October 27, 2008

1. October 27, 2008 • Bell Activity • In analyzing an audience, one important consideration is the audience’s cultural background. Many factors shape cultural backgrounds. List at least 5 factors that shape a persons cultural background. • Name at least one good thing that happened to you this weekend.

2. Culture and Communication Business Management

3. Culture and Communication • Factors • Region of the country or world where raised • Region of the country or world where the parents or grandparents were raised • Religion • Race • Gender • Age • Level of education • Workplace and type of job • Economic situation

4. Culture and Communication • Culture influences a persons life • Ways of celebrating holidays and other special occasions • Attitudes about work and school • Attitudes about roles of men and women • Reactions to technology • Feelings about personal space • Use of body language • Style of communications

5. Idioms • Phrases, or sentences that cannot be understood literally. • A phrase or sentence of this type is said to be idiomatic. • Using idioms with audiences with different cultural backgrounds can lead to misunderstanding

6. Idioms • Consider how the word fall changes meaning in the following expressions: • fall apart • fall asleep • fall back • fall down on the job • fall in love • fall off

7. Idioms • Explain how a person who learned English from a textbook might interpret the following idiomatic sentences: • Larry dug up a date for the wedding. • The convertible cut me off just before the exit. • I am crazy abort chocolate. • Sean aced the test without cracking a book. • The old heap broke down in the middle of the desert.

8. Idioms • In your group, list five common idioms that you use in your conversation. Explain how the same person (English as a second language) might interpret your words.

9. Interesting Facts • If we could shrink the earth’s population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing percentages remaining the same there would be: • 60 Asians • 12 Europeans • 15 from the Western Hemisphere • 13 Africans

10. Interesting Facts • 50 would be female • 50 would be male • 80 would be non-white • 20 would be white • 67 would be non-Christian • 33 would be Christian

11. Interesting Facts • 20 people would earn 89% of the entire world's wealth • 25 would live in substandard housing • 17 would be unable to read • 13 would suffer from malnutrition • 1 would die within the year • 2 would give birth within the year • 2 would have a college education • 4 would own a computer

12. Dialect • A dialect is a style of language that is distinctive to a particular region • mulligrubs • neb-nose • alamagoozlum • chizzywink • Juneteenth • noshery • bizmaroon • faunch • lanai • Oklahoma rain

13. Culture Differences around the World • Signal for “no” • U.S. & Canada shake heads back and forth • Bulgaria nod up and down • Japan move their right hand • Sicily raise their chin

14. Culture Differences around the World • Eye contact • U.S. - avoiding eye contact is evasive and dishonest • Latin America - keeping eyes lowered is a sign of respect • Asia “ “ • Native Americans - a child maintaining eye contact with an adult is disrespectful

15. Culture Differences around the World • Miscellaneous • Exposing the sole of your shoe is offering a grave insult in Egypt • In Arab countries it’s impolite to take gifts to a man’s wife, but acceptable to take gifts to his children • In Germany giving a woman a red rose is considered a romantic invitation—inappropriate if you are trying to establish a business relationship with her.

16. Culture Differences around the World • In some countries companies are expected to pay government official extra fees for approving government contracts. These payments aren’t illegal or unethical; they are routine. However, the same payments are seen as bribes in the US, Sweden, and many other countries, where they are both unethical and illegal. • In the United Kingdom and the US, someone is presumed innocent until proven guilty, but in Mexico and Turkey, someone is presumed guilty until proven innocent • .