Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Розділ ІІ
Розділ ІІ
Revision
I. Answer the questions:
a) How does history help you understand who you are?
History provides information about our identity in different aspects: race,
culture, social, religious etc.
b) What do you consider to be your identity? Describe your cultural identity.
My identity is my nationality and cultural peculiarities of Ukraine. The main
key to show my cultural identity is Ukrainian language. The second crucial point is
freedom. Ukrainians are fighting for freedom through ages. I would also add music,
ornaments, traditions and celebration which can easily distinguish our people.
c) In your opinion, aside from «Where are you from?» what questions might
strangers ask that can be irritating to some people?
I can say, that it may be personal question like «How old are you?». There’s
nothing special in this question, but previous generations used to say that it’s not
appropriate to ask women about their age. I’d also add «Are you married? Why? Why
not?». And the expression «Clock's tickin'» makes me mad every time when I hear it.
II. Write an essay about some of the stereotypes that foreigners have
about Russians and Americans. Include in it: where do these stereotypes come
from? How do they develop? How do these stereotypes influence communication
between Americans/Russians and people from other countries?
I know some stereotypes about Ukraine. A lot of people think that we eat a lot,
especially salo and borshch. Every day. Also I’ve heard about drinking alcohol. Like
it’s common habit there. Women are housewives, they don’t work. It’s not true,
because now a lot of women work, study, and develop themselves. Oh, and a lot of
people think that we wear only traditional clothing. It’s a traditional piece of clothing,
but not everyday clothing.
If we talk about Americans, they’re thought to be fat, stupid, wealthy. I’ve
watched some short videos about life in the USA. So, I can say that it’s not true. Who
wants to study and get knowledge – will do that. It doesn’t depend on his\her
nationality. Wealthy Americans – only those who work and develop themselves. I
can’t say that they’re fat, and prefer eating fast food to healthy food. Yes, fast food is
quite cheap, but it depends on their choice.
In my opinion these stereotypes are based on the way of our thinking. People
who just get some information without exploring or thinking will consider it to be
trustworthy. Our grannies used to tell us some stereotypes, because they had
experienced them. So usually it’s like a word of mouth.
Such stereotypes influence our communication, because we have some
judgments and prejudice sometimes and we are unable to perceive people or
information in the right way because of that.
III. Task: look for advertisements in popular newspapers and magazines.
Analyze the ads to see if you can identify the societal values that they appeal to.
I have found Lacoste – Ageless advertisements. They demonstrate that all
generations can be fashion lovers. People of all generations were depicted there. It
helped to show that they are equal, by wearing same clothes, doing same things and
so on. People who didn’t use to work as models took part in these ads. And in my
opinion, it helped to make atmosphere and sense of trustworthiness and reliability.