SUSS Podcast · Singapore University Of Social Sciences

Learning: The ArtScience of Digital Communication (Part 1)

·20 min

The conversation begins from a straightforward idea. Communication has changed across the last decade, and the pandemic has sped up shifts that were already reaching family, religion, education, work, and politics. Susan Xu Yun makes that change feel personal. She recalls university days shaped by letters from her parents and, later, the limit of one international call a week in the 1990s, which gives the current digital environment a sharper historical edge. Lin Youyi extends the point through translation. She uses the Korean term hyung and the betrayal scene in Squid Game to show how a word can carry brotherhood, hierarchy, and heartbreak at the same time, and why a literal equivalent can miss the emotional structure built into the original language. That example opens the larger problem. The episode suggests that digital tools can move text quickly, but they cannot carry every cultural signal, especially when meaning depends on status, family role, or shared background. Singapore provides the next set of examples. Susan points to terms such as Wei Sai Jie, a transliteration of Visite Day, and Le Ling, a euphemism for senior citizens, to show how expressions can be deeply clear inside one speech community and opaque outside it. The BA in Translation and Interpretation sits in that frame. As the programme marks its 15th anniversary in 2022, the discussion treats translation training as a way of learning cultural interpretation, not just language substitution. The theoretical section then widens the lens. Susan explains that cross-cultural communication is difficult because different communities build different expectations around how people should speak, agree, disagree, and relate to one another. Collectivist cultures and individualistic cultures become the clearest contrast. In one setting, it is more natural to begin from common interests and relationship; in the other, difference and creativity matter more, and it can be acceptable to agree to disagree. The conversation keeps coming back to adaptation. To cross the barrier, speakers need to notice the other side's frame, adjust their own approach, and use creativity as a practical tool for understanding rather than as a slogan. The tone stays calm throughout. Its strength is the way it moves from memory to example to theory without losing sight of how language shapes trust, empathy, and everyday misreadings.

As heard by us

A grounded look at how digital change and cultural nuance shape what communication can carry.

The conversation follows how digital transformation and the pandemic have reshaped communication across family life, education, work, religion, and politics.

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Why you'd press play

Press play if you want to hear how digital transformation and the pandemic changed how communication works underneath the words.

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