Иностранный язык в сфере профессиональной деятельности (Intercultural Business Skills). Учебное пособие по английскому языку

Complutense in Madrid. In the early 2000s she studied phone users in the Spanish capital, in Paris and in London. Mobiles were a common sight, but Parisians and Madrileniens felt freer to talk in the street, even in the middle of the pavement. Londoners, by contrast, tended to gather in certain zones, for instance at the entrances of tube stations – the sort of place Ms Lasén calls an “improvised open-air wireless phone booth”.

In Paris people openly complained when bothered by others talking loudly about intimate matters, but complaints were rare in London. In both places, people tended to separate phone and face-to-face conversations, for instance by retreating to a quiet corner. But subscribers in Madrid often mixed them and even allowed others to take part in their phone conversations. The Spanish almost always take a call and most turn off voicemail.

Such variations reflect how people traditionally use urban space. In London the streets are mainly for walking.

Paris, however, is a place to stroll, the home of the flâneur.

In Madrid people inhabit the streets to talk together. As for their aversion to voicemail, the Spanish consider it rude to leave a call unanswered, even if it is inconvenient. This may be the result of a strong sense of social obligation towards friends and family.

Elsewhere, too, culture and history may help determine whether people talk in public or take a call. The Chinese often let themselves be interrupted, fearing that otherwise they could miss a business opportunity. Uzbeks use their mobiles only rarely in public, because the police might be listening. And Germans can get quite aggressive if people disobey the rules, even unwritten ones. In 1999 a German man died in a fight triggered by his ill-mannered Handy use.

Economics and other hard factors also shape habits. Olaf Swantee, the head of Orange’s mobile business, notes that pricey handsets are less popular in Belgium than in Britain because Belgian operators have long been barred from subsidising phones, a strategy widely used on the other side of the Channel. Italy, however, exhibits both low subsidies and many high-end handsets. Subscribers there do not want to spend much on airtime, but are keen to buy a flashy phone.

China is distinct because of economics and relatively lax regulation. Many consumers use shanzhai (“bandit”) phones, produced by hundreds of small handset-makers based on chips and software from Mediatek, a Taiwanese firm. Knock-offs are common, with labels such as “Nokia” and “Samsung”. Other innovative manufacturers have developed specialised phones, for instance handsets that can respond to two phone numbers, or models with giant speakers for farmers on noisy tractors.

Elsewhere the physical environment determines which kinds of handsets prevail, says Younghee Jung, a design expert at Nokia, the world’s largest maker of handsets.

In hot India, for instance, men rarely wear jackets, but their shirts have pockets to hold phones – which therefore cannot be large. Indian women keep

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phones in colourful pouches, less as a fashion statement than as a way to protect the devices and preserve their resale value.

It also makes for a noteworthy contrast with Japan. If women there keep phones in a pouch and decorate them with stickers and straps, that has nothing to do with economics, but reflects the urge to personalise the handset. Phones are highly subsidised in Japan and the resale value is essentially nil, so it is not unusual to see lost units lying in the gutter.

In some countries it is a common habit to carry around more than one phone.

Japanese workers often have two: a private one and a work one (which they often turn off so bosses cannot get them at any hour).

“I have one phone for work, one for family, one for pleasure and one for the car,” says a Middle Eastern salesman quoted in a study for Motorola, a handset-maker.

Having several phones is often meant to signal importance.

Latin American managers, for instance, like to show how well connected they are: some even have a dedicated one for the boss.

Yet digital technologies change quickly, and so do attitudes towards them. Will such differences between cultures persist and grow larger, or will they diminish over time? Companies would like to know, because it costs more to provide different handsets and services in different parts of the world than it would do to offer the same things everywhere.

COMPREHENSION

17. How much vocabulary have you learnt? Find the words and/or expressions in the text that mean:

1)a largegroup, especially of people, moving towards a place or doing something together as a group;

2)producing a greatnumber or amount of something;

3)showing a careful use of money, especially by avoidingwaste;

4)to do or use something because it is the only thing available;

5)to walk in a slowrelaxed way, especially for pleasure;

6)a feeling of strongdislike or of not wishing to do something;

7)too expensive;

8)without much care, attention, or control;

9)to stopworking, usually at the end of the day;

10)deservingattention because of being important or interesting.

18. Fill in the gaps.

1.Every summer _______ of sightseers crowd the city.

2.The company could decide to ______ litigation.

3.He was probably the most ________ songwriter of his generation.

4.She has a deep __________ to getting up early.

5.They have plenty of money now, but they still tend to be _________.

6.An elderlycouple _________ hand in hand in the park.

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7.The subcommittee contends that the authorities were _____ in investigating most of the cases.

8.The homes we looked at were either too ______ or not worth the work it would take to fix them up.

9.It is ________ that one third of students do not pay any tuitionfees.

10.What time do you _______ work?

GRAMMAR REVIEW: PRESENT PERFECT VS. PAST SIMPLE

19. Comment on the usage of tenses in the following sentences.

1.In the 1990s Americans and Scandinavians were early adopters of mobile phones.

2.No wonder that Tokyo’s teenagers have been called the “thumb generation”.

3.The country’s mobile boom was arguably encouraged by underlying social conditions.

4. Belgian operators have long been barred from subsidising phones, a strategy widely used on the other side of the Channel.

5.In 1999 a German man died in a fight triggered by his ill-mannered

Handy use.

6.Other innovative manufacturers have developed specialised phones, for instance handsets that can respond to two phone numbers, or models with giant speakers for farmers on noisy tractors.

7.In 2012 the average Japanese mobile user spoke on it for 181 minutes each month, about the global norm.

8.In the early 2000s she studied phone users in the Spanish capital, in Paris and in London.

20. Fill in the gaps with the appropriate tense forms.

at Stanford and an MBA at Harvard, I (2) _________ (work) for a while in a computer games company. But I always (3) _____ (feel) I (4) _______ (be) an entrepreneurial kind of guy. In 1997, I (5) _________ ( found) an Internet site for cheap travel: flights, hotels, renting cars and so on. I (6) ______ (obtain) money for investment in the start-up from friends”.

Now the site (7) _______ (have) 300,000 customers, and Pace (8)

________ (be) very rich, with a big apartment in Manhattan and a house in the Bahamas. “I don’t want to sell the company”, he (9) _______ (says). “I (10)

________ (have) offers from some big companies, but I (10) ____ (want to stay) independent. I (11) _______ (want to grow) the business and (12) ________

(do) thing my way.

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Unlike many entrepreneurs, I think I (13) ________ (have) the leadership skills to lead and inspire a large organization. I can see the day when I (14)

________ (be) in charge of a large business empire”.

WRITTEN REFLECTION

21.Comment in approximately 100 words: “English is becoming the main working language in up-and-coming commission departments...”.

22.Culture is becoming increasingly global. What are the implications for the future? Write a small paragraph (100 words) giving your views on this issue.

SPEAKING

23. With the help of what you have learnt from the text, prepare a presentation on the “dos and don’ts” that a business traveller must remember in various countries.

1.What cultural differences can you see in E. C.?

2.Foreign etiquette is obviously important when you wish to do business in.

3.Africa or India, but what about within the E. C.?

4.Compare the attitudes of people who “live to work” with those who “work to live”. Which group do you think you belong to?

Lesson 3. CULTURAL VALUES at WORK

INSIGHT INTO THE TOPIC

How do you feel when someone makes the following statement: “People in my country are much friendlier than people in your country”? The sentence is an example of an ethnocentric attitude. It suggests that one country or culture is superior to others.

Identify the ethnocentric attitudes in the following sentences. Give your comments.

1.Mentonia has produced the finest works of art in the world.

2.Mentonia is a superior country because it has produced the greatest technology in the world.

3.Non-Mentonians do everything the wrong way round.

4.The Mentonian language is the best language for poetry.

5.The Mentonian people have been very generous in teaching people in other countries how to do things the right way.

6.If everyone did things the Mentonian way, the world would be a better

place.

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Practice rewording statements to make them less ethnocentric: with your partners choose one or two of the statements above and change the wording so that they are no longer ethnocentric.

For example:

Ethnocentric statement: Mentonia has produced the world’s greatest literature.

Revised statement: Mentonia has many writers who have produced wellknown works of literature.

VOCABULARY

1. When we talk about people from other cultures we often express our understanding or lack of understanding.

Here are some of the more common idioms that express understanding or inability to understand. Match the idioms (1–5) with their definitions (a–d), translate them into Russian.

2. Complete the following sentences with the correct idioms.

1.Most training programs give the trainees a few months to ______ to how business works.

2.That new computer program ________ him. He just doesn’t understand the most basic applications.

3.It is important to _______ even when you are angry. Many communication problems develop because people just don’t try to listen to one another.

4.That is a very well-market product. I can _________ why it is so successful.

5.When negotiating with people from other cultures, it is important to consider everything carefully and to __________. What someone does not say is often as important as what one says.

3. Often the same word base can be used in verb, noun, and adjective ntts. Complete the following chart with the missing forms:

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4. Complete the following sentences with the correct verb, noun or adjective form of the words in the chart above. Use one form of each word base, and do not repeat any words.

1.They fired her after she yelled at the client. Her ________was rude and inappropriate.

2.She stopped smoking last week. It is now impossible to work with her. She is too _____ to do anything.

3.He listened to her ideas and then said he would ________using some of

them.

4.Learning how to speak a new language can ________ even the most patient student!

5.They are quite a team! He has great creativity, she has lots of technical knowleddge, and they _________well together.

6.She was confused by his question, so she didn’t ________.

7.Some people see a couple of American movies and then ________ that all Americans are violent.

8.__________ prevents people from seeing one another with open minds.

LANGUAGE EXPANSION

A value is the belief that a certain part of life is especially important. Every culture places different emphasis on family, work, religion, and love. Some cultures value family loyalty and romantic love. Other cultures emphasize independence from family and hard work. Still others stress religion and honor in the community.

5. Individually, think of four values that are important in your culture and four values you think are important in the other culture (choose one).

6. Form small groups of students from your country. Share your lists and decide which four values are most important in your culture and in the other culture.

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She is ____ first to arrive, at exactly 3 o’clock. When ____ others arrive, some shake hands with each other. Some kiss on one cheek, others on both cheeks. Others arrive and say hello without kissing or shaking hands. Some bring ____wine or ____ flowers, which ____ host does not open and puts to one side. ____ Others bring nothing.

In conversations, some people move their arms around a lot and seem to make _____ signs with their hands, _____ others keep their hands by their sides. Some people do not let others finish what they are saying, and others say almost nothing; ____ people with them seem upset and move away when they can. Some people look directly at ____ person they are talking to. _____ Others look away more. Some touch ____ arm of the other person whenever they are speaking to them. She noticed that some people seem to be slowly moving backwards across ____ garden as _____ conversation goes on, while ____

person with them is moving forward.

Later, somebody makes ____ joke but nobody laughs. Everyone goes quiet. _____ People start saying goodbye and leaving.

DISCUSSION

9. Consider cultural values in society. You are going to compare your country with another country. You can use your own experience, or interview someone who knows about the culture of another country. The interview could be with:

–a colleague/friend/classmate who has worked in another country;

–a colleague/friend/classmate who comes from another country. Study the list of values and ways of thinking below.

Control over events

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Structure and conflict

Use your experience, or do the interview, to compare the two countries. Write the first letter of the country in the appropriate place on the scales below.

INFORMATION

INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

Communication can be defined as the exchange of meaning. This involves the sending and receiving of information between a sender and a receiver. This happens not only through the use of words, but also through non-verbal factors, such as gestures and facial expression. The message received can be very different from the message that was sent. A common model for communication is shown in Figure 1.

Feedback

CONTEXT

Figure 1. A common model for communication

The idea or feeling comes from the source. This is put into symbols (encoded) to produce a message which is transmitted through a channel. The channel is the medium used for communication (for example, writing). The message is interpreted by the receiver (decoded), who responds. The context is

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the environment in which the communication takes place, “noise” here means anything which distorts the message.

Intercultural communication takes place when the sender and the receiver are from different cultures. Communication can be very difficult if there is a big difference between the two cultures; if there is too much “cultural noise”, it can break down completely.

SPEAKING

10. In what way could intercultural communication be important for the following people:

1)a doctor;

2)an internet website designer;

3)a university lecturer?

Suggested answers:

A doctor: Attitudes to illness, kinds of treatment, the role of the doctor and his/her relationship towards the patient vary widely across cultures. What is considered an illness in one culture may not be seen as such in another. Some cultures favour treatment of the whole person, others concentrate on dealing with specific symptoms. In some cultures the doctor will put more emphasis on the patient as a person, while in others the focus is on analysing the illness.

An internet website designer: Although the internet has its origins in the USA, different cultures are now using it in different ways that suit their own environment and needs. Research comparing how the same company presents itself on the internet in different countries has revealed considerable cultural differences. One example is that some cultures prefer to use visual material and icons, while others favour more text. A designer has to take these sorts of factors into account if the communication is to be effective.

A university lecturer: A university lecturer working abroad, or with foreign students or a multicultural group at home, will have to be aware of a number of cultural issues. In the UK or USA, for instance, students may well call their professors by their first name, which in other cultures would be a sign of disrespect. The role of the teacher is different in different cultures. Western teachers working in Thailand, for example, complained that the students rarely asked questions in their classes, not realising that it would be considered rude to ask questions, because this would imply that the teacher had not explained things satisfactorily in the first place. Forms of assessment vary – in some cultures, oral tests predominate, in others there are more written tests.

11. The following case is set in the UK. What would you advise Sarah to do?

Over a period of about five years Sarah, who is a manager within a private sector organization, has seen her team change in cultural composition. From what was once a white team, staffed predominantly by white staff, the team now includes four black staff, out of a total of 15 people.

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