Ñòð.122-123 Dialogue Of Cultures ÃÄÇ Âåðáèöêàÿ Forward 11 êëàññ

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DIALOGUE OF CULTURES 4

AMERICAN CHARACTER

Glossary

melting pot; salad bowl; descendants; life expectancy; mainstream culture; subculture job-oriented culture; business-oriented culture; slacking; avoid red tape; show stamina; the Mayflower pioneers; frontier spirit

1 Read the fact file. What two idioms describe the USA as a country where people with different ethnical, religious and other backgrounds live together? In groups, discuss what concepts these idioms reflect: cultural assimilation or cultural pluralism? Why do you think there's been a transition of concepts in the 21st century?

FACT FILE: US - MELTING POT or SALAD BOWL?

Immigration and diversity history

1.5 m native American Indians

1492 Columbus arrived, and more Europeans arrived for the next 200 years

1619 Africans arrived as slaves

1779 Independence from Great Britain

1847 Irish arrived due to Potato Blight (39 m descendants today)

1880 Jewish arrived (6.5 m today)

1865 Slaves made illegal

1963 Martin Luther King's historic speech 'I have a dream'

Current US population 298,444,215

Life expectancy 74.89 yrs

Ethnic groups

75 % White

12.2 % Black or African American

5.2 % Other races

4.2 % Asian

1.9 % Two or more races

0.8 % American Indian and Alaska Native

0.1 % Native Hawaiian and other Pacific islander

Religion breakdown

52.0% Protestant

24.0 % Roman Catholic

2.0 % Mormon

1.0 % Muslim

2.0 % Jewish

10.0 % Other

10.0 % None

2 Use the pie charts to speak about the current diversity of the US.

3 Work with a partner. Study some observations made by visitors to the USA. For each point decide whether the same habits and ways are practiced in Russia.

American Habits and Lifestyle

- Americans love to spend time outdoors. People can play tennis, basketball or jog for recreation, walk in parks, do the gardening or hike.

- The national holiday, or the Independence Day of the USA, is celebrated on the Fourth of July. Since the weather is usually good, people tend to organize outdoor activities, such as parades, sporting events, picnics and, in the evening, fireworks displays.

- American small talk is usually about sport.

- Americans hate queuing. If there is a line, an American will most likely leave and come another time.

- Most of the young people in America tend to move out of their parents home as soon as they finish high school.

- It is not customary in America to drop into a friend s house because you are passing by. You are supposed to respect other people s privacy.

- Even if not shopping for anything, Americans enjoy looking at all options. When asked what they prefer to do Americans reply with a question What are my choices?

- Americans don t like to waste time, they believe that Time is money .

- Americans are socially active. Almost every city and town in the US has its social organisations that sponsor fund-raising activities, such as concerts, dinners, festivals to raise money for hospitals, schools and other charitable causes. One state Tennessee is nicknamed The Volunteer State.

Understanding the American Character

It is often said that there is no American culture. It is better defined as a collection of subcultures, which is to a great extent true. The USA, indeed, has historically developed as a nation of immigrants and in its essence is a 'melting pot'.

But, on the other hand, there is an American mainstream culture. It is connected with the attitude of Americans to work. Americans work hard tend to see things in terms of their potential for making money. In this job-oriented culture you need to observe certain rules: you must be punctual, well dressed, tidy, energetic, focused, work hard, not time-wasting or slacking, take short holidays, be sensible in avoiding red tape, learn show stamina and listen to the boss

Looking deeper, however, the underlying national historical culture of America is not that obvious. It has been evolving since independence in 1776, with its earlier roots visible in the struggle of the Mayflower pioneers, the Indian and Mexican wars, the Louisiana Purchase and the eventual conquest of a vast continent in an incredibly short span of time.

At base the US nation-state culture is clear: it is young, successful, rich and powerful. This solid foundation gives the American people a dominant trait - confidence. Starting with Mayflower landing in 1620 and leading to the establishment of 13 colonies on the eastern seaboard, the psychology of the original settlers in the American continent has often been described as 'the frontier spirit'. Their journey in search of freedom of activity and belief was long and hazardous, but after great hardships they succeeded. Many of the traits of the American character originate in the frontier spirit. As there was nobody for the first settlers to rely on, they had to develop stamina. At large, they had to be individualists ('I can only rely upon myself and my horses"). Most Americans nowadays continue to believe that nothing is impossible in the United States, particularly in regard to personal advancement.

But while confidence, boldness and firm decision-making are great qualities to have in business, they are not always unarguable in complex situations of present day world trade and politics. Unfortunately, the USA has been slow in her chance to learn and absorb strengths and skills demonstrated by energetic Asian, South American, European and Russian cultures. American unwillingness to study local cultures in depth is described by experts as a major weakness in the furtherance of American initiatives elsewhere in the world.

4 Work in pairs. Look at the three car number plates. Which states in the US do their owners come from? Consult a map of the USA and say in what part of the country they are located. Why do you think some Americans like to use nicknames of the states they live in on their car number plates? Do drivers do it in Russia?

5 DCT005 Listen to the recording and answer the questions.

1 What makes the girl talk about her university with pride?

2 What tradition distinguishes this university from others?

Interviewer: Hello, Alexandra! I know that you recently finished university in the United States. What university was it?

Alexandra: Hi! The university that I went to was Harvard University, which is one of the oldest institutions that we have. It was founded in 1636 in Boston. Compared to universities in Europe, of course, it s not very old, compared to say Oxford or Cambridge, but for America it s extremely old, it s older than the country itself, which, as you know of course, was founded in 1776. So Harvard is really a very special and interesting place.

Interviewer: What makes it so special?

Alexandra: One thing that s very different about Harvard is that it has many traditions that stem from its long history. In the very beginning Harvard University was quite different from the university that we see today. It was for very young children, for boys of about 10 or 11 years of age. And they studied the Bible, basically they studied Christianity, religion, and not much else. They didn t study mathematics, linguistics or history or any subjects that we see in universities today. Instead, they learned how to be good Christians. No girls were, of course, allowed to study there, since women at that time were denied formal education and, interestingly enough, the boys were both the sons of colonizers, as you can imagine, and also the sons of native Indians who lived nearby.

Interviewer: What did you like most at your uni?

Alexandra: For me the most interesting part in Harvard s history is the founding of its library system. The library system is absolutely amazing. It s actually the fourth biggest library in the entire world. So the national library of America, which is called the Library of Congress, has a bigger collection than the British National Library or the French Bibliotheque Nationale. But Harvard s library has close to eighteen million books. And as you can imagine, 18 million is just a vast number, and any subject you want to read about can be found in this library. It s very democratic, it s open to everyone. The library itself is in a physical building that s absolutely enormous. You can compare it with a building the size of GUM, the department store in Moscow. Only instead of being a few storeys high, it s seven storeys high and also goes about 16 storeys underground. So it s really one of the biggest buildings I ve ever seen, it s absolutely full of books.

Interviewer: I heard that there s a special requirement for applicants to Harvard. You must do a swimming test. It sounds strange to me. Is there any special reason behind it?

Alexandra: Ah, yes! It is also connected with the library, because the library building itself was given to the university by a very rich woman named Mrs Widener and she had a sad reason for giving the money to build this library. She had a young son Harry, who was a student at Harvard. He was about 20, and he was very interested in rare books. He was a collector, and because he came from a wealthy family, he was able to collect these books. So when he was still a student, he went to Europe to collect these books. He went to auctions and market places all over Europe and found many beautiful and rare volumes. But unfortunately it was 1912, and the ship that he chose to return on was the Titanic, and, as you know of course, the Titanic sank, thousands of people died, including young Harry, and all of the books were lost too incidentally.

Interviewer: Oh, no! How tragic.

Alexandra: So his mother was devastated, and in his memory she decided that the best thing to do would be to give the money to build this library in his name, so that his interest in book collecting could be passed down from generation to generation. But the interesting part of the story for me is that Mrs Widener was a very eccentric woman, as she had several demands attached to this gift. One of the demands showed her concern for the safety of future Harvard students. She actually required that every incoming Harvard freshman, every first-year student had to pass a swimming test before entering the university, before beginning classes. And this, of course, is because she didn t want anyone else to drown as her son had drowned. Students still do it today just to honor the tradition. When I was a first-year at Harvard, in our first week we all went trooping down to the swimming pool, swam to the end of the pool and swam back. And then after that we were allowed to begin university. So this is just an example of how Harvard really likes to honor its history, honor its traditions.

6 Skim-read the text Understanding the American character and decide which paragraphs the following titles suit best.

a America is a country with a very diverse population.

b American mainstream culture is largely a business- oriented culture.

c US national character is rooted in American history.

d American self-confidence has acquired a reputation of a national cultural trait.

7 Read the text again and discuss the questions.

1 What qualities of character are important in business-oriented culture?

2 What is the dominant trait of US nation-state culture?

3 What is the 'frontier spirit'? How did it influence the American character?

4 Why can some nation-state traits possess negative aspects?

8 Crossing Cultures. In groups, discuss:

- May some aspects of American behaviour that are not customary for Russian citizens lead to embarrassing situations? Why/why not?

- What rules of mainstream American business culture can be difficult for Russian employees to follow? Give your arguments.

- What traditional proverbs may describe the strengths and weaknesses of Russian national character? Make a list of them and, if possible, find their English equivalents.

- Which features of Russian character may seem alien to Americans?