Theory and Practice of Intercultural Communication in Language Teacher Training and Translator Training

Intercultural communication as an academic subject was introduced into linguistic Bachelor and Master education in Russia about twenty years ago. Unlike various aspects of linguistics, English studies, British and American literature which have been part and parcel of the curriculum in foreign language departments for many decades, this subject is new both to teachers and students. Its appearance in the curriculum is due to Russia’s entering the global educational environment. This subject as central theoretical component of training specialists in foreign languages requires practical manuals with reference to new educational standards. Intercultural communication as a field of study is so wide that it requires the efforts of specialists in linguistics, psychology, cultural anthropology, etc. It is but natural that teaching intercultural communication in universities is limited mostly to contrastive insights into communication between representatives of two linguo-cultures – those of Russia and the country/countries of a foreign language (mostly English). This paper discusses various ways and means of developing intercultural competence, practiced in Samara State University of Social Sciences and Education. The paper also presents the results of regular anonymous questionnaires among our students dealing with teaching intercultural communication. The authors conclude that theory of intercultural communication is firmly rooted as the subject that forms young people’s cultural awareness. Our experience shows that students are genuinely interested in the subject, mostly because of its possible application to their future profession.