Topic 1. Understanding cultures

Ex 1. Answer the following questions related to the text.

1. What is culture?

2. What cultural phenomena do you know? Can you group them?

3. What do you know about cross-cultural communication?

4. Why is understanding people with different cultural backgrounds so urgent today?

5. What can interpersonal misunderstanding lead to?

6. Can peace be maintained through effective communication?

7. Is it easy to adapt to living in a culture different from your own?

8. How should cultural differences be treated?

9. What qualities are needed to overcome cultural differences?

Ex 2. Read the text, focusing on the following issues:

– the importance of intercultural communication in global world;

– the concept of culture and its components;

– the characteristics of different cultural phenomena;

– the qualities that make a person multicultural.

Why study intercultural communication?

As we enter the 21^st century, there is a growing urgency of understanding people from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds. From interpersonal misunderstanding to intercultural and ethnic conflicts, challenges exist within and between cultures. With rapid changes in global economy, technology, transportation, the world is becoming a small intersecting community. We find ourselves in increased contact with people who are culturally different, working side by side with us. In order to achieve effective communication we have to learn to manage cultural differences flexibly and mindfully. As Stella Ting-Toomey puts it in her book "Communicating across cultures", there are the following reasons for studying intercultural communication: global diversity, domestic diversity, and interpersonal learning opportunities. Getting to really know a dissimilar stranger helps us to glimpse into another world – a range of unfamiliar experiences and a set of values unlike our own.

"Culture" is an elastic dynamic concept that is also a multidimensional phenomenon. Stella Ting-Toomey defines culture is a complex system that consists of traditional beliefs, values, norms, verbal (language) and nonverbal symbols and meanings that are shared by interacting members of community. It is like an iceberg: the deeper layers (traditions, beliefs, values) are hidden from our view; we only see and hear the the upper layer of cultural artifacts (art, music, fashion etc.) and verbal and nonverbal symbols.

Cultural traditions can include myths, legends, ceremonies, rituals, celebrations that are passed on from one generation to the next.

Cultural beliefs refer to a set of fundamental assumptions that people hold dearly without question (the concept of time, space, the meaning of life, death etc.). Proposed answers to many of these questions can be found in the major religions of the world such as Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism.

Cultural values refer to a set of priorities that guide "good" or "bad" behaviors, "desirable" and "undesirable" practices, "fair" and "unfair" actions.

Cultural norms refer to a collective expectations of proper or improper behavior in a given situation (e.g. how to greet a professor, how to introduce yourself to a stranger).

A cultural symbol is a sign (a national flag), artifact (music, fashion), words, gestures that reflects something meaningful.

To understand a culture, a military diplomat needs to know in depth all the meanings of its core components as the modern concept of being a successful and competitive person stem from the fundamental values of a given culture.

Before we discuss the qualities, a multicultural person needs to have, it is necessary to explain the term.

A multiculturalist is someone who can easily adapt to living in a culture different from his own, the sort of person that could be described as a citizen of the world, or a member of the global community. There are four qualities you need to possess in order to be a multiculturalist.

The first one is to be open-minded, which means not judge one culture as better than another, or believe that the way things are done in your culture is the best or the only way of doing things. In other words, you should not be in any way "ethnocentric".

Second, you must be adaptable. To live successfully in another culture, particularly in one that is very different from your own, you have to adapt to differences: not only visible differences of food, climate, customs, but also to invisible differences – the ways in which people of other cultures understand and interpret the world and their different values.

Third, you need to be sensitive. That means being able to see things from the other person’s point of view and being careful to avoid doing different things that people of other culture might find offensive, even if in your culture such things are quite usual.

Fourth, you need to be interested in other cultures, which is closely related to the three qualities mentioned above. A multiculturalist is a person who has a genuine interest in people of other cultures, who wants to learn their language, find out about their country and its history, and develop a real understanding of their culture. Perhaps, this quality describes a multicultural person the best.

Ex 3. Study the Vocabulary Notes and speak on the relevance of the problems raised in the text to your professional performance using the new words and expressions.