David Mark KATAN - Translating Cultures: An Introduction for Translators, Interpreters and Mediators, Sintesi del corso di Lingua Inglese

Scarica David Mark KATAN - Translating Cultures: An Introduction for Translators, Interpreters and Mediators e più Sintesi del corso in PDF di Lingua Inglese solo su Docsity! Chapter 2: Defining, modelling and teaching Culture 2.1 Definition of culture People instantly know what ‘culture’ means to them and to which country they belong, but giving a definition of this word has always been notoriously difficult. One of the oldest and most quoted definition of ‘culture’ was formulated by the English anthropologist Edward Burnett Tylor: “culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge beliefs, art, morals, customs and many other capabilities and habits acquired by a man as a member of society”. Defining culture is important, not as an academic exercise, but because defining it is to delimit how it is perceived and taught. Here we're not talking about High Culture, with a capital C, which is external to the individual and relates to a particular and restricted body of knowledge learned; here we are talking about a culture that is not visible as a product, but is internal, collective and is acquired rather than learnt. The acquisition happens through informal watching and learning; learning, on the other hand is formal and consciously taught. This culture we’re interested in is acquired before the formal learning of Culture at school. The word ‘culture’ comes from the Latin cultus, ‘cultivation’ and colere ‘to till’: seeds continually absorb elements from the land, to ensure their development, and in the same way people continually absorb vital elements from their immediate environment which influence their development within the human system. 2.2 Approaches to the Study of Culture Gail Robinson grouped the various definition of Culture into two basic levels, external and internal:  the external behaviors are language, gestures and customs/habits and their products are literature, folklore, art and music;  the internal culture is made of ideas, beliefs, values and institutions. Each of these definitions can be seen in terms of a variety of approaches, which will affect the teaching style and content of a course on culture: behaviorist, functionalist, cognitive and dynamic. • BEHAVIORIST → discrete behaviors or sets of behaviors, shared and observed Behaviorist approach selects facts about what people do and not do in a culture. This approach can load students with facts of dubious relevance, banalities and an implicit view that the British choose to do, or not to do, is naturally better or superior. In this case, the main problem is that this kind of approach is ethnocentric. Ethnocentrism is the belief that the worldview of one's own culture is central to all reality and is often accompanied by feelings of dislike and contempt for another culture. • FUNCTIONALIST It looks at the reason behind the behavior and tends to stay locked within a judgmental frame based on one’s culture dominant values. The bias towards one or another culture tends to be ideological based. A principal theme tends to be the criticism of one culture for having dominated another. Culture is deeper than politics, and will orient people towards dominating or accepting domination. Our work as translators and interpreters or mediators is to understand others and what makes sense to them, rather than argue that we, and only we, have the truth. • COGNITIVE It explains how the brain works in linking a particular cause to a particular effect. It uses the concept of modelling and mapping. Many authors used the analogy of computer programming to explain the cognitive approach: for example Geert Hofstede said that such factors of thinking, feeling and acting are our software of the mind; so before learning about any other country, one needs first to learn how his own software of the mind works. The difference between a human brain and a computer is that the human brain can react in unexpected and creative ways; each culture has a set software which every member will acquire to a greater or lesser extent. Claire Kramsch says that language students cannot be expected to fully understand another set of institutions or even authentic material such as newspaper articles because students cannot see past their own culture. All these models treat culture as a frozen state, and they also suggests that mediation between culture it is relatively straightforward. So there is another approach to culture, what Gail Robinson calls the symbolic definition of Culture: the dynamic approach. • DYNAMIC According to this theory, culture is not an independent fact to be found my consulting books, maps or any other static system, but culture is a dynamic process, constantly negotiated by those involved. However this does not mean that the culture is constantly changing but that there is a dialectic process between internal models of the world and the external reality. So, clearly, at this point teaching cannot simply be in terms of a teacher explaining facts. There are two conclusions from viewing culture at this level:  students become actively involved in learning about culture through ‘hands on’ experience;  change is possible not individually but in society as a whole. As the global village becomes more of a reality, so these changes will lead to a leveling of difference and a move to the lowest common denominator: McDonaldization. 2.3 McDonaldization or Global Localization? The process of globalization of Culture can be clearly seen in the converging style of dress and eating habits among the young; this is what sociology calls McDonaldization. According to George Ritzer, “McDonaldization is the process by which the principle of fast food restaurant are applied to other sectors of American Society, as well as the rest of the world”. The fast-food principles are those of rationalization which are: - efficiency, product ordered and consumed in minimum time; - quantity, good supply for a good price; - predictability, product range identical at home and abroad and reproducible worldwide; - control of both employees and customers in terms of standardized practice (e.g. waiting and sitting time). The dynamic process of McDonaldization is changing the behavior of consumers, now the world is united by American hamburgers, jeans and trainers, followed by Hollywood entertainment. Kaynak, in fact, says that “the growing significance of global communications blurs national differences, nowadays age and lifestyle may be more important than national culture.” There are two main points to mention here:  the blurring of differences only happens at a visible level. What does not blur are the more important yet invisible elements of what actually makes a culture; “ it is a fallacy to think that just because Russian drink Pepsi, now Pepsi means the same for them as Americans.” [Kramsch]  the four principles of McDonaldization are not applicable worldwide. Shannon Peters Talbott points out that none of them fits Russian interest in eating at McDonald’s. She also mentions that Russian don’t go to McDonald’s for the same reason as Americans, and now MC in Moscow became a ‘slow-drink’ rather than a fast-food. According to Tallbott, there will always be global localization and multi-nationals will always adapt dynamically to local cultures. Another important point of McDonaldization is that, for example, even though McDonald has adapted with a well-stocked Italian bar, it doesn’t even attempt to compete with Italian coffee. The importance of local cultures is taken extremely seriously by big business, and the models underline the fact that the more a company develops, the more important the cultural factor is. 2.4 Models of Culture The approaches to culture are not mutually exclusive and none of them totally cover all aspects of culture. The various theories operate at different levels, in much the same way as the earlier discussion on translation and the cultural factor. Modelling is a process which simplifies how a system functions. Learning facts is not enough and bridges between cultures cannot be taught. Models can be taught and are much more useful in understanding how culture functions. These models come from some of the major influences on training in culture for the business community.  Trompenaars’ Layers / Three Layers Trompenaars has been studying culture and how it affects business for over 20 years. His model of Culture consists of three concentric rings or layers of Culture: a. the outer layer is the most visible layer, he calls this ‘explicit’ and it’s the level of Culture with a capital C: artefacts and products; the organization of institutions, such as the legal system and bureaucracy, is included here; b. the middle layer differentiates between norms and values; norms relate to social rules of conduct – how one should behave in society – while values are aspirations which may never actually be achieved; c. the core is not visible and it contains basic assumptions about life which will have been handed down unconsciously from generation to generation.  Hofstede’s Onion / Onion’s Skin Hofstede uses the metaphor of the skin of an onion, not because of any tears but because there are superficial and deeper layers. The main difference between Trompenaars and Hofstede is that Chapter 3: Frames and Levels 3.1 Frames Even the simplest of messages come with another message. The English anthropologist Gregory Bateson pointed out that all animals communicate about their communication and this ‘communication about’ is called metacommunication. In linguistics, the Greek suffix meta- means ‘about’. Hence ‘metalanguage’ is language used to talk about language: ‘verb’, ‘noun’, ‘actor’, ‘parataxis’, etc. Bateson also discussed the closely related term frame: he was one of the founder of the neuro-linguistic programming; this discipline adopts frames to help clarify problems in human communication. What is the relationship between the context and the frame?  context: an external representation of reality;  frame: an internal psychological state and make up part of our map of the world; it’s not real in the same way as our maps of the world is not the actual territory. So what is within the picture is to be understood in terms of the title of the picture; what is outside the picture and its frame is to be understood from a wider frame (that will affect our interpretation of the picture). Bateson says that there are always two possible interpretation: one from inside the frame and one from outside, and each frame will in turn be subject to a yet wider frame – at an art gallery we can either associate totally with the picture and forget the wider context of the gallery itself or we can focus on the gallery as a whole and interpret the picture in relation to the other pictures; when we associate totally with the picture there’s the possibility that we mistake it for reality, because the picture is just a symbol yet sometimes can become as important as the reality. Tannen and Goffman said that frames are culturally determined. Tannen follows Bateson in understanding a frame as an interpretative device, though she would probably prefer the metaphor of a moving film rather than a static picture or a map. Another term related to frame used by linguists is prototype which is the ideal or idealized example held in a frame. For communication to take place there will have to be some form of matching between the event in reality and internal representation, which would include the prototype in a frame. Every message contains another message, the metamessage which is located at a higher level and frames the message. The frame itself is an internal representation which can also contain a prototype of what we should expect. Many of these frames together make up our map of the world. 3.2 Logical Levels Logical levels explain how individual learning, change and communication function. Dilts initially isolated five levels, a hierarchy of frames which all biological or social system operate within. The same levels operate whether we are talking about an individual, an organization or a culture. Similar frameworks for the organization of the communication process have been created by linguists, but the main difference is that here the levels are hierarchically ordered and interrelated in that the higher level organizes information on the level below – the reverse can happen but is less usual. The levels are: environment, behavior, strategies and capabilities, values and beliefs, identity. 1. ENVIRONMENT, where? when? The basic level is the surrounding environment, the sum of external factors or constraints affecting an organization or process. It is who or what can be seen, heard, felt through the senses, in time and space. ex. Sherman McCoy, an oak-panelled elevator in a luxury co-op apartment in New York. 2. BEHAVIOR, what? Organizations and individuals react to and operate on the environment through their behavior, which can be verbal or non-verbal, and will generally – but not always – be visible to interlocutors. ex. Polland Browning (interlocutor) watches Sherman stooping down to pick up the dog. 3. CAPABILITIES, how? Without appropriate skills desiderated behavior cannot be accomplished. Capabilities relates to patterns of behavior, its organization and repeated use as a strategy. This is the level of pragmatics and norms that are instrumental in the organization of the discourse and genre. It is the first level that frames the interpretation of behavior. ex. Sherman’s behavior is based on the knowledge of informal rules of social conduct. Without this knowledge, he would not have picked up the dog. 4. BELIEFS, why? This is a complex area and includes core beliefs, values, attitudes and criteria. Depending on one’s values and beliefs, certain strategies will be selected resulting in a particular behavior in response to the environment. Beliefs are mental concepts, theoretical constructs, formed in response to specific needs. They provide the idealized examples for the frames and as such provide us with expectations about what the world should be like. ex. Sherman believes that he’s a good citizen and that good citizen should follow the rules of social conduct. If he did not believe this he would have not picked up the dog. The application of beliefs will of course depends on capability: we may believe we can speak a language but, if we don’t have a sufficient command of it, objectively our performance will be limited. Beliefs are the vital motivational factors and can stimulate capabilities, but on the other hand, they can be limiting rather than permitting. No matter what one’s actual capabilities are: if one has limiting beliefs, resulting performance will be negative. 5. VALUES, why? Beliefs embody values. Our core values are the basic unconscious organizing principle that make up who we are. Once they are formed they very rarely change; if they do change, then our identity will also change. Values embody what is important to us and act as a fundamental principles that we live by. Neuro-linguistic programming distinguishes between general guiding values and values in a particular situation which are called criteria. Criteria guide choice in a context and motivate us either away or towards particular options – decisions includes everything, from which TV program to watch to type of career choice. 6. IDENTITY, who? Values and beliefs will be determined by the type of person, organization or culture in a particular context. 3.3 Culture and Behavior  CULTURE IS A FILTER: culture is only one of the filters responsible for affecting behavior: members of a political party may accept the underlying party culture but may as well vote against the party line for personal reasons, an act according to personal conscience;  INDIVIDUALS ARE MEMBERS OF MANY CULTURE: we are all members of a number of different cultures, so while we are in the environment of one culture we may well be responding as member of a second culture. Cultural differences can be manifested in a wide variety of ways – some of the differences we have no choice over (race gender, family, religion, social class) while other cultural differences may be the result of more personal choices (neighborhood, friends, education, corporate culture, profession).  THE DISTRIBUTION OF CULTURE: every culture allows for a certain deviation or eccentricity. For example, in Britain and Italy everyone recognize kissing on the cheek as a sign of friendship, though the behavior is atypical in Britain; so there will be people within each culture who behave in the same way but also many who do not.  CONGRUENCE: we can only be members of a particular culture if, as first condition, we believe we are. We also need to sincerely share some beliefs about values, strategy, behavior and appropriate environments. If behavior is to be seen as part of culture it will have to be congruent with a set of beliefs shared by that culture.  ECOLOGICAL FALLACY: Hofstede says that it would be a mistake to say that all values are held to be true by every person in a culture. What is true is that in a particular culture every person is likely to accept those underlying cultural values, associate beliefs and patterns of behavior congruent with that culture. So, the Logical levels function as a hierarchical series of meta messages, linking behaviour in an environment to a pattern of strategies (how) and organised by a set of values and beliefs (why). These are all framed at a higher level by the role or the identity. The Logical levels model provides a unifying framework within which all the approaches to culture can function. There are many cultures one will be a member of; any of these may act as an important frame responsible for behaviour, but culture is not the only factor influencing behaviour. Chapter 4: Logical Levels and Culture 4.1 Environment - brief discussion of some of the isolates – building blocks of culture – of the environment responsible for influencing culture-bound behavior, including culture with a big C. 1. PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT: until recently, physical barriers such as seas, rivers, mountains were considered cultural barriers due to the lack of physical contact; but nowadays with the advent of mass transportation and communication links, these physical barriers have become less of an obstacle. Today there are very few cultures physically cut off from other cultures. By the end of the Second world war motorways and tunnels begin to criss-cross the barriers. By the 60’s television and telephone had linked every house. It seems to be part of the western culture to need to anchor the interlocutor to a particular physical environment. One of the first question to ask someone on a first meeting is “where are you from?” and we will construct a set of behaviors based on certain value judgements and believes that we have about people live in that particular place, so we tend to attach an identity to an address. 2. POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT: today fundamental religious Muslim, Christian and Zionists and ethnic beliefs are dividing the world. But it is when political and religious ideology are not the subject of discussion but part of the general environment that it can create tension for the translator and interpreter. The background ideology will provide the profoundly different interpreting frame on the behavior. 3. CLIMATE: environment is not only visual or auditory, but also sensory. Climate and the meaning of the weather is not immediately pan-cultural. The weather is stereotypically a national British preoccupation. Climate defines a country, and certainly behavior change radically in response to the sun: for example, originally in response to the hot and humid summers, people used to sit outside on the porches and would chat; after the 50s with introduction of air conditioning the focus of attention changed from the outdoors to the sitting room. 4. SPACE: the natural environment can be oppressive. Hall suggests that the presence or absence of physical space is a determining factor in the culture bound meaning of private and public space; these distances – or space ‘bubbles’ as he calls them – are culture-specific. For example, Mediterranean and Arab cultures will find personal distance too restrictive, while Asian culture will regard this distances as too close, especially when gender is taken into account. The British place a high priority on private space in comparison with the Americans. According to Hall this is strategy is a response to the lack of physical space in Britain. 5. THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT: individual buildings set the scene for the identification of institutions or social groups; we all ten to size up new institution by its entrance, imposing, warm and so on. This feeling is generalized to the whole institution and to the people working there. We also automatically change behavior according to building: for example when we enter a club or a mosque, a church, a temple we also dress differently. In business the size and position of the office, its furniture are indication of one corporate identity; the criteria are culture-bound: in a open place office, the ‘window people’ would be regarded as having a better position in the West, while in Japan this is a discrete way to tell the employee that his services are no longer crucial and he/she should decide to find another job. 6. DRESS: usually the first sign of identity, it can be seen as part of the environment but the meaning of informal or casual is strictly culture-bound. American dress style, for example, is regarded as too informal by European standards. Sneakers have become universal footwear, but only in America they’re used universally by most of the people most of the time. It's not Unusual for American politicians or business people to be pictured wearing sneakers; for the French and Italians the wearing of casual dress signifies a non-professional behavior. Dress not only delineates national culture, but almost all other cultural groups. The most immediate case is that of men and women. There is even a word for the infringement of the unwritten Western gender dress code: ‘cross- dressing’, which is culture specific. A sarong or pareo, a wraparound skirt-like garment, is equally worn by men and women in Southeast Asia, but it would be considered inappropriate wear for men throughout the West. At a practical level interpreters involved in face-to-face cross-cultural encounters have to dress appropriately. But what is appropriate, again, is country specific – Italy and France tend to the more formal in comparison with Americans. The concept of casual itself varies from country to country. 7. OLFACTION AND FOOD: what we may consider a good smell or a bad smell is culture specific. Westerners for example complain about the smell and taste of the Asian fruit durian, describing the experience of eating it a 4. AESTHETIC LEVEL: at this level people begin to develop awareness of things for what they are. According to Maslow and Dilts, only where the other levels have been satisfied, one has the time to look at the word and appreciate it. In the ‘civilized’ world this higher level of imprinting takes place at school. 5. META LEVEL: the final level goes beyond the satisfaction of self and looks towards purpose in life; identity and evolution are considered not only from a personal but also from a social point of view. At this stage the person begins to look for a Higher purpose. All this models are culture specific, relating only to those culture that place individual self-realization over social belongingness. 4.8 The Model as a System  ROLE CHANGES When beliefs about role identity change, all the other levels are affected. A translator should become more active in obtaining more information and this may involve the commissioner of the translation and others to clarify the frames of the translation. Not every translator can expect such cooperation: they are at the biological level, surviving in a small and competitive market. In the not too distant future a mediator insistence on information will be essential for survival. A mediator should be able to understand and identify with both cultures and languages, then he will have to have a high tolerance for difference and believe in the relativity of values – the belief that no culture has an inherently better or worse hierarchy of values. His mission will be to improve mutual understanding between people.  LEVEL CHANGES In general any change in the higher level will affect all lower levels. ex. An Eastern European grown up and believed in communism which now is a capitalist. A change in ‘identity’ involves a change in ‘mission’, so now he sees his mission as an explorer, out to stake new territories for himself, only motivated by personal success and entrepreneurship. The result will be a change in behavior.  A DYNAMIC MODEL OF CULTURE For a full picture of how the culture is operating dynamically we should analyze the Logical Levels, looking first at the environment, working up finally to identity at the top. Clearly, the environment will change constantly but is both the most visible element and also the least important. The environment can radically change but if there is no change in belief, behavior will be the same.  ATTRIBUTION THEORY Our ethnocentric approach to other cultures and the basic principles of cross cultural communication can be analyzed through the Logical Level model. ‘Ethnocentric’ means that we tend to blame the individual people and their culture for our own internal response: this process is known in psychology as the attribution process. The attribution theory was first discussed by Fritz Heider in 1958: he suggested that perception of behavior depends on our own personal position. Every time we have a negative reaction to someone's behavior, we are attributing our own meaning to that behavior, but a few seconds will allow us to realize that this is a form of mind reading and that behavior, like language, makes sense only in its own context. ex. A British A and an Italian B. If B says “tell me!” – translation of the formal subjunctive “mi dica” – he may be seen as impolite because of the imperative, used to indicate anger, authority or urgency. On the other hand, in culture A directness in language may well be positively valued. Hence, what is a positive communication behavior in culture A is interpreted as a negative personal trait in culture B.  HABITUS AND LOGICAL LEVEL CLASHES Another way of describing the system is to use Bourdieu’s habitus, which is cultural comfort zone and characteristic ways of acting. When change takes place and we move out of our traditional habitus and comfort zone, tension is created. Chapter 5: Language and Culture 5.1 Contexts of Situation and Culture Bronislaw Malinowski was one of the first anthropologists to realize that language could only be understood with reference to culture: a context of culture. He coined the term context of situation and noted that a language could only be fully understood when these two contexts – situation and culture – were implicitly or explicitly clear to the interlocutor. He studied the inhabitants of the Trobriand islands and their language Kiriwinian and felt that he had to make a number of changes in translating from Kiriwinian conversation into English; he realized that he needed to add a commentary to make explicit what was implicit for the Trobrianders. First, he needed to explain the immediate situation of the conversation to the English audience. Secondly, he realized that not only the immediate environment needed to be clarified for the English, but also traditional beliefs were encoded in the text and were not immediately understandable in translation. Malinowski was interested in the role of language in producing meaning more than his fellow linguists, even if he was an anthropologist. The word meaning itself is open to a number of different definitions, then it is part of the informal culture, so many linguists felt that it was not worthy of study; translation suffered in the same way. The particular meaning under study here is not semantic meaning but culture-bound meaning (context of culture); even more subject to individual interpretation. If semantic was not part of mainstream linguistics, then culture was even more rarely discussed. Context began to receive more attention in 1933 were the American linguist Leonard Bloomfield published Language. According to Bloomfield, the meaning of the communication is the response that you get. Social background is very important, “the occurrence of speech depend upon the entire life-history of the speaker and of the hearer”. 5.2 The Sapir and Whorf’s hypothesis Sapir, like Malinowski, was convinced that language could only be interpreted within a culture; he went further suggesting that no two languages are ever sufficiently similar to be considered as representing the same reality . There are two versions of the Sapir and Whorf’s hypothesis: 1. STRONG, where language actually determines the way the language user things, which would suggest, for example, that bilinguals would automatically change their view of the word as they change language; 2. WEAK, which suggests that language has a tendency to influence thought. This version of the theory has many more supporters in anthropology, linguistics and translation. Supporters of the week version suggest that language is one of the factor influencing our understanding of reality, but it's not the determining Factor. 5.3 Lexis Sapir and Whorf had a different understanding of the term ‘language’. According to Sapir, the key to cultural reality was in the lexicon so language was a case of labelling lexis. ex. in the Eskimo language there are many words to describe the snow because they know much better what the snow is like; we have just one word to say snow because our experience of these phenomenon is limitated. So, according to Sapir, lexicon determines the way we describe reality, the way we see reality. - POLITICAL CORRECTNESS: A surface lexicon choice clearly influence thought. In many cultures there is a tendency to a politically correct way of talk, and this necessarily affects the acceptability of a translation; the target is not so much ‘decency’ as ‘sensitivity’ in general. The aim of the PC movement is, accorging to Bryson, “to make language less wounding or demeaning to those whose sex, race, physical condition or circumstances leave them vulnerable to the raw power of words”. The PC view is that if an evaluative or offensive word is substituted by a standard or technical term, then the evaluation or the offence is also removed. Words like master, bachelor or governor are generic but usually give rise to thought of men rather than women. This gives rise to what they term ‘indexical offence’. Whether or not we have indexical offence, the use of language does affect thought. The first response here is determined by language. There are many who believe that changing form will not change the offence; they believe that ‘a shop assistant’ is still ‘a shop girl’, ‘an office manager’ is just a glorified ‘secretary’. For many, PC is seen as limiting intellectual and artistic freedom. There are two points to be made here with regard to cross-cultural communication: 1. Surface lexical choice clearly does influence thought, but surface structure does not necessarily mirror underlying thought; 2. What is most interesting about the PC phenomenon is not the debate itself but the fact that it is treated in different ways in different cultures – in Italy the PC movement is almost non-existent; the leader of one of Italy’s most important political parties uses language which no politician or influential party leader could ever use in America or Britain. What the British conservatives feel about PC is what mainstream Italy feels; the variant British orientation is the dominant Italian. So, different cultures respond to the politically correct movement in different ways: only some cultures believe that the use of language has significant direct bearing on thought. This demonstrate Sapir’s main point that there are different realities behind different language. - CATEGORIZATION One fundamental aspect of Sapir’s theory is categorization. We organize our perceptions so that we put what we see into a predefined category; that this leads us to the importance of expectations, so frames and prototypes. Categorization at this level is technical. ‘Snow’ is categorization of the environment; those who spend the winter months skiing will also have a higher number of special words for snow, even though this will not make the skiers see the world any differently, but they will see snow differently. Another example of categorization at the level of environment is easily seen in a supermarket. For example, the labelling of spaghetti in Britain simply states spaghetti. In Italy spaghetti is sold in a variety of labelled sizes. This is a technical distinction, but a change in labelling becomes important when it is conceptual. - LEXICAL AND CONCEPTUAL GAPS Apart from different ways of categorizing what is seen, language can actually lack the concept itself. The language can either borrow the language label or invent his own label; bilinguals often make use of a second language to fill in the lexical gaps, this is also known as adoption, importation, transfer or transference. Italian, Japanese and many language tend to borrow either to fill the gaps or to impress because it looks good. English, on the other hand, tends to invent the English lexical grammar coining new words from old English. This is common in American English: when the pilgrim fathers, the first settlers in America arrived in the new land, they needed new words to describe a new reality so they use compounds, sewing two familiar concept to produce a new one (eggplant, catfish bluegrass). 5.4 The language system Whorf’s main interest was in the grammar or language as a system. He was able to show that there existed two types of languages, temporal and timeless. - ADVERTISING A striking example of how language system reflects different realities comes from advertising. The strapline cannot be simply translated; the whole text has to be redesigned because selling the same product to different countries is not the same as selling to the same world with different labels. And gaffes in the translation or in the non translation of advertisement are many: for example, a Swedish advertising for vacuum cleaner was literally translated for the United States market and they wrote “Nothing sucks like an Electrolux”. Nike wanted to translate their famous “Just do it” but the problem was that these slogan has no syntactic or semantic equivalence in many of the language that they wish to translated into. So, in the end they decide not to translate it. But in Japan this slogan sounded weird: Japanese competitive advantage is due to long-term thinking and not to just doing it, so neither the concept nor the language comes naturally to Japanese culture. - INTERPLAY BETWEEN LANGUAGE AND CULTURE There is a link between language and the context of culture. It is also clear that, at a lexical level, though English does not have a single dictionary entry to concept like simpatico or targhe alterne this does not mean that the concept cannot be bought or understood. As Roman Jakobson stated “ languages differ in what they must convey and not in what they convey”. to benefit from learning. But the less positive aspect of generation is that it limits the model of the word, so reducing choice. - UNIVERSAL QUANTIFIERS: they are all encompassing, they do not allow for any exception. Typical universal quantifiers are: all, always, each, every, any, never, none, nothing, never. The use of universal quantifiers is common in advertising and they’re often implied, as in much persuasive language such as political discourse. The universal quantifiers are often implicit in stereotypes. In generalization the specific context is lacking. The first point to clarify would be the context. 6.5 Deletion 6.5.1 The Use of Deletion It takes place on two levels: 1. SYNTACTIC: the first is lexico-grammatical. A native speaker would realize that though we have all the necessary elements, others could be added to give a full representation of the who, what, when, where and how. The meaning of a sentence may be implied, vague or even ambiguous – this type of ambiguous specification is often at the basis of jokes, as more than one interpretation is possible. It is also an important device in literature and is the basis of poetic effect. Linguistic deletion allows the hearer to create an array of possible closures and hence fully participate in the communication act. 2. SEMANTIC: the second is the use of metaphors – a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or an action that it does not literally denote in order to imply a resemblance. Of course, by only applying a resemblance we have an incomplete surface representation. The usefulness of deletion is clear in everyday talk. A perfect example is legal test which is so explicit to be unreadable; though the language contains no legal terminology, its completeness makes for opaque reading. Halliday introduced the concept of Fog Factor (or lexical density): the fog index is an index of the clarity of the text. The higher the number of words, the thicker the fog. Deletion can also interfere with communication either, because the surface representation is no longer connected to the speaker’s model of the word (linguistic deletion) or because the speakers particular model of the word itself as deleted much of the world. 6.5.2 Modality It’s one of the most important ways in which interpersonal meaning can be expressed. It expresses a relation to reality. It is expressed either through an auxiliary verb (can, may, should) or through full lexical verb (wish, need). Other possible ways are through adverbs and adverbial clauses (possible, probably, certainly and adjectives (it is necessary/vital that). Modality can be divided into two basic areas: intrinsic and extrinsic. Extrinsic covers the possibility, probability or certainty that a proposition is true. Intrinsic modality works at the level of beliefs and values, extrinsic at the level of environment and behavior. - INTRINSIC MODAL NECESSITY: express levels of obligation; it can range from advisability through to inescapable duty or requirement [must, have to, need, should, ought to] and it is often expressed through rules; - INTRINSIC MODAL POSSIBILITY: includes ability and permission and sets the limits to options as perceived by the speaker or writer. It is realized principally through can, could, may, might. Extrinsic modality is also known as epistemic, coming from the Greek word for ‘knowledge’. Extrinsic mode concerns the modality of propositions and the degree of truth or certainty to be attached to them. The use of the intrinsic modal possibility is often hidden in the surface structure and can often appear to demonstrate extrinsic modality. ‘Can’ and ‘cannot’ in particular are often used by speakers to give the impression that what they are saying is extrinsic when they actually refer to a personal belief. There are a number of key questions which can be used to contextualize the speaker’s point of view and to clarify the speaker’s world and its borders: 1. By challenging with universal quantifiers: never/ever/always/all. 2. By looking for exceptions, which again illustrate the existence of boundaries. 3. By making the reason explicit. 6.5.3 Unspecified Referential Index The use of the pronoun is generally a clear index pointing to a referent. The reader, though, will only be able to attach the index to a reference through his or her knowledge on the context. ‘We’, the ‘royal we’, refers to Queen Victoria, but only because native-speakers share that exophoric knowledge. - ASSUMED SHAREDNESS: the information is deleted because it is assumed to be shared. Quirk and Greenbaum distinguish two types of references: generic and specific. Taking as an example a protest song popular before devolution, the generalizations here don’t make a clear representation of ‘who’ in this song. If the reference is generic, then the implication is that the English in general are involved in asking the Welsh to fight; but when the reference is specific, the implication is that a specific group of English and Welsh are involved. Until we arrive at the heart of the beliefs about who exactly is involved we will not have a semantic representation of the world as perceived by the author of this song; - RESTRICTED CODES: is due to social engineering; ‘restricted’ and ‘elaborated’ codes are terms used by Bernstein for the different ways of conveying meaning in a social context. The restricted code users delete nouns from the surface structure. Bernstein studied children from middle and working classes and got to the conclusion that “working class children are more likely to select pronouns as heads, where the possibility of both modification and qualification is considerably reduced”. This lack of modification is due to the fact that there is no deeper semantic representation. The use of ‘we’ or ‘they’ is not actually connected to a specific referent but to vague and unchangeable ‘us’ and ‘them’. Hasan more recent work on HAPs and LAPs shows how deletion limits a child’s possible world. With the ‘why/’cause” routine, a LAPs child immediately learns to delete a host of possibilities, while the HAPs child will learn to link references to an individual source, thus constantly enriching their view of the world. Brislin also states that working class parents will tend towards reducing interactions between children and adults, while the middle class tend to encourage interactions. Children of working class will learn to be comfortable with external standards in contrast to their own; they learn to accept what other people consider to be good manners, and they have limited experience in making suggestions and requests to authority figures. 6.5.4 Missing performatives Austin believed that a performative act takes place when an utterance performs and act, as if “I name this ship Mr. Stalin” and the ship is named as a result of these words; this principle has been extended to the effect that behind every sentence there lies a hidden performative. In saying something one is also performing an act. There are very few supporters of this view today, as pointed out by Geoffrey Leech, who rightly says that it seems unnatural to argue that every single direct statement is fundamentally an indirect statement. However, it is useful to make explicit the frame of reference, i.e. who is responsible for performing the utterance. “Chrysanthemums are not appropriate for a party” does not tell us who is responsible for this utterance; a fuller representation would be prefaced with I believe.., we Italians think.., according to generally accepted Italian custom..; with those prefaces we have a clearer idea of how the culture filter, and values in particular, have oriented the speaker’s map of the world. Leech makes it clear that a speaker does not need to consider his/her utterance as belonging to a particular category because the category is taken for granted. Whenever we speak about social or culture-bound rules, we do not connect them to a particular speaker or category because the rules is all encompassing and includes every speaker. The most important deletion is the performative, to be clarified by asking “according to whom?”. By disconnecting the surface structure from its original reference structure, specific parts of society’s contextualized experience have been deleted. It is very likely that the speakers will be repeating the same surface structure that they heard from their home environment and had simply internalized without question. Present behavior is often related to a historical response to past perceived needs. 6.5.5 Value Judgements Value judgements are also lost or missing performatives. They are opinion expressed as facts. Value judgement tend to delete the performative and the criteria used to make the judgement. Value judgement rarely help in furthering cross-cultural communication because the values will be always culture bound. We need to clarify them by asking according to whom or according to which set of cultural-bound values. - COMPARATIVES AND SUPERLATIVES Any sentence that use comparative or superlative without stating in comparison to what is deleting some information. The question to ask are “compared to what?”, “according to what?”. 6.5.6 Disjuncts Most of them are realized by adverbs, prepositional groups and by both non-finite and finite clauses. They usually before or after the clause they are commenting on, as a sign they are a comment. The unconscious brain tends not to notice the position of the disjunct, but does take note of the sound and look. As a result, disjuncts can interfere with communication. The surface structure looks like an adverb describing an observable ‘how’, but in reality they represent the author’s personal evaluation. 6.6 Distortion Both generalization and deletions distort reality in the sense that what is said reduces the detail, making more difficult to connect to the full representation or specific frame. The human need to make sense of the world leads to the principle of analogy. 6.6.1 Nominalization Halliday uses the term “thinginess” to describe nominalization – this term can be used to ask about the degree of “thinginess” a thing has; the “thinginess” of ‘hill’ can be very different from that of ‘sky’, because the sky changes in a way that a hill does not. According to Downing and Lock nominalizations are transformations of verbs, attributes and circumstances into things or rather noun. This process is clearly a distortion of reality, because what is hidden is the subject of the nominalization. Nominalization is, in fact, a particularly efficient way of limiting explicit communication; it deletes the subject. As a result, responsibility for utterances can be omitted. Normalization is then clarified by turning it into a verb, adjective or circumstance and clarify who or what is saying that. 6.6.2 Presupposition They are also hidden distortions of reality, they play tricks with what is theme and rheme, given and new. In English, the theme is at the beginning of the clause and it coincides with ‘given’ information. So the presupposition is that there was something that has gone on before and that something is shared information. This is precisely where distortion can take place. It can be clarified by asking what objective evidence there was to suggest that. 6.6.3 Mind reading It occurs when someone presumes to know about another person's thoughts, ideas, beliefs or feelings without any objective evidence. This make communication much quicker, but on the other hand there is no guarantee that the two mental representation are similar. In any communication is can be dangerous but in cross cultural communication it is a recipe for misunderstanding at all levels. Questions for mind reading are ‘what specifically’, ‘how do you know’; the answer to ‘how do you know’ will clarify the evidence that the speaker has. It will either be an unsupported belief, and therefore be subject to the culture filter, or, alternatively, the distortion may be part of an objective evaluation that has been generalized, deleted or distorted by the language filter. 6.6.4 Cause and effect Every action has a reaction. Not only in the physical and animal world is there a cause and effect, but among humans too, they can cause and manipulate. What is not universal, though, is the perception and conditions for something or somebody to directly affect another. Everything depends on how behavior is interpreted, so what is considered manipulation is culturally defined; some of the responsibility for the response lies with those responding. And this is what happens during culture shock: we make other people responsible for our feelings (whether positive or negative). We can clarify this by asking the question: “does the act/event technically cause the response or is the response due to other factors such as social engineering?”. - TIME: we can distinguish between monochronic and polychronic time. 1. monochronic time cultures perceive time as a frame; the focus is on the task rather than the relationship. According to Tannen and Peace, men in general are more task orientated than women. Northern Europeans and Americans also tend towards this orientation. Those with this orientation would consider it rude to interrupt a meeting; 2. polychronic or multi-focused cultures on the other hand, place greater emphasis on the relationship rather than time needs. In a bank, serving only one person and not answering the phone or another important person would be considered very rude. Mediterranean, Arab, South American and Asian countries tend towards this orientation. - FLUID/FIXED TIME: fixed time cultures perceive time technically: a minute is 60 seconds. American, German and Swiss countries are particularly conscious of technical time; on the other hand fluid time defines punctuality with more flexibility. “Subito” in Italian technically means “immediately” but the informal meaning is “I’ll be with you when I finish what I'm doing”. In fluid time cultures delays are expected and tolerated. - PAST/PRESENT/FUTURE: past oriented cultures emphasize tradition and history; it is true for Italy with many of its road name's recording an event or personality in history. Present oriented cultures, such as America, emphasized the Here and Now and future is not so important: long-term planning tend to be in terms of five to ten years at maximum. Future oriented societies can plan ahead to the next generation, like Japanese do in businesses plans. Italy also has a future orientation in terms of relationship: once formed they are expected to be long term. - SPACE: the Japanese have an orientation towards public space and distance but very little physical contact; in comparison an American or European house or office will tend towards the private and high levels of proximity are tolerated. Typical appropriate distance for Southern Europe and South America will be perceived as too close for the British: the British are notoriously poor touchers compared with other countries. - DIFFUSE/SPECIFIC: space can also be perceived as psychological: the degree to which individuals let others into their life. Psychological space change with culture: Americans tend to the specific and new acquaintances become intimate friends over a relatively short period of time, but this relationship is specific to a particular activity or sector; in a diffuse life space orientation on the other hand when a relation is being formed it is expected to extend to all areas of private space. The meaning of the word friend changes and the word itself should not be translated but mediated. - POWER: in all societies there is power. It can be distributed evenly, with an attempt to reduce the degree of visible status; alternatively hierarchy can be emphasized: Italy is a relatively high power distance country, while northern Europe, Britain and the States tend to emphasize lower power distance. The importance of ‘respect’ when addressing a person, address rituals, and the degree of HAP and LAP type language most of the citizen have, are indications of a culture’s power distance orientation. - INDIVIDUALISM: Japan is the most well-known collective oriented culture; Southern European (such as Turkey and Greece), Central and South America countries are even more collective, relying on social networks for most communication. American lead the “I”, “do your thing” cultures. Northern Europe (such as Italy and France) are also heavily individualist. Universalist codes are universally applicable, there is a tendency to generalize laws and procedures and apply them universally. American mass production symbolize the desire for universalism.- Particularist cultures, such as the Russian subcontinent, Asia, Central and South America, Southern Europe do not reduce situation to simplistic rules. This cultures emphasize difference, uniqueness and exceptions, from food and restaurant to the application of parking fines and queuing. - COMPETITIVENESS: competitive culture privilege the more masculine character. There are winners and losers, people live to work, workaholics are respected and material success is a high motivator. Cooperative Cultures, on the other hand, work together, they work to live and place a higher value on the quality of life. Japan, Germany, the Anglo-American countries are competitive cultures. Comparative cultures include Scandinavian countries, Spain, a number of South American countries. - STRUCTURE: the degree to which a culture feels threatened or uncomfortable with ambiguity and uncertainty or change is an indication of its orientation towards older or flexibility. Japan, Greece, Germany have a wrong orientation towards order, tend to avoid uncertainty and change; Anglo-American countries ever relatively high toleration for uncertainty, change and flexibility except for time itself. Choice and options are valued. This orientation explain the reason why the Italian equivalent of no-smoking or thank you for not smoking are more detailed and legal structured texts. - THINKING: Deductive thinking orientation focus on theories, logic and principles. This is very true of Germany and France, and to a lesser extent Italy. Situations are classified according to already existing theories. Inductive cultures are more pragmatic and specific starting from empirical observation. Facts and statistics are highly valued. The United States and Britain are particularly inductive. Linear oriented culture will dissect problem into logical and precise sequences, look for detail, precision and causes and effects. Systemic , on the other hand, is holistic and tends to look at the full picture, the background and relationship with other parts or even bigger pictures. Italy tends toward the systemic, while Japan is a clear example of a linear oriented culture. In terms of gender men tend to be linear, while women tend to be systemic. Chapter 10: Contexting 10.1 High and Low Context One of the guiding orientation is ‘contexting. This term was coined by Hall in 1976: the basic concept is that individuals groups and cultures have different priorities with regard to how much information needs to be made explicit for communication to take place. According to Hall: - context is the amount of information the other person can be expected to possess on a given subject; - text is the transmitted information. Without context there is no meaning. Halliday suggests that “the context of situation is the total environment in which a text unfolds”. Hall’s context is both the context of situation and the context of culture, so it includes the beliefs and values that determine the behavior to be interpreted. In any communication the speaker and listener will have their own perception of the context. Halliday’s context of situation is a simple framework of three headings: 1. the field (what is happening) 2. the tenor (who are taking part) 3. the mode (what part language is playing) In each communication we tend to believe we know how much needs to be said and explained to make our message understood the way we meant. There are two aspects of communication, texts and contexts, and we can represent them in a triangle: - at one extreme all the information that is to be conveyed is made visible or explicit in the text; - at the other extreme no text is necessary as all the formation is in place. Hall suggest that contexting is a fundamental aspect of culture, and that members of a culture will have a shared bias, either towards communication through the text or the context. This will be their guiding principle with regard to all decisions to be made. As we have already noted, orientations can change according to situation. In a high context culture (HCC) the participants are expected to share more of the larger context. So, in a high context culture, identity is closely related to social position, to status. On the other hand, in a low context culture (LCC) the position will be assigned according to proven capability in the field. This difference is particularly important in a written curriculum: in a high context culture you already need to be known for who you are. So high context cultures are not immediately oriented to the newcomer. Victor and Simon produced a list of typical features of these two different orientations: in a low context operating mode emphasis is placed on text facts directness consistency substance rules views monochronic in a high context operating mode emphasis is placed on context relationship feelings indirectness flexibility social or personal appearance circumstances polychronic rights and exclusions. None of these activities is part of the traditional approach to house buying in Italy, where everytime information is given, it tends to be given orally. - ADVERTISING: many translation theorists have already noted that translating for the advertising industry across cultures means distorting the surface message to successfully retain the hidden. Bassnet notes that Scotch and Martini advertising in Britain and Italy present the same values but in reverse to achieve the same effect. The marketing of whiskey in Britain focus on age, maturity, quality and the discerning taste of the buyer. Martini advertising emphasizes the fashionable status of the product and the beautiful people who drink it. In Italy, Martini is the traditional drink, and emphasizes maturity in taste and intellect of the buyer. Whiskey is the fashionable product, the perfect gift at glamorous thirty-something parties. The basic point is that, for most products, an LCC culture is going to expect more attention paid to the text both in terms of eye catching wordplay and in terms of factual information. An HCC culture will focus more on the overall picture and the aesthetics or feelings created by the advert. 11.3 Author / Addressee Orientation With regard to the transmission and reception of a message priority can either be given to the production and full expression (self) or to the reception in understanding (other). This is the theory of logical contexting: in an era of increasing intercultural communication, as a general principle, first encounters are going to be more successful if conducted in a low context style. Tt is not whether or not iorientation is good or not, but whether or not a particular orientation is more appropriate for a particular group of interlocutores in a particular context (time and place). 11.3.1 Information load The goal of a cultural mediator will be to vary the information load according to the text function and target culture, taking into account the information level in the original. 11.3.2 Clarity One of the main aspects of low information load is the priority on simplicity. American-English guides stress they ‘KISS principle’ – keep it short and simple – or ‘CBS style’ – clarity, brevity and sincerity. The Open University has published a style guide discussing Political Correctness and also emphasizing simplicity and clarity. It is also intended for everyone producing written or audiovisual materials on behalf of any University. The main points are: 1. use a simple style so your meaning is as plain as possible, keeping in mind you are talking to your readers; 2. use ‘I’ or ‘we’ and address your readers as ‘you’; 3. use contractions as you would in your speech; 4. give examples from real life; An alternative more common approach values completeness of expression: this could be termed KILC keep it long and complete. A KILCy approach is also a preferred angle American style when the situation of context is interactional. 11.3.3 Formal / Informal communication The choice between formal or informal language will clearly be guided by the context of situation. A high level of formality indicates a cultural orientations towards structure. This is the case in Germany. Other cultures focus on power distance, like Italy, and they need to formalize in language the distance between interlocutors. if we speak about an author/addressee orientation, an orientation towards the addressee would generally require more informal language, while on orientation towards the author can result in a more formal language. 11.3.4 Formality / Informality in the text Many authors agree that there is a tendency for British and even more American English to favor informal language compared to other European languages, such as Italian French and German. Severgnini in his book English, semi-serious lessons points out that in both Britain and in North America serious problem will arise if translated rather than adopted. 11.3.5 Distancing devices These are linguistic devices which increase the distance between author and addressee. Distance devices are common in Italian and German. An informative text in English and even more in American prefer to address the reader personally; so, translating, for example, from Italian to English we see a shift from KILC to KISS, a tendency to verbalize, a change from the 3rd to the 2nd person, we reduce the information and we focus on what does the reader need to know and foreground what does the object do. For more formal writing, such as for academic journals, the impersonal will be the preferred form in Italian. In English there will be a greater preference towards the personal, a tendency to use we instead of I. In American English the first person singular is a logical consequence of the cultures orientation to personal transparency. 11.3.6 Formality in Titles Titles distinguish people by sex, marital status, educational qualifications and status. The Americans and the Australians are the most informal, dispensing with most titles and even abbreviating people's names. In general, the higher the higher the context orientation, the more important the titles. However low context cultures such as Germany may also appreciate titles because they clearly categorized people's role. Britain, which is relatively high context in relation to America, has a great respect for titles and full names. Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner suggest that American propensity to use diminutives is due to the shifting and temporary nature of relationships and in the need to re socialize several times in a lifetime. The individual use of titles will not only depend on the relative cultural orientations of the two interlocuters, but also on the context of situation: perceived social or power distance, relationship and whether or not any other listeners are present. The most important point is that formal oriented cultures will value titles and will require their use more than informal oriented cultures. When translating between the formal and informal, cultural mediators will need to delete many of the normal terms of address: in fact most of the Italian status title will be translated by the encompallassing Mr Mrs Miss. To reduce cross cultural problems a number of people carry two business cards: one for a formal and one for an informal culture. In newspapers, Italian readers, as members of a higher context communication culture, may be expected to have a wider encyclopedic knowledge gained from other sources. 11.3.7 Informative texts HCC cultures are characterized by implicitness of information. The Italian is implicitly clear to an Italian audience. Equivalent clarity in English requires explicit disambiguation. 11.3.8 Advertising Advertising of goods and services in theory is transactional communication; in practice the function is not the dissemination of information but they desire to influence particularly at the level of personal values and beliefs. Many translation theorists already noted that translating for the advertising industry across cultures means distorting the surface message to successfully retain the hidden. The default tendency is that a low context culture is going to expect more attention paid to the text, both in terms of eye-catching wordplay and in terms of factual information; an high context culture will focus more on the overall picture, on the aesthetics or feelings created by the advert. 11.3.9 Price and technical information Price and technical information The clarity of a low context culture approach consists in reader friendly technical information and cost to potential buyer clear. The emphasis is usually on saving money. In many cultures (such as the East) price is a taboo word and so advertisement in high context cultures tend to be more coy on price (except for the new technologies). Also where technical information is given, it tends (according to a low context view) to blind with science rather than give information the customer can use to compare it with other products. Chapter 12: Interactional Communication 12.1 Expressive / Interactional communication This difference explains how cultures orient themselves with regard to more interpersonal interactional communication. the more high context cultures will be more sensitive to communication that affects face. These two types of communication (transactional and interactional) are the communicative equivalents of Hall’s technical and informal out of awareness culture. 12.2 Facts / Feelings More expressive cultures will tend to highlight feelings and relationships rather than facts; on the other hand instrumental cultures such as Germany, Britain and USA tend to put a priority on explaining the facts. Displays of emotion are considered embarrassing and losing control is perceived negatively. Cultures also compartmentalize their acceptance of expression according to public and private space: clearly in the private context much more expression is appropriate. However what is considered private and public is in itself a culture-bound orientation. 12.3 The Verbalization or Emotion The difference between instrumental and affective cultures is that verbalization of emotion in British society takes place after breaking point and is a sign of communication breakdown. In cultures that tolerate or approve of expressivity in communication, verbalization of emotion does not signify any form of breakdown; instead verbalization is an indication of present state of mind. Understatement is a typical British orientation and is typically favoured in interactional situation. A more expressive culture such as the United States tends to presume that everything that needs to be said should be said. In the British or Dutch on the other hand presume that the less said the better. 12.4 Self expression It relates to the degree of personal involvement a culture prefers to hear expressed. Self expression is the natural behavior for those who value clarity and public space over indirectness and private space in interpersonal communication. 12.5 Involvement Tannen suggests another orientation closely related to expressive/instrumental and that is a high involvement or high considerateness conversation pattern. These are spoken language or intentions towards either the speaker or the listener. Deanna Levine and Mara Adelman categorized those from High involvement culture as people who: - talk more - interrupt more - expect to be interrupted - talk more loudly 2. DEFENSE: “I defend my home culture because I lose my bearings otherwise.” During this stage, learners often feel as though their own culture is the only good culture. This stage often consists of negative stereotyping and “us to them” thinking. People of dominant cultures are likely to experience Defense as an attack on their values; they may complain that immigrants or other minorities are “taking our jobs”. In its benign form, Defense may be expressed by “helping” non-dominant group members to succeed by bringing them into the assumedly superior dominant culture. In its virulent form, Defense is likely to be expressed by membership in groups that exclude cultural difference or in outright attack people of other cultures – the Ku Klux Klan in the U.S. is an example. People of non-dominant cultures are more likely to experience Defense and discovering and solidifying a separate cultural identity in contrast to the dominant group. A variation on Defense is Reversal, where an adopted culture is experiences as superior to the culture of one’s primary socialization. It is like Defense in that it maintains a polarized, “us and them” worldview but it does not see the other culture as a threat. Reversal is common among long-term sojourners such as Peace Corps Volunteers, missionaries and exchange students. The resolution of Defense issues involves recognizing the common humanity of people of other cultures. The need here is to establish commonality, not to introduce more sophisticated understanding of difference. COMMON PHRASES USED BY LEARNERS AT THIS STAGE "I wish these people would just talk the way we do." "When you go to other cultures, it makes you realize how much better the U.S. is." "Boy, could we teach these people a lot of stuff." "I wish I could give up my own cultural background and really be one of these people." 3. MINIMALIZATION: “I minimize differences and focus on what brings me similar to others.” During this stage, the learner begins to find commonalities between themselves and people of other cultures. The threat associated with cultural differences experienced in Defense is neutralized by subsuming the differences into familiar categories. For instance, cultural differences may be subordinated to the overwhelming similarity of people’s biological nature. The experience of similarity might also be experienced in the assumed cross-cultural applicability of certain religious, economic, political or philosophical concepts. People at Minimalization expect similarities, and the may become insistent about correcting others’ behavior to match their expectations. Minimalization tends to mask recognition of the dominant culture and the institutional privilege it affords its members; while they may be relatively tolerant, they are unable to appreciate other cultures because they cannot see their own culture clearly. For people of non-dominant culture, a Minimalization worldview involves the acceptance of something like the “melting pot” idea. The experience is one that minimizes the cultural differences between the dominant and non- dominant group in such a way that the same universal standard can be applied to all the groups without bias. When the results of such an application of standard yield group differences, the explanation by both dominant and non-dominant Minimizers is that the groups actually differ in their intelligence, skills or preparation. The missing piece in Minimalization, and the issue that needs to be resolved to move into ethnorelativism, is the recognition of your own culture; only when you see that all your beliefs, behaviors and values are at least influenced by the particular context in which you were socialized you can fully imagine alternatives to them. COMMON PHRASES USED BY LEARNERS AT THIS STAGE "I have this intuitive sense of other people, no matter what their culture." "It's a small world after all." "Technology is bringing cultural uniformity to the developed world." "No matter what their culture, people are pretty much motivated by the same things." 4. ACCEPTANCE: “I am aware of diverse cultural perceptions.” Learners are able to recognize and appreciate cultural difference through both behaviors and values. This stage promotes the belief that one's own culture is just one of the many cultures that exists in the world. By discriminating differences among cultures and by constructing a kind of self-reflexive perspective, people with this worldview are able to experience others as different from themselves, but equally human. An important aspect of this stage is that people do not necessarily have to agree on anything, they just need to recognize that there are other ways of going about certain situations. People in this stage are often curious about other cultures and have a desire to learn. In order to move from this stage, learners need to gain cultural specific knowledge. Learners must also have respect for others' values and beliefs and maintain tolerance of ambiguity. COMMON PHRASES USED BY LEARNERS AT THIS STAGE "The more difference the better- more difference results in more creative ideas." "I always try to study about a new culture before I go there or interact with the people." "Our new student is from Mexico. Where can I learn about Mexican culture so I can be more effective in the classroom?" 5. ADAPTION: “I adapt my reasoning and actions to my new culture.” Learners begin to be more competent in how to communicate with people of other cultures. One’s worldview is expanded to include relevant constructs from other cultural worldviews. A major aspect of this stage is that the learner will be able to see the world through another's "eyes" and they can engage in empathy. Because of this perspective, learners can change their behavior in order to communicate more effectively. Adaption is not assimilation, term understood by many immigrants and people of non-dominant groups to refer to something like the “melting pot”. This idea of assimilation is that you should dive up who you were before and take on the worldview of your host, or dominant culture. The concept of adaption offers an alternative to assimilation; adaption involves the extension of your repertoire of beliefs and behavior, not a substitution of one set for another. In a domestic multicultural context, adaption leads to mutual adjustment: people of both groups are equally inclined to adapt their behavior to one another. The dominant-culture people who experience cultural difference in a ethnorelative way are curious about cultural difference and eager to experience other cultures. This has long been the goal of intercultural communication training for international sojourners. In order to achieve adaptation and move on to the next stage, learners must be able to experience empathy for other cultures. Learners will also develop risk-taking skills and problem-solving skills. Lastly, learners will need flexibility with other cultures. COMMON PHRASES USED BY LEARNERS AT THIS STAGE "To really help this student, I'm going to have to change my approach." "I interact with my male and female colleagues somewhat differently to account for differences in the way respect is communicated." "I can maintain my values and also behave in culturally appropriate ways." 6. INTEGRATION: “I develop a feeling of membership in my new culture.” The learner is able to have other cultural experience move in and out of their own worldview . Here, people are dealing with issues related to their own “cultural marginality”; they construe their identity at the margins of two or more cultures and central to none. Bennet says that cultural marginality may have two forms: an encapsulated form, where the separation from culture is experienced as an alienation, and a constructive form, in which movements in and out of cultures are a necessary and positive part of one’s identity. Integration is not necessarily better than Adaptation is situations demanding intercultural competence, but it is descriptive of a growing number of people, including many members of non-dominant cultures, long-term expatriates, and “global nomads”. People that reach integration are often culture mediators. They are able to help others understand different cultures and promote unity between these two cultures. The most basic theoretical concept in the DMIS is that experience (including cross-cultural experience) is constructed. The crux of intercultural adaptation is the ability to have an alternative cultural experience. Individuals who have received largely monocultural socialization normally have access only to their own cultural worldview, so they are unable to experience the difference between their own perception and that of people who are culturally different. The DMIS is not predominately a description of cognition, affect, or behavior. Rather, it is a model of how the assumed underlying worldview moves from an ethnocentric to a more ethnorelative condition, thus generating greater intercultural sensitivity and the potential for more intercultural competence. Changes in knowledge, attitudes, or skills are taken as manifestations of changes in the underlying worldview. Culture Shock The term “culture shock” was coined by Cora DuBois in 1951 and conceptualized in 1954 by Oberg, who defined it as the strain and anxiety resulting from losing all familiar signs in the context of a new culture . The U-curve theory was first developed in 1955 by Lysgaard when he carried out a study of Norwegian Scholars staying in the US. According to the experiences of the participants, this author defined three stages of adjustment within this experience of mobility: i. Firstly, students showed a range of initial adjustments and they were optimistic and fascinated within the new environment; ii. Then, they started to feel anxiety and they experienced confusion, loneliness and disorientation; iii. Finally, after a period of time, students learned to cope with the adjustment problems and they achieved the final stage of adjustment. In 1960, Oberg completed the first model proposed by Lysgaard and proposed these stages: