The Linguist is a languages magazine for professional linguists, translators, interpreters, language professionals, language teachers, trainers, students and academics with articles on translation, interpreting, business, government, technology
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26 The Linguist Vol/54 No/4 2015 www.ciol.org.uk REVIEWS 'Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas any more,' says Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, as she peers cautiously into the technicolour world of the Munchkins. Such wide-eyed wonder is the starting point for this insightful and amusing book on coming to grips with other cultures. The bulk of the experiences recounted in The Intercultural Mind: Connecting culture, cognition and global living involve young Americans and Japanese, with a sprinkling of other nationalities, providing us with some useful examples. However, the need for cultural awareness arises even when getting close up with cultures that we think we recognise. And, of course, it is a two-way street, with others making assumptions about us as the outsiders (e.g. assuming that the native English speaker is always monolingual and tongue-tied). Thinking in this area goes back to young American Peace Corps volunteers who reported 'culture shock' when moving into situations far removed from their home experience. They soon discovered (as so many international students since) that after an uncomfortable period of adjustment they could work flexibly and learn more about themselves as people and the world that they had come from. The Intercultural Mind Joseph Shaules Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 2015, 240 pp; ISBN 978941176009 Paperback, £14.99 Can cultural awareness be taught, or can we do no more than brief students as to what they can expect, and wait for them to build on their own experience until they can operate with confidence in the target culture? As the world (and working life) become more global, this is a situation that is, perhaps, improving. Yet it is still possible to be in a group where everyone is attuned to the local environment, or experienced in dealing with visitors from a particular country, except for one who is proudly monolingual and incapable of recognising how to get the best out of the encounter. It is even worse when people simply fall back on stereotypes. This is a useful textbook, which can either be worked through or dipped into. There is a useful synopsis at the end of each chapter, showing key concepts and a list of possible exercises. Charles Berlitz once said that speaking only one language was like living in a house with only one light on. This book explains why, though it is discouraging to see, in the valuable set of tips at the end for developing an intercultural mind, that learning a foreign language comes almost last and quite possibly least. Tim Connell FCIL CIOL Vice-President 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Crossword no.12 Solutions, page 32 Across 1 Modern name of Indian city, originally named by the Portuguese (6) 4 Finger (6) 9 To use again (7) 10 The birthplace of Pythagoras (5) 11 Seventeenth letter of the Greek alphabet (3) 12 Spice (5) 13 Philosopher and founder of the Academy (5) 14 Between the rivers (11) 19 Spiral (5) 21 Suffix denoting shape or structure (5) 23 Militant group acronym, Basque Homeland and Freedom (3) 24 A flowering plant and also the surname of Maurice Leblanc's Gentleman Burglar (5) 25 Cores, from Greek sharp point (7) 26 Flowering plant, named after a student of Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine (6) 27 Typical works of 5 down (6) This puzzle is dominated by Greek. Clues in italics give the basic meaning of the Greek derivation. Down 1 Ten thousand (6) 2 Prefix denoting small (5) 3 Prefix denoting primitive (7) 5 He is credited with writing moralistic stories (5) 6 Kettledrums (7) 7 Island home of the poet Sappho (6) 8 System of government by those with ability (11) 15 Curve on a plane around two focal points (7) 16 Country with a significant minority of Greek speakers (7) 17 Man's name, lover of horses (6) 18 Long dissertation (6) 20 Noble gas, strange (5) 22 Of the countryside (4)