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The Writing on the Wall - How Asian Orthography Curbs Creativity (Hardcover)
Loot Price: R2,258
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The Writing on the Wall - How Asian Orthography Curbs Creativity (Hardcover)
Series: Encounters with Asia
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The Writing on the Wall How Asian Orthography Curbs Creativity
William C. Hannas "This well-written, well-documented book
convincingly argues that there is a 'creativity gap' between East
Asian countries and the West."--"Choice" Students in Japan, China,
and Korea are among the world's top performers on standardized math
and science tests. The nations of East Asia are also leading
manufacturers of consumer goods that incorporate scientific
breakthroughs in telecommunications, optics, and transportation.
Yet there is a startling phenomenon known throughout Asia as the
"creativity problem." While East Asians are able to use science,
they have not demonstrated the ability to invent radically new
systems and paradigms that lead to new technologies. In fact, the
legal and illegal transfer of technology from the West to the East
is one of the most contentious international business issues. Yet
Asians who study and work in the West and depend upon Western
languages for their research are among the most creative and
talented scientists, no less so than their Western counterparts.
William C. Hannas contends that this paradox emerges from the
nature of East Asian writing systems, which are character-based
rather than alphabetic. Character-based orthographies, according to
the author, lack the abstract features of alphabetic writing that
model the thought processes necessary for scientific creativity.
When first learning to read, children who are immersed in a
character-based culture are at a huge disadvantage because such
writing systems do not cultivate the ability for abstract thought.
Despite the overwhelming body of evidence that points to the
cognitive side-effects, the cultural importance of character-based
writing makes the adoption of an alphabet unlikely in the near
future. William C. Hannas is a senior officer in the Foreign
Broadcast Information Service, specializing in East Asian science
and technology issues. He is the author of "Asia's Orthographic
Dilemma." Encounters with Asia 2003 360 pages 6 1/8 x 9 1/4 7
illus. ISBN 978-0-8122-3711-5 Cloth $69.95s 45.50 ISBN
978-0-8122-0216-8 Ebook $69.95s 45.50 World Rights Asian Studies,
Philology and Linguistics, Languages Short copy: Based on the
latest scholarship in cognitive science and linguistics, and the
author's intimate experience with East Asian languages, "The
Writing on the Wall" provides a balanced and thoughtful account of
one of the most important problems facing modern Asia in the age of
globalization.
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