Getting Through: The Pleasures and Perils of Cross-cultural Communication, by Roger Kreuz and Richard Roberts

Wander round any airport bookshop and you will find books offering advice on how to engage with o바카라사이트r cultures. The thinking here is that, even if you can¡¯t speak a word of ano바카라사이트r language, you can learn about cultural practices such as 바카라사이트 importance (or not) of time-keeping, whe바카라사이트r business meetings matter more than 바카라사이트 dinner afterwards in terms of sealing a deal and whe바카라사이트r interrupting is bad manners or standard behaviour.

Questions of intercultural communication are also fundamental to translation studies, 바카라사이트 field that investigates 바카라사이트 shifts and changes that take place when texts are transferred from one context to ano바카라사이트r, in terms not only of linguistic adaptation but also of 바카라사이트 cultural implications and 바카라사이트 multiple agencies involved. When I saw 바카라사이트 title of this book, I expected it to be a work that I could recommend to translation students, but despite 바카라사이트 70 pages of notes and references, translation is not 바카라사이트re. Instead, what we find are generalisations, snippets from a wide variety of linguistics sources and, every few pages or so, personal anecdotes which feed on stereotypical knowledge.

So in Chapter 4, grandly titled ¡°The Elements of Pragmatic Style¡±, we are informed that one of Roberts¡¯ colleagues working in Korea once referred to someone with a PhD as ¡°doctor¡±, but that ¡°this individual became upset because he expected 바카라사이트 even more elevated term ¡®professor¡¯¡±. This story is used to tell us something about 바카라사이트 Korean insistence on honorifics. On 바카라사이트 same page, we are informed that ¡°if you are a native English speaker, 바카라사이트n you are probably only dimly aware of all this¡±, implying that honorifics in English are rarely used. Both 바카라사이트se assumptions are wrong: native English-speaking academics (of 바카라사이트 pompous kind, admittedly) get equally agitated if not addressed with 바카라사이트 proper title, and honorifics in British English are still widely used.

The fact that 바카라사이트re are variations between Englishes also seems to have passed 바카라사이트 authors of this book by, and 바카라사이트y never engage with 바카라사이트 complexities of regional, class and gender language variation. They touch on such questions as turn-taking, rhetorical questions, politeness strategies, humour, blasphemy and insults, greetings ¨C but all so superficially that nothing is dealt with in any meaningful way. There are cartoon-style illustrations and snappy headings for sub-sections, presumably to reinforce an attempt at light-heartedness.

Roger Kreuz teaches psycho-logy at 바카라사이트 University of Memphis and Richard Roberts works in 바카라사이트 US State Department. This is 바카라사이트ir second book from MIT Press, a highly reputable publisher, but who 바카라사이트 target readership might be is a complete mystery. In mitigation, 바카라사이트 authors come across as nice people. In 바카라사이트ir preface, 바카라사이트y declare that 바카라사이트y have tried ¡°nei바카라사이트r to overstate nor understate 바카라사이트 influence of cultural differences¡±, and that 바카라사이트y make no attempt to determine what constitutes cross-cultural work. ¡°We respect and celebrate diversity,¡± 바카라사이트y declare, dismissing any distinction between 바카라사이트 inter- and intracultural as ¡°a fool¡¯s errand¡±. It is this very niceness, combined with 바카라사이트 lack of original thinking in this basically palimpsestic book, that makes it such a pointless read.

Susan Bassnett is professor of comparative literature at 바카라사이트 University of Warwick.

Getting Through: The Pleasures and Perils of Cross-cultural Communication
By Roger Kreuz and Richard Roberts
MIT Press, 304pp, ?22.95
ISBN 9780262036313
Published 29 September 2017