CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION Making Contact in Another Culture

Сontents

Введение………………………………………………………………..4

Unit 1 Making Contacts in Another Culture…………………………….5

Unit 2 Keeping the Conversation Moving……………………………...12

Unit 3 Choosing Conversation Topics………………………………….16

Unit 4 Interacting in a Group…………………………………………...24

Unit 5 Guiding the Conversation………………………………………..31

Unit 6 Advice............................................................................................43

References……………………………………………………………….48

Keys……………………………………………………………………...49

Unit 1 Making Contacts in Another Culture

Culture Learning Questions

1 In your own language and culture, how do you start a conversation?

2 Where do people usually make contact and meet other people in your own culture / in other cultures?

3 How do people make contact in your language and culture (in English / American culture)?

Cultural Note

Getting to know people from a different culture is not always as easy as getting to know people from one’s own culture. It takes time and effort to develop cross-cultural relationships. If you want to make contact with people from another culture, you may have to “make the first move”. It includes

- greetings and openings;

- finding a topic for discussion;

- meeting and getting to know others;

- extending invitations;

- visiting;

- closings and farewells.

Where Americans make contact. Some join religious institutions such as churches. Some become involved in community affairs, joining groups, associations and organizations or doing volunteer work. Others join clubs, where they know they’ll meet people with whom they have interests in common. But there are more usual places to make contact. Firstly, it’s your neighborhood which is a place to start, but remember that you may have to be the one to approach your neighbor first. If one of your neighbors seems friendly but you’ve only exchanged greetings, try starting a conversation. Once you’ve had several conversations, extend an invitation. Have that person come into your home for an informal visit. If you work in the day and don’t have much of a chance to talk to neighbors in the day, take a night class in a subject or activity that interest you. Talk to people before class and during the breaks. Remember they may not come to you first. You probably see the same people in the cafeteria or by the coffee machines. Start talking to them. Some may not respond very much; others will respond in a way that tells you they would enjoy talking to you again.

Don’t be discouraged if some of your efforts to make contact are not successful. You can’t always know who will and who won’t be responsive to your attempts to make contacts. Some Americans feel too busy to widen their circle of friends and may simply not want to develop a friendship. Some native-born Americans may appear shy and inexperienced with people from different culture. And there are always some people who do not want to get to know others from different cultures.

Finding people to meet. You might have to actively seek out the type of person that wants to meet people from different culture. For example, at work or at school, you could post a sign offering tutoring in your language (in exchange for English lessons, for example). You could organize a pot-luck dinner for people you work with and in this way, you will probably encourage interest in your culture. (Remember, too, that food provides a good topic of conversation and helps people feel comfortable!). Involvement with people who are interested in your background can lead to contact and interesting relationships. It will probably take awhile to make contact, and especially to make friends, in a new culture. The easiest type of contact is the familiar contact with people from one’s own culture. It’s important to have this familiarity when everything else is different.

In the United States, there are many different kinds of greetings. The way two people greet each other depends on their age, their type of job, the amount of time between their meetings, the area of the country they live in, and so on.

People almost always shake hands the first time they meet in business situations. They use titles (Dr., Mr., Miss, Ms.) at first but they may ask that other people call them by their first names. They don’t shake hands with people they see very often. For example, if they see someone in a business situation only once every ten months, they probably shake hands. If they work with that person every day, they don’t shake hands. They just say “Hi”, “Hello” or “Good morning”.

At a casual (informal) party or social event, people often – but don’t always – shake hands when they meet someone for the first time. In these casual situations, you don’t normally shake hands with people you already know.

If two women (or a man and woman) are friends or relatives who don’t see each other often, they might hug; in addition, they might kiss each other on one cheek (but not on both). However, this custom is more common in some parts of the country than in others. For example, people in California greet each other with a hug more often than people in small Midwestern towns do. This kind of greetings depends on the individual people, too; that is, some people don’t greet others with a hug because it makes them uncomfortable. They are not used to greeting that way.

People who met each other a short time ago don’t usually hug or kiss. Two men hug each other only if they are close friends or relatives who don’t see each other often. However, two men might hug when they are very, very happy about some good news.

Greetings and openings in most languages mean almost the same.

Phrases for Greeting and Responding to Greetings:

Greetings and Openings Responses

“Hi (Hello). How are you?” “Fine. And you?”

“Hi. How are you doing?” “O.K. How about you?”

“Hi. How is it going?” “Pretty good. How about you?”

“How’ve you been?” “Not too bad. How about yourself?”

“Hi. How are things?” “O.K. Can’t complain.” (very

informal)

“Hi. What’s happening?” (very “Oh, not much. How about you?”

informal)

“Hi. What’s new?” “Not a whole lot” (very informal)

“How about with you?”

After the greeting and opening, one of the speakers should ask questions in order to find something to talk about and initiate the conversation.

Phrases for Initiating the conversation:

“Hello. Where are you from?” “Where did you come from?”

“Do you like sports?” “What sports do you like?”

“Do you have a job after school?” “What do you do after school?”

“Do you like your job?” “How’s your job going?”

“Is everything O.K. with your boss?” “How are things with you and your

boss?”

“Do you like your class?” “What do you think of your class?”

Some questions which can encourage conversations are: “How about you?” or “What about you?” or “What do you think?” or “What do you think of…?”

A lot of small talk is “situational”. That is, people initiate a conversation about their common situation. This is often a starting point for further conversation. For example:

At a party: “How do you know Kate?”

At a film: “Do you go to see international films often?”

At a university lecture: “What do you think of Professor Adelman’s talk?”

In English, one of the best ways of initiating and maintaining a conversation is for at least one of the speakers to ask the other questions or to add extra information to a one-word response. In the following conversation, Judi helps to maintain the conversation by giving more than a one- or two-word response:

Char: Where do you work?

Judi: I work at the university in San Diego. I’m a computer operator.

Char: How’s the weather in San Diego? I’m from San Francisco.

Judi: It’s warm most part of the time. For the past two winters, we’ve had a lot of rain.

Closing and Farewells. Sometimes Americans have trouble ending conversations with each other. This may be because there is no one way of ending a conversation. In some other cultures, there are specific ways to end the conversation, such as bowing or shaking hands. After the bow or the handshake, the conversation stops. In the U.S., people sometimes take several minutes to say “Goodbye” and, as they do, you can see them backing away from each other. By the time they are about fifteen or twenty feet apart, they’ve often said their last “Goodbye”.

Phrases and Expressions for Ending a Conversation:

Closings Responses

“O.K. Nice to talk to you.” “You too. See you later.”

“Well, I gotta be going.” “Talk to you later. Bye bye.”

“Well, gotta get back to work.” “Same here. See you.”

“Hope to see you again soon.” “Me too. Take care.”

“Good seeing you.” “You too. Hope to see you soon.”

“I’ve got to run.” “I do too. I’ll see you later.”

Cross-Cultural Skill Practice. Responding to Greetings and Openings. Initiating a Conversation.

1 Give a few examples of ways you begin conversations in your native language. Say them first in your language and then translate them into English. How do they sound in English? Can you translate them word for word?

2 a) Find out if the city where you live has the places where it is possible to make contact with others.

b) Go to as many places as you can and find out what is available in your city. Make a list of local:

a) activities; b) clubs; c) organizations; d) adult school classes; e) volunteer organizations; f) newcomer clubs; g) your choice

c) Report back to the group and compile a list of ways to make contact in your country.

d) Are these common ways of making contact in your own country? Explain your answer. Compare it with the ways of making contact in English-speaking countries.

4 Respond to the words and questions on the left using one of the responses you learned earlier. Respond with an answer and a question:

For example:

“Hi. How is it going?” – “Not bad.” (answer)

“How are things with you?” (question)

1 “Hi, (name). I haven’t seen you a while. ___________________

How’ve you been doing?”

2 “Hi, (name). Good to see you. How are ___________________

you doing?”

3 “Hi, (name). What’ve you been up to ___________________

lately?”

4 “Hi, (name). How are things?” ___________________

5 “Hi. How are things going?” ___________________

6 “Hi. What’s happening?”

5 Change the following yes/no questions to what, when, where, why and how questions:

1 “Did you like the movie last night?” ______________

2 “Do you like this country?” ______________

3 “Do you like American food?” ______________

4 “Do you like your job?” ______________

5 “Have you been in this country for a long ______________

time?”

6 “Do your children like living here?” ______________

7 “Have you travelled to other countries?” ______________

8 “Do you like sports?” ______________

9 “Do you have a job after school?” ______________

6 Ask another student his or her opinion by using one of the following questions:

For example:

Student 1: “At work, management is making a new rule saying that people can’t smoke in the buildings. I don’t really like this rule. What do you think?”

Student 2: (Student gives an answer), “I think it’s a good rule. If you’re not smoker, it’s not pleasant breathing in other people’s smoke.”

1 Student 1: “I think people in restaurants should stop smoking. It’s not fair to people who want to enjoy food. _________?”

Student 2: ____________________________________________

2 Student 1: “It doesn’t seem fair to me. When we do business with

Americans, we have to do it in English even when they’re in our country. They should learn our language.________?”

Student 2: __________________________________________

3 Student 1: “I think when a person goes to another country, he or she should do exactly what the people of that country do. You know, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do’. __________?”

Student 2: __________________________________________

4 Student 1: “English is a very easy language. That’s my opinion. _____?”

Student 2: ___________________________________________

5 Your choice of topics.

7 Read the following conversation and discuss the problem with it.

(Rick sees Debbie at a party and decides he would like to get to know her)

Rick: Hello. Where are you from?

Debbie: From New York.

Rick: Why did you come to California?

Debbie: To study.

Rick: Oh, what are you studying?

Debbie: Architecture.

Rick: How long do you plan to stay here?

Debbie: Two years.

Rick: When did you come?

Debbie: Three weeks ago.

(Rick is already feeling frustrated. He decides it is not worth getting to know Debbie).

Following is the same dialogue between Rick and Debbie. Change it so that it is not one-sided by adding a question or a comment after Debbie’s short answers. Give Rick’s responses to Debbie’s questions:

Rick: Hello. Where are you from?

Debbie: From New York.________________________________

Rick: _____________________ Why did you come to California?

Debbie: To study.______________________________________

Rick:________________________ What are you studying?

Debbie: Architecture.___________________________________

Rick:______________________ How long do you plan to stay here?

Debbie: Two years._____________________________________

Rick: _________________________ When did you come?

Debbie: Three weeks ago.________________________________

8 In the following dialogue, a student is discussing language learning with her teacher. Add extra information to the teacher’s one-word responses:

Mari: Do you think that learning a foreign language is difficult?

Ms. Sofia: Yes. ______________________________________

Mari: Are some languages easier to learn than others?

Ms. Sofia: Yes._______________________________________

Mari: Should children in elementary school be required to study foreign languages?

Ms. Sofia: Yes, _______________________________________

9 In pairs respond to the following closings. Try to vary your responses.

For example:

“Nice talking to you.” “You too. See you later. Bye.”

1 “Good to talk to you.” __________________

2 “Well, I’ve got to run.” __________________

3 “I’ve enjoyed talking to you.” __________________

4 “O.K. I’d better be going now.” __________________

5 “Hope to see you soon.” __________________

6 “Good seeing you.” __________________

7 “Well, gotta get back to work.” __________________

Date: 2015-01-12; view: 1089