Higher education in the English-speaking world. Christian psychotherapy in the modern English-speaking world

Americans usually soon switch to calling people by their first names, but you still shouldn’t do it yourself if you’ve been introduced by your last name and haven’t yet been asked to be short.

American communication belongs to the so-called cultures with low level context (another example is German communication). This means that the words spoken by the interlocutor almost literally, practically without taking into account the possible meaning hidden in the words, can change what was said to the exact opposite.

When solving a problem, Americans seek to discuss not only general approaches, but also details related to the implementation of agreements. Breaks in the conversation are not welcome, silence is perceived as a kind of “failure” in the conversation, therefore, since it has formed, do not remain silent, at least talk about the weather. And keep smiling!

Americans truly believe that they know themselves well enough. Although they may lack the encyclopedic knowledge for which Europeans are so famous, Americans nevertheless consider themselves good experts in their own history and their national character, the dominant features of which they consider hard work and patriotism.

Americans have a much more personal and emotional relationship with their homeland than the British. Americans call their homeland she[she], that is, personify her: Where America was and where she is now[Where America Was and Where It Is Now]. It is in American texts that one can find mother country[motherland], they sometimes say our country[our country].

A more emotional attitude towards one’s beautiful homeland is manifested in the periphrase America the beautiful[America the Beauty] - no beautiful America[America the Beautiful] America the beautiful[America the Beauty] is a much more solemn name for the country.

Americans, in their agitation for super-loyalty and super-devotion towards their country, reach the point of curiosity: the world-famous Made in USA[Made in USA] began to be replaced by pompous Crafted with pride in USA[Proudly Made in the USA] .

Another feature of the American national character and behavior is the cult of shrines and symbols, one of which is an irresistible, almost manic love for freedom.

Americans are distinguished by their politeness and courtesy. An emphatically polite address to the addressee, a form of personal polite request - these techniques are very common in the USA. Learning calls with the word please[please] or without it showed that all types of information (warnings, instructions, and prohibitions) can take the form of a polite request, underlined by the word please.

Most Americans believe that the ideal conversation is an exchange of thoughts, and not a self-manifestation-monologue, not narcissism, and not a demonstration of one’s wit.

Compliments are a wonderful and mutually pleasant technique. Every person has his own merits, and everyone is vain to one degree or another. Therefore, Americans tend to praise the people with whom they deal. The result is always wonderful. They smile at you from afar, when you have not yet had time to open your mouth to greet.

In the Western world in general and in the English-speaking world in particular, a smile is a sign of culture (culture, of course, in the ethnographic sense of the word), it is a tradition, a custom: to stretch your lips into the appropriate position to show that you have no aggressive intentions, you are not going to rob or kill. This is a way of formally demonstrating to others that one belongs to a given culture, to a given society.

Formal politeness is a pronounced feature of English-speaking society. To a simple question: “Tea or coffee? [Tea or coffee?]" you cannot simply answer "Tea [Tea]", you must always add please"-“Tea, please [Tea, please].” In a negative answer you need to add thank you[thank you], but don’t indulge in explanations.

As for the culture of behavior in Australia, Australians are friendly, they are distinguished by their rejection of authority, and their love of witty words. The backbone of the population consisted of emigrants from England and Ireland.

On the one hand, Australia retains the influence of English culture, sometimes manifested in restraint, stiffness, and puritanism; on the other hand, many observers note the similarity of Australia with California, which is manifested in love of life, freedom of morals, the habit of spending most of the time on outdoors. Australians are friendly to foreigners. The influence of ecologists and pacifists is great.

Australians are extremely laconic , they find brevity a wonderful quality. Business proposals should be presented simply and concisely, without going into details. The tradition of most Australians is a relaxed style of clothing.

Australians borrowed some manners and rules of etiquette from England: a man opens the door for a woman, an owner opens a door for guests, bosses open doors for subordinates.

Australians' spoken language is very different from their written language. The written language is classic English with some American influences. The language that Australians use in everyday life is called "strine". Words in it are shortened, swallowed, combined together and even thrown out. So it is simply impossible to learn this language. To understand him, you need to listen very carefully.

Australians, or Ozzies (as they call themselves informally), are fierce individualists. At the top of the list of Australian values ​​is an unshakable belief in their own individuality. They know that they live in a country unlike any other.

Australians dream of changing the popular perception of their beloved country as a convict settlement, so under no circumstances in a conversation should you even hint to an Australian that his family tree is rooted in the depths of the criminal world.

Australians are kind and smiling people. They will always smile at you and say “thank you.” In Australia it is common practice to talk to stranger. Australians are a people without complexes. If you want to know something, just ask. Australians are far from shy, and if they don’t like your questions, they won’t hesitate to ask you “not to bother you with your stupid questions.”

In Australia, there are practically no taboo topics of conversation. You can always argue about religion and politics, so you can easily start the conversation with them. However, it is considered bad manners to ask about salary and talk about race.

Australians love to make fun of those who consider themselves too smart. Therefore, try to keep it simple when communicating with them. All conversations of Australians are filled with jokes and jokes. They joke about any country and any people. They tell the English jokes about the English, the Irish about the Irish, etc. Australians can laugh at themselves too. But don’t tell yourself funny stories and jokes about Australians, they hate it when foreigners make fun of their people.

In Australia, touching people is not common. The only exception is the handshake, which is given special significance. A man does not shake hands with a woman: if an emancipated woman extends her hand to a man, she will put him in an awkward position.

In Australia, it is customary to take a shower at least once a day - it is simply impossible without this, because their sun is much hotter than in Europe.

Despite all the diversity of its components, the culture here is still English, and it has left its mark on the norms of behavior acceptable in Australian society.

Summarizing all of the above, we cannot help but notice the obvious influence of the culture of England, as a former metropolis, on the culture of the USA and Australia. All the basic norms of behavior that are considered acceptable throughout the world also exist in the society of English-speaking countries. The main similarities in behavioral culture include the manifestation of politeness, friendliness and truthfulness in communication, and respect for the freedom of others. Time is one of the main values ​​in the society of England, the USA and Australia. In these countries, it is customary to show respect to elders and women, to value the peace of others, without in any way showing their superiority in education, social status, etc. In the USA and Australia, unlike England, the manifestation of patriotism is more personal. This is a kind of national idea, society, thus, makes up for the short history of its countries as independent states. The culture of behavior in the USA and Australia is somewhat relaxed. This is manifested in a fairly quick transition to names in communication, and the absence of taboo topics. Patriarchal English society has always been distinguished by restraint, stiffness and the presence of many formal rules that are not always understandable to a foreigner.

2.2 Features of the culture of the English-speaking world through the prism of announcements and appeals

There is no doubt that information and regulatory vocabulary reflects the culture of the speech community to which all these calls, announcements, prohibitions, etc. are addressed. This happens different ways and in different forms.

Announcements prohibiting certain actions show what kind of actions are possible in a given society, what can be expected from its members, what behavior needs to be stopped.

The following examples illustrate this point especially clearly, because prohibitions of this kind are impossible in our culture for the simple reason that no one would think of behaving this way. Indeed, in our society, in our culture, there is no need to prohibit people from sitting on the floor in in public places, tucking a coat under a chair in the theater and much more.

In the University of London Library:

Readers are reminded that sitting on the floors is prohibited.

On the door of the streaming auditorium at the British University:

In the American University building:

No rollerblading [Roller skating is prohibited].

On the door of the university conference room during a plenary session:

No drinking or eating, please [Please refrain from eating and drinking].

At the Royal National Theater in London:

Please do not place coats, etc. under your seat as it interferes with ventilation [Please do not place your coats, etc. under the seats as this will interfere with ventilation].

Tradition of putting outerwear under the seat in the theater is so common and tenacious that the authors of the call-for-ban, for greater importance, give a “rational” (His Majesty Common Sense reigns in society!) explanation regarding the violation of ventilation.

Even more strange from the point of view of our culture is the call-ban-wish in St. Alban's Cathedral not to smoke, drink drinks, or eat in the cathedral premises. In our country, even during the years of persecution of religion, this would have been impossible:

Out of respect for this house of God visitors are asked to be suitably dressed and not to eat, drink or smoke in the abbey [Out of respect for this God's temple Visitors are asked to dress appropriately and refrain from eating, drinking or smoking in the Abbey].

A completely culturally incomprehensible announcement in the center of Sydney, Australia, in the part of the harbor where warships were stationed (Naval dockyard), prohibited entering this territory (this is understandable) and... shooting (?!):

Trespassing and shooting is forbidden on this property private territory and shooting is prohibited].

The features of the social life of a particular culture are reflected in the following examples.

In Australia in the state of Victoria in the summer (January - February), when the terrible heat causes fires in which people and animals die, a sign is common on the roads:

Fire restriction are in use! [Fire restrictions apply!]

Pay attention to the exclamation mark, a much rarer punctuation mark than in Russian.

“Mysterious” text on signs of restaurants and cafes in Australia:

b. u. O.

This means that the visitor can (should?) bring his own bottle of alcohol. I wonder what the word bottle is in in this case missing: everyone already knows what is meant in the call “bring your own"[bring it with you].

The language of advertisements and signs fully reflected this very characteristic feature Western culture, as concern for environmental protection, or, in other words, concern for environmental problems.

In accordance with Western ideology, concern for environment successfully combined with concern for one’s own benefit. So, in all hotels and inns, large and small, in Europe, America, Australia, the visitor reads in his room a detailed explanation (even with an epigraph from scientific treatises) about how harmful excess washing is for nature (with a secret hint to use longer towels) . The request is quite reasonable from all points of view, but it is presented in the form of a fashionable appeal for concern for the environment:

HELP US TO HELP THE ENVIRONMENT

Now more than ever it is important to protect the environment by reducing

pollution and saving on energy and costs. At the Manchester Conference Center we believe that even small gestures can make a difference. We would)