Bente Bakmand
Abstract
This paper will focus on national political views on the appropriateness of language planning in relation to respectively the status, the corpus and the acquisition of various languages. In the light of concrete `language policy events' and the debates - parliamentary, in the media and in academic discourse - in relation to these, the aim of the paper is to discuss which domains within language matters are considered objects of national political intervention and for which reasons. French language policy which is relatively explicit will be compared with more implicit Danish language policy. The interrelations of ideologically and pragmatically founded reasons for intervening in various language matters will be discussed: In an internationally oriented world, where cultural and linguistic pluralism prevail at the expense of national homogeneity, which role is left for national language policy, if any? Can a phenomenon which traditionally has been considered mainly as a tool for uniting nations possibly become a tool for granting and improving democracy in modern Western European societies' internal and external communication? Or should national governments once and for all leave such matters to individual choices, EU language policies or market forces? Answering in depth to these broad questions is not the ambition of the paper, whereas outlining tendencies in the ongoing political discourses connected to the issue is the aim, in the light of the approaches in the scientific study of language planning and language policy.
keywords: language policy events, national political intervention, tool of democracy, French language policy, Danish language planning, parliamentary/media/academic debates, cultural pluralism, national homogeneity.
Back to startMagnus Bergquist & Magnus Mörck
Abstract
Stereotypes are generally considered to be the opposite of good information, which of course should be accurate and have some degree of complexity. At their worst stereotypes spread prejudice, at the best they may contain a 'kernel of truth'. However, as globalization moves on the demand for simplified understanding of complex, large-scale phenomena grows. In our article an analysis of some aspects of east-west image making is offered showing an ambivalent use of difference and similarity. How do western observers make sense of recent dramatic changes in the East in the context of telecom? What simplifications are thought to bring home the basic meaning of this drama? If stereotypes pin point difference, metaphors are about similarity and promotes a cognitive world-view of basic interchangeability.
This article contains some observations of both, the distinctiveness and the affinity of Asia as seen by particular western observers. The point of departure for our discussion of how stereotypes are used in the west to make Asia and especially China manageable is 'Business Weekly' (in Swedish: Veckans Affärer), a Swedish business magazine. All issues released during the last three years have been examined. Articles about Asia, different countries in Asia, Swedish companies operating in Asia, people doing business in Asia, and Asians operating in the west, have been examined. We will show how China and Japan were presented to the Swedish business community during these three years of rapid and turbulent change.
keywords: stereotypes, metaphors, business media, economic and technological change, China and Japan.
Back to startB. Campbell et al
Abstract
As higher education institutions throughout Europe continually search for innovative approaches to teaching and learning, not least as they seek to maximise increasingly scarce resources, students are likely to be encouraged, even obliged, to take more responsibility for their own learning. This will be manifested through such activities as the negotiation of learning experiences with their tutors, completion of projects through collaborative efforts with their contemporaries etc. They will carry out many of these activities in small groups. Furthermore, group activity is likely to be a vital part of almost every job that students graduating from higher education are likely to enter irrespective of the country in which they have studied or subsequently work; they will probably be expected to engage in the co-ordination of tasks with others, to share information, solve problems and make decisions. Communicative ability is clearly central to such activities. It is now seen in the UK as a priority skill in national education and training ( National Skills Agenda, 1998).
keywords: learning experiences, responsibility, small groups, communicative abilities, microtraining, self-efficacy beliefs, professional development.
Back to startKiira Maria Kirra
Abstract
This study focuses on Finns' perceptions of problematic phenomena in their communication with non-Finns. The aim of the study is to examine intercultural face-to-face encounters experienced as critical incidents by the respondents.
Critical incidents are communicative events which have been experienced as embarrassing, irritating, funny, strange etc. and which are therefore remembered vividly.
People are often not aware of "the obvious" in their own communication. It only becomes visible to them when communicating with somebody whose "obvious" differs from it, as is the case in intercultural encounters. Therefore the study of critical incidents helps to identify "obvious" and therefore invisible features in one's own communication style.
The data consists of 202 critical incidents collected from lecture journals submitted by Finnish open university students in connection with introductory courses to Intercultural Communication. To identify such incidents in the journals, content analysis was used.
The study suggests that phenomena such as different orientations to time, degree of directness, role differences and differences in verbal and nonverbal communication were among those experienced as critical.
keywords: intercultural face-to-face encounters, critical incidents, communicative style, content analysis, problematic dimensions of communication.
Brian Norris
Abstract
The first democratic elections in the history of South Africa have taken place, the Government of National Unity has been installed, and as the country at last starts moving towards establishing a non-racial society based on a constitution that embodies equal rights for every person, the need to establish an equitable and effective higher education system becomes a top priority.
Redressing historical imbalances relating to staff appointments and student access is an imperative for South African higher education institutions.
One of the strategies that must be applied to accelerate that change process is affirmative action, yet affirmative action on its own is not the whole answer. It is essential that the diversity created by affirmative action be effectively managed, by using a strategic management approach.
keywords: non-racial society, higher education system, staff appointments, student access, affirmative action, diversity framework, organisational change, strategic management.
Rumiko Oyama
Abstract
In this paper, I question the notion that "The Visual" is a culturally transparent means of communication. I will be demonstrating how different cultures (Japan and Britain) use the resources of visual communication in ways that relate to their specific underlying value systems. In order to show this I draw on advertisements from both countries and use the visual grammar developed by Kress and Van Leeuven (1996). By analysing the forms that the advertisements take: the semiotic structure of the images, rather than their content, it is possible to find differences that relate to the specific cultural locations of theadvertisements. [sic! ///Hans] I hope that by doing this, it becomes clear how all the representations of a culture are dependent on that culture and that inter-cultural communication is tied to deep-seated values rather than free floating.
Keywords: Culturally conditioned visual communication, visual grammar, underlying value systems, spatial semiotic systems.
Zhu Yunxia
Abstract
This paper sets out to examine the development of Chinese sales genres in relation to the changing social context. An approach embracing both social context and communicative purposes (Swales, 1990) is proposed and used in this paper. Fundamental changes have taken place in Chinese business context since the economic opening-up in 1978. In response to these changes, sales letters have emerged to meet the communicative needs of business. An introduction is given to sales genres in two different periods of business communication: the delinking period (1949-78) and the relinking period (1978 to the present). In the first period, sales ‘qingshi’ (requests raised by subordinates), and sales ‘pifu’ (official approvals) were employed. The second period is characterized by the use of the sales letters to reflect the change towards the market economy. In addition, the use of the specific sales genres is largely determined by reader-writer relationships under different economic structures of the country. While an equal relationship is shown in sales letters in the second period, a hierarchical relationship is exhibited in the sales genres used in the first period.
keywords: social context, economic structure, communicative purposes, Chinese sale genres, sale letters, changiong reader-writer relationship.
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