Offered By	ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences

In the contemporary globalised world, where the tempo and intensity of international contacts are continually strengthening, international communication has become increasingly crucial. This interdisciplinary major is intended to help students understand cross-cultural and cross-linguistic issues involved in international communication and a working knowledge of another language.

International communication is inseparable from intercultural communication - in the era of ‘global English’ more than ever, since one ‘international English’ can conceal deep differences in cultural assumptions and understandings. This major will introduce students to issues involved in interaction between speakers from different language backgrounds and equip them with conceptual tools to explore those issues.

The major will include either two years of language study (for beginners) or one year of language study (for non-beginners), one compulsory course (for everyone), and for beginners one other course from a list of eight and for non-beginners three other courses from the same list.

 

IMPORTANT NOTE:

Due to structural changes in the undergraduate program rules in 2012, the courses that make up the new 2012 majors may be different to the pre-2012 majors, and therefore some courses cannot be counted between majors.  Students are advised to contact the CASS Student Office if they are unsure about their Majors.

 

Learning outcomes

On satisfying the requirements of this minor, the students will be able to:

• demonstrate an understanding of the nature of the complex and multifaceted relations between communication, culture, language and identity;
• demonstrate an understanding of the limits of translatability of key concepts across languages, and the implications of these limits for international communication;
• analyse cultural assumptions underlying expressions such as “the ideals of freedom, democracy, and the rule of law” (Obama 2006: p. 284) and explain their linguistic underpinnings;
• explain the sources of miscommunication between speakers of different linguistic and cultural backgrounds who communicate using English as a lingua franca;
• demonstrate an understanding of potential sources of miscommunication within multilingual and multi-cultural societies such as Australia.
• Students will have working knowledge of another language sufficient for effective communication in many contexts and for good understanding of the issues that can arise in international communication due to linguistic differences.

Requirements

This major requires the completion of 48 units, which must include:

 

A maximum of 12 units from completion of 1000-level courses

 

24 units from completion of courses in the following subject areas: 

ARAB - Arabic

BURM - Burmese

CHIN - Chinese

FREN - French

GERM - German

HIND - Hindi

INDN - Indonesian

ITAL - Italian

JPNS - Japanese

JAVA - Javanese

KORE - Korean

LAOT - Laotian

PASI - Pacific Languages

PERS - Persian

RUSS - Russian

SKRT - Sanskrit

SPAN - Spanish

TETM - Tetum

THAI - Thai

TURK - Turkish

URDU - Urdu

VIET - Vietnamese

 

6 units from the completion of the following compulsory course:

LING2021 - Cross-Cultural Communication (6 units)

 

A minimum of 12 units from the completion of core courses from the following list:

ASIA1001 - Language in Asia (6 units)

ASIA2001 - Language in Asia (6 units)

LANG3001 - Translation across Languages: The translation of literary texts (6 units)

LANG3002 - Translation across Languages: Specialised material (6 units)

LANG3005 - Language and Identity in the European Context (6 units)

LING2015 - Language, Culture and Translation (6 units)

LING2022 - Language Policy and Language Politics (6 units)

LING2103 - Language Power and Identity (6 units)

 

A maximum of 6 units from the completion of courses from the following list:

ANTH1003 - Global & Local (6 units)

ANTH2049 - Filming Cultures (6 units)

ANTH2129 - Crossing Borders: Diasporas & Transnationalism (6 units)

HIST2121 - Electric Citizens: The rise of the Modern Media in the United States, 1865-2000 (6 units)

INDN3007 - Introduction to Asian Performing Arts: Performance Genres and Intercultural Translation (6 units)

PHIL2111 - Global Citizens (6 units)

SOCY3022 - Identity, Difference and Ethnicity (6 units)

The information published on the Study at ANU 2012 website applies to the 2012 academic year only. All information provided on this website replaces the information contained in the Study at ANU 2011 website.