Intercultural Communication

In times of globalisation, we are frequently faced with situations in which we have to communicate with people from cultures other than our own. Successful communication between speakers from differing cultural and linguistic backgrounds presupposes that the interlocutors master the pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary of the language used to communicate to a certain degree. However, knowing the words and the grammatical rules of a language alone does not guarantee smooth and trouble-free communication. What is supposed to be intercultural communication often results in intercultural miscommunication, due to the fact that the interlocutors are not aware of or do not pay attention to potential cultural differences and presuppose that their conversational partners share their own norms and values. In fact, our ways of thinking, acting, perceiving and using language are culturally determined and can thus severely differ between members of different cultures. Making a direct request using the imperative mood, for instance, may be the norm in one culture, but considered rude and impolite in another – a difference in communicative style that might lead to misunderstandings in intercultural communication. This class is intended to familiarise students with some of the most important dimensions of cultural difference and with the key notions related to culture and communication. It also aims to raise their awareness of the culture-specificity of the linguistic means used by speakers to communicate and to encourage participants to reflect on their own culturally determined communicative style. They will learn to identify, describe and explain misunderstandings that are due to cultural differences on the one hand and to avoid, anticipate and overcome problems in intercultural communication on the other hand. Students who wish to attend this seminar must have passed the 'Introduction to Linguistics'. As the focus of this seminar will be on speech acts and politeness across cultures, they should also be familiar with the key concepts of pragmatics. Those who have not attended a pragmatics class yet or need to brush up their knowledge are strongly advised to read chapter 6 of the following book in advance: Plag, Ingo/ Braun, Maria/ Lappe, Sabine/ Schramm, Mareile (2009): Introduction to English Linguistics. 2nd ed. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Anglistik - Sprachwissenschaft I Universität Siegen WiSe 2012/13 Priv.-Doz. Dr. Motschenbacher Heiko Priv Doz