In conversations between immigrants and officials, problems of understanding are often noticeable. About 280 recordings realised at the Argentine Aliens' Department and at several public authorities in Germany show that knowledge divergences regarding linguistic, cultural and institutional knowledge result in (sometimes grave) difficulties of…

In different countries, the use of pictorial information symbols to convey warnings and instructions is becoming more common. An important reason for this is that people from a variety of cultures can understand graphical symbols. However, symbols developed in one culture may not have the same meaning for people from other cultures. This study…

This study examined the extent to which a one-year difference in age can influence college students' reported communicative behaviours in both the USA and South Korea. Korean students differentiated themselves far more than their American counterparts from other students one-year older or younger than themselves. The former reported that students…

Compares American and Chinese school-age (K-2) children's cooperative-competitive behavior using a puzzle completion task. No significant cultural differences between the two groups' cooperative and competitive behaviors were found. Variance analyses indicated that children in the higher grades performed more cooperatively than children in the…

This study investigated complimenting behavior in three language varieties, British English, Finnish, and the interlanguage of Finish Learners of English. It found that compliments in Finnish tended to be longer and more syntactic than in English and that Finnish learners of English demonstrated appropriate complimenting behavior in English,…

Investigated one area that may affect Mexicans' performance in American schools: cultural differences in appropriate school behavior. Interview data were collected from 40 students and 20 teachers in Mexico in Spanish by native Spanish speakers, and from 20 native English-speaking students, 20 Mexican English-as-a-Second-Language students, 20…

This study examined the perceived ethnolinguistic vitality of Anglo-Australian and Vietnamese-Australian ethnic groups in Brisbane as measured by the modified Subjective Vitality Questionnaire (SVQ). Results of the confirmatory factor analysis provided support for the applicability of the SVQ to both high and low vitality groups. (30 references)…

This cross-cultural study examined the generic structure of English and Arabic job application letters written by native Arabic speakers and English native speakers to find out the discourse genre text similarities and differences between them. A corpus of 60 job application letters written by 60 job applicants was subjected to the form of move…