Japanese garden
Good afternoon, dear ladies. Thank you for being here with us! My name is Tatiana, I work at Cultural Studies Institute and today I would like to show you that through the prism of cultural metaphors is possible to study and learn about the culture, and we hope it may be useful and helpful, because your work is connected with a variety of cultures and countries.
A cultural metaphor is a major phenomenon, institution, or activity in a nation with which most citizens identify cognitively or emotionally and through which it is possible to describe the national culture and its frame of reference in depth.
So what is a Japanese garden? Japanese gardens are traditional gardens that create miniature idealized landscapes, often in a highly abstract and stylized way. The gardens of the Emperors and nobles were designed for recreation and aesthetic pleasure, while the gardens of Buddhist temples were designed for contemplation and meditation.
The art of gardening is believed to be an important part of Japanese culture for many centuries. The garden design in Japan is strongly connected to the philosophy and religion of the country. Shinto, Buddhism and Taoism were used in the creation of different garden styles in order to bring a spiritual sense to the gardens and make them places where people could spend their time in a peaceful way and meditate.
3 main aspects of the garden: The line between garden and its surrounding landscape is not distinct. • Gardens incorporate natural and artificial elements and thus, fuse the elements of nature and architecture. • In the Japanese garden, the viewer should consider nature as a picture frame into which the garden, or the man- made work of art, is inserted.
The main purpose of a Japanese garden is to bring serenity and nature into our crowded lives. They remind us of the natural landscape, but in fact they are carefully controlled by man. They are nature-inspired, but they do not grow naturally. Many thigs and objects which are represented in gardens are connected with culture and history. First of all gardens allow people to seclude, relax and feel the harmony with nature and yourself.
Then about religion. in particular Buddhism,also had a major influence on Japanese gardening. - According to Shintoism,the native religion of Japan everything in nature is sacred; trees, plants, and rocks. - They used white gravel in temples as to keep areas clean and white as a means of enticing the spirits and gods to visit these places. - Shintoism is not much the worship of rocks,but the veneration of the spirit that created those objects.
We showed you the examples of how metaphors can reflect culture. And now we are going to confirm it on Hofstede's theory There are some dimensions according to which we can learn the Japanese culture.
If we compare our culture with the Japanese on Hofstede's model, many of the points are similar, but still there are moments You Need to Know when dealing with the Japanese.
It’s not uncommon for Belorussians to misunderstand how the Japanese do business. Some of us feel that the Japanese method of negotiation is like a ceremony that only descendants of descendants of samurais can understand.Here are five key areas where Japanese and Russians differ in their approach to business.
1. Punctuality
In Japan, “being on time” means you should arrive 15 minutes in advance. Even top managers take the underground in Japan, as it is the most reliable form of transport. Employees register their time of arrival at work by swiping their access cards. Turning up at work just a few minutes before the official time is considered being late. In Belarus, being late is sometimes considered a way of showing importance, and being early is seen as a form of subordination.
2. Usage of words and phrases
The second shock for the Japanese may be what they perceive as impudence or tactlessness. Every word the Japanese say, especially when it comes to work, is carefully weighed. Experienced interpreters keep this in mind when translating.
3. Loyalty
Belorussians and Japanese tend to have different outlooks when it comes to loyalty. Japanese people usually choose one job and one company for their entire professional life. They will work there until retirement, and this only can be altered by some emergency, like a tsunami. Russians have a more pragmatic approach towards their career.
4. Decisions by consensus
Japanese companies have a more democratic approach when it comes to making decisions. They value opinions across the board.
5. Intermediaries
Japanese companies always seek an intermediary who will act as a guarantor in a business transaction. The guarantor is usually a respected member of society or a reputed organization.
This mediator is an invaluable part of doing business in Japan and nothing is done without him. Belorussian companies try to do business directly since they believe that the middleman eats into the profits.
Despite these huge differences, there are many cases of mutually profitable and successful business ventures between the two countries.
It brings me to the end of my presentation.
Swedish stuga
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Today I would like to tell you about how the cultural metaphor of the Swedish stuga reflects on their culture. I will analyze it on the basis of whether it reflects Edward T.Hall’s approach to context, space, time, information flow, and Geert Hofstede’s approach to differentiate power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism/collectivism, masculinity, short-term/long-term orientation among cultures.
To help you better understand this phenomenon, we’ll explain the traditional definitions of the stuga It is considered to be a dream of most Swedes is to spend the summer in the family stuga, the typically small wooden house, painted the traditional reddish-brown color that is a result of copper mining. Due to the fact that Sweden is so scarcely populated, when staying in the stuga, the Swedes cannot see another house from their stuga, usually like to spend time there alone or in small family groups.
The Swedes have numerous reasons to visit the stuga, which is considered to be a place to go for solitude and quiet individualism:
Most Swedes are only a generation or two away from the farm, so many feel accustomed to return to the old family home.
It is also popular that some Swedes use the summer homes of friends or relatives and others may have access to a stuga owned by their company.
The ideal vacation is spent at the stuga in June or July, communing with nature.Due to the fact that it has an average of 8 people per square kilometer, Sweden has the space to provide ample outdoor activities of many kinds which range from river rafting to walking or just sitting underneath a tree and reflecting on life.
Because Sweden has changed quickly into an industrialized, city-based country, with only 2% of the population employed on the land, the stuga represents a return to tradition:
The Swedes deal with this inequality by spending the summer back in the traditional village setting of the old family home.
Many are convinced Swedish culture and values are mirrored in the metaphor of the Swedish summer home, or stuga.
The following characteristics of the stuga clearly reflect Swedish culture: love of untrammeled nature and tradition, individualism through self-development, and equality.
There is a common misperception that Sweden is a collectivist society because it is a Welfare state.
Swedes pay high taxes to fund a system where education, housing, health care, and many other programs are available to all. Which is why to afford to pay the high national sales tax and a dual income is essential for a family to maintain the quality of life desired. But Ironically the success of the social welfare programs has fueled the move toward individualism and many Swedes feel that paying high taxes completely removes their responsibility to other generations and to the needy. This
also gives way to making an assumption on their long-term orientation: by paying high taxes they are guaranteeing their future.
Swedish individualism is different than American individualism, however, because Swedes desire individualism to facilitate personal development (horizontal individualism) whereas American individualism is more competitive in nature (vertical individualism).
Another modern concept associated with the Swedish stuga is the Swedish model of government, and the new reevaluation of the traditional Swedish values it represents. Such forces as globalization and immigration have resulted in a change of the ideological climate but not in the moral content of Swedish social policies. Sweden is now preoccupied with such domestic problems as high taxes to support the welfare system, energy sources, a declining work ethic, the physical and social environment, globalization, and the purchase of Swedish firms by non-Swedish firms.
Social democracy is a long-functioning social system in Sweden as well as a political party, but even when the Social Democratic Party is not in power, Sweden is still a social democracy and perfectly reflects the culture itself.
The six fundamental values of Swedish social democracy: equality, freedom, democracy, solidarity, security, and efficiency. Social democracy has been dubbed "the middle way" or “lagom” because it translates as a reasonable middle road between capitalism and socialism
A study of cultures indicated that Sweden clusters with those countries emphasizing a small power distance between individuals and be horizontal individualists who favor norms of equality over equity, in sharp contrast to the United States
We can expect that the Swedes will continue to emphasize the values and attitudes associated with their summer homes, particularly those of love of nature and tradition, individualism expressed through self-development, and equality.
The italian opera
Good afternoon, dear guests. Thank you for being here with us! My name is …. today I would like to show you that through the prism of cultural metaphors is possible to study and learn about the culture, and we hope it may be useful and helpful, because your work is connected with a variety of cultures and countries.
Italy for centuries has had a well-deserved reputation for excelling ([ɪk'selin] отличаться, выделяться), in the areas of painting, music, and living life fully with a general sense of style and vivacity (живость). This tendency can be understood through such a cultural metaphor as The Italian Opera, in which Italy is characterized by features such as:
Description of the metaphor
Elements: operatic overture, spectacle and pageantry, voice, exteriority and the unity of the "chorus"
operatic overture (['əuvətjuə] увертюра, вступление)
- Essentially the orchestra sets the mood for the opera during the overture and gives some idea as to what the audience can expect to occur. Typically the overture is about 5 minutes long, and it frequently includes passages that are emotionally somber (хмурый), cheerful, reflective (задумчивый), and so forth.
- Italian culture emphasizes overtures. Italians tend to convey (выражать) their feelings and thoughts at least partially at the beginning of the relationship.
pageantry (['pæʤəntrɪ] пышное зрелище, показуха) and spectacle ['spektəkl] (зрелищность)
- The devices of spectacle do not exist simply because of the desire to deceive and bedazzle ([bɪ'dæzl] ослеплять блеском) observers. Often, to put on a show becomes the only way to revolt ([rɪ'vəult] восставать, бунтовать) against destiny and to face life's injustices with one of the few weapons available to a brave people, their imagination.
- More precisely while analyzing personal relations.