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Extract 2

1 INTERVIEWER: Do you think a person can have the traits of two different national characters?

TIM PARKS: I think, I think you can up to a point - different areas of different national characters float to the fore. But that brings up the whole question of whether national character exists anyway, which is an interesting one. One of the things that has always been problematic to me was whether a national stereotype exists, like whether when I'm dealing with an Italian I can assume certain things from the start. And obviously when you go there you go there with a lot of preconceptions of how Italians are and then you have the problem that all the people you meet are different and have different ways of operating. So that it really is problematic sometimes and you begin to think that perhaps national stereotypes are like caricatures in that they have an element of truth and for that reason a caricature is always recognizable, but they're not actually what people are.

2. For example, the Italians and English have a mutually self-defining way of looking at each other. The Italians for example think the English are wonderful for their sense of civic duty, they're organized, they're slightly reticent, they believe in privacy, they generally pay their taxes and behave quite reasonably in certain situations and of course they're sportsmanlike etc. But the English are awful in other ways - they eat terrible food, the weather's awful and so we might go there occasionally but Italy's better in the end. And the British think of the Italians as wonderfully warm, beautiful women, wonderful landscape, great clothes, great art, great design - but those Italians, you know, can you really trust them, they might be a little perverse, they might be trying to fiddle you etc. etc. so again one will go on holiday but England's better in the end. And I think these traits which to a certain extent do exist in both nations are then exaggerated in order to define yourself by what you're not so I think there is an element of that. [2, 185]

V. Comprehension check

Answer the questions.

  1. Do you agree with Tim’s view on national stereotypes?

  2. How do you understand the following Tim’s words: “Different areas of different national characters float to the fore”?

  3. How would you define “ the national character of your nationality”?

  4. What is your country’s attitude to the official rules? Do people habituately break them?

  5. What are the things, which a foreigner living in your country would find difficult?

VI. Speaking

Speculate on the following statements.

  1. “When you are fluent in another language you feel different and freer than you do when you’re speaking your own language. Language reflects national character more than anything else”.

  2. “ In the modern world with global communications it is unnecessary and undesirable for us to hold on to our national character”.

VII. Read the text below quickly and answer the questions. Ignore the gaps at this stage.

  1. In what way has Italy changed in recent years?

  2. Is the same true in Belarus?