Cross Cultural Communications: Effective Strategies for Libraries

Cross-Cultural CommunicationEffective Strategies for Libraries

Dawn AmsberryPenn State UniversityALA Annual 2010

Linguistic and Cultural Diversityin Higher Education670,000 international students in

the United States in 2009Increase of 7.7% over previous

yearLargest sending countries: India,

China, Korea4,421 international students at

Penn State University in 2009http://opendoors.iienetwork.org/

Communicating across Language and Cultural BarriersRate and style of speechUse of idioms and jargonCultural referencesListening for meaningPositive attitude

Rate and style of speechSpeaking slowly does not aid

comprehensionPause at the end of thought

groupsUse normal grammar and syntaxSpeak clearlyBlau, E.K. (1990) “The Effect of Syntax, Speed, and Pauses on Listening Comprehension,” TESOL Quarterly 24: 746-753.

Super Salad?

Idioms

Phrases with meanings that can’t be inferred from the individual words: “Kick the bucket.”

Monty Python’s Flying Circus:How not to use idioms

Dead Parrot Sketch

Monty Python’s Flying Circus:How not to use Idioms

This parrot is no more!

He's expired and gone to meet his maker!

If you hadn't nailed him to the perch he'd bepushing up the daisies!

He's off the twig! He's kicked the bucket, he's shuffled off his mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible!!

THIS IS AN EX-PARROT!!

Jargon: the third language

bibliographic instruction LC subject

citation database

abstract Boolean logic

authority control index browse

periodical keyword

reserves catalog

reference circulation

classification peer reviewed

Are these books on hold?

ACRL/IS Multilingual Glossary http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/about/sections/is/projpubs/multilingual.cfm

Cultural References

Batter up!

Wicket Keeper?

Gully, point, sweeper cover…

Language and American cultureBaseball language: touch base, in

the ballpark, batting 1000, cover the bases, curveball, out of left field

Other sports: hole in one, slam dunk, Hail Mary pass

Language and CulturePoker: ace in the

hole, poker face, show your hand, hit the jackpot

References to American politics, history (John Hancock), comic strips, movies, songs

Effective ListeningAccent does not mean

unintelligibleListen for meaning, not individual

soundsIdentify the topicAbility to understand accented

speech improves with exposureMunro, M.J. and Derwing, T.M. (1999), "Foreign accent, comprehensibility, and intelligibility in the speech of second language learners", Language Learning, Vol. 49, pp. 285-310.

Speech Accent Archivehttp://accent.gmu.edu/

Attitudes toward accented speech

Top Ten Disney Villains http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pC6cw5A_rw

Media StereotypesGood guys speak

with American accents

Cartoon villains speak with foreign accentsLippi-Green, R.(1997). English with an accent:

Language, ideology, and discrimination in the United States. New York, NY: Routledge.

Dobrow, J.R. & Gidney, C.L. (1998). The good, the bad and the foreign: The use of dialect in children's animated television. Annals of the American Academy, 557: 1998.

Effective cross-cultural communication strategiesSpeak clearly at a normal rate with

pausesAvoid or explain idioms and cultural

referencesAvoid assumptions about shared

cultural knowledgeListen for meaning rather than

soundsBe aware of attitudes toward

accented speech

Questions & Discussion

Dawn Amsberry dua4@psu.edu