys music, both listening and performing. He was a Senior Member and Secretary in his secondary school band. He held several responsibilities to teach junior members on music (theory and practical), conduct the band and design formations for state-level competitions. Heavy commitments in the school band have taught him excellent time management skills, which is applicable during his time in the university. He currently holds several positions in NUS Students’ Union (NUSSU) Standing Committees and other students’ societies.
Believing in continuous learning, he is currently developing his written and verbal communication skills through different platforms.
26 March 2009
16 March 2009
Communicating with the Academy
I am taking another Centre for English Communication (CELC) module, i.e. “Communicating with the Academy”. This module gives a general background on how knowledge is constructed and disseminated in the scientific community. I also learnt how scientific information is communicated to the community in general.
One of our tasks is to write a 3000-word journal article of which NUS undergraduates will be our target audience. Communicating scientific information to a general public is difficult as we need to tone down our usage of scientific terms and jargons, as they may not understand them. We can assume they have the general idea of a certain topic but not the details of it.
It has not been easy for me to analyse many texts from many different sources and put them in writing as it is my first time writing a scientific article. Otherwise, I am learning. Indeed, communicating with the academy and professional communication complements each other.
One of our tasks is to write a 3000-word journal article of which NUS undergraduates will be our target audience. Communicating scientific information to a general public is difficult as we need to tone down our usage of scientific terms and jargons, as they may not understand them. We can assume they have the general idea of a certain topic but not the details of it.
It has not been easy for me to analyse many texts from many different sources and put them in writing as it is my first time writing a scientific article. Otherwise, I am learning. Indeed, communicating with the academy and professional communication complements each other.
5 March 2009
Evaluating Intercultural Behaviour
Anthropology (culture, religion, etc) is a fascinating field in social sciences. Intercultural competence is the ability of successful communication with people of other cultures. Without looking beyond Singapore, NUS itself is a place full of culture and thus, fostering intercultural communication is important. Customs and etiquette in Japan are considered very important and the Japanese have high expectations of social behaviour.
Bowing
Bowing is deemed tremendously important in Japan, so much so that, children normally start learning how to bow from a young age; firms provide training for their employees on how to bow properly. Generally, the longer and deeper the bow, the stronger the emotion and the respect expressed.
When meeting with the non-Japanese, most Japanese will shake hands. As many non-Japanese are familiar with this custom of bowing, this usually leads to a combined bow and handshake. When bowing in close proximity, it is necessary when combining bowing and shaking hands, they turn slightly to one side to avoid bumping heads.
It is a way Japanese show respect to others who are older or of higher social status. If the non-Japanese are not comfortable with this practice of bowing, I believe the Japanese would just bow slightly when shaking hands.
Working and service ethics
Japanese generally arrive early and are ready to commence working as soon as work hours begin. They also commend other workers for support, even when they have been of little aid in succeeding. When leaving work, the greeting otsukaresama deshita (You're tired) is often used to those leaving, and the person who is leaving often says osaki ni shitsurei shimasu (I'm sorry to leave before you). For many workers, it is considered discourteous to leave before the boss goes home.
Generally, service employees will rarely engage in casual conversation with a customer with the intention of forming a closer as sometimes occurs in Western cultures. The service employees are expected to uphold a more formal, professional relationship with every customer. Private conversations among service staff are considered inappropriate when a customer is present.
Bowing
Bowing is deemed tremendously important in Japan, so much so that, children normally start learning how to bow from a young age; firms provide training for their employees on how to bow properly. Generally, the longer and deeper the bow, the stronger the emotion and the respect expressed.
When meeting with the non-Japanese, most Japanese will shake hands. As many non-Japanese are familiar with this custom of bowing, this usually leads to a combined bow and handshake. When bowing in close proximity, it is necessary when combining bowing and shaking hands, they turn slightly to one side to avoid bumping heads.
It is a way Japanese show respect to others who are older or of higher social status. If the non-Japanese are not comfortable with this practice of bowing, I believe the Japanese would just bow slightly when shaking hands.
Working and service ethics
Japanese generally arrive early and are ready to commence working as soon as work hours begin. They also commend other workers for support, even when they have been of little aid in succeeding. When leaving work, the greeting otsukaresama deshita (You're tired) is often used to those leaving, and the person who is leaving often says osaki ni shitsurei shimasu (I'm sorry to leave before you). For many workers, it is considered discourteous to leave before the boss goes home.
Generally, service employees will rarely engage in casual conversation with a customer with the intention of forming a closer as sometimes occurs in Western cultures. The service employees are expected to uphold a more formal, professional relationship with every customer. Private conversations among service staff are considered inappropriate when a customer is present.
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