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Module I culturally speaking

Introduction

This textbook begins from the idea that communication is inseparable from culture. The importance of cultural elements in interpersonal communication can’t be overestimated: when we chat, argue, plan a date or even say hi to each other we are interacting in culturally specific ways. Most of us tend to take these kinds of interactions for granted within our native language and culture. We do not usually think of them in cultural terms because they are such a basic part of our daily lives.

Yet different ways of looking at things associated with our different social identities may result in all kinds of misunderstanding, even conflict inside the same linguoculture. This misunderstanding can be caused not only by what you say but by how you say it – and this is where phonetics steps in.

The American anthropologist and linguist Michael Agar, Professor Emeritus at the University of Maryland, labels the process of interpersonal communication as culture blending, giving a number of examples of the abovementioned misunderstanding from his personal experience.

“One Friday afternoon…I went to a faculty reception. I met a colleague whom

I‘d corresponded and talked on the phone with but never met in person. She had helped me out a lot by sending me some bibliographies and course outlines from her field. When I finally met her, I thanked her and said something like ‘The least I can do is buy you a drink.’ She snapped to attention and said, rather sharply, ‘I can pay for my own drink.’ I explained that I’d have made the same offer to any colleague who’d helped me out, male or female or any other variation on the theme. I guess you could say that she just didn’t understand. But in this case, we both did. She had read my invitation as a come-on, converting her to pick-up; I’d meant it as thanks.”( M.Agar. Culture Blends, p.14)

Differences happen within languages and across them. When we are exposed to a different language as part of a different culture, we begin to realize that communication is not something natural that we just “know how to do”, we are constantly reminded that people around the world have different values and customs which find specific verbal and non-verbal expression. In this way we become aware that the ways we interact with other people are linked to larger cultural expectations, that communication should be viewed in terms of shared cultural knowledge that is to be learned and practised, in a word we begin to see communication as culturally constituted.

The textbook is based on a comparative approach (where possible) which means that we are going to consider the communicative and cultural practices of English-speaking nations in relation to those common in Russia. This approach, we hope, might stimulate interest in and encourage respect for both Russian and English cultures, for learning a second language and coming to terms with a foreign culture means learning more about your own language and culture.

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