Uchebnik_lakhotyuk_mikhaylova

finishing things – these are all qualities that Russians admire like other people might admire a contortionist in a circus.

The Russians make fun of Americans behind their backs. They can’t understand how such a naïve, poorly-educated and stupid nation can be so rich. They regard the success of American industry as inexplicable and unjust.

The French are categorized as fickle, elusive, unreliable, strange and ludicrous.

The Russians have a sentimental affinity with the English. They refer slightly ironically to ‘good old England”. It is known that the English make shoes and umbrellas, and they like to imagine that London is still populated by men in top hats strolling about the smog-ridden streets which all Russians know about through their reading of Dickens and Thackeray.

The Russians regard most of their neighbours with the patronizing eye of Empire. The Poles are thought to be sly and unreliable – even treacherous, capable of killing their own grandmother. The dislike is mutual. Polish women, on the other hand, are acknowledged to be beautiful.

The Ukrainians and the Russians have a legendary mistrust of each other, rather like the French and the English. In one typical anecdote an old Ukrainian peasant is told:” The Russians have gone into space”. “All of them?’ he enquires hopefully.

Definitely you know many other anecdotes about representatives of different nationalities. Would you like to share them with us?

4.4 The title of the article is “How the Russians see the other nations”. What contextual synonyms does the writer use not to repeat the word “see”? Look through the text and put them down. Find also pairs of synonyms and antonyms.

4.5 Discussion.

·How much truth is there in these descriptions, do you believe?

·To what extent do you agree?

·Which information is obsolete, which is still valid? What, do you think, the foreigners find strange about us? Do you find it difficult to answer? WHY?

The differences in languages and cultures which native speakers can’t recognize and the observers (representatives of other cultures) see immediately form the deepest bases of thinking. It is typical of a man to

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consider his own culture as the only right and all the others strange and sometimes stupid. But we should bear in mind that each culture has its opposite and equal culture shock, and we should breed up a feeling of tolerance towards other nations in our century of globalization.

4.5 Read an abstract about how the foreigners believe we see ourselves.

HOW THE RUSSIANS SEE THEMSELVES

The Russians firmly believe that, as a nation, they are destined to save the world. This is nothing whatever to do with the Revolution. This is something they have believed since the 16th century monk, Filofei, described Moscow as ‘the third Rome, and there will be no fourth”.

The Russians think of themselves as expansive, generous, open-minded, peace-loving and sincere. When the old Communist regime fell in August 1991 and the files were opened, they were genuinely amazed to discover that the Red Army really did have plans for invading Western Europe.

There is no word in Russian for privacy. Russians not only have no concept of the joys of being left alone, they regularly demonstrate their sense of solidarity with the rest of mankind by going up to complete strangers.

The Russians love to sit down for a nice long chat. Russian debates go on just not for years but for hundreds of years. They are still arguing about whether they should have anything to do with Western European culture and all the contamination of pure Russian hearts and souls that this entails.

The Russians prize the quality of soul above all others. Providing someone or something has dusha, he or she tends to drink too much, cry and fall in love. In Russian eyes this is a reassuring feature.

Russians have a tendency ‘to open their souls’ to complete strangers, telling everything about themselves even if the others don’t want to listen.

Russians are generous to fault. As you accept a share of their last crust of bread, an unworthy thought may cross your non-Russian mind: “Will he expect me to do the same for him one day?”

The Russians are extremely ingenious. The quality is called ‘nakhodchivost” – the knack of finding solutions.

In Russian folk stories and fairy-tales the hero Ivan Durachok triumphs because of his foolishness and simplicity. He is always asleep under a haystack when disaster befalls his cleverer and more ambitious brothers.

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The Russians are accomplished and habitual liars. This is something that has to be taken into account in business dealings and in affairs of the heart. They conceal the truth because they feel that it might be impolite to show the shabby reality. The habit of concealing the modest, not to say shameful, truth behind a bit of stage scenery was started by Katherine the Great’s favourite general, Potemkin, who once lined the route of one of her royal progress with villages which were, in reality, mere painted facades.

4.6 How much do you agree with what you’ve just read?

4.8 Some more information about American and Russian national characters. Insert missing prepositions. Be careful. There is one blank space which doesn’t need one.

Different strokes: Russians and Americans

Describing communication between American and Russian people we want to concentrate our attention 1___ the most important features of American and Russian national characters. We’d like to show you how they influence 2.____

the relationships between our cultures. These features can be seen 3. ____ people from different social groups, age groups, and reveal in different situations. Cross-cultural communication is rather a

complex process and a feature of character is one of many factors that interfere with the effectiveness of the process. We’ll cover only such features as individualism, privacy and choice.

American people proudly say that one of the main principles of their society is individualism. Individualism is 4.____ the core of many other national features. They think that their own opinion and independence are very important. In growing 5.____ children they pay much attention to individual intelligence of the personality, abilities and individual achievements of the person. That’s why they like competitions between friends. Competition is the principle of their life.

Most of the Americans consider that the ability to take care 6.____yourself is one of the most important ability. This individualism is reflected in family relations that are so different from those in Russia. Most of young people tend to leave their parents’ home as 7.____ as they graduate 8.____

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high school. Americans think that a grown-up person should live independently. The idea of freedom is very important for any American. Parents also teach their children to be responsible 9.____ their financial position. American people value their personal solitude very much. They live in small families where every member of this family feels independent. In their homes children have their own rooms 10. ____ locks. Americans are not going to bother you 11.____ their presence and very often after some party they will give you a chance to decide whether you want to continue some relationships with them or not. 12.____ the contrary, the feeling of ‘being with people’ is typical 13.____ Russian people. It’s quite all right 14.____ them to tell personal thoughts 15.____ someone. Americans think such ‘collectivism’ to be some kind of weakness and dependence. The American ideal is an independent person, whom nobody can say what to do.

4.9 It’s interesting to know.

We have the feeling of togetherness, while people abroad live according to apartness rule1. What for a rule is it? To be brief, it says about the tendency of Russians to do together what English, with remarkable frequency, do apart. This basic contrast of togetherness and apartness will be found throughout the cultures from their senses of self to the concepts of privacy and even to their social and economic systems. This togetherness/apartness contrast is probably the clearest theme that runs through all levels of culture: both internal and external which is reflected in behavioral peculiarities as well as psychology and a nation’s mentality. Russian culture is described as a seal culture2 and English as a bird culture3, the first characterized by a great deal of physical contact and the second, by relatively little. This is confirmed by the principal culture shocks4 experienced by members of each group when first arriving in the other culture: Russians feel lonely and isolated, and the English feel crowded and trampled. This is usually the first and perhaps the strongest and most frequent example of the togetherness/apartness contrast of the two cultures. We must understand that every cultural shock has its equal and opposite shock and it’s not right to consider strange mode of life as wrong only because it differs from ours.

Comments:

1 – автор говорит о коллективистской основе национальной психологии и поведении русских, а также об индивидуалистической основе психологии и поведении англо-говорящих иностранцев;

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2 –этим термином автор образно называет русскоязычную культуру, в которой традиционно сложились правила общения, предполагающие физический контакт и не запрещающие прикосновений; 3 –автор образно называет англоязычную культуру, где традиционно

сложились нормы общения, ограничивающие физический контакт (прикосновения) и предполагающие значительную дистанцию при общении; 4 –ощущение психологического дискомфорта (культурный шок).

4.10 Discussion

oAs far as togetherness/apartness rule is concerned, don’t you think that soon it won’t work? Ideas of individualism are beginning to

flourish in this country.

o Do you consider these changes positive?

(5) Heterostereotypes: UK&US

5.1 Glossary. Check if you know these words.

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5.2 Pair work.

Student A. Read and tell your partner about 5 typical things the Brits think about the Yanks …

1. FAT

One thing ALL Brits know about the Yanks is that they are fat. All of them. Every single one of them. They’re born fat, and they are the size of buses by the time they’re 10.

2. LOUD

With our little country villages, and our love of tea and cricket it’s quite obvious that we Brits like things to be quiet. And who are the loudest of them all? The Yanks! They shout across tables, they laugh like braying donkeys, and they don’t even know that there’s a thing called “whispering”.

3. FASHION POLICE

What else will help you to understand that someone’s American? Their clothes. That’s right, for a country obsessed with fashion, for some reason the only citizens they allow outside of the US are the ones wearing shiny white trainers, oversized shorts, a tartan shirt, and a badly fitting baseball cap. What’s all about? They look like idiots.

4. UNWORLDLY

We’ve never understood exactly what it is, but for some reason, Americans know nothing about the world, perhaps not surprising since allegedly less than 20% of US citizens actually own a passport. To quote George Bush (to the singer Charlotte Church), “You are from Wales? What state is it in?”, let alone his addressing Elizabeth II as Elizabeth the Eleventh.

5. WANT, WANT, WANT!

It’s a well known fact that most British waitresses have love/hate relationships with Yank clients. On the one hand, they do tip well, and you can earn plenty of money out of them. But on the other hand – what a pain they are! They are so bloody demanding and always complaining. Nothing’s ever good enough, and worst of all – “it’s not like it is in the States”. And you never can put enough ice in their drink!

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Student B.

Read and tell your partner about 5 things the Americans think about the Limeys:

1. BAD TEETH

Ever seen Austin Powers? You know, Mike Myers dressed up as a bizarre 60s comedy spy? Apart from the hair, the face, the glasses, the clothes – well, never mind the rest – what’s the most amazing thing about him? His teeth. They are huge. And yellow. And they point in different directions. I mean, hello! This is the 21st century,

people, go see a dentist, we don’t live in medieval times any more!

2. PRUDISH

Brits get embarrassed about things easily, unlike we in the US who can laugh something off. What gets them more bothered than anything else is sex. I mean this is a nation who defaced a load of classical Greek statues to stop “arousing people’s passions” and covered up piano legs for the same reason. Come on guys you can mention that kind of thing now, lighten up!

3. DRUNKARDS

10 pints and a fight, a great British night! Football chants, shouts, screams, broken furniture (even buildings) and foul-smelling streets. Why is any of this necessary? 27 million pints of beer are sold EACH DAY in Britain, enough said.

4. SELF-RIGHTEOUS COLONIALISTS

You think that God gave you the right to Anglicise other nations, even if the rest of the continent is populated by black, Swahili speaking people? Who do you think you are? All of you need to wise up to the world today and realize that it’s not 1900 and that the

globe is not controlled by a small island off the coast of France!

5. BIASED

Fact is, all Brits claim to hate America because they feel obliged to in order to defend their national pride, even if they’ve never been there. It’s even worse with the French – most Brits are very fond of their holidays to the South of France, however ask them what they think of the French people and the answer will be much less complimentary!

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The tone of the previous article is ironic, even mocking and a bit offending. Read some information about offences.

5.3 It’s interesting to know.

It’s always interesting to trace the origin of words back to ancient times. If you do it, you might learn, for example, that offences are not as humiliating as we think they are. How would you feel if somebody called you ‘imbecile’, ‘stupid’ or ‘idiot’? Stupid question!

But do you know that the word “imbecile” stems from the Latin word “bacilum”, which means “without a stick, without support”. So, “imbecile” is an independent person who doesn’t need any support. Remember our national hero Ivan Durak!

The word “stupid” stems from the Latin word “stupudus”. It means “astounded, puzzled, surprised”. So, stupid person is always surprised. Therefore, he’s retained the childish ability to be impressed by everything new in contrast with a fatigued sceptic.

The word “idiot» means “peculiar”, “the one who differs from others”. The word “idiom”, which means “peculiarity of a language” originated from this word.

(6) Jig-saw reading

6.1 Mind the pronunciation

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6. 6.3 Give Russian equivalents to the following English expressions.

6.4 Give English equivalents to the following Russian phrases.

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