ষষ্ঠ শ্রেণির পড়াশোনা
Meeting an Overseas Friend
Read the following conversation between Dalia and Leonard. And, act it out in pairs. Then, complete the following activities in pairs/ groups.
Dalia: We never call elders by their names. This is how we show respect (শ্রদ্ধা) to them.
Leonard: Interesting. Then, how do you greet someone? Like, in our country, we say hello to elders and strangers, and say hi to friends and younger. Also, we say good morning and good night.
Dalia: We also greet each other by saying good morning and good evening. But usually, Muslims greet each other by salam and Hindus greet by namaskar. We also say adaab to people from other religions (ধর্ম).
Leonard: Okay... this is very different from ours. You know what, I used to think that everyone greets the way we do.
Dalia: No, I think we have cultural (সাংস্কৃতিক) differences. Every culture has its own way to greet or address people.
Leonard: You know one thing, we do not like to hear the ‘No’ word directly.
Instead (তার বদলে), we use words such as ‘apology (ক্ষমাপ্রার্থী) ‘I am afraid’, ‘sorry, but’, then we explain (ব্যাখ্যা করা) why we are refusing (প্রত্যাখ্যান করা). For example, I would say, ‘sorry but I think we have cultural differences (পার্থক্য) or ‘I am afraid I think we have cultural differences’.
Dalia: That was new for me. We usually (সাধারণত) say no directly (সরাসরি).
Leonard: I agree (একমত) with you, we have cultural differences around the world… (Unfinished)
ইকবাল খান, প্রভাষক, বীরশ্রেষ্ঠ মুন্সী আব্দুর রউফ পাবলিক কলেজ, ঢাকা