Unit 3 cultural values

Before reading: Why is it difficult sometimes for people of different cultures to understand each other’s behavior? Why do they see the world in different ways?

Read the following texts and comment on the author’s opinion of cultural differences.

Text 3 Cultural Lenses

When we meet people who are culturally different from us, they may seem strange to us. Why, why, why, we may ask. Why do they behave the way they do?

Russians who have visited America have asked:

Why do Americans always smile?

Why do they drink so much water? They’re always carrying bottles of water.

Why are many Americans fat?

These Russians, quite naturally, are looking at Americans through their own cultural lenses. They notice ways in which Americans are different from Russians, and they are surprised. They judge Americans by the rules of their own culture. Likewise, Americans see Russians through American cultural lenses, the French see Americans through French cultural lenses, and the list goes on and on.

This is a universal human quality. We encounter people from dissimilar cultures and we find them somewhat strange. They are not working and talking and dressing and eating in ways we are used to. Because our ways seem so natural and universal and correct to use, we forget that these dissimilar others are, at the same time, looking back at us and thinking how strange we are!

Americans who have visited Russia have asked:

Why do Russians never smile?

Why do they drink so much tea and eat so much soup? Why don’t they drink water with meals?

Why are many Russians thin?

They are seeing Russia through American cultural lenses. They are noticing ways in which Russians are different from Americans and they are surprised too.

Values Vary!

All cultures have been designed to meet universal human needs: for shelter – for love – for friendship. While they have commonalties, they have great variety too!

One universal feature of culture is values. A value is something that is important to people – like honesty, harmony, respect for elders or thinking of your family first.

Are they visible or hidden?

We can’t see values directly, but we can see them reflected in people’s ordinary day to day behavior. What we value shapes what we do. If respect for elders is important to me, I might listen very patiently to grandmother’s stories and not argue with her. In fact, I might turn to her for valuable and wise advice. If I value honesty, I will hope that my friends will tell me the truth and not what they think I want to hear. If harmony is more important to me, I prefer to say things that make people happy, even if those things are not exactly true.

VOCABULARY

- lenses – линзы

- to encounter – враждебно встречать, сталкиваться с

- shelter – убежище

VOCABULARY AND GRAMMAR EXERCISES

1. Study the texts and write out the most important words and ideas. Share your notes with your partner. Compare your texts, and add details to make your version more complete.

2. How are words with an opposite meaning formed? Remember some prefixes which give an opposite effect to an adjective:

Eg. … people from dissimilar cultures…

un- : unimaginable, unforgettable

in- : incapable, inhuman

im- : immoral, impractical

dis- : dishonest, dissimilar, disagreeable

il- : illegal, illegible

ir- : irresponsible, irregular

Supply the right form of the adjective. The first sentence is done for you.

1. The coast line is not regular in shape. It is irregular. 2. This arrangement isn’t strictly legal. Some people would regard it as __________. 3. It is not possible. Don’t ask me to do the ___________. 4. Such a situation is hardly imaginable. It’s quite __________. 5. Mark is not very capable. He’s ___________ of doing this job. 6. I’m not sure that she is literate. She can’t read or write. She is an ____________ person. 7. This scheme is not very practical. In fact, it’s quite ____________. 8.I can’t trust him. He is not always honest. He is said to be ____________.