READING/LISTENING

Exercise 1. Read and listen to Part 10of the series about culture using the link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/webcast/tae_whoonearth_archive.shtml

Part I

What is probably the main difficulty we face when we try to communicate with people from other cultures? Communication problems can arise because of the different ways cultures use language, gesture, non-verbal communication. When we talk to people from different cultures, or visit foreign countries, we will probably be faced with different attitudes, and different ways of doing things. And it’s at this point that we can meet some serious intercultural difficulties.

Let’s just take the business of eating as an example. What we eat - whether or not we eat dog or raw fish or snake or pork or beef or rice or potatoes - all of these things arise from different conditions for different agricultural or environmental or religious or social reasons and what about when we eat and how much we eat and food rituals such as whether we eat noisily or quietly or whether it’s OK to eat in public or not and the people that we eat with and the status of different types of food in our cultures - all of these things aren’t just simple acts that we all do exactly the same everywhere - in fact they all have culture specific norms and rules and values attached to them.

In many Western countries people just rush out, grab a sandwich for lunch. It’s almost a hassle to eat. However, in Morocco it’s completely the opposite. A typical family’s lunch will be much larger than western countries are used to. It will be the main meal of the day so it will be huge. It will be one big plate in the middle usually, with meat, vegetables, and sauce. Everybody has bread to dip inside and take what they want to eat. There will be about six, on average seven people round one plate, and the meals could take a whole morning to prepare. that’s why often the women stay home and cook.

Part II

Not surprisingly we find it much easier to get on with cultures who do things in a similar way to us than with cultures who do things very differently. And so we’re actively looking for things that we have in common with them all the time and that means that we tend to equate sameness and similarity positively, whereas difference and especially extreme difference is perceived negatively because we are unable to understand really why people would choose to do or choose to organize things differently from the way that we have chosen to do them or organize them.

Very often in fact, we can learn to get used to food and architecture and music with reasonable ease. It’s much more the things that are invisible to us that we have problems with. By this we mean our underlying ideas. These ideas can be political or religious or economic or social but often they are assumptions that are so deeply ingrained in us that we don’t even know they are there. All of these things are invisibly shaping our attitudes to things and the way we evaluate the world - even though we might think of our attitudes as totally free and individual.

There are big gender differences in many countries. For example, British people are shocked to see female friends in Poland who are very well-educated and seemingly very strong and independent rush home to cook some food for their boyfriend or go round to their boyfriend’s house to clean his bath or stove. For them it’s extremely normal and that’s what they are supposed to do and it’s very hard to understand being British.

The real danger occurs because we are imprisoned inside the ideas and beliefs of our cultures and we don’t even know it. We see our own cultures as the centre of the world - the way that everybody does things normally. And if we do consider other cultures’ ways of doing things we often tend to think that the way we do things is superior to the way another culture does something.

This is what inter-culturalists refer to as ethnocentrism - from the Greek words ethnos which means nation or community and centrism - centre. So what we are saying is you are born in the centre of your own community or nation and you take on that way of acting and thinking invisibly - without even knowing it. We’re all born ethnocentric - it’s probably the greatest barrier we’ll ever have to understanding other cultures.

Exercise 2. In pairs take turns to answer the questions.

1. In what cases can communication problems arise?

2. What is the difference between how people eat in Western countries and in Morocco?

3. What shapes our attitudes to things and the way we evaluate the world?

4. What do British people find hard to understand?

5. What is ethnocentrism?

Exercise 3. Match the beginning and the end of the sentences. Translate the sentences.

1) Communication problems can arise	a) we will probably be faced with different attitudes, and different ways of doing things.
2) When we talk to people from different cultures	b) this can lead to stereotyping.
3) In Morocco a typical family’s lunch will be	c) you take on that way of acting and thinking invisibly.
4) We see our own cultures	d) much larger than western countries are used to.
5) Ethnocentrism means that you are born in the centre of your own community and	e) because of the different ways cultures use language, gesture, non-verbal communication.
6) When you move to another culture often you	f) as the centre of the world.
7) We only see the obvious differences and	g) have to realize that you have learnt is not intrinsically right.

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