Linguo-cultural competence as a cornerstone of translators' performance in the domain of intercultural business communication

Acknowledging language as an integral element of a sociocultural community highlights some sensitive areas in the realm of translation studies. Since the translator acts as a mediator between two unique cultures, the efficiency of cross-cultural interaction appears to be largely dependent on the quality of such intermediacy. The present paper aims to examine this culturally determined specificity of translation activity and consider lingua-cultural competence as a cornerstone of translators’ performance. The authors also contemplate the opposition of ‘accuracy’ vs ‘readability’ as a stumbling block for translator’s activity, and draw up a model of the lingua-cultural competence of translators specialising in intercultural business communication. Inferences made in the study rely on the data obtained from a questionnaire distributed among tutors and lecturers employed in higher educational institutions and involved in specialised translation training. The data collected were analysed based on statistical analysis that helped identify the importance of each separate skill incorporated in the lingua-cultural competence for the training of student translators specialising in intercultural business communication. This evidence was further utilised to elaborate on a set of methodological guidelines capable of developing the lingua-cultural competence of student translators specialising in intercultural business communication

Project-based learning as an instructional tool in teaching ad drafting to students majoring in advertising

As advertising penetrates into all social spheres, it vastly affects the social behavior of different linguocultural communities. While advertisements have a profound effect on the social medium, it is the extent and the various facets of this influence that grab the headlines of scientific research. This article aims to consider one of the leading methods of teaching ad drafting to students majoring in Advertising while focusing mainly on the functions and syntactic characteristics of the advertising discourse. Considering the peculiarities of ad drafting as a class activity, the article brings a focus on the project method as one of the most efficient training frameworks that allows to introduce profession-specific practices into the learning process, promote creativity and foster proactive mindsets in the context of learner-centered practice-oriented training environment. The study highlights the theoretical considerations involved in the study of advertisements, specifically centering around their syntax and functions that include attracting attention, informing, persuading, motivating by offering discounts and gifts, and most importantly encouraging the consumer to choose a particular product or service being advertised. The syntactical peculiarities and nomenclature of the basic functions of advertisements are further on analyzed to explain the corresponding teaching and learning implications and clarify the place and role of the project method in ad drafting training. The authors suggest that while project-based learning implies a lot of creative activity being incorporated into the class, purposeful implementation of projects cannot only be associated with motivational boost, encouragement of personal interest, or a somewhat informal practice of skill transfer: as the article stresses, projects developed as part of the instructional “toolkit” in ad drafting classes should at all times be designed so as to teach students to think strategically. Strategic reasoning, in turn, should be based on the awareness of the functional load behind the language and syntax used in advertising texts. Thus, the paper singles out syntactical features inherent in the advertising discourse (such as, for example, brevity, an abundant use of elliptical constructions, or prevalence of imperative sentences) and makes systemized conclusions regarding the project-based methodological routine most suitable for the purposes of ad drafting classes with students majoring in Advertising

The issue of lexical interference in teaching LSP

As pertains to professional communication training, the issue of reducing lexical interference holds a controversial position in foreign language methodology: while the issue obviously poses a challenge, it remains relatively unexplored in terms of methodological aspects involved. The most significant obstacles and errors in foreign language teaching have to do with the linguistic phenomena taking on contrasting shapes in the target and native languages. This article aims to develop a set of methodological principles to help overcome lexical interference of Russian in ESP learning. This is a complex task. Using authentic training materials, audio courses, newspapers, magazines, and online content, providing adequate methodological handling of foreign language features, identifying challenging lexical peculiarities of the English language, estimating the most probable manifestations of interference on the lexical level can help expose the main causes and roots of lexical interference and errors in LSP learning. The vocabulary of most of the world’s languages incorporates a significant number of words common to two or more languages. Their occurrence can be traced to specific historical reasons – common etymology of languages, prolonged domestic and cultural communication of peoples speaking different tongues. Lexical interference stems from disparity, variance in terms of the volume of notions, in particular, when it comes to international roots and the socalled ‘false friends of a translator’. By identifying the areas of convergence and divergence in the use of language means, we will be able to detect the scope of interference, estimate probable challenges, and devise ways of dealing with errors caused by lexical, as well as other types of interference. The study deploys the methods of complex semantic analysis of interfering lexical units

Stylistic devices as means of forming discursive features of advertising minitexts (exemplified by English economic and political media sources)

The article is devoted to functional and stylistic features of advertising minitexts in English economic and political mass media and Internet sources. The scientific relevance of the topic is proved by the significant role of advertising in building up not only market relations but also cultural stereotypes and public opinion. Besides, the necessity arises to reveal the human linguistic consciousness potential of integrating different meanings and small forms of their verbalization, as the trend towards contracting speech acts is gaining momentum in both oral and written communication. Hence, advertising texts make a proper object of analysis since the need for quick catching of the customers attention and saving money on publication space determines advertisements small volume. The authors set the purpose of analysing the stylistic features of advertising minitexts in economic and political sources in terms of the formation of their discursive features. Methods of discourse functional analysis, descriptive and contextual analyses are implemented thereto. The article addresses the issue of correlation between text and discourse with regard to the advertising linguistic status, types of advertising texts, extralinguistic factors (including psychographic and demographic profiles of consumers) determining the choice of means that actualise advertising discourse functions. The analysis focuses on the expressive means forming peculiar advertising stylistics and special pragmatic increments aimed at making efficient impacts on the recipient. The findings of the empiric analysis are presented in reference to such expressive means as metaphors, allusions, wordplay, antithesis, etc. The prevalence of metaphors, epithets and hyperbole as the most frequent stylistic devices in advertising discourse has been revealed. The authors conclude that discursive features of the texts under analysis are actualized in pragmasemantic increments which are not inferred from speech elements direct meanings alone but are synergistically formed in advertising functional space in the course of text generation and perception based on the communicating parties living backgrounds

INDIVIDUAL-ORIENTED TRAINING IN PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION TEACHING

The article analyses the benefits of individual-oriented training techniques in second language teaching and case study in particular. The years-long experience of using case study in Higher School shows that it enhances motivation for foreign language learning. The author stresses that this approach enables students to demonstrate practical outcomes of studies - the way how they have learnt to use the acquired knowledge in professional environment

EXPLOITING THE POTENTIAL OF ICT: ASSESSMENT OF STUDENTS' KNOWLEDGE

This article touches upon linguodidactic testing in the framework of ICT - the assessment method of students' knowledge which models the overall student-teacher relationship. It is applied in the framework of the learning management systems relying on the knowledge base. The development of professional and creative competences implies that students should not just absorb specific knowledge and skills, but they are supposed to master the entire complex of theoretical and practical experience and expertise. This kind of integrated knowledge is formed on the basis of the most efficient component of e-learning, namely - linguodidactic testing in the framework of ICT. ICT is the most acceptable pedagogic tool for the implementing a creative task. A creative component appears in communicative activity and is expressed in different kinds of independent work. In recent years, the issues associated with the application of new information technologies have been subjected to detailed analysis. While some competences are controlled and assessed automatically to save time and provide numeric representation of results, other competences (mostly, creative one) are assessed by the teacher who can ensure a more individual and insightful evaluation of the student's work. Thus, standardized monitoring is the most effective tool, which checks the formation of professional communicative competence and creative one that basically implies that a student is given assignments that are further assessed by the system to estimate the student's progress. The advantages of the method are: standardization of monitoring procedures; numerical representation of monitoring findings for their further processing; minor time expenditure for progress control

The problem of the business negotiations language as genre of intercultural business communication

Lingvocultural peculiarities of business negotiations in two variants of the English language (British and American) are analyzed in the article. The author researches discourse lexics, emotional colouring level, metaphor phrases, professional jargon and other linguistic and speech means in intercultural business discourse

INDIVIDUAL-ORIENTED TRAINING IN PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION TEACHING

The article analyses the benefits of individual-oriented training techniques in second language teaching and case study in particular. The years-long experience of using case study in Higher School shows that it enhances motivation for foreign language learning. The author stresses that this approach enables students to demonstrate practical outcomes of studies - the way how they have learnt to use the acquired knowledge in professional environment