 |
Unit 1. Culture and cultural differences
|
|
|
|
UNIT 1. CULTURE AND CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
The aim of the unit is to teach you to see what culture is; to invite everybody to think about business from cross-cultural perspective and to help explore issues of intercultural communication in the business context.
READING
1. Work with a partner and discuss these questions.
a. What do interculturalists mean when they use the word culture?
b. How do business partners from different countries greet each other?
c. Is it dangerous to have stereotyped views about other cultures? Why?
2. Now read the text and check your answers.
TEXT 1. CULTURE
“People can only live fully by helping others to live. When you give life to friends you truly live. Cultures can only realize their further richness by honoring other traditions. And only by respecting natural life can humanity continue to exist. ”
Daisaku Ikeda
http: //thinkexist. com/quotations/culture
Culture can be defined as all the elements which come together to form the way of thinking and acting which allows one group of people to be distinguished from another and it includes, among other things, a system of values. In this course, culture is not used in the sense of literature, music, and art, but rather in the sense of a shared system of attitudes, beliefs, values, and behaviour.
Various models have been used to illustrate the concept. It can be seen as an iceberg, for instance, with the tangible expressions of culture and behaviour above the surface of the water, and the underlying attitudes, beliefs, values, and meanings below the surface. Depending on the individual's perspective, those involved in intercultural interactions could be on a cruise liner approaching the iceberg, or the
Titanic about to crash into it.
When interculturalists use the word culture they do not just mean national culture, but the whole range of different types of culture. These include: corporate culture (for example, the culture of Microsoft);
• professional culture (for example, the culture of lawyers or doctors);
• gender culture (the different cultures of men and women);
• age culture (the different cultures of young, middle-aged, and old people);
• religious culture (for example, Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam);
• regional culture (for example, Northern and Southern Italy);
• class culture (working class, middle class, and upper class).
In business environment, understanding cultural differences is essential. Different attitudes, different behaviour, different values must all be understood and accepted if successful business dealings are to take place. International business people often invest time and money in improving their knowledge of foreign languages in order to be able to communicate with colleagues from around the world. Language, of course, is vital, but it is only half the problem. There are hidden rules for playing the game of doing business with people of other cultures. It is all to easy to " put your foot in it" by making mistakes which can upset your foreign counterparts.
|
|
|
An American, greeting a mid-European businessman by saying " Hi Dieter, great to meet you! " may not be favorably regarded in a country where more formal modes of address are usual. In the West, business cards are given a cursory glance and pocketed. In Japan, they are highly regarded, looked at closely and left on the table during a business meeting. In Britain, most business presentations would include a joke. In many other countries, this would be unheard of. Will you cause offence if you refuse to eat something generally regarded as inedible in your country? Your counterpart may be watching your reaction when he offers you this local delicacy. Small talk and relationship building are considered highly important in some parts of the world; talking about the weather, the wine and the local area come before business. In other places, people get down to business immediately.
It is important to know the way things are usually dealt with in your host country. Problems arise because we see things differently. It helps to be aware of how other nationalities perceive certain things. The Japanese see the sun as red. It is an important national symbol which appears on their flag. When Japanese children paint pictures, they paint a red sun. European and American children paint the sun yellow. When children travel and see the sun painted in a different color, they are surprised and find it very strange. Adults find these differences harder to accept. Both sides may feel uneasy because they are unsure of the rules of the game in the opposite culture.
It is, however, very dangerous to have stereotyped views of what the other culture is like. Such views are often narrow and can cause criticism and intolerance. " A little knowledge is a dangerous thing" and can encourage you to make predictions about what will happen in your business transactions. If your ideas are too narrow, you may be surprised at all the people you meet who do not fit into your pattern and who behave differently from the way you predicted they would. Our ideas then, have to be flexible and constructed from thorough research and observation. We should also recognize that it is not only people's national background that influences their behaviour and personality, but also their particular regional background, their personal background and their company culture.
Источник: Английский язык: межкультурная коммуникация.
[Электронный ресурс]: практикум / Е. Б. Гришаева, Р. А. Свиридон.
– Красноярск: ИПК СФУ, 2008.
3. Read the text again and complete the chart below:
| Culture is a modern concept which can be defined as… | all the elements which come together to form the way of thinking and acting. |
| In this course, culture is used in the sense of… | |
| Different types of culture include… | |
| Small talk and business relationship in different parts of the world… | |
| Other nationalities perceive certain things… | |
| Dangerous stereotyped views about other culture… |
|
|
|
Essential Vocabulary
| distinguish | различить; разглядеть, рассмотреть; находить отличия |
| behaviour | образ действий, поступки; манеры; поведение |
| allow | позволять, разрешать |
| influence | влияние, действие, воздействие |
| appear | показываться; появляться |
| offence | обида, оскорбление; проступок, нарушение чего-л. |
| various | различный, разный, разнообразный |
| prediction | предсказание; прогноз; пророчество |
| perspective | перспектива, ракурс, проекция |
| inedible | несъедобный |
| to be aware of | знать, сознавать, отдавать себе полный отчёт |
| personality | индивидуальность, личность |
| background | 1) задний план, фон; незаметная позиция 2) подоплёка; подноготная (какого-л. события, явления) 3) условие, исходные данные; предпосылка |
| observation | наблюдение, замечание, высказывание |
| to be flexible | быть гибким, пластичным |
| intolerance | непереносимость; нетерпимость; чувствительность |
| view | точка зрения, мнение, взгляд |
| perceive | 1) воспринимать, понимать, осознавать; постигать 2) ощущать, различать, чувствовать |
| to get down to | браться |
| glance | (быстрый) взгляд |
| cursory | беглый, поверхностный, небрежный |
| value | ценность; важность |
| attitude | позиция; отношение |
| belief | 1) вера; доверие 2) мнение, убеждение 3) верование |
| tangible | ясный; ощутимый, заметный; отчётливый, реальный |
| essential | важнейший; необходимый; основной |
| interaction | взаимодействие; взаимосвязь; взаимовлияние |
| improve | улучшать; совершенствовать; поправлять, налаживать |
| accept | допускать, признавать; принимать, мириться |
| vital | (жизненно) важный, насущный, существенный; необходимый |
4. Use dictionaries to study the meaning of the following vocabulary items:
culture, background, value, belief
1. write out common collocations with them
2. Find derivatives formed from value, culture.
5. Match the words with their definitions. There are two extra definitions:
| 1. distinguish | a) completely necessary |
| 2. behaviour | b) to take something that someone gives you |
| 3. attitude | c) to make something better |
| 4. tangible | d) very important, necessary, or essential |
| 5. essential | e) to look somewhere quickly and then look away |
| 6. intolerance | f) to recognize the differences between things |
| 7. interaction | g) feelings about something, especially as shown by their behaviour |
| 8. improve | h) the amount that something is worth, measured especially in money |
| 9. accept | i) the way that someone behaves |
| 10. vital | j) someone's refusal to accept behaviour, beliefs, or opinions that are different from their own |
| 11. cursory | k) important and noticeable |
| 12. glance | l) the activity of being with and talking to other people, and the way that people react to each other |
| 13. perceive | m) a personal opinion, belief, or attitude about a particular situation or subject |
| 14. view | n) not based on any particular plan, or not done for any particular reason |
| o) quick and not thorough | |
| p) to understand or think about something in a particular way |
|
|
|
6. Fill in the blanks with words from the word-box. There are two extra vocabulary items:
| perspective | to be flexible | to be aware of |
| personality | inedible | to get down to |
| observation | prediction | interaction |
1. He has a very outgoing ______________and makes friends very easily.
2. After lunch we ___________ discussing the issue of pay.
3. She's been admitted to hospital for ________________.
4. You can call it brave or foolish, depending on your ______________.
5. A gymnast has _______________ above all else.
6. Has anyone in your family had heart problems? ' 'Not that I_____________. '
7. The government maintained its ______________ that inflation will hold to 7% this year.
|
|
|
