| nervous amusing sympathetic | worried shy typical | enjoyable ordinary afraid | angry formal tiresome | usual ashamed anxious |
Culture shock
Penny, a friend of mine, has just got back from a trip to Japan. She had a very...(1) time but there were occasions, she says, when the rather ...(2) behaviour of her hosts led to moments of cultural confusion, and at times she even felt embarrassed by some of the mistakes she made. For example, it is ...(3) for Europeans to call each other by their first names, but this is not the ...(4) way of addressing people to Japan. Now, because Penny was ...(5) to show everyone how friendly she was, she called everyone by their first name. Most people were ...(6) because she was obviously a foreigner but some became quite ...(7) and show little sympathy.
At first, Penny found bowing to people quite ...(8) – she is, after all, an actress – but after a while it became a bit ...(9) having to bow to everyone you met.
Penny is not at all ...(10) – she loves meeting new people – but after the first few misunderstandings she was ...(11) to open her mouth in case she offended someone. I myself am quite an experienced traveller, but I would feel ...(12) about putting my foot in it in Japan because there even ...(13) people observe the most elaborate rules of social behaviour – silence for example is nothing to be ...(14) of in Japanese culture, but in the West we get very ...(15) if there are even short periods of silence at social gatherings.
13. Match these nationalities with the ‘stereotype’ pictures.
| the Germans the French the Japanese the Italians the Scottish the Americans the Spanish the British |
Study the national features of people from different countries and match them with nationalities.
| Nationality | Character |
| The French | a) calm, reserved, open-minded, trustworthy, hidebound, insular, superior, excellent sense of humour |
| The Spanish | b) the highest proportion of good qualities, tolerant, fashionable, square |
| The Scottish | c) lazy, untrustworthy, vivacious, charming, hospitable, noisy |
| The British | d) conservative, withdrawn, chauvinistic, brilliant, superficial, hedonistic, not very friendly |
| The Americans | e) outgoing, talkative, less reserved, love chatting, very generous, hospitable |
| The Germans | f) hard-working, noisy, democratic, ambitious, friendly, open-minded, punctual, church-goers |
| The Japanese | g) artistic, hot-tempered, religious, emotional, jealous, fun- loving, cheerful |
| The Italians | h) polite, ambitious (for men), hard-working, neat, reserved, tolerant, love nature, healthy way of life |
Look at the photo and describe the typical characteristics of the Belarusians.
In the following dialogue examine some unfinished pieces of argumentation and select among the given arguments the one that can be added in full accordance with the speaker’s viewpoints.
