Text and Sign

Part One

Hartmut Haberland

(4)

Intercultural awareness

Intercultural differences

Intercultural communication

Oscar Andersson (1903)

– Vet frun var Lilla Vattugatan ligger?

– Mitt namn er friherrinnan Cederlund från Skåne och jag vet ingenting!

– Does the Lady know where Lilla Vattugatan is?

– My name is Baroness Cederlund from Scania and I don’t know anything!

The Nacirema

• What impression do we get about the Nacirema?

The Nacirema

• What impression do we get about the Nacirema?

• How are they different from us?

The Nacirema

• What impression do we get about the Nacirema?

• How are they different from us?

• Who are the Nacirema?

Remember Roger Fowler?

Directive vs. constitutive linguistic practices

Directive practices: exercising power directly (by commands, wishes, etc.)

cf. Jakobson’s conative (receiver-oriented) function of language

Constitutive linguistic practices

The vocabulary of a language can be considered a kind of lexical map of the preoccupations of a culture.

Different cultures may have different world views.

This is not just a matter of vocabulary.

There are other constitutive linguistic practices than talking about something.

Linguistic routines

What counts as ….

… an apology?

… a greeting?

… an opening of a telephone

conversation?

Telephone conversation openings

• Usually two-party conversations (reduction of complexity)

• Standardized

• Recurrent and necessary tasks (identification, statement of topic or purpose)

• Striking intercultural differences

German

A: Hallo … MüllerC: Guten Tag, Herr Müller, hier ist Gärtner. Ich wollte …

Sources anonymous. Data attributed to Richard W. Schmidt, Honololu, Hawaii.Hint: these data are from the early ’90ies, before the era of mobile phones.

(American?) English

A: HelloC: Betsy?A: Hi, dear. I wondered if you’d call.C: I just got out of the staff meeting. Listen, …

Egyptian Arabic

A: alōC: alōA: alōC: mīn byitkallim? (‘Who is calling?’)A: ’inta mīn? (‘Who are you?’)C: ’abul magd mawgūd? (‘Is Abu el-Magd there?’)A: ’ana ’abul magd. mhammad? (‘I’m Abu el-Magd. Mohammed?’)C: ’aywa, ’izayyak yā bēh? (‘Yes, how are you, Bey?’)A: ’ilhamdulilāh, wizayyak ’inta? (‘Praise God, and you?’)C: ’ilhamdulilāh. (‘Praise God.’)A: ’ahlan wahsahlan. (‘You are welcome.’)C: wallāhi ya ’ax, ‘ayz as’alak hāga (‘Hey brother, I want to ask you something.’)

Telephone openings

Generalizations:

Germans try to be brief.

Americans avoid formal identification rounds.

Egyptians use a lot of words.

Opening a phone conversation

– Marlowe? Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep

Opening a phone conversation

– moshi moshi?

– ano, kochira Jensen desu.

Other generalisations

on a theoretically more elaborate level:

Positive politeness cultures (Greece, Germany, USA)

vs.

Negative politeness cultures (Britain, Japan)

Further generalisations

Germans try to maximize involvement (get engaged!)

Anglo-Saxons try to minimize imposition (don’t push!)

Linguistic routines

”We can pick you up at the station. It’s only a five minutes ride.”

Does this count as

… ”don’t feel bad about asking!” or

… ”we wouldn’t do it for you if it weren’t so little”

Two strategies in cultural encounters

Exoticism vs. reductionism

Exoticism: ”this is so different”

Reductionism: ”this is nothing but ...”

familiar/unfamiliar

from the European point of view:

Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche (Berlin): dead emperor categorized as patron of the church

Meiji shrine (Tokyo): shrine for a dead emperor categorised as god

Harvey Sacks (1935-1975) on culture

• Culture is an inference-making machine

• Culture is an apparatus for generating recognisable action

• There is orderliness in what we do

Language is part of culture, too

• Culture is machine for making inferences from utterances

• Culture is an apparatus for generating recognisable action, including speech acts

• There is orderliness in what we do and say

Different cultures …

• Different inferences

• Different categorisations

• Differences in what counts as orderly behavior

Dudow/Brecht, Kuhle Wampe 1932

The young worker and his wristwatchhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89fwhJenxE4

Dudow/Brecht, Kuhle Wampe 1932

Workers in Moscow who saw the film didn’t ’get’ the scene. Why did this rich young man who had a bicycle and a wristwatch commit suicide?

Different cultural background

• German film (1932), German historical setting (about 1930)

• Russian (Soviet?) audience (1932), Soviet historical experience

Different categories of ’being wealthy’.

… not just different languages

… but maybe also that!

Stereotype about Americans

Amerikaner legen ihre Füße auf den Tisch

Differences in vocabulary

Tisch

desk vs. table

The culture shock prevention industry

The handbook approach aims at succesful transactions rather than understanding of the other.It helps business people and tourists to avoid gaffes, but does it further understanding?

Cross- or Intercultural communication

”The very notion of ’intercultural communication’ assumes the prior existence of bounded cultural systems that can be observed as independent scientific ’objects’.”(Blasco, compendium p. 45)

What is the essence of Danish culture?

• rødgrød med fløde?

• hygge?

• informality?

• excessive consumption of alcohol?

• …

• …

What is the essence of Danish language use?

• address: De vs. du vs. I

• identification by first name

• ”det er dit problem”

• …

Interlingual communication vs. Intercultural communication

In interlingual communication, choices are visible, public, institutionalized and clearly defined.

Interlingual communication

Relatively clear options:

silencepolyglot dialogdominance of one of the languages of the interlocutorsuse of a lingua francause of an interpreter

Still, there is space for negotiation and ambiguity

Intercultural communication

In intercultural communication, choices are invisible, personal (’not advertised’), implicit and often muddled.

No clear range of options.

Intercultural communication

You don’t just choose a language.

You also choose words, routines and style (also when using a lingua franca or another language)

What you are doing is being recognized as what?

You are being recognized as what?

(recognition = interpretation)

Try to develop cultural awareness

Avoid stereotyping of other cultures