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.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills 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.
Relevant Degrees
Requirements
This major requires the completion of 48 units, of which:
A maximum of 12 units may come from completion of 1000-level courses
A minimum of 6 units must come from completion of 3000-level courses
The 48 units must consist of:
6 units from completion of LING2021 Cross Cultural Communication
A minimum of 6 units from completion of courses from the following list:
ASIA2001 Language in Asia
ASIA2014 China Now: Discourse, Media and Culture
ASIA2308 Linguistic Histories in Asia and the Pacific
AUST1001 Learning an Indigenous Australian Language
AUST2008 Learning an Indigenous Australian language 2
HUMN2001 Digital Humanities: Theories and Projects
LING1002 Language and Society
LING2015 Language, Culture, Translation
LING2018 Languages in Contact
LING2022 Language Policy and Language Politics
LING2027 Language and Society in Latin America
LING2103 Language, Power, and Identity
LING2106 Language and Social Interaction
PASI2010 Talking the Pacific: Melanesian pidgins and creoles in social context
SPAN2604 Language variation across the Spanish-speaking world
A maximum of 6 units from completion of courses from the following list:
ANTH1003 Global Citizen: Culture, Development and Inequality
ANTH2009 Culture and Development
ANTH2017 Culture, Social Justice and Aboriginal Society Today
ANTH2025 Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective
ANTH2129 Crossing Borders: Migration, Identity and Livelihood
ANTH2130 Violence and Terror
ASIA2084 Modern Mongolia: Challenges to the Environment, Economy and Empire
ASIA2311 Gender and Cultural Studies in Asia and the Pacific
ASIA2413 Vietnam: History And Contemporary Society
ASIA2516 Indonesia: Politics, Society and Development
GEND2035 Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective
HIST2121 Electric Citizens: The Rise of the Modern Media in the United States, 1865-2000
HIST2243 Vikings, Crusades, Mongols: Shaping Medieval Europe, c. 850–1300
INDG1001 Indigenous Peoples, Populations and Communities
INDG2001 Indigenous Cultural and Natural Resource Management
MEAS2000 Iranian History and Culture
MEAS2003 Modern Turkey: History, Culture and Regional Relations
MEAS2107 Gender and Culture in Iran and the Middle East
PHIL2111 Global Citizens
POLS2064 Global Social Movements
POLS2101 Refugee Politics: Displacement and Exclusion in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries
SOCY2060 Mobile Societies
SOCY2061 Contemporary Chinese Society
SOCY2163 Identity, Difference and Racism
A minimum of 6 units from completion of 3000-level courses from any of the following majors and minors, and the following list:
French Language and Culture major
German Language and Culture major
Italian Language and Culture major
ANTH3017 Indigenous Worlds: Challenges of Emergence, Recognition, and Change
ASIA3015 State-Society Relations in Asia and the Pacific
BUSI3029 Cross-Cultural Management
LANG3001 Translation across Languages: the translation of literary texts
LANG3002 Translation across Languages: specialised material
LANG3003 European Narrative
LANG3004 Language and Society in Latin America
LANG3005 Language and Identity in a European Context
LING3008 Study of A Language Family
LING3030 A comparative study of Austronesian languages
LING3031 Papuan Languages
POLS3037 Globalisation: Communications, Culture and Democracy
PASI3001 The Contemporary Pacific: Society, Politics and Development
SCOM3029 Cross Cultural Perspectives in Science Communication
SPAN3031 Advanced Spanish Topics in Language and Linguistics
24 units from completion of courses from any of the following majors and minors, and the following list:
Burmese Language minor
French Language and Culture major
German Language and Culture major
Italian Language and Culture major
AUST1001 Learning an Indigenous Australian Language
AUST2008 Learning an Indigenous Australian language 2
JAVA2005 Modern Javanese A
JAVA3005 Modern Javanese B
LING2107 Academic English
PORT1001 Introductory Portuguese I
PORT1002 Introductory Portuguese II
PORT2001 Continuing Portuguese I
PORT2002 Continuing Portuguese II
TURK1001 Elementary Turkish A
TURK2001 Intermediate Turkish A
TURK1002 Elementary Turkish B
TURK2002 Intermediate Turkish B
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