ENGLISH FOR INTERCULTURAL

COMMUNICATION
Professor Jairo Mendoza
U.D.C
O problema de uma língua internacional é uma
questão de arrependimento. Quando recorremos a
essa forma de língua, não estamos, na verdade, à
procura de nada de novo, mas daquilo que perdemos.

Fendando Pessoa, ‘Língua Internacional’ in A Língua

Portuguesa (São Paulo, Companhia das Letras, 1997)
I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and
my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all
lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible.
But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any.
Mahatma Gandhi
The problem of an international language is a problem
of remorse. When we seek such a language, we are
seeking, indeed, not what will be new, but what we
lost.

Fendando Pessoa, ‘Língua Internacional’ in A Língua

Portuguesa (São Paulo, Companhia das Letras, 1997)
What do we understand by the word
‘culture’?
▶ A way of life.
 ▶ A set of social practices.
 ▶ A system of beliefs.
 ▶ A shared history or set of experiences
▶ A culture may be synonymous with a country, or a
region, or a nationality or it may cross several
countries or regions.
What do we understand by the word
‘culture’?
A culture may be synonymous with a religion, though
the followers of Christianity or Judaism or Islam may
also come from different cultures. It is highly possible
to belong to or identify oneself with more than one
culture.
(Chris Rose, British Council, Italy)
What do we understand by the word
‘culture’?
Culture is an “integrated pattern of human behavior
that includes thoughts, communications, languages,
practices, beliefs, values, customs, courtesies, rituals,
manners of interacting and roles, relationships and
expected behaviors of a racial, ethnic, religious or
social group; and the ability to transmit the above to
succeeding generations”
(Goode, Sockalingam, Brown, & Jones, 2000)
“To get to know a language, you have
to get to know the people. There is no
other way. And what better way is there
of getting to know someone than over a
glass or two in a snug?”
David Crystal
Crystal´s Interview
 How would you now advise a language
learner "to get to know the people" well
especially when he/she has never been
to the country in which the language is
spoken?
 Is there any viable approach to
overcome cultural barriers in
intercultural communication?
English for intercultural communication
It is based on the premise that learning another
language is becoming aware of another culture,
and foreign language competence is a means not
only to acquire knowledge about and skills of
efficient cross-cultural communication but also a
means of presenting our own culture to the world.
(Nemira Mačianskienė, 2000)
LEARNING TO SURVIVE IN A NEW CULTURE
Anyone who has never made a mistake has never
tried anything new.
Albert Einstein
CULTURE SHOCK
1958- to describe the anxiety one sometimes feels
when going to a new culture.

L. R. Kohls - undergo several distinct stages or states

of personal adjustment when they start living abroad.
A Blessing in Disguise
People who live and travel in other cultures also report
feeling reawakened, refreshed, renewed, revived and
even rejuvenated as a result of their cross-cultural
encounters.