If you ask me As far as I am able to judge

I don’t think That’s not a good/ bad idea that

The first transaction between even ordinary citizens – and the first chance to make an impression for better or worse - is, of course, an exchange of names. In America there usually is not very much to get wrong. And even if you do, so what?

Not so elsewhere. Especially in the Eastern Hemisphere, where name frequently denotes social rank or family status, a mistake can be an outright insult. So can switching to a given name without the other person’s permission, even when you think the situation calls for it.

“What would you like me to call you?” is always the opening line of one overseas deputy director for an international telecommunications corporation. “Better to ask several times,” he advises, “than to get it wrong. Even then, I err on the side of formality until asked to “Call me Joe”.” Another frequent traveler insists his company provide him with a list of key people he will meet, country by country, surnames underlined, to be memorized on the flight over.

Just when you think you have broken the international name code, they switch the rules on you. Take Latin America. Most people’s names are a combination of the father’s and mother’s names with only the father’s name used in conversation. In the Spanish-speaking countries the father’s name comes first. Hence, Carlos Mendoza-Miller is called Mr. Mendoza. But in Portuguese-speaking Brazil it is the other way round, with the mother’s name first.

In the Orient the Chinese system of putting a surname first, a given name last does not always apply. The Taiwanese, many of whom were educated in missionary schools, often have a Christian first name, which comes before any of the others – as in Tommy Ho Chin, who should be called Mr. Ho or, to his friends, Tommy Ho. Also, given names are often officially changed to initials, and Y.Y. Lang is Y.Y.; never mind what is stands for. In Korea, which of a man’s names takes a Mr. is determined by whether he is his father’s first or second son. Although in Thailand names run backwards, in Chinese style, the Mr. is put with the given name, and to a Thai it is just as important to be called by his given name as it is for a Japanese to be addressed by his surname. With the latter, incidentally, you can in a very friendly relationship respond to his using your first name by dropping the Mr. and adding san to his last name, as in Ishikawa-san.

But the safest course remains: ask.

1.24. Read the poem, translate it and express your opinion about it. Learn the poem by heart. Have you heard about Emily Dickinson before? Try to find out some information about her and present it to class.  

I’m Nobody.

Who Are You?

I’m Nobody. Who are you?

Are you Nobody too?

Then there’s a pair of us!

Don’t tell. They’d banish us – you know. - send (us) away

How dreary to be Somebody. - dull, depressing

How public, like a frog,

Who tells his name the livelong day

To an admiring bog! - wet, marshy place

Дата добавления: 2014-12-27