Task 7.1 Warming-Up Activity

Staff at the African port of Stevadores saw the "internationally recognised" symbol for "fragile" (i.e. broken wine glass) and presumed it was a box of broken glass. Rather than waste space they threw all the boxes into the sea!

Could you think of examples when professional people in other spheres have to deal with other cultures? Do lawyers ever come across such situations?

Task 7.2 Read the text

INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION AND LAWYERS IN THE USA

Over 650,000 Americans work as lawyers; knowledge of a foreign language can be a direct, practical asset to the lawyer who works with members of the ethnic minority and immigrant groups.

Because of the large influx of immigrants into the United States from various parts of the world, many lawyers confront culturally dissimilar clients. Further, the growth of multinational corporations and international investors in this country has increased the possibility of intercultural mixes between lawyers and clients. In addition to these factors, US industrial cities have historically attracted large minority populations, but there has not been a corresponding increase in minority members of the bar.

Different clients vary in their expectations of how a lawyer should behave. Some forms of communication may be acceptable between members of one ethnic group but the same words or comments may not be acceptable to nonmembers of another group. The magnitude of the problem of counseling clients from different cultures is increased because lawyers may spend 30 to 80 % of their time in counseling. Particularly in large cities where multi-ethnic communities have burgeoned in the last 20 years, the lawyer may have many intercultural counseling situations.

Problems may occur when either the lawyer, client, or both, become ethnocentric. Ethnocentrism is defined as viewing the whole world only through one’s own eyes with one’s beliefs, values, and attitudes and not acknowledging that others may not see the world in the same way. The meaning intended by one person may not be correctly received by the other person. Developing an awareness of the possible impact ethnocentrism has on effective intercultural communication will be valuable to the lawyer who deals with clients from backgrounds diverse from his or her own.

Lawyers should be able to identify their prejudices and learn to control them. These insights may help the lawyer to examine, analyze, predict and regulate his or her conduct. This will help the lawyer gain the best result by obtaining the most information from the client while avoiding any possible cultural conflict.

The legal profession is often compared with the “ helping professions ”. Here, as well as in teaching, social work and psychiatry, verbal communication is a central component. It is achieving “rapport, or a mutual trust” that is important. If the Rules of Professional Conduct for lawyers more vigorously stressed the importance of intercultural awareness, lawyers might be more sensitive to their clients’ individual needs, and more successful in eliciting information vital to a client’s case.

In a study researchers identified factors leading to increased satisfaction in an intercultural exchange. A lawyer who interacts with clients from different countries and from different cultures should:

- establish common grounds and emphasize similarities to help the client feel more comfortable;

- convey the client that the message was understood;

- respond to culturally diverse clients with empathy (the ability to have insight into and share the inner feelings of others); the key to empathy for a lawyer is to prevent prejudices and stereotypes from clouding the lawyer’s perceptions of the culturally diverse client.

Scientists suggest that in intercultural exchanges one person must not use the Golden Rule and “do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” but rather think of how the person from the other culture is feeling and consider how his cultural background affects his perceptions and influences his reactions. Empathetic listening is a critical tool for the lawyer.

Task 7.3 What do these words and expressions mean? Use the context and your dictionary to help you decide.

practical asset; helping professions; culturally dissimilar clients; similarities; minority members of the bar; to cloud smth.; to burgeon; perceptions; prejudices; critical tool.

Task 7.4 Answer these questions about the text.

1. Which factors have increased the possibility of intercultural mixes between lawyers and their clients?

2. What sort of difficulties might lawyers come across in their work?

3. Why do those problems occur?

4. How can lawyers gain the best result while avoiding any possible cultural conflict?

5. Why is the legal profession often compared with the “helping professions”?

6. Which tools do scientists suggest lawyers?

Task 7.5 Here are some of the international and national legal tools dealing with national minorities and thus harmonizing relationships between ethnic groups. Choose one (some) of them. Find some material on its history and contents and share it in class.

Legislative instruments for the protection of national minorities
International and European law:	§ Universal Declaration of Human Rights [1948]; § International Covenant on Civil and Political rights; § International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; §International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination; § Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental § Freedoms; § Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities; §UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity …
Russian national legislation:	§ The Constitution of the Russian Federation; § Federal law on the Languages of the Peoples of the Russian § Federation; § Federal law “Fundamentals of the legislation of the Russian § Federation on culture”; § Federal law on the National-Cultural Autonomy; § Federal law on the Rights of Small Indigenous Peoples of the § Russian Federation; §Federal law on General Principles of Organization of Communities of Small Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia and Far East of the § Russian Federation; §Federal law on the Lands of Small Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia and Far East

Figure 6.

Task 7.6

Imagine the following scenario. Everyone will be reborn into new and different life somewhere on the planet Earth - but you do not know where or who you will be.

You may be male or female, rich or poor, young or old, beautiful or not beautiful, highly educated or unable to read or write. You may have a special ability, you may have a disability, or you may have both or neither. You may be a member of any nation, race, ethnic group, religion or culture.

You are lucky, however, to be blessed with this special gift. Before you are born into this world, you can design a list of rights that everyone in this new world will enjoy, and a list of rules that everyone in this new world must follow.

Divide into small teams. Within your team, reach an agreement on the 5 most important human rights for the new world. Second, agree on the five most important rules everyone should respect and follow.

Top 5 Universal Human Rights	Top 5 International Laws
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Figure 7.

What can we do to make these rights and rules a reality in our schools, neighborhoods, countries, or world? Make a list of 5 actions people might take, alone or together, no matter how small.

Task 7.7 The demand for personnel with language skills is apparent in many different types and places of work today, which proves the growing need to increase our understanding of people from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds.

1. Analyze the list of careers utilizing foreign languages and engaged in intercultural communication, we have made for you. In which spheres do you think language and communication skills are most important? Why?

2. Add your own examples of jobs in which people might have to deal with people from different cultures.

3. Think of situations when you yourself might contact with people from other cultures.

BUSINESS, INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE
1.companies, working overseas; 2. international advertising	A trend toward the expansion of business operations beyond the borders; attempts to reach market segments made up of people with specific cultural background.
BANKING & FINANCIAL POSITIONS
	Today one fourth of all new direct investment goes abroad.
TECHNICAL & ENGINEERING POSITIONS
	Companies with overseas plants manufacturing machinery and equipment need technical and engineering personnel with foreign language proficiency.
SECRETARIAL & CLERICAL POSITIONS
	In the business world, the range of languages and fields is so vast that employment agencies maintain permanent advertisements for bilingual secretaries and typists.
GOVERNMENT & INTERNATIONAL
Foreign ministries and offices; some other agencies	Diplomatic and consular offices around the world; extensive contact with foreigners, protecting the interests of citizens abroad, processing visas, and carrying on intelligence work.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
	In areas where large numbers of citizens do not speak the official language.
INTERNATIONAL - UNITED NATIONS
	The UN is the largest employer of language specialists - translators, editors, interpreters. Its purpose is to maintain international peace and security, to develop friendly relations among nations, and to achieve international cooperation in solving economic, social, cultural and humanitarian problems.
TEACHING
	People working in the field of foreign language teaching in High Schools, in colleges and universities, elementary schools and in commercial and government-operated language schools.
TRANSLATORS and INTERPRETERS
	Interpreting deals with oral communication. The translator is required to produce clear and accurate renderings of foreign language texts, from general reports and speeches to literary works and highly technical subject matter. Many translators specialize in one profession like business, religion, education, law, engineering or public services.
MEDIA
Journalism	A great number of newspapers have indicated that foreign language skills are needed in the profession because they enhance a reporter's effectiveness.
Radio & Television	Language skills are needed by the program writers and announcers at most radio or television stations.
Film	Film production is one of the most international of the arts; writers, performers, executives and technicians may need a foreign language in order to have a thorough knowledge of their subject, to communicate with the people being filmed, and with each other, to prepare scripts, or simply to get along in the foreign country where they are working.
Publishing	Foreign language skills are useful for the staffs of many publishing houses, especially those that market their books abroad, or publish translations and foreign language textbooks.
TRAVEL & TOURISM
Transportation Companies	Airlines, railroads, bus and ship lines need bilingual personnel to serve foreign passengers.
Hotels, Motels and Convention Centers	Hotels and convention centers are now hiring desk clerks, telephone operators, information staff administrators, hosts and hostesses who can provide better service to visitors from abroad.
Tourism	Excursions and tours are now sold as part of package arrangements for tourists from abroad.
SERVICES
Health Professions	In metropolitan and touristy areas for people who are unable to speak the official language well enough to describe their symptoms or understand medical instructions.
Library Science	Book selection, classifying and cataloguing, serving users who speak other languages, and working in centers, and schools operated by foreign organizations.
Service Organizations	The Red Cross, and other charitable and service organizations sometimes need bilingual workers and volunteers.
Law & Law Enforcement	Knowledge of a foreign language can be a practical asset to police officers and lawyers who work with members of the ethnic minority and immigrant groups and foreigners.
Volunteer Agencies	Cross-Cultural Solutions, International Student Volunteers, International Language Programs, etc.

Figure 8.

Task 7.8 Choose one of the issues described in task 7.7. Make a presentation about how people working in the chosen sphere are communicating with people from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds.

Task 7.9 Do you know that…

Prejudice is associated with the image of "a closed mind." Living within a closed mind means we fear moving beyond what we already know and like and think. Sometimes we have a bad first experience and are afraid to repeat it. Sometimes we hear about bad experiences from others. We cut ourselves off from new information, new experiences, and new points of view and we stay with our stereotypical way of thinking instead.

In its least dangerous form, prejudice is a feeling of dislike that keeps us from seeing beyond fixed stereotypical images. However, when a prejudiced person takes an action that prevents another person from enjoying the same respect, human dignity and human rights as everyone else, that is discrimination.

UNIT 8

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