Transcript ten Thije 2009

Beyond misunderstanding.
Linguistic analysis of International
business communication
Jan D. ten Thije
Universiteit van Utrecht
[email protected]
http://www.let.uu.nl/~Jan.tenThije/personal/index.html
Structure

Beyond misunderstanding – the linguistic
analyses of
1.
2.
3.

discursive interculture
perspectivizing cultures
receptive multilingualism
Conclusions
Approaches to intercultural
discourse
Clyne 1994, Bührig / ten Thije 2005



Contrastive Approach compares native
discourse across cultures
Interlanguage Approach examines the
discourse of non-natives in a second language.
Interactive Inter-cultural Approach
concentrates on the discourse of people of
different cultural and linguistic backgrounds
Pitfalls in interactive intercultural
studies
Koole & ten Thije 1994


‘Minimum object’: reduction of intercultural
communication to misunderstandings
‘Maximum interpretation’: explanation of too
many discourse phenomena from the
intercultural relationship between the speakers
involved.
Beyond Misunderstanding (1)
ten Thije 2003a

Thematising or unthematising of ethnicity in
international project (R, NL, D, DK)
–



German colleague: „Der Koordinationsleiter heißt doch Kees,
Ja gibt's guten Käse, oder?“
Pragmatic definition of culture: culture is a collective
standard solution to collective standard problems
Action theory functions the theoretical connection
between the analysis of culture and language
Discursive interculture: common ground for
intercultural discourse
Beyond Misunderstanding (2)
ten Thije 2006



Beyond misunderstanding: successful intercultural
interaction, i.e. intercultural understanding
Interaction can only be successful if the participants
share, or can establish, a basis of common knowledge
including action presuppositions
Communicative apparatus of perspectivising: bridges
differences in common action presuppositions by
making assumptions about the cultural fore-knowledge
of the interaction partner
6
Perspectivising culture
Ten Thije 2003, 2006


depending on the cultural constellation of
discourse, speakers indicate whether their
share cultural knowledge with their hearers
if presupposed that hearer lacks important
knowledge to interpret the discourse properly,
it was perspectivised: by insertion of extra
information or reformulation
7
The interpreter prespectives
Primary
speaker
Russian interpreter
1
Alec
..
2
may I bring
another toast.
..
3
In Holland I am
not used to bring
so many toasts.
а в Голландии не принято говорить столько
много тостов,
In Holland one is not used to give so many
toast
4
..
но вот
But
5
..
здесь в России
Here in Russia
6
..
вот он бы хотел сказать еще один тост
He would like to give another one
See also ten Thije 2009
Apparatus of perspectivising
ten Thije 2006
Step 1: by generalising, an interactor verbalizes the
knowledge of the propositional content as a cultural
standard.
Step 2: by perspectivising, the speaker transmits the
knowledge of the propositional content in the actual
speech situation by taking into account cultural
standards of the other.
Step 3: by contrasting cultures, the speaker enables the
hearer to compare the speaker’s cultural standards
with his own and attain an adequate interpretation of
the discourse.
Trabant-corpus


Biographical narrations about experiences with the
GDR-car Trabant
Different cultural constellations:
– intracultural: WG-WG, EG-EG
– intercultural: EG-WG, EG-D, WG-D
10
‘Westfarbe’ - west paint
ten Thije 2003
Event

Der war grün und die fanden das besonders, daß der Großvater 'n grünen Trabi hatte.
It was green, and they considered it very special that Grandfather had a green Trabi
Step 1: generalising

Das muß was Besonderes gewesen sein von der Farbe her, weil das nicht normal war.
That must have been something special because of the colour, because that was not normal.
Step 2: Perspectivizing

Alles Sachen, die mir suspekt und mir als Westdeutscher fremd waren.
All things that were completely suspicious for me and strange for me as West German.
Step 3: Contrasting

Weil die stolz waren, daß der diese komische grüne Farbe hatte, die ich furchtbar häßlich fand.
Because they were proud that it had this funny green colour that I found terribly ugly.
Coda

Die fanden das klasse und ich konnte das nicht nachvollziehen. Das ist mein erstes bewußtes
Erlebnis.
They liked it very much and I could not understand it at all. That is the first experience I can
recall
Beyond Misunderstanding (3)
ten Thije & Zeevaert 2006



Receptive multilingualism: speaking your own
language is the ultimate mode of intercultural
discourse
Institutional key words as common ground:
zaterduitsdag (‘Sater-german-day’)
Receptive multilingualism is an alternative for
English as lingua franca in Europe
Receptive multilingualism
Ribbert & ten Thije 2006, Beerkens et al 2009

Case study im Goethe Institute Amsterdam
–
–

Dutchman: "It is much easier. I can express myself
more easily and more precisely with respect to
important details or when I am joking. It costs less
energy, less effort, less reflection and I can react
instantly."
German: “When everybody is allowed to speak his
first language, democracy comes into being."
Case study Dutch German border
Lingua Receptiva
ten Thije, Rehbein, Verschik 2009


A Lingua Receptiva is a vehicle for effective
communication between members of diverse language
communities while using different languages simultaneously to reach mutual understanding.
The research questions focus on adequate LaRa
communication strategies and on coping with potential
conflict constellations in specific settings, as border
regions, institutional discourse, and cross-generational
communication, including basic abilities.
Research designs to go beyond
misunderstanding



L1 vs. L2 cross cultural pragmatics
C1 - ICC1/2 - C2: contrasting intercultural
discourse with cultures involved
ICC1/2 – ICC1/3: Reconstruction of
interculturality by comparing two different
intercultural discourse
Conclusions



Intercultural communication is not an
automatism
Distinguish between institutional and
intercultural discourse
Achieving intercultural purposes
–
–
–
(un)thematising ethnicity
Perspectivising culture
Interlingual understanding
References








Bührig, K / Thije, J.D. ten (eds.) (2006). Beyond Misunderstanding. Linguistic analyses of
intercultural communication. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Bührig, K. / Thije, J.D. ten (2005) Diskurspragmatische Beschreibung (HSK123) In: Ammon,
U., Dittmar, N. / Mattheier, K. (eds.). Sociolinguistics - Soziolinguistik. An international
Handbook of the Science of Language and Society. (2. bearbeitete Auflage, Teil 2) Berlin:
Mouton, 1225- 1250.
Beerkens, R., Griesshaber, W. Missine, Thije, J.D. ten (to appear) Receptive Multilingualism in
the Dutch-German border area. A comparison between intercultural discourse in civil society
organisations and governmental organizations. In: J. D. ten Thije, J. Rehbein, A.Verschik
(eds.) Receptive Multilingualism. Special issue of International Journal for Bilingualism.
Clyne, M. (2003) Towards inter-cultural communication in Europe without linguistic
homogenization. In: De Cillia, R. (et al) (eds.) Die Kosten der Mehrsprachigkeit. Globalisierung
und sprachliche Vielfalt; The Cost of Multilingualism. Globalisation and Linguistic Diversity.
Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 39-49.
Koole, T. / Thije, J. D. ten (1994). The Construction of Intercultural Discourse. Team
Discussion of Educational Advisers. Amsterdam / Atlanta: RODOPI.
Porila, A. / Thije, J. D. ten (2008) Gesprächsfibel für interkulturelle Kommunikation in
Behörden. München: Meidenbauer
Ribbert, A. / Thije, J.D. ten (2006) Rezeptive Mehrsprachigkeit und interkulturelle
Kommunikation am Arbeitsplatz. In: Meyer, B. & Kameyama, S. (eds.). Mehrsprachigkeit am
Arbeitsplatz. Frankfurt: Lang,
Sarangi, S. (1995) Culture. In: Verschueren, J. / Östman, J.-O. / Blommaert, J. (Eds.)
(1995). Handbook of Pragmatics Manual. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
References







Thije, J.D. ten (2002). Stufen des Verstehens bei der Interpretation von interkulturellen
Diskursen. In: Kotthoff, H. (Ed.). Kultur(en) im Gespräch. Gunter Narr Verlag. Tübingen, 6198.
Thije, J.D. ten (2003a) The Transition from Misunderstanding to Understanding in Intercultural
Communication. In L.I. Komlosi, P. Houtlosser / M. Leezenberg (Eds.), Communication and
Culture. Argumentative, Cognitive and Linguistic Perspectives. Amsterdam: Sic Sac, 197-213.
Thije, J.D. ten (2003b). Eine Pragmatik der Mehrsprachigkeit. Zur Analyse diskursiver
Interkulturen. In: De Cillia, R., Krumm, J. / Wodak, R. (Eds)‚ Die Kosten der Mehrsprachigkeit/
Globalisierung und sprachliche Vielfalt / The Cost of Multilingualism. Globalisation and
Linguistic Diversity. Wien, 101-123.
Thije, J. D. ten (2006) The notion of 'perspective' and 'perspectivising' in intercultural
communication research. In: K. Bührig / J.D. ten Thije (Eds.) Beyond Misunderstanding. The
linguistic analysis of intercultural communication. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 97 - 153.
Thije, J.D. ten (2009) The self-retreat of the interpreter: An analysis of teasing and toasting in
intercultural discourse. In K. Bührig, J. House and JD ten Thije (eds), Translatory action and
intercultural communication. Manchester: St. Jerome, 114-155.
Thije, J.D. ten / Zeevaert, L. (eds.) (2007) Receptive Multilingualism and intercultural
communication (Hamburg Studies in Multilingualism). Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Thije, J. D. ten / J. Rehbein, A. Verschik (eds.) (to appear) Receptive Multilingualism. Special
issue of International Journal for Bilingualism
Beyond misunderstanding (4)
(ten Thije 2009)

Non professional interpretation

The retreat of the interpreter - Toasting and teasing in
intercultural discourse
Changing the participant format in order to guarantee
intercultural understanding
Functional equivalence and
Dilated speech situation


