Answer the questions. You have come to the USA on the exchange program

Situation

You have come to the USA on the exchange program. Once you invited a beautiful French girl to lunch. You were discussing your entering university when suddenly you used the sign «okay» to say that you had coped with your entrance exams perfectly. But the girl understood your sign wrong. She thought that you had failed your entrance exams. Try to explain to the girl this misunderstanding.

1. Do you feel surprised or offended? Why?

2. What would you say to your friend in this situation?

3. What should we do to prevent cultural misunderstandings?

4. Do you know any signs that can lead to misconduct?

Part 2. All cultures can be subdivided into two types: universalist cultures and particularist ones. People from universalist cultures believe that there are certain absolutes that apply across the board, regardless of circumstances or the particular situation. What is right is always right. Wherever possible, you should try to apply the same rules to everyone in like situations. People from particularist cultures believe that how you behave in a given situation depends on the circumstances. What is right in one situation may not be right in another. You treat fam­ily, friends, and your ingroups the best you can, and you let the rest of the world take care of itself. (Their ingroups will protect them.) One's ingroups and outgroups are clearly distinguished. There will always be exceptions made for certain people. No culture, of course, will be exclusively universalist or particularist; all cultures will have elements of both poles – but cultures do tend to be more one than the other.

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