VERBAL AND NON VERBAL ISSUES
VERBAL AND
NON-VERBAL ISSUES IN
INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
Module 1 Lesson 5
THE QUESTION OF FLUENCY
•
•
Can you define ‘fluency’?
Fillimore :
–
The ability to talk at length, at speed with few pauses
– The ability to talk in coherent, semantically dense
sentences
– The ability to have appropriate things to say in a wide
variety of conversational contexts
– The ability to use a wide range of ‘formulaic’
expressions appropriately
THE GAP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32tVFPelmWQ
07.00
IDIOMATICITY…
USEFUL?
Colourful idioms
• That really takes the biscuit
• She kicked the bucket
Metaphors:
• Take the bull by the horns
Similes
• As cool as a cucumber
• Safe as houses
IDIOMS
A Bitter Pill To Swallow
"Spending a week in the rehab clinic was a bitter pill
to swallow, but Jake really needed to do it."
A Blessing In Disguise
"When I first lost that job, I was upset. But it turned
out to be a blessing in disguise.“
http://www.goenglish.com/idioms.asp
A Last Ditch Effort
"I thought for sure we would lose but we made one
last ditch effort and drew the game."
A Foregone Conclusion
"I knew they would lose from the start. It was a
foregone conclusion."
Back To Square One
"After all that work, they decided not to hire me."
Reply: "Back to square one."
Be The Spitting Image Of Someone
"People say I am the spitting image of my mother."
Call A Spade A Spade
"You can call him a nice guy if you want to but I am
calling a spade a spade; that guy is a jerk.
Come In Handy
"I'm glad you brought your knife." Reply: "Yes, it really
comes in handy."
Dropping A Brick
"The boss came in and dropped a real brick. He said
they are planning to close our office."
Losing Streak
"We are on a five game losing streak." Reply: "Have
we lost five games without a win? That is not good."
Coming To The Crunch
"We have had three weeks to write this paper. Now
we are coming to the crunch."
COMMON IDIOMS
You Can Lead A Horse To Water But You Can't Make It Drink
"I told her exactly what to do, but she didn't listen to me." Reply: "You
can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink."
You Can’t Teach An Old Dog New Tricks
"I have been trying to teach my dad to use the computer, but he is
never going to get it." Reply: "You can't teach an old dog new tricks."
You Have To Take The Good With The Bad
"I love living in this city, but it is rather polluted." Reply: "You have to
take the good with the bad."
You Need That Like You Need A hole In The Head
"Would you like to buy my old truck?" Reply: "I need that like a whole in
the head."
You Scratch My Back And I’ll Scratch Yours
"I would really appreciate it if you introduce me to him... You scratch
my back, I'll scratch yours."
If It Ain't Broke Don't Fix It
"Do you think Tiger Woods should change his golf swing?"
Reply: "Are you kidding? If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
If You Can't Beat Them Join Them
"When did you change teams?" Reply: "Hey: If you can't
beat them, join them."
If You Can't Stand The Heat Get Out Of The Kitchen
"I wanted this job at first, but now I don't know if I can
handle it." Reply: "If you can't stand the heat, get out of
the kitchen."
= CULTURALLY LOADED
LANGUAGE
Accessible only to ‘in-group’ with shared knowledge
and exposure to language
Likely to be misunderstood by many
Avoided by even ‘advanced’ speakers of English
Idioms establish a “territorial imperative” indicating
membership in a particular speech community (Pitzl
2009: 300).
‘Territorial’ function is relevant for native speakers but not
inapplicable to an ELF context - may create problems for
mutual understanding
From: http://blogs.helsinki.fi/heseng/files/2010/12/Carey_HES_Vol6.pdf
POTENTIALLY MORE USEFUL TO YOU
Pragmatic phrases: you know, I mean, sort of
Clusters and bundles: a lot of, a bit of a,
Discourse markers: first of all, what’s more
Vague markers: sort of, or whatever
Prepositional phrases: at the end, in the long term
Certain phrasal verbs…high frequency
REAL COMPETENCE IN ENGLISH
•
•
•
Ability to create and maintain relationships with a
wide range of speakers from different backgrounds
Use of ‘pragmatic’ communication strategies such
as negotiation of meaning
Issues of directness/indirectness,
politeness/impoliteness (these concepts always
represent ‘intercultural’ communication)
SPECIFIC ELF COMPETENCES
Sensitivity to language used with other speaker
Ability to negotiate meaning through
‘accommodation’ strategies – this means adjusting
your language to suit the other person
COMPETENT SPEAKERS…?
Listen to the following speakers in the video and
decide if they have a good level of communicative
competence in English as an International language
(EIL)
SO ‘ENGLISHES’ IS GRAMMATICALLY
POSSIBLE
…and they represent the reality today
http://english.cntv.cn/program/bizasia/20131119/10
5442.shtml
http://www.newsx.com/
The real challenge for you: to develop multiple
competences for different situations so you can
interact effectively in English
THE BOOT
NOW…
REALLY IS ON THE OTHER FOOT
Sky report today
http://news.sky.com/story/1171002/poor-languageskills-hampering-uk-economy
CEFR AND INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE
‘The ability to bring the culture of origin and the
foreign culture into relation with each other’
‘The capacity to fulfil the role of ‘cultural
intermediary’ between one’s own culture and the
foreign culture’
‘The ability to deal effectively with intercultural
‘misunderstandings’ and ‘conflict situations’
‘The ability to overcome stereotypes’
SO NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKERS…
are a very small minority
often claim ownership of English
this is more and more contested by proponents of
ELF
risk becoming ‘outsiders’ by using a ‘difficult-tounderstand’ variant of English
native speaker English still represents gold
standard in academic fields
‘ENGLISH-KNOWING’ BILINGUALISM OR
MULTILINGUALISM
Important role in prevention of ‘language death’
The ‘norm’ apart from monolingual Inner Circle
English speakers
– Need to become multilingual
– Need to develop intercultural competence
SO REMEMBER…
Linguistic competence and intercultural
competence are not the same thing
FALSE FRIENDS – A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF
INTERCULTURAL MISCOMMUNICATION
Joint:
BE - piece of meat for carving *
US - (slang) hand-rolled cigarette containing
cannabis
WHERE CAN YOU
PRESERVATIVES?
NORMALLY FIND
TRANSLATE INTO ITALIAN
college
confidence
actually
lecture
patent
morbid
eventually
sensible
to license
to apprehend
università
fiducia
in relatà
intervento (conferenza)
brevetto
morboso
alla fine
sensato
dare in licenza
arrestare
SO HOW DO YOU
collegio
confidenza
attualmente
lettura
patente
morbido
eventualmente
sensibile
licenziare
apprendere
SAY….?
boarding school
intimacy/closeness
currently
reading
driving licence
soft
possibly/maybe
sensitive
to sack
to learn
MATCH
retribution
a notice
presumption
mess
warn
news
mass
insulation
gracious
injury
sunstroke
conceit
avert
avvertire
avviso
infortunio
pasticcio
presunzione
isolamento
castigo
insolazione
evitare
notizia
messa
clemente
supposizione
MATCH
retribution
a notice
presumption
mess
warn
news
mass
insulation
gracious
injury
sunstroke
conceit
avert
castigo
avviso
supposizione
pasticcio
avvertire
notizia
messa
isolamento
clemente
infortunio
insolazione
presunzione
evitare
SOME OTHER ASPECTS TO BEAR IN MIND WHEN
COMMUNICATING WITH OTHER CULTURES…..
A GLOBAL WORLD ….?
APART FROM FROM GESTURES…
What else differs between cultures…?
PROXEMICS AND OTHERS
Mmm?
REVIEW OF MAIN
CONCEPTS
These are also some of the questions you may
have to answer in the exam:
CULTURE
How do you think it can be best defined?
Is it wrong to think of culture as a thing, something
identifiable?
CULTURAL ORIENTATIONS
What were some of the basic cultural differences
that Hall, Hofstede and Trompenaars found in their
research?
STEREOTYPES
What are common stereotypes about your ‘national’
culture?
What are ‘essentializing’ and ‘othering’ and why are
they important ?
ELF
What is ELF and why is it important to intercultural
communication?
NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION
Why do you need to be particularly aware/careful of
gestures in intercultural communication?
NON-VERBAL ISSUES IN
INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
Module 1 Lesson 5
THE QUESTION OF FLUENCY
•
•
Can you define ‘fluency’?
Fillimore :
–
The ability to talk at length, at speed with few pauses
– The ability to talk in coherent, semantically dense
sentences
– The ability to have appropriate things to say in a wide
variety of conversational contexts
– The ability to use a wide range of ‘formulaic’
expressions appropriately
THE GAP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32tVFPelmWQ
07.00
IDIOMATICITY…
USEFUL?
Colourful idioms
• That really takes the biscuit
• She kicked the bucket
Metaphors:
• Take the bull by the horns
Similes
• As cool as a cucumber
• Safe as houses
IDIOMS
A Bitter Pill To Swallow
"Spending a week in the rehab clinic was a bitter pill
to swallow, but Jake really needed to do it."
A Blessing In Disguise
"When I first lost that job, I was upset. But it turned
out to be a blessing in disguise.“
http://www.goenglish.com/idioms.asp
A Last Ditch Effort
"I thought for sure we would lose but we made one
last ditch effort and drew the game."
A Foregone Conclusion
"I knew they would lose from the start. It was a
foregone conclusion."
Back To Square One
"After all that work, they decided not to hire me."
Reply: "Back to square one."
Be The Spitting Image Of Someone
"People say I am the spitting image of my mother."
Call A Spade A Spade
"You can call him a nice guy if you want to but I am
calling a spade a spade; that guy is a jerk.
Come In Handy
"I'm glad you brought your knife." Reply: "Yes, it really
comes in handy."
Dropping A Brick
"The boss came in and dropped a real brick. He said
they are planning to close our office."
Losing Streak
"We are on a five game losing streak." Reply: "Have
we lost five games without a win? That is not good."
Coming To The Crunch
"We have had three weeks to write this paper. Now
we are coming to the crunch."
COMMON IDIOMS
You Can Lead A Horse To Water But You Can't Make It Drink
"I told her exactly what to do, but she didn't listen to me." Reply: "You
can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink."
You Can’t Teach An Old Dog New Tricks
"I have been trying to teach my dad to use the computer, but he is
never going to get it." Reply: "You can't teach an old dog new tricks."
You Have To Take The Good With The Bad
"I love living in this city, but it is rather polluted." Reply: "You have to
take the good with the bad."
You Need That Like You Need A hole In The Head
"Would you like to buy my old truck?" Reply: "I need that like a whole in
the head."
You Scratch My Back And I’ll Scratch Yours
"I would really appreciate it if you introduce me to him... You scratch
my back, I'll scratch yours."
If It Ain't Broke Don't Fix It
"Do you think Tiger Woods should change his golf swing?"
Reply: "Are you kidding? If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
If You Can't Beat Them Join Them
"When did you change teams?" Reply: "Hey: If you can't
beat them, join them."
If You Can't Stand The Heat Get Out Of The Kitchen
"I wanted this job at first, but now I don't know if I can
handle it." Reply: "If you can't stand the heat, get out of
the kitchen."
= CULTURALLY LOADED
LANGUAGE
Accessible only to ‘in-group’ with shared knowledge
and exposure to language
Likely to be misunderstood by many
Avoided by even ‘advanced’ speakers of English
Idioms establish a “territorial imperative” indicating
membership in a particular speech community (Pitzl
2009: 300).
‘Territorial’ function is relevant for native speakers but not
inapplicable to an ELF context - may create problems for
mutual understanding
From: http://blogs.helsinki.fi/heseng/files/2010/12/Carey_HES_Vol6.pdf
POTENTIALLY MORE USEFUL TO YOU
Pragmatic phrases: you know, I mean, sort of
Clusters and bundles: a lot of, a bit of a,
Discourse markers: first of all, what’s more
Vague markers: sort of, or whatever
Prepositional phrases: at the end, in the long term
Certain phrasal verbs…high frequency
REAL COMPETENCE IN ENGLISH
•
•
•
Ability to create and maintain relationships with a
wide range of speakers from different backgrounds
Use of ‘pragmatic’ communication strategies such
as negotiation of meaning
Issues of directness/indirectness,
politeness/impoliteness (these concepts always
represent ‘intercultural’ communication)
SPECIFIC ELF COMPETENCES
Sensitivity to language used with other speaker
Ability to negotiate meaning through
‘accommodation’ strategies – this means adjusting
your language to suit the other person
COMPETENT SPEAKERS…?
Listen to the following speakers in the video and
decide if they have a good level of communicative
competence in English as an International language
(EIL)
SO ‘ENGLISHES’ IS GRAMMATICALLY
POSSIBLE
…and they represent the reality today
http://english.cntv.cn/program/bizasia/20131119/10
5442.shtml
http://www.newsx.com/
The real challenge for you: to develop multiple
competences for different situations so you can
interact effectively in English
THE BOOT
NOW…
REALLY IS ON THE OTHER FOOT
Sky report today
http://news.sky.com/story/1171002/poor-languageskills-hampering-uk-economy
CEFR AND INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE
‘The ability to bring the culture of origin and the
foreign culture into relation with each other’
‘The capacity to fulfil the role of ‘cultural
intermediary’ between one’s own culture and the
foreign culture’
‘The ability to deal effectively with intercultural
‘misunderstandings’ and ‘conflict situations’
‘The ability to overcome stereotypes’
SO NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKERS…
are a very small minority
often claim ownership of English
this is more and more contested by proponents of
ELF
risk becoming ‘outsiders’ by using a ‘difficult-tounderstand’ variant of English
native speaker English still represents gold
standard in academic fields
‘ENGLISH-KNOWING’ BILINGUALISM OR
MULTILINGUALISM
Important role in prevention of ‘language death’
The ‘norm’ apart from monolingual Inner Circle
English speakers
– Need to become multilingual
– Need to develop intercultural competence
SO REMEMBER…
Linguistic competence and intercultural
competence are not the same thing
FALSE FRIENDS – A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF
INTERCULTURAL MISCOMMUNICATION
Joint:
BE - piece of meat for carving *
US - (slang) hand-rolled cigarette containing
cannabis
WHERE CAN YOU
PRESERVATIVES?
NORMALLY FIND
TRANSLATE INTO ITALIAN
college
confidence
actually
lecture
patent
morbid
eventually
sensible
to license
to apprehend
università
fiducia
in relatà
intervento (conferenza)
brevetto
morboso
alla fine
sensato
dare in licenza
arrestare
SO HOW DO YOU
collegio
confidenza
attualmente
lettura
patente
morbido
eventualmente
sensibile
licenziare
apprendere
SAY….?
boarding school
intimacy/closeness
currently
reading
driving licence
soft
possibly/maybe
sensitive
to sack
to learn
MATCH
retribution
a notice
presumption
mess
warn
news
mass
insulation
gracious
injury
sunstroke
conceit
avert
avvertire
avviso
infortunio
pasticcio
presunzione
isolamento
castigo
insolazione
evitare
notizia
messa
clemente
supposizione
MATCH
retribution
a notice
presumption
mess
warn
news
mass
insulation
gracious
injury
sunstroke
conceit
avert
castigo
avviso
supposizione
pasticcio
avvertire
notizia
messa
isolamento
clemente
infortunio
insolazione
presunzione
evitare
SOME OTHER ASPECTS TO BEAR IN MIND WHEN
COMMUNICATING WITH OTHER CULTURES…..
A GLOBAL WORLD ….?
APART FROM FROM GESTURES…
What else differs between cultures…?
PROXEMICS AND OTHERS
Mmm?
REVIEW OF MAIN
CONCEPTS
These are also some of the questions you may
have to answer in the exam:
CULTURE
How do you think it can be best defined?
Is it wrong to think of culture as a thing, something
identifiable?
CULTURAL ORIENTATIONS
What were some of the basic cultural differences
that Hall, Hofstede and Trompenaars found in their
research?
STEREOTYPES
What are common stereotypes about your ‘national’
culture?
What are ‘essentializing’ and ‘othering’ and why are
they important ?
ELF
What is ELF and why is it important to intercultural
communication?
NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION
Why do you need to be particularly aware/careful of
gestures in intercultural communication?