3.2. STEREOTYPES

 

 National stereotypes

3.2.1 Preparation

A

Have you ever been to any other country? Before you went there, what had you expected its people to be like? Did your opinion change during the visit?

 

Reading

B

Read the text quickly to find out what the author feels about: a. Americans as tourists b. The way others describe American tourists.

 

The ways of tourists are strange, and one afternoon as I sat in the Plaza Mayor, I heard some Frenchmen at the next table tearing Americans apart. To the first barrage of criticism, I could not logically protest, Americans were uncultured, lacked historical sense, were concerned only with business, had no sensitivity and ought to stay at home. The second echelon of abuse I did want to interrupt, because I felt that some of it was wide of the mark: Americans were all loud, had no manners, no education, no sense of proportion, and were offensively vulgar in dress, speech, eating habits and general comportment, but I restrained myself because, after all, this was a litany one heard throughout Europe, here expressed rather more succinctly than elsewhere.

Sitting as quietly as my French companions would permit, I tried to discover what my true feelings were in this matter of honest description. In my travels, I had never met any single Americans as noisy and crude as certain Germans, none so downright mean as one or two Frenchmen, none so ridiculous as an occasional Englishman, and none so arrogant as some Swedes.

But in each of the national examples cited I am speaking only of a few horrible specimens. If one compares all English tourists with all Americans, I would admit that taken in the large the American is worse. If some European wanted to argue that seventy percent of all American tourists are regrettable, I would agree. If he claimed ninety, I suppose I wouldn’t argue too much. But when like the Frenchman on my left he states that one hundred percent are that way, then I must accuse him of being false to the facts.

 

Interaction

C

Discuss the questions with the partner.

 

a. What nationality do you think the author is? Why?

b. Have you ever seen American tourists visiting a place? If so, do you agree with the Frenchman’s opinion?

c. What does the author dislike most about the way people talk about other nationalities?

d. What does the author seem to think about the concept of ‘national character’?

 

3.2.2   Meaning

A

Find words or phrases in the passage with opposite meanings to the following:

 

 

Practice

B

Which nationality is each of the words you have found used to describe?

 

Opposites

C

Here are some other words commonly associated with certain nationalities. From the list below find as many pairs of opposites as possible.

 

 

3.2.3 Discussion

A

Which of the following statements do you agree with? Why?

                  

1. The character differences between different nationalities can help cause wars.

2. In any nation, the same variety of character types is represented.

3. There is no such thing as ‘national character’.

                       

B      Which factor do you think most influences national

character (if you believe there is such a thing)?

 

* climate *  history *  food *  literature/art

* geography (mountains, deserts, jungle, etc.)   

* other (please specify)? ___________________

 

3.2.4 Opinion

What is ‘cultural shock’? How can you explain this phenomenon? Why did the young man suffer it? Read the text below and try to answer these questions.

 

Only one person ever persuaded me he was successfully going to avoid the trauma associated with adjustment to another culture. He had a command of the target language, a well-paid professional position in the target culture, was personable, had an excess of good will, and possessed the boundless energy of the young. He would seek out natives with whom to converse, and when he was by himself he would practice out loud new idioms and difficult verb inflections. A little before completing two years of residence abroad (in this case in the U.S.), he was hospitalized due to a nervous breakdown caused by the stress of adjusting to another culture.

 

3.2.5 Speaking

Stereotyped opinions about people from our country

 

a. What stereotyped opinions do you think foreigners have about people from our country?

b. Write down words or phrases that describe such opinions. Make up two lists: positive and negative.

c. How would you describe the typical characteristics of your own nationality?

d. Say if your own character can be called stereotypical.

 

3.2.6 Idiom

English often uses the names of other countries in common phrases. Try  to explain the meaning of the expressions in bold.

 

1. I accept with pleasure, but let’s go Dutch.

2. Don’t waste time. It’s all Greek to me.

3. Indian summer is the best season for fishing here.

4. Is Dutch courage a virtue?

5. Mexican wave swept across the stadium.

6. To do this was like playing Russian roulette. 

 

3.2.7 Quiz

A

What do you associate with this or that country? Choose the best match for each word.

 

1. Danish 2. German 3. French 4. Irish 5. Japanese 6. American 7. Greek 8. New Zealand 9. English 10. Russian 11. Argentinean 12. Egyptian

football  butter motor bikes pyramids perfume islands bacon beer whiskey weather dolls beef

 

B      Try again the other way round.

 

1. cigarettes   2. cheese 3. carpets 4. coffee 5. tortillas 6. silk 7. shoes 8. rugby 9. goulash   10. tulips   11. cigars  12. guitar 13. restaurants

Brazilian Cuban (Havana) Dutch Chinese Italian Hungarian Mexican Persian Swiss Spanish Turkish Thai Welsh

  

3.2.8 Interaction

Read the notes. Give some misleading advice for foreign visitors to Belarus.

 

Misleading advice for foreigners

 

[The New Statesman magazine set a competition in which readers were asked to give misleading advice to tourists visiting England for the first time. These are some of the entries.]

 

1. Women are not allowed upstairs on buses; if you see a woman there, ask her politely to descend.

2. Visitors in London hotels are expected by the management to hang the bed linen out of the window to air.

3. Try the famous echo in the British Museum Reading Room.

4. On the first entering an underground train, it is customary to shake hands with every passenger.

5. If you take a taxi, the driver will be only too willing to give your shoes a polish while waiting at the traffic lights.

6. Never attempt to tip a taxi-driver.

7. Public conveniences are few; unfrequented streets where relief is permitted are marked ‘P’.

8. Parking is permitted in the grounds of BuckinghamPalace on payment of a small fee to the sentry.

9. Never pay the price demanded for a newspaper; good-natured haggling is customary.

            

3.2.9 Characteristics

Stereotyped opinions about different groups of people

 

Below there are groups of people and some adjectives.

Choose 3 adjectives to describe your view of each group.

 

Groups of people:

policemen, professors, doctors, actors, men, women, younger brothers, mothers-in-law, grandmothers, Russians, Italians.

 

Adjectives:

lazy friendly slow warm beautiful proud caring dependable loud forgetful trustworthy strong

intelligent sarcastic sensitive       unfriendly   gentle     aggressive   sincere       hard-working quiet independent secretive   annoying

brave ugly competent interfering tactful honest attractive fanatical shy sophisticated clumsy bossy

 

3.2.10 Word Use

Speech stereotypes List the following words and phrases beside the most likely user:

 

Computer programmer:________________________________

Lawyer:_____________________________________________

American:___________________________________________

Today’s teenager:_____________________________________

 

bind somebody over suss something out floppy disk press clipping boot something up co-respondent normalcy format thereto

load prat drugstore     window tort off-line moneys uncool

mouse QC candy sidewalk   menu legit the chop scarper

freehold  stroppy vacation dude knackered eraser bookstore lessee

                                 

Can you add any neologisms to the list?

 

3.2.11 Word Choice

Language and gender Do you agree that the problem of sex in language really exists? Below there is a list of recommendations how to avoid ‘sexism’ in language. Try to find and give some more examples.

 

Instead of 1. businessmen 2. brotherhood   3. cameramen 4. cavemen 5. chairman 6. craftsmen 7. deliverymen 8. firemen  9. forefathers 10. foremen 11. mailmen 12. makeup men 13. mankind 14. manpower 15. policemen 16. salesmen   17. showmen 18. spokesmen 19. ambassadress   20. authoress   21. housewife 22. poetess 23. stewardess/steward

Use business leaders, merchants, industrialists unity, community photographers, camera operators early people, primitive people, prehistoric people chairperson, chair, moderator, department head craft workers, artisans delivery persons, delivery drivers firefighters ancestors supervisors mail carriers, postal workers makeup artists humankind, humanity work force, personnel, workers police officers salespersons, salesclerks performers spokespersons, representatives ambassador author homemaker poet flight attendant

                                  

3.2.12 Connotation

Fulfill the following tasks or answer the questions.

 

 

A. Choose the best word to complete the following sentences:  

a. Every student should bring _______ own books.

his            her           their

b. She was elected _______ of the Finance Committee.

to the Chair        Chairman        Chairwoman 

 

B. In your opinion, are these words usually applied to men, women or both?

handsome	vivacious	attractive	good-looking
beautiful	pretty	well-built	giggle	chatter

 

 C. Which of these sound like ‘normal’ English?

 1. a. He is Mary’s widower         b. She is John’s widow.                                  

 2. I  pronounce you

a. man and wife	b. husband and wife	c. man and woman
	d. husband and woman

                  

3. a. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife

b. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s husband

 

D. Complete the following words:

1. s – r m - - - m 2. k - - g q - - - n 3. o - -   m - n o – d   w - - - n   4. w - - - - d w - - - h 5. b - - - - - - r s - - - - - - r

a respectful term for addressing males a woman in charge of a brothel a male monarch a male homosexual a form of address between males applied to a man, as an insult a man who is extremely good at something a woman who is possibly old, ugly and usually evil an unmarried man a woman who has never been married

 

3.2.13 Reading

The following verse illustrates another aspect of gender differences in English. Can you find any examples of this kind in Russian?

 

A woman has a figure, a man has a physique;

A father roars in range, a mother shrieks in pique;

Broad-shouldered athletes throw what dainty damsels toss;

And female bosses supervise, male bosses boss.

Lads gulp, maids sip;

Jacks plunge, Jills dip;

Guys bark, dames snap;

Boys punch, girls slap;

Gobs swab, waves mop;

Braves buy, squaws shop;

A gentleman perspires, a lady merely glows;

A husband is suspicious; a wife, however, knows.                 

 

3.2.14 Discussion

Express your opinion on the following:

 

1. Is it different when you talk to a man or to a woman? What’s the difference?

2. Men use more slang, non-standard forms and taboo language.           

3. Women use more intensifiers (so, such, etc.), and superlative degree.

4. Women’s speech is more polite and emotional, with wider range of intonation patterns.

5. Women use more specific colour terms.

6. Men try to avoid tag-questions.

7. Women prefer to avoid direct imperatives and use more modals indicating lack of certainty. 

 

3.2.15 Translation

Give a literary translation of the following quotations. Try to explain the idea each author expresses.

 

1. ‘We may wear different hats, but we all wear the same smile. We may speak different languages, but they are all rooted in one basic grammar. We may have different marriage customs, but we all fall in love.’ D.Morris

2. ‘Heaven is where the innkeepers are Swiss, the cooks are French, the policemen are English, the lovers are Italian, and the mechanics are German. Hell is where the lovers are Swiss, the innkeepers are French, the cooks are English, the mechanics are Italian and policemen are German.’ (Joke by a Dutch professor)

3. ‘You know, the world is off-tilt when the best rapper is a white guy (Eminem), the best golfer is a black guy (Tiger Woods), the tallest basketball player is Chinese (Yao Ming, 7’6’’). And Germany doesn’t want to go to war (in Iraq).’ (Charles ‘Muffins’ Barkley, an American former basketball power forward).

 

3.2.16 Writing

Are stereotypes fair? Express your opinion about what our judgment about people or nations should be based on.