Articles

A comparison of the treatment of a culturally significant concept, the Crusades, in dictionaries of several languages, in the hope of learning about dictionaries and the dictionarate cultures that produce and use them – and in order to encourage colleagues to undertake such comparisons.

The article considers two variants recorded in the process of voicing a scientific written text (hereinafter referred to as WT): neutral reading and stylization of an oral message, a technique commonly used in scientific communication, when the speaker voices the prepared written text of his message in order to create the impression of oral speaking. The experimental corpus includes excerpts from articles by French linguists, each voiced by 8 informants (native French speakers) in two variants: neutral voicing of the written text (hereinafter VWT) and stylization of the oral message (hereinafter OM). In the second case, the informants still follow the written text, but they can use any necessary language tools to create the effect of oral speech production. The implemented lexical-grammatical transformations are analyzed by comparing WT/OM, while the prosodic ones are studied by comparing VWT/OM. The transformations implemented by the informants indicate the following: first, the cognitive strategy of voicing WT requires that prosody, being a secondary actualizer of meaning, subordinates to syntax, which is expressed in their unidirectional interaction; second, the transformations observed in the OM are destructive both at the syntactic and prosodic levels, ensuring equal participation of prosody in “stylization” of the oral message.

Stimulated by the recent rapid developments in the field of information and communication technologies, researchers are constantly searching for different methods and approaches to make the most of technological resources and put them to the best pedagogical use. This article discusses the experience of implementing PowerSchool Learning learning management system in the English Language training course for freshmen of the postgraduatе department FFLAS LMSU. The focus is placed on the development of the author’s supplementary online course designed to improve the effectiveness of postgraduate students’ preparation for academic communication in English. It should be noted that within the framework of blended and distance learning through PowerSchool Learning LMS it is possible to create an educational environment in which students feel more comfortable, becoming active participants in the educational process. Moreover, they develop their communicative, critical thinking and collaborative skills, being engaged in decision-making and problem-oriented discussions, which are crucial for successful professional development. As for the instructors, they should become “tech-savvy” and create innovative approaches to meet the needs of a new Net generation growing up in an increasingly globalized and a highly digitised world.

The article addresses a methodological approach introducing future translators to basic terms of a specific field exemplified by those related to the activities of companies. The authors consolidate their experience of teaching translation for sphere of business to students of linguistics, on the one hand, and teaching translation and legal English to future lawyers, on the other hand, paying special attention to the correlation of language and content. Teaching business translation has a close connection to the content of the corporate area. This implies familiarizing oneself with a large number of terms related to companies’ activities and extensive conceptual contexts in professional areas. Senior students have already learned that translation extends beyond the level of lexical meanings to culture and mentality, though the latter is not so widely represented in the cognitive-oriented texts. Consequently, legal translation tends to be mistakenly associated with reproducing some most obvious equivalents from a vocabulary list. At this stage, students require clear understanding that translation also covers the level of legal systems or traditions in a specific area. With future translators being unfamiliar with corporate and legal areas, the task is more complicated; practice and extralinguistic explanatory context are both absent. What becomes vitally important under the circumstances is a high level of methodological competence aimed at forming autonomous learning skills in specialised translation in general, as well as providing a variety of exercises to maintain motivation and students’ active involvement in mastering both language and content components.

This work analyzes the teaching method known as “Translation Workshop”, used in the course “Theory and practice of translation from Russian into Chinese” at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law. “Translation Workshop” is a new method of training translators, whose qualifications more closely meet the requirements of the market. This method provides students with the opportunity to work together actively, allows them to improve translation skills, learn how to use automated translation tools, and gain practical experience in translation activities. Students are well prepared for successful work after graduation. The analyzed teaching method combines the theory and practice of translation. Students collaborate on projects on a variety of topics related to the real translation services market. Work on each project involves the following five steps, some of which are performed in the classroom, and some are intended for independent work: 1) distribution of responsibilities among students; 2) analysis of materials related to the topic; 3) translation of materials by students (individually or in groups) using automatic translation tools; 4) selection of the best translation and the formation of the final version of the text as a result of the discussion; 5) summarizing the results of work on the project and recording the translation into database. The article describes in detail all five steps. This method is of value both to the theory and practice of teaching the skills of translation from Russian into Chinese and from Chinese into Russian, as well as to the teaching of the Chinese language to Russian-speaking students.

The article suggests a new method of working on Russian vocabulary with foreign students, based on the associative similarity and semantic difference of lexemes with international roots. Errors in the use of these language units relate to semantic interference, when the lexical baggage of the native language is projected onto the foreign language being studied. Using associates as one of the methodological techniques will allow you to combine global and national, general and specific approach. Working with pairs of associates will help to avoid linguistic embarrassments, language and speech errors, enrich the linguistic and cultural competence of students. Teachers, except for classes at the initial stage, rarely use translator’s false friends. This method will help to correct this omission. The corresponding manual can be used as a supplementary material when working on vocabulary at an advanced stage of training. It is based on pairs of associates: дата/date; крест/crest; директор/director, etc. The pairs were selected based on the dictionaries of the translator’s false friends. Among the pairs, associates of two types stand out, which can conditionally be called “not at all” and “not the same”. The selected pairs are combined into thematic blocks that are relevant to the audience’s speech practice: “Education”, “Work”, “Transport”, “Leisure”, etc. Each topic section has several pairs: from 5 to 15. To work with each pair, the following types of exercises are offered: introductory, substitution, translation (intermediary language – English), and communicative. The introduction of each pair is accompanied by linguocultural commentary.

The knowledge of the professional eсonomiс language is a vital prerequisite for high quality teaching and successful employment proсess of undergraduates and future graduates of the University of Eсonomiсs, Prague. This article aims to сontribute to the quality and effiсienсy of teaсhing the professional Сzeсh language to foreign students, particularly to Russian-speaking students. This article contains didaсtiс reсommendations and proposals of speсifiс methodologiсal proсedures and exerсises which help to overcome adverse effects of the Russian language interference while learning the Сzeсh professional economic language at the University of Eсonomiсs, Prague. This article presents the results of teaching activities aimed at the Russian-speaking students in the framework of teaching professional economic Czech language at the University of Economics, Prague. Based on the research results, as well as the experience of working with students and applicants, recommendations were formulated that aim to maximise the effectiveness of mastering the Czech language as a foreign language, primarily taking into account Russian to Czech interlanguage transfer. In addition to methodological and didactic recommendations of a general nature, the article also contains specific examples of suitable practice materials.

The article studies the issue of borders of European regions. What is the marker for drawing the border – forests, woodlands, arable lands, mountains, coastline or regional culture? Being engaged in the polemics with German social scientist Karl Haushofer the author asserts that culture is the only basis for the definition of regional borders in Europe. Homeland begins with culture. The establishment of the Schengen Area in Europe in the second half of the 20th century did not solve the problem of borders. Firstly, the borders exist in the perception of people even if nobody asks them to show the visa. Secondly, the events at the turn of the 21st century make Europeans reassert control over the borders and the issue of its legality is getting more acute in the political life of Europe. To exemplify, the principality of Liechtenstein has recently appealed to the European Court of Human Rights and demanded that the Czech Republic returns the land confiscated at the end of World War II18. Even the special statement of the head of the Cabinet of the Polish President was necessary in order to allay the international fears that Poland has claims to Belarus where there are political upheavals nowadays19. To put it differently, the issue of borders in Europe is still acute in Europe. In this regard it is especially important to review the issue of the main principles of drawing borders. As a starting point of the discussion the author uses the collection of papers written by Karl Haushofer “Geopolitics”.

The subject of this research is that part of the creative heritage of A.N. Muravyov that has not previously been the subject of study in cultural and philological works, namely, samples of diplomatic materials (letters, official analytical and historical notes). This work is considered in the article as one of the directions of Russian romanticism, in the study of which Russian science has accumulated a lot of experience. The problem of realization of creative potential of the artist in the samples of business writing has not been considered by scholars before, the innovative approach to the problem as presented in the article consists in tracing, for the first time in history, the formation of the stylistic features of official correspondence of Muravyev, revealing the peculiar genre of the nature of these samples of business writing in his work. The novelty of the work lies in the fact that for the first time genre and stylistic creative components are considered as the main ones in the implementation of the author’s idea in order to show the spiritual values of the Russian people, to protect the Orthodox presence in the East. The work uses comparative-historical, system-typological, historical-functional methods that allow us to comprehensively consider a complex historical, cultural and literary phenomenon. The results of the work show that in the selected works for analysis (“A note on the salvation of ancient Chersonis”, correspondence with count M.V. Vorontsov-Dashkov from 1847, “Answer to Mr. E. Bore on the question of Holy places”), Muravyov remains within the Orthodox philosophical and religious worldview and romantic aesthetics of the 1820s and 1830s. The relevance of studying the artist’s holistic worldview has increased immeasurably in recent decades, so the results of the research can be used in courses of lectures on cultural studies, Russian classical literature in higher and secondary schools, seminars and practical classes. Russian literature is of interest to all those who are interested in the problems of Russian spirituality, cultural and civilizational features of the Russian world, diplomatic written culture and fiction.

The article focuses on the issues of national identity, which have become exceptionally acute in the era of international cultural globalization. Traditional national food is one of the most important factors that unite nations. With globalization tendencies being intensified there has been a peculiar upsurge of gastronationalism in particular countries and regions as a challenge to the current process of cultural unification. Food frequently becomes not only the most important national stereotype, but also a national unifier for people belonging to one culture. Being of paramount importance in foreigner’s perception of the British and being a national symbol for people living on the British Isles, especially for the English, beef and roast beef have turned into such a national symbol of Great Britain. The article based on a wide range of sources of cultural studies pertaining to a large period from ancient to modern times studies the history of transformation of beef into a national symbol of the English. The author refers to various historical and cultural sources: historical and statistical data, folklore, English memoirs and diaries, travel notes of foreigners about England, fiction literature and images, the print media, cookery books and the Internet. The issue considered is of fundamental importance as a part of regional studies since the issues of identity and the factors of its formation are the key aspects of Area Studies.

The article is devoted to the analysis of communication strategies and tactics in the right-wing populist German discourse of today’s Germany when covering the problem of migration. The aim of the work is to identify the features of the communicative behavior of the representatives of this discourse at the tactical and strategic levels. The relevance of this study is conditioned, on the one hand, by the active development of the current political protest movement in German-speaking countries, as well as the formation of right-wing populist discourse and, on the other hand, by an insufficient degree of study of its communicative characteristics. The work reveals the concepts of communicative strategies and tactics, studies the specifics of the most characteristic strategies and tactics, lexical and grammatical categories. The attention is drawn to the expressiveness and predominantly pejorative connotation of speech means used in the implementation of the identified strategies and tactics, which are illustrated by examples from the texts of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. The authors come to the conclusion that the basic strategies of political discourse (self-presentation, struggle for power, retention of power and persuasion) are implemented in the framework of the migration crisis coverage, while only a limited number of tactics are used.

Each language is characterized by a unique set of language-specific means to designate various phenomena of the real world, which characterize a peculiar way of thought and life of a given nation. Japanese key words also give vivid and accurate reflection of the Japanese way of life and thinking and let us reveal the core values of Japanese culture. Key words in question and their analysis help to get insight into and explain the uniqueness of Japanese culture and mentality. Such words are the essential components of the Japanese language worldview. They serve as the eloquent testimony of the cultural worldview, which molds and explains the peculiarities of the culturally determined and unique way of life and thought of the Japanese. Centuries-old and deep-rooted in the Japanese consciousness commitment to form, norm and life regulation, expressed in Japanese in the keyword KATA, functions as an integrating framework of the Japanese consciousness and a key factor of penetrating into the specificity of the Japanese identity. Cultivated over the centuries, the appropriate and the only possible kata-ized way of doing something, and as a result, the only possible pattern of behavior in different situations is not confined to the widely accepted mechanical process of doing something. It is a sort of philosophy of the “Japanese way” in compliance with the norms of the Japanese morality and ethics. This “hidden” knowledge of living “in” or “out” of kata distinguishes the Japanese from other nationalities. The analysis of the key words can be considered as a bright and effective method of penetrating in the nuances of a culture. The knowledge of key words is of vital importance for successful communication with the representatives of another culture, doing business with them as well as for effective teaching international students.

The article gives an analysis of precedent statements from the informative space of political discourse, reflected in different types of media texts. Fulfilling a number of functions in political discourse precedent statements act as an effective means of describing socio-political realia. Moreover, precedent phenomena make the speech more dynamic, convincing, attractive, vivid, and these features influence the addressee, helping him to communicate not only with the speaker, but, following the theory of intertextuality, with the whole cultural context. Analyzing online newspaper media texts dealing with political matters the author comes to the conclusion that in political discourse the most important functions are text-forming, persuasive, evaluative and expressive, which facilitate realization of the global functions of precedent statements - semantic and pragmatic functions. Examples illustrating the changing socio-political realia in conditions of «new normality» and how politicians and journalists react on it make the article timely.

In fact, a mass influx of foreign words, expressions and notions into the native language is a very serious issue. Due to the concern of the public opinion and danger to the Russian language and Russian culture, the growing trend towards borrowing from English is becoming particularly important. Firstly, in post-Soviet Russia the influx of Anglicisms increased sharply. Some authors began copying English terms that had not been commonly used in Soviet scientific literature before. Secondly, it was later, during the Perestroika years, that young people started taking an active interest in Anglo-Americanisms, and Russian calques of English words emerged on the pages of newspapers. Thirdly, many Anglicisms that could be easily dispensed with came into the business community and the language of other professional circles. Fourthly, at a stage of transition from socialism to capitalism, the process of borrowing not only new notions, but also new institutions from Western countries, primarily from the USA, got accelerated. This context raises an issue of the need for adopting a reasonable state policy to protect the Russian language not only from contamination, but also from introducing meanings that are alien to Russian national interests. However, there is also another point of view. In some specialists’ opinion, there are more positive changes occurring in the Russian language than negative ones. The language keeps developing vigorously and becoming more emotional, with an active process of enriching the vocabulary of the Russian language currently underway. Thus, wouldn’t it probably be more reasonable to be guided by the economic principle laissez-faire with regard to the language?

The paper focuses on the cognitive metaphor as part of W.S. Churchill’s conceptual sphere. Metaphor is known to be one of the most powerful and frequent means of influencing the audience used by political leaders. It performs various functions in political communication, the main of which is cognitive, which consists in describing something new, complex, and / or abstract through simpler and more concrete images. The cognitive analysis allows for applying a broad approach to the material concerned. Thus, not only are metaphors, including those extended, studied, but metaphorical epithets, metonymies, periphrases, etc. are as well. Special emphasis is placed on the source domains and target domains of the metaphors analyzed. The paper addresses some of the eight key concepts explicated by the cognitive metaphor, which were identified as a result of a continuous sampling method used to analyze the politician’s pre-war speeches. The author concludes by stressing the key role of the cognitive metaphor in modeling the individual conceptual sphere. The data analysis is supported by a profound literature review covering fundamental works in the field of the theory of conceptual metaphor, concept study, and conceptual sphere.