Unit 4 The Interaction of Languages and Culture

UNIT 4 The Interaction of Languages ​​and Culture

LEAD-IN

1. Answer the questions.

1. What is intercultural communication?

2. What does intercultural competence involve?

2. Read the definition of intercultural communication.

Intercultural communication is defined as situated communication between individuals or groups of different linguistic and cultural origins. This is derived from the following fundamental definitions: communication is the active relationship established between people through language, and intercultural means that this communicative relationship is between people of different cultures, where culture is the structured manifestation of human behaviour in social life within specific national and local contexts, e.g. political, linguistic, economic, institutional, and professional.

Intercultural communication is identified as both a concept and a competence. Intercultural competence is the active possession by individuals of qualities which contribute to effective intercultural communication and can be defined in terms of three primary attributes: knowledge, skills and attitudes. 

(http://www.lanqua.eu/theme/intercultural-communication)

3. Read the quotations and share your opinions in small groups. What evidence can you present to debate?

“Language learning and culture learning are two sides of a sheet of paper. You cannot remove one from the other” Jeremy Harmer

“If you talk to someone in a language he or she understands, that goes to the person's head. If you talk to somebody in his or her language, that goes to the heart.”  - Nelson Mandela

“Speak a new language so that the world will be a new world.”  - Rumi

Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going. - Rita Mae Brown

4. Elicit your background knowledge of the following and answer the questions.

1. How does language reflect culture? How does language shape culture?

2. How does the use of language represent the broader notion of national or cultural identity?

3. Why is language vital to cultural and national identity? How does it unify people?

4. What are some things that define a culture? For example, music, language, etc.?

5. How do new technologies and the Internet affect culture?

6. Does globalization bring cultures together, force them further apart or both?

7. What do you think is interesting about your culture?

8. What do you think is important when visiting another culture?

READING