Байланысты: grishenko v d teoriya i praktika obucheniya mezhkul turnoy k
Приложение №7. CASE STUDIES 1. Информационно-сравнительный этап обучения. BODY LANGUAGE Crooked Finger TASK. Read the cases and think what’s wrong in here. Discuss with you fellow students. Then read the cross-cultural commentary after the case to see whether you were right. CASE A Japanese-owned corporation in the United States hires American office workers, including Helen Olson. All the top management executives are Japanese males with very limited English language skills. On her second day at work, Helen needs to communicate with one of the big bosses about some paperwork on her desk. Because of the language barrier, she uses gestures to indicate that she would like her boss to come over to her desk to look at the problem. After she catches his eye, she crooks her index finger and moves it in a "come here" motion. The boss looks horrified.
CROSS-CULTURAL COMMENTARY (for the teacher and students) Totally unaware of Japanese body language, Helen had made an obscene
gesture. She felt humiliated when she found out what the boss thought she meant.
Of course, Helen had no intention of insulting him, but as a result of this
misunderstanding, she became so uncomfortable working in this office that she
decided to quit. However, when she gave notice, the boss would not accept it. In
Japan, employees usually don't quit. If Helen left the company, it would cause the
boss to lose face. Because of this, Helen remained working there for a short time
and then, in spite of her employer's protests, she quit.
Japan is not the only country where this gesture has negative connotations.
In Yugoslavia and Malaysia, it is used to call animals; in Indonesia and Australia,
the gesture beckons prostitutes; in Vietnam, this gesture is used to call animals or
to beckon an inferior. Frequently, when used between persons of equal status, it
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becomes an act of hostility. Among other Southeast Asians, it is a threatening
gesture to children and an insolent one to adults.
• Don't use the crooked-index-finger "come here" gesture with Japanese or other Asian people.