Учебно-методическое пособие по обучению профессиональному общению. Коровина Н.А - 29 стр.

          MISUNDERSTANDINGS EMERGING FROM                                                                                              The end of the table
       THE DIFFERENCES IN THE PERCEPTION OF TIME
                                                                                Time and tide wait for no man.       Semero odnogo ne zhdut (Seven
            American                                  Russian                   This proverb shows the impor-        people do not wait for one) is a
Americans like to do one the          Russians very often do many things        tance of time in American culture.   corresponding Russian proverb where
thing at a time.                      at a time simultaneously.                 The focus is on time.                focus is on people and not on time. I
One-on-one conversation. It is        Multiple conversation. You may be                                              think it conspicuously speaks about
rude to interrupt conversing peo-     speaking with somebody, but other                                              Russian culture time perception.
ple. If somebody is speaking over     people can interfere with quite a         Americans religiously adhere to      Plans are more flexible. There is
the telephone and there is a signal   different problem, you have to switch     plans, they always try not to        more spontaneity, changes occur too
that someone else is calling, it is   from one person to another. Though        change anything in their plans.      often. Sometimes even interpreters
rude to switch the call. Attention    generally it is impolite but it happens   Things are planned well in ad-       are invited at a very short notice (a
is exclusive, undivided.              all the time. Attention is split.         vance, changes are made but          day or two) for a conference. During
Americans concentrate on the          Highly distractible. Russians also        preferably the earlier the better    the Soviet period plans were sacred
job. They hate being interrupted.     concentrate on the job, but they can      (though last minute changes do       but it is interesting to note that they
                                      be easily interrupted. Even your boss     occur too).                          were fulfilled on a different basis. An
                                      can give you a task different from the                                         enterprise could waste time at the
                                      previous one knowing that you are                                              beginning of the month (quarter,
                                      not finished with the last one.                                                year) and work rapidly at a stress at
Americans take time commit-           Russians have deadlines but they are                                           the end.
ments seriously. When the dead-       very often an approximation, flexible.    Americans follow the rules of        In a business setting, a boss can speak
lines are fixed they should be        A person can write and check if it is     privacy. Interruptions in counsel-   with several people at the same time
observed. They are almost no          still possible to apply sometimes a       ing, advising, conversation are      or somebody may come in and ask a
exceptions. Everybody tries to        month after the deadline. Some insti-     rude. An American will complete      question; in academic environment a
meet the deadline. A thirty-          tutions purposefully move deadlines       his or her involvement before        professor may be interrupted in the
minute tardiness may lead to very     ahead of the actual deadline to get       starting a new one.                  middle of his or her advising by a
serious consequences. For exam-       some response on time. Schedules                                               student who thinks that his or her
ple, the defense of a thesis was      may be changed, much to the                                                    question will not require much time.
canceled and the graduate student     Russian’s displeasure.                    Americans seldom borrow or lend      Russian borrow and lend money from
had to wait for the next year (hav-                                             money from each other. My            each other often and easily. Most of
ing to pay extra tuition fee).                                                  American friends were surprised      the time the money is lent without
Schedules are also sacred.                                                      to find out that I had to borrow     any interest. It is better to lose money
Americans are committed to the        Russians are more committed to            from a colleague in order to go to   than a friend.
job. In every day life or business    people than to the job. It means that     the US. “Your colleague did not
it means that if you say you have     when you are hurrying somewhere a         need the money” “He did, but he
an 11 o’clock appointment no-         person may stop you and ask a lot of      understood that it was important
body will detain you. They            questions you have to answer them,        for me to go.”
understand that you have time         pay attention to a person though you      Americans are accustomed to          Russians are accustomed to long-
commitment.                           may be late for the appointment. You      short-term relationships. See        term relationships.
                                      hope that at your job they will forgive   also “friendliness.”
                                      you and understand.

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