Text and Sign

1. Text and Sign Part One Hartmut Haberland

2. (4) Intercultural awareness Intercultural differences Intercultural communication

4. Oscar Andersson (1903) – Vet frun var Lilla Vattugatan ligger? – Mitt namn er friherrinnan Cederlund från Skåne och jag vetingenting! – Does the Lady know where Lilla Vattugatan is? – My name is Baroness Cederlund from Scania and I don’t know anything!

5. The Nacirema • What impression do we get about the Nacirema?

6. The Nacirema • What impression do we get about the Nacirema? • How are they different from us?

7. The Nacirema • What impression do we get about the Nacirema? • How are they different from us? • Who are the Nacirema?

8. 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

9. 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.

10. This is not just a matter of vocabulary. There are other constitutive linguistic practices than talking about something.

11. Linguistic routines What counts as …. … an apology? … a greeting? … an opening of a telephone conversation?

12. Telephone conversation openings • Usually two-party conversations (reduction of complexity) • Standardized • Recurrent and necessary tasks (identification, statement of topic or purpose) • Striking intercultural differences

14. Telephone openings Generalizations: Germans try to be brief. Americans avoid formal identification rounds. Egyptians use a lot of words.

15. Opening a phone conversation – Marlowe? Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep

16. Opening a phone conversation – moshi moshi? – ano, kochira Jensen desu.

17. Other generalisations on a theoretically more elaborate level: Positive politeness cultures (Greece, Germany, USA) vs. Negative politeness cultures (Britain, Japan)

18. Further generalisations Germans try to maximize involvement (get engaged!) Anglo-Saxons try to minimize imposition (don’t push!)

19. 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”

20. Two strategies in cultural encounters Exoticism vs. reductionism

21. Exoticism: ”this is so different” Reductionism: ”this is nothing but ...”

22. 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

25. 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

26. 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

27. Different cultures … • Different inferences • Different categorisations • Differences in what counts as orderly behavior

28. Dudow/Brecht, Kuhle Wampe 1932 The young worker and his wristwatch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89fwhJenxE4

29. 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?

30. Different cultural background • German film (1932), German historical setting (about 1930) • Russian (Soviet?) audience (1932), Soviet historical experience Different categories of ’being wealthy’.

31. … not just different languages … but maybe also that!

32. Stereotype about Americans Amerikaner legen ihre Füße auf den Tisch

33. Differences in vocabulary Tisch desk vs. table

35. 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?

36. 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)

37. What is the essence of Danish culture? • rødgrød med fløde? • hygge? • informality? • excessive consumption of alcohol? • … • …

38. What is the essence of Danish language use? • address: De vs. du vs. I • identification by first name • ”det er dit problem” • …

39. Interlingual communication vs. Intercultural communication In interlingual communication, choices are visible, public, institutionalized and clearly defined.

40. Interlingual communication Relatively clear options: silence polyglot dialog dominance of one of the languages of the interlocutors use of a lingua franca use of an interpreter

41. Still, there is space for negotiation and ambiguity

42. Intercultural communication In intercultural communication, choices are invisible, personal (’not advertised’), implicit and often muddled. No clear range of options.

43. 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)

44. Try to develop cultural awareness Avoid stereotyping of other cultures