International Journal of Language and Linguistics

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Cultural Conceptualization and Cross-Cultural Misunderstanding in Iranian English

Received: 21 September 2015    Accepted: 04 October 2015    Published: 19 October 2015
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Abstract

Cross-cultural Misunderstanding has always been a conundrum for individuals who involve in intercultural communication. Coming from different cultural backgrounds, individuals tend to behave in a way that is appropriate to their own cultural norms which might pose serious problems for them. These cultural norms are what Sharifian (2010) titles cultural conceptualizations. Cultural conceptualizations are conceptual structures such as schemas, categories, and metaphors that come into existence as a result of interactions between members of a cultural group. This study elaborates on a number of important Iranian cultural schemas, such as ‘expressing thankfulness’, ‘making request’ and ‘complimenting’, and explores how these cultural schemas can potentially culminate in cross-cultural misunderstanding when communicating in English. This study argues in favor of enhancing people’s meta-cultural competence, which is a prerequisite for successful communication in contexts in which English operates as an international language.

DOI 10.11648/j.ijll.20150306.16
Published in International Journal of Language and Linguistics (Volume 3, Issue 6, November 2015)
Page(s) 353-359
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Cultural Conceptualizations, Cultural Schemas, Intercultural Competence

References
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Author Information
  • English Preparatory Program, Istanbul Medipol University, Istanbul, Turkey

  • Department of English Language, Ardabil Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ardabil, Iran

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    Mehdi Solhi Andarab, Asgar Mahmoudi. (2015). Cultural Conceptualization and Cross-Cultural Misunderstanding in Iranian English. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 3(6), 353-359. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20150306.16

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    Mehdi Solhi Andarab; Asgar Mahmoudi. Cultural Conceptualization and Cross-Cultural Misunderstanding in Iranian English. Int. J. Lang. Linguist. 2015, 3(6), 353-359. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20150306.16

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    Mehdi Solhi Andarab, Asgar Mahmoudi. Cultural Conceptualization and Cross-Cultural Misunderstanding in Iranian English. Int J Lang Linguist. 2015;3(6):353-359. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20150306.16

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijll.20150306.16,
      author = {Mehdi Solhi Andarab and Asgar Mahmoudi},
      title = {Cultural Conceptualization and Cross-Cultural Misunderstanding in Iranian English},
      journal = {International Journal of Language and Linguistics},
      volume = {3},
      number = {6},
      pages = {353-359},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijll.20150306.16},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20150306.16},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijll.20150306.16},
      abstract = {Cross-cultural Misunderstanding has always been a conundrum for individuals who involve in intercultural communication. Coming from different cultural backgrounds, individuals tend to behave in a way that is appropriate to their own cultural norms which might pose serious problems for them. These cultural norms are what Sharifian (2010) titles cultural conceptualizations. Cultural conceptualizations are conceptual structures such as schemas, categories, and metaphors that come into existence as a result of interactions between members of a cultural group. This study elaborates on a number of important Iranian cultural schemas, such as ‘expressing thankfulness’, ‘making request’ and ‘complimenting’, and explores how these cultural schemas can potentially culminate in cross-cultural misunderstanding when communicating in English. This study argues in favor of enhancing people’s meta-cultural competence, which is a prerequisite for successful communication in contexts in which English operates as an international language.},
     year = {2015}
    }
    

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    AB  - Cross-cultural Misunderstanding has always been a conundrum for individuals who involve in intercultural communication. Coming from different cultural backgrounds, individuals tend to behave in a way that is appropriate to their own cultural norms which might pose serious problems for them. These cultural norms are what Sharifian (2010) titles cultural conceptualizations. Cultural conceptualizations are conceptual structures such as schemas, categories, and metaphors that come into existence as a result of interactions between members of a cultural group. This study elaborates on a number of important Iranian cultural schemas, such as ‘expressing thankfulness’, ‘making request’ and ‘complimenting’, and explores how these cultural schemas can potentially culminate in cross-cultural misunderstanding when communicating in English. This study argues in favor of enhancing people’s meta-cultural competence, which is a prerequisite for successful communication in contexts in which English operates as an international language.
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