Cultural Shock and Consumerism
Specialists in intercultural studies say that it is not easy to get used to life in a new culture. They call the feelings which people experience when they come to a new life – “culture shock”.
There are 3 stages of culture shock:
6) the newcomers like their new life;
7) the newness wears off and they begin to hate the city, the people and everything else in the new culture;
8) the newcomers began to get used to their new life.
The people with the worst culture shock are those who never had any difficulties in their own country, they were active and successful. People begin suffering homesickness; they do not have the same hobbies and positions.
Some of the factors in cultural shock are obvious: the weather is unpleasant; the customs are different; the public service systems (telephone, post office, transport) are difficult to understand; the food is strange for you; you feel everybody looks at you etc. Only familiarity and experience are solutions of cultural shock.
Popular culture is linked to the growth of consumerism, the repeated acquisition of an increasing variety of goods and services. The American life style is often associated with clothing, houses, electronic gadgets and leisure time. Advertising stimulates the desire for update and improved products; people equate their well-being with owning certain things of the latest model.
The standard of success in American society is products consumed and owned rather than professionalism or personal ideals. The media exemplify this success with the most glamorous models of consumption: Hollywood actors, sportsmen, music celebrities.
This dependence on products and on constant consumption defines modern consumer society everywhere. Consumption has been extensively criticized because it seems to erode older values of personal tastes and economy.
Answer the questions:
1. What stages of culture shock do specialists in intercultural studies single out?
2. Enumerate the factors in cultural shock which are obvious. What can you advis to people to overcome these difficulties?
3. What is the American life style often associated with?
Task 1. Give your point of view on the growth of consumerism and modern consume society.
UNIT 7. LANGUAGES IN THE USA
The American Indian Languages
The American Indian languages were spoken by the original inhabitants of the Western Hemisphere and are spoken by their modern descendants. In America north of Mexico, where the Indian population was thinly spread, there were a number of language groups – e.g. the Eskimo-Aleut, Algonquian, Athabaskan, and Siouan – each of which covered large territories and included some 20 idioms (dialects). In California, for example, more than 20 distinct language groups were represented. America north of Mexico had about 300 distinct languages.
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The American Indian languages do not form a single historically interrelated stock (as do the Indo-European languages), nor are there any structural features (in phonetics, grammar, or vocabulary) whereby American Indian languages can be distinguished as a whole from languages spoken elsewhere.
Answer the questions:
1. What Indian language groups do you know
2. In what places of America were they represented?
3. What distinguishes the American Indian languages?
American English
The variety of English spoken in the USA has received the name of American English. AE is not a dialect because it has a literary normalized form called Standard American (a dialect has no literary form); it is used in the whole territory and in all spheres of society life. AE is not a separate language because it has no its own grammar and vocabulary. From the lexical point of view we have to deal with a set of Americanisms.
The term “Americanism” was first used by John Witherspoon, president of Princeton University, in 1781. It designates:
1) any word or combination of words taken into the English language in the USA, but not in England;
2) any word or combination of words becoming archaic in England but containing in good usage in the USA.
The English language in America has been influenced by American Indian languages and by all the ethnic groups that have emigrated to the United States over the years. The American variant of the English language differs from British English in pronunciation, some minor features of grammar, but chiefly in vocabulary.
The causes of differences in BE and AE vocabularies are the following:
1) the social causes (new reality, struggle for independence);
2) newcomers adapted the words;
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3) they began to create new words from the old ones;
4) they used the words named by the native people (e.g. moccasin, raccoon).
All the vocabulary of AE is made up of two groups: the general English words (they are used in AE and BE) and Americanisms (they are used only in AE). Here there is an incomplete equivalents lists of AE and BE literary words:
| AE | BE | Translation |
| Fall | Autumn | Осень |
| vacation | Holiday | Отпуск |
| Movie | Film | Кинофильм |
| Sidewalk | Pavement | Тротуар |
| Cab | Taxi | Такси |
| Gas | Petrol | Бензин |
| Yard | Garden | Сад |
| Store | Shop | Магазин |
| Billion | Milliard | Миллиард |
| Garbage | Rubbish | Мусор |
| monkey wrench | Spanner | гаечный ключ |
| Drugstore | chemist’s | Аптека |
| Cracker | Biscuit | сухое печенье |
| Call | Phone | Звонить |
| Flashlight | Torch | электрический фонарик |
There are some norms of letter pronunciation in AE:
a 1) [æ] instead of [a:] – last, ask, aunt, half ;
2) [e] instead of [ei] – late, mate;
3) before lm [a] instead of [a:] – calm, palm;
e [ع] instead of [a:] – clerk, derby;
o [٨] instead of [ﺪ] – lot, pot, not, body;
u 1) [ﺪ] instead of [٨] – cut, bus;
2) [u] instead of [ju:] – duty, suit, student.
Here there are some examples in graphic differences of AE and BE words:
AE – honor, labor, harbor, vapor, color;
BE – honour, labour, harbour, vapour, colour;
AE – center, theater, fiber, meter, luster;
BE – centre, theatre, fibre, metre, lustre;
AE – impanel, incase, incrust, infold, insure;
BE – empanel, encase, encrust, enfold, ensure;
AE – prolog, monolog, dialog, cafe, elite;
BE – prologue, monologue, dialogue, café, élite;
AE – level – leveled – leveling, travel – traveled – traveling;
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BE – level – levelled – levelling, travel – travelled – travelling;
AE – defense, offense, license, practise, pretense;
BE – defence, offence, licence, practice, pretence;
AE – draft, bark, check, gage, tire (шина);
BE – draught, barque, cheque, gauge, tyre.
There are three basic types of pronunciation: Common American, Eastern American and Southern American. The speech of the eastern part of the USA resembles the speech of the people living in the south of England. The speech of the northern and western parts of the USA is similar to the speech of people living in the north of England. The speech of the people in the south of the USA is the most difficult for understanding because of mixing of different languages and dialects.
Answer the questions:
1. Why cannot we say that American English is a dialect or a separate language?
2. What does the term “Americanism” mean?
3. What does the American variant of the English language differ from British English?
4. What norms of letter pronunciation in AE do you know?
5. Why is the speech of the eastern part of the USA similar to the speech of the people living in the south of England?
6. Which speech is the most difficult for understanding: Eastern American or Southern American?
Task 1. Give the examples of differences in BE and AE vocabularies.
APPENDICES
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