Read the quotation below and comment upon it.

A man’s feet must be planted in his country, but his eyes should survey the world.

George Santayana

1.2   Read the following definitions below and express your opinion on them.

a) Intercultural competence is the ability of successful communication with people of other cultures. This ability can exist in someone at a young age, or may be developed and improved due to willpower and competence. The bases for a successful intercultural communication are emotional competence, together with intercultural sensitivity.

b) Interculturally competent is a person who captures and understands, in interaction with people from foreign cultures, their specific concepts in perception, thinking, feeling and acting. Earlier experiences are considered free from prejudices; there is an interest and motivation to continue learning.

Can you say that you are interculturally competent? Are you prejudiced against any culture? Why? Give examples of most frequent cases of intercultural prejudices.   

READING

 

2.1 Before reading the text below make sure you know these words, use a dictionary if it is necessary. Share your ideas with your groupmates.

 

Accommodation                       Repair

Code switching                         Language awareness

Cooperation                              Competence

Let-it-pass principle                  Intercultural awareness

 

 

  GLOSSARY

В ilingual

       A person who speaks two languages very well.

Boastful

       To talk with too much pride about one's own abilities or achievements.

С ommunity

       The group of people living in a particular place; a group of people bonded together by a     

       common religion, nationality or occupation.

С onform

       To behave, dress, etc. in obedience to some standard considered normal by the majority.

С ontext

       The background or setting.

С ontroversial

        An argument or debate that has been going on for some time, often with large 

        differences in opinion.

Discourse

       Written or spoken communication.

Discourse community

        The forms of communication of a particular group e.g. doctors, men, Singaporeans.

Emergent

        To become known, to come into view.

Essentialise

       To stereotype or oversimplify another person or culture.

Globalisation

      The interconnect nature of modern cultures, economies and politics.

Heritage

       The characteristics, qualities, property, culture etc. that one gets (inherits) at birth.

Homogeneous

        Made up of parts or elements that are all of the same or similar kind or nature.

Inevitable

        Unable to be avoided; certain to happen.

Innate

       Natural or instinctive, rather than learnt or acquired.

Interaction

       Action or influence of people or things on each other.

Interlocutor

       Someone who takes part in a conversation or dialogue.

Interrelated

       To be in or be brought into a mutually dependent or reciprocal relationship.

Lingua franca

       A language that has been chosen as a means of communication amongst the speakers of

       different languages.

Mediate

        To be in the middle of something, to try to bring together two different opinions, sides,   

       ideas etc.

Multicultural

       Many cultures, a person or place that has many different cultural influences.

Multilingual

       A person who speaks many languages.

Native speaker

       Somebody who speaks a language as their first language (L1) or mother tongue; the term

       has been quite controversial as it can be difficult to decide who is and isn't a native    

       speaker.

Norm

      1. A typical pattern or situation. 2. An accepted way of behaving, e.g. social norms. 3. A  

      standard.

Resistance

      To oppose, fight against or remain unchanged by someone or something.

Schema

      An organised pattern of thought or behaviour (from psychology).

Subjective

      Based on personal opinion, thoughts, feelings, etc.