CAPITAL LETTER 5: EDITORIAL

Publicado en Capital Letter No. 5
Mayo de 2004


Our global village


Everybody talks about globalization, globalization practices and their effects on people-One term that has been coined under this paradigm is that of the global village. In a village everyone knows who his/her neighbor is, what s/he does, what his/her background is, and what she expects from the future. There is a frame of mutual knowledge. Its construction is basically built upon the sharing of information. In doing so people must be willing to participate in a multiple way dialogue as there are many voices that need and want to be heard. In a global village, in contrast, its residents belong to different geographical, ethnic, political, and cultural backgrounds. Extra efforts are needed to know who the others are. Steps must be taken to bring people together. The goal is that distant neighbors establish relationships on behalf of all.


Many modern systems of communication like the internet and the cell phone have eased the exchange of information in our global village. Cultures from their part have significantly contributed to its expansion by permitting discourse interactions in many diverse languages. Capital Letter is very pleased to share with the academic community the ideas, beliefs, dreams, and values from different corners of the Foreign Languages Department. 


This issue includes the participation of the three languages that make up the major of Philology and Languages: English, French, and German. Our mother tongue has served in this edition as a lingua franca for a topic of common interest of the three programs: the research projects. Regardless of the language used, there is a growing interest for our village and its progress. May the future give us the chance of having the seven languages that make up our Department in the same publication.