Межкультурный подход как важная составляющая при изучении английского языка.
проект по английскому языку (9 класс)

Aim:

Determine the place of knowledge of the English culture in the learning of the English language.

A number of tasks were set to achieve this aim:

• Consider the concept of intercultural communication.
• Analyze the problems that arise at the junction of cultures
• Show a reflection of culture in various aspects of the language.

The hypothesis of the research: the study of the English language will be most successful if it is studied in the unity with the world and the culture of the people who speak English.

The theoretical significance of the work is to study theoretical aspects of the intercultural learning of foreign languages. The practical value of the study is to demonstrate a number of examples proving the importance of knowledge of national and cultural aspects for more successful learning of English.

2.        The importance of the intercultural approach of learning foreign languages.

A language is the most important means of existence and formation of human knowledge. Studying the world around, a person fixes the result of his knowledge in his language, however, the language does not so much reflect the real world as it reflects it through the interpretation created by a human mind, and thus creates a new reality in which a person lives.

In the Russian language, for obvious reasons, there are «пурга», «метель», «буран», «снежная буря», «вьюга», «поземка», and all this is associated with snow and winter, and in English this variety is expressed by the word «snowstorm», which is quite enough to describe all the snow problems in the English-speaking world.

Of course, the national cultural picture of the world is fuller, richer and deeper than the corresponding language. However, the language realizes, VERBALIZES the national cultural picture, keeps it and passes it from generation to generation.

The concept of linguistic and cultural pictures of the world plays an important role in the study of foreign languages.

The need for the most careful study of interlanguage correspondences and the relevance of this problem to optimize intercultural communication becomes obvious. Let’s consider it in terms of language deficiency.

3.        Types of language deficiency.

LANGUAGE DEFICIENCY is a situation of insufficiency or lack of language means for transferring the meaning of words and concepts when translating from one language to another

1. Non-equivalence.

An extreme case of language deficiency is the absence of any equivalent, often caused by the absence of the concept itself. This includes the so-called non-equivalent vocabulary - words cannot be compared with any foreign language lexical concepts.

What ways can we use to clear the meaning? If necessary, a language borrows words from a foreign language. If in the Russian-speaking world there are no such drinks as «whiskey» and «ale», and in the English-speaking world there are no such dishes as «bliny» and «borsch», these concepts are expressed using words borrowed from the corresponding language. These may be words denoting objects of different spheres of life:

This phenomenon is well studied by theory and practice of translation, its share in the lexical composition of the language is small: in Russian it is 6-7%.

3.2 Incomplete equivalence – a phenomenon when the same concept is expressed differently in different languages. It turns out to be even more complicated in some cases.

Consider, for example, ways of expressing a concept called «палец» in Russian. To name this object in English, it is necessary to clarify what is meant: a «leg» or a «hand», and if a hand, which finger, because «пальцы рук», except for the big one, are called «fingers», большой палец is a «thumb», and пальцы ног – «toes». The Russian phrase «десять пальцев» is equivalent to the English one: «eight fingers and two thumbs», and «двадцать пальцев» is «eight fingers, two thumbs, and ten toes». The form of expression of the same piece of the real world will cause a feeling of superfluity for Russians who studies English. The English would feel deficiency – three different concepts from the point of view of English language thinking are combined into «палец».

3.3. Pseudo-complete equivalence

Although non-equivalence and incomplete equivalence is a fairly common phenomenon in different languages, it is assumed that most of the words in different languages are equivalent, they are based on the inter-language concept, that is, they reflect the same piece of reality. It is believed that this layer of vocabulary is the easiest to learn and translate. But a language consists not of concepts, but of words, and the semantics of a word is not exhausted only by a lexical concept. The semantics of the word is largely due to its lexical and phraseological compatibility and various kinds of sociolinguistic connotations, and cases of word equivalence in the entire volume of their semantics and real functioning in speech, apparently, are extremely rare. Artificial isolation of conceptual meaning can distort the picture and provide, in the end, a disservice to a foreign language learner and translator.

4.        Main reasons complicating communication in general, and studying English language in particular.

Consider two main reasons that complicate communication in general, and studying a foreign language in particular.

4.1. Lexical and phraseological restrictions. Each word of each language has its own, inherent only in a given language compatibility reserve. In Russian:

победу можно только одержать,

поражение — потерпеть,

роль по-русски можно играть,

значение — иметь,

выводы и комплименты — делать.

The English verb «to pay», meaning «платить», is supposed to be combined with words that are incompatible  from the  point of view of the Russian  language, such as:

to pay attention

to pay a visit

to pay compliments

Russian combinations of words «высокая трава», «крепкий чай», «сильный дождь» in English sound like «long grass», «strong tea», and «heavy rain».

Lexical and phraseological compatibility is inherent only in this particular word in this particular language. This fact becomes apparent only when we compare languages. That is why learning a foreign language; you need to memorize words not individually, by their meanings, but in the natural, most stable combinations inherent in a given language.

Take, for example, the simplest (in the sense of prevalence) word «книга» and its equivalent — «book». In English-Russian dictionaries this word is given in the most regularly combinations. Only one of them is  translated by the word  «книга».

a book on/about birds — книга о жизни птиц,

a reference book — справочник,

to be in smb's good/bad books — быть на хорошем/плохом счету,

I can read her like a book — я вижу ее насквозь,

we must stick to/go by the book — надо действовать по правилам,

The same situation - when the translation of a single word does not coincide with the translations of this word in phrases - can be illustrated with the examples from the Russian-English dictionary:

записка — note,

докладная записка — report,

любовная записка — love letter;

закрытый — closed,

закрытое заседание — private meeting,

закрытое голосование — secret ballot,

At the level of phrases, these differences are even more striking: people who speak English «don’t wash one’s head»; they «wash one's hair» (моют волосы). Surprisingly, with such a development of «political correctness», no one has thought of bald people so far, who also have to speak in English «wash my hair», although they really wash their heads. As for the expression «to wash one's head», it is used in a figurative sense, close to Russian, also figurative, «намылить шею».

4.2.        The conflict between the cultural ideas.

Another difficulty, even more hidden, is the conflict between the cultural ideas of different peoples about those phenomenon of reality, which are designated by the «equivalent» words of these languages. These cultural representations usually determine different stylistic shadows in the words of different languages.

Let us take for study the simplest words denoting objects and phenomena that exist in all nations and in all cultures.

A Russian man asks American bus-driver, pointing to the huge houses in a wealthy area around Washington:

- Who lives in those cottages?

- Where? - asks the driver.

- Over there.

- Where? - The driver asks again.

It is not surprising that they cannot understand each other: the word «cottage» in Russian is used in relation to the two or three-stored houses in which wealthy people live. In English, a «cottage» can denote a small (mostly one-stored) house — a peasant's dwelling, as well as a small summer cottage in a resort area or village.

Such simple ordinary everyday phenomena like «день-ночь», «утро-вечер» are obvious interlanguage equivalents. However, if we compare them with the English words «day-night», «morning-evening», it becomes apparent that the cultural ideas about the parts of the day are different for different peoples.

«English morning» lasts twelve hours, exactly half a day - from midnight to noon. Therefore, the English strollers do not come home at one or two o'clock at night, but at one or two o'clock in the morning. Then «the day» begins, but not «the day», as the Russian-English dictionary would translate the word «день», but «afternoon» which lasts from about noon to about five or six, when «evening» begins, which at eight o'clock is replaced by a short night. And at «midnight» - already «morning».

The word «day» presents even greater difficulties. «Good day» is not «хорошего дня» at all, as one might think by analogy with «good morning» or «good evening». «Добрый день» translates as «good afternoon», a «good day» is used only at parting, and it sounds sharp and irritated, even rude, and means: «the conversation is over, goodbye».

5. Conclusion.

Having studied many aspects that can affect intercultural communication, we came to the conclusion that the intercultural approach is an integral part of learning English language. It involves direct contact with other socio-cultural reality, which can and should influence its perception and perceptions of the students. It provides an opportunity not only to train speech and actions, but also contributes to enhancing thinking processes that allow breaking existing prejudices and stereotypes both in relation to our own and foreign language culture. Conditions for successful intercultural communication are openness to the knowledge of another culture and the perception of psychological, social and other intercultural differences, mood of cooperation with representatives of another culture, ability to overcome stereotypes and possession of a set of communication tools and their correct choice depending on the situation of communication (tone, style, strategy,

speech genres, themes, etc.).

So, summarising the above said we can assume that the given work can have practical use in the matter of mutual understanding in the social communication between cultures: Russian and English.