§1.1-1.5

• culture


  a collection of customs and social laws of a group of people
• cultural elements


  the most important characteristics of a culture, like religion, language and also values and standards
• values and standards


  a collection of the things people find important (values) and the rules of behaviour, by which they live up to these values (standards)
• cultural region


  an area in which you find people with about the same cultural elements
• language family


  a group of related languages that have grown from the same ancestral language
• cultural diffusion


  the process by which cultural elements spread across areas
• colony


  a colony is a settlement in a foreign area
• europeanisation


  the diffucion of european cultural elements across the globe
• americanisation


  the diffusion of North american cultural elements across the globe
• globalisation


  the process by which the world is becoming increasingly interconnected
• cultural homogenisation


  the process in which cultures become more similar
• global culture


  one culture that can be found all over the world
• cultural heterogenisation


  the process in which cultures become less similar
• glocalisation


  when products are distributed globally, but are customised for local markets
• islam


  the religious faith of Muslims
• qur'an


  the holy book of the Muslims
• five pillars


  five obligations that every muslim must satisfy
• sunnis


  the largest branch of islam
• shi'as


  the second largest branch of islam
• multicultural


  the existence of many different cultures in an area or society
• arabic


  the most important language in the islamic world
• lingua franca


  a language that makes communication possible between people with different mother tongues
• traditional religion


  an indigenous religion that was already practised before the influence of any of the major religions in the world
• living community


  a social group consisting of numerous families with a common culture
• nomad


  someone who doesn't have a permanent home and moves from place to place
• scramble for africa


  period between 1880 and 1914, in which european powers rapidly colonised the african continent
• natural border


  a boundary between two or more countries, formed by a natural feature like an ocean, river or mountain range
• artificial border


  a boundary between two or more countries, formed without taking natural and cultural features into account
• diaspora


  a group of people who are scattered, away from their ancestral homeland
• caste system


  a system in some South Asian countries, in which society is divided into several social classes, the so-called castes
• saving face


  to avoid that you will be lowered in the eyes of your peers
• losing face


  to be lowered in the eyes of your peers
• hinduism


  the oldest and most widely practised religion in India
• buddhism


  a widespread Asian religion that grew from the teachings of Buddha
• taoism


  a religion that was developed in ancient China by Lao-Tzu
• Confucianism


  a religion based on the ideas of the Chinese philosopher Confucius
• mandarin


  the official language of China
• Pinyin


  a system in which Mandarin words are written phonetically in English letters
• Rite of passage


  Rituals performed that mark important changes in life; marriage, death, birth