Sociolinguistics Intercultural Communication in a Multilingual World
1. IN HIS BEAUTIFUL NAME
INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION IN A
MULTILINGUAL WORLD
2. DEFINITIONS
Having a cultural competence is being
knowledgable of one‟s own culture and interacting
well within the group. (Gervaris,2011)
To bridge two cultures and have appropriate
dialogue is a broad definition of intercultural
competence.
Intercultural competence is shaped by language
proficiency & language choice.
3. I. LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY
A. Language as a matter of performance.
1. Identity
a. Linguistic awarness
(1). Being an educational expert involves
performing the identities; you have to
do being.
b. Cultural awarness
(1). Unfamiliar with Japanese-influenced
English (e.g. „Please take care of me‟ :
sign of a weak and dependent
character.)
4. LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY
(2). Familiar with Japanese-influenced
English (e.g. „Please take care of me‟ :
equivelent to “pleased to meet you” in
English.)
B. Language as a matter of perception
1. Being rendered speechless
a. To be placed in a situation where we cannot
communicate effectively.
(1). Asylum-seeker policies & regionalization
(2). Lonliness, fear, limited mobility
5. LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY
2. Intercultural communication needs to be
recognized to overcome the cruelty of being
speechlessness.
a. The intercultural communication takes place
in some kind of linguistic never-never land.
b. We are never told which language is the
language in which a particular interaction
takes place.
7. II. LANGUAGE CHOICE
A. ‘ Monolingual Mindset ’ by Michael Clyne
1. Language choice, language proficiency &
language diversity are either ignored
altogether or trivialized.
2. Intercultural communication that occurs in
a multilingual world is ignored.
3. Cultural stereotypes often flourish instead.
8. LANGUAGE CHOICE
B. ‘Interactional or Empirical Sociolinguistics’ by John
Gumperz
1. He states the ‘actual interaction’ (i.e.,
naturally occuring face-to-face
interactions between people from different
kinds of backgrounds ).
2. He investigates the details of interaction
to
uncover how misunderstanding actually
play out in
real interaction.
3. Intercultural communication creats the
impression that if we just know how to
overcome our linguistic & cultural differences,
we will get on just fine with each other so the
world would be transformed into a paradise on
earth.
9. III. COMPONENTS OF LANGUAGE
CHOICE
A. Practice
1. Choices are implicit in practice.
2. Choices become normalized.
3. We don‟t make a conscious language choice.
4. We have to make on-the-spot assessments of
the linguistic proficiency of our interlocutors.
10. COMPONENTS OF LANGUAGE CHOICE
B. Ideology
1. What kind of language is good & right?; What
the „right thing to do‟ linguistically is.
2. These beliefs & ideas are hegemonic; They
are in some people‟s interest more than
others.
3. These beliefs are not only beliefs about
language but also about speakers.
(valorisation)
11. IV. IDEOLOGY & VALORIZATION
A. Linguistic choices are embeded within
language ideologies which valorize some
languages over others & some speakers over
others.
B. ‘Critical Empirical Sociolinguistics’
1. Engaging with language ideology & political
economy of language.
12. IDEOLOGY & VALORIZATION
C. Commercialization of language teaching
1. Language learner‟s ideologies are such that
they lead him/her to misrecognize „native
speaker English‟ as the way to fulfill his/her
dreams & desires.
2. Language consumers are aiming for an
unreachable goal; expansion their lack of
proficiency becomes a self-fulfilling
prophesy.
3. Language teaching market obviously thrives
on these language ideologies.
13. IDEOLOGY & VALORIZATION
D. Intercultural communication
Language choice & understanding are very much a
matter of what is ‘acceptable’ ; what our language
ideologies allow us to accept within a particular
social space or institution.