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Я ей глаза закрываю Ich halte ihr die Augen zu И нежно целую её;
Und küss' sie auf den Mund; Она покоя меня лишает,
Nun lässt sie mich nicht mehr in Ruhe, Расспрашивая о причине сего.
Sie fragt mich um den Grund. С утра и до вечера спрашивает
Von Abend spät bis morgens früh, О смысле поступка того:
Sie fragt zu jeder Stund': Зачем ей глаза закрываю
Was hältst du mir die Augen zu, В тот миг, что целую её?
Wenn du mir küsst den Mund? (Перевод сделан Стеганцевым Григорием,
студентом ЛГПУ)
А. Д. Швейцер отмечает: «Перевод - это не только взаимодействие языков, но и взаимодействие культур... Процесс перевода «пересекает» не только границы языков, но и границы культур» [2, с. 37].
Значение знакомства студентов изучающих немецкий язык с лучшими образцами немецкоязычной поэзии, сравнительный анализ переводов, а также побуждение к самостоятельному художественному переводу в рамках базового курса дисциплины «Иностранный язык» трудно переоценить в образовательном процессе студентов филологов, так как такой способ включения их в межкультурное взаимодействие помогает понять духовную культуру народа, говорящего на этом языке, пережить чувства подобные тем, которые испытывают представители этой культуры, приблизиться к пониманию их идеалов, мыслей, а также расширить горизонты «картины мира».
В научной литературе отмечается в последнее время большой рост переводной литературы на прилавках книжных магазинов, что связывается с достижениями в сфере информационных технологий: распространением программ машинного перевода. Однако, как отмечает Е. П. Савченко, «литературный перевод поэзии - процесс, который осуществим только индивидуальностью, подвергающей произведение вторичному переосмыслению, рассматривающей его через призму своей национальной и личностной культуры, и с этой точки зрения литературный перевод поэзии можно считать взаимодействием двух языковых личностей: автора и переводчика, а в широком понимании - взаимодействием двух культур» [1, с. 138]. С этой точки зрения правомерно считать работу по переводу немецкоязычной поэзии студентами филологического профиля обучения адекватной для развития способности к межкультурному взаимодействию.
Список литературы / References
1. Савченко Е. П. Переводная лингвокогнитология как контакт личности с текстом иноязычной культуры / Е. П. Савченко // Вестник Московского государственного областного университета. Серия: Лингвистика, 2012. № 1. С. 135-140.
2. Швейцер А. Д. Перевод и лингвистика / А. Д. Швейцер. М.: Наука, 1988. 280 с.
EXPLORING BUSINESS WRITING SKILLS IN THE FRAMES OF BUSINESS ADVANTAGE COURSEBOOK Minasyan E.
Minasyan Eva — PhD in Philology, Associate Professor, FOREIGN LANGUAGES CHAIR № 1, PLEKHANOVRUSSIAN UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS, MOSCOW
Abstract: the paper deals with the exploration and evaluation of business writing skills based on the coursebook materials delivered in tertiary education. Writing is a key factor for successful communication in business sphere across space and time and provides a huge platform for data storage. Consequently, teaching business writing skills is of utmost importance for learners tend to pursue rewarding career in the business environment. The article has made an attempt to identify the teaching approaches implemented in writing activities in the frames of a commercial textbook meant for learners who major in economics.
Keywords: business English, writing skills, problem-solving, genre approach.
ИССЛЕДОВАНИЕ НАВЫКОВ БИЗНЕС КОРРЕСПОНДЕНЦИИ В РАМКАХ УЧЕБНИКА BUSINESS ADVANTAGE Минасян Е. Т.
Минасян Ева Тиграновна — кандидат филологических наук, доцент, кафедра иностранных языков № 1, Российский экономический университет им. Г. В. Плеханова, г. Москва
Аннотация: в статье рассматриваются вопросы исследования и оценки бизнес-навыков письма на основе материалов учебника, внедренной в системе высшего образования. Письменная речь является ключевым фактором для успешной коммуникации в деловой сфере, в пространстве и во времени и обеспечивает огромную платформу для хранения данных. Следовательно, обучение бизнес-навыкам письма имеет огромное значение для учащихся, и, как правило, оно приводит к успешной карьере в бизнес-среде. В статье была сделана попытка выявить подходы обучения, реализованные в письменных работах в рамках коммерческого учебника, предназначенного для изучающих экономику.
Ключевые слова: бизнес английский, навыки письма, решение проблем, подход жанра.
УДК 37.378
Introduction
Writing is a cornerstone of daily business activities and is used in a vast variety of situations. It is quite powerful and allows communication on the intranational and international levels being 'an invaluable medium for storing records and other information' [1, с. 81]. Written discourse offers different challenges and requires planning, organizing and paragraphing skills. Moreover, due attention should be paid to skills of linking ideas, i.e. coherence and cohesion, spelling, punctuation, word order and lexical choice, style and tone of the text.
Peculiarities of Business Writing
There are several theories and approaches how writing skills can be taught. In the frames of tertiary education writing is delivered as a problem-solving process involving brainstorming ideas, planning and organizing the ideas, drafting and assessing. This approach best works with high level students showing a reasonable command of the language and who can deal successfully with any stage mentioned above and use expressions, lexis and grammar accurately and appropriately.
An alternative approach to teaching business writing skills is genre or text approach which encompasses texts of a certain type, such as letters, emails, reports, agendas, memos, minutes, etc. The latter approach has given rise to controversial opinions because some educators disapprove genre approach, as it is too vague and impractical. They argue that every letter is unique and specific. Whilst, the supporters of this approach try to prove that it is beneficial both for teachers and learners to focus on concrete aims and outcomes. Definitely, the combination of both methods will provide the bests results in teaching business writing skills, as for Business English learners writing is instrumental to target a particular goal.
Teaching business writing should concentrate as well as on the elements of structure or layout: the first is paragraph linking, i.e. coherence - creating a logical argument and arrangement which makes sense to the reader; the second refers to sentence joining, i.e. cohesion - connecting clauses with each other to form a sense of unity.
Another peculiarity of the business writing is the context, which means that the writer needs to consider the audience or readers, the purpose of the document, and the expected or desired response.
Typical activities designed to teach business writing skills involve correcting the emails, gap-fill tasks, jumbled texts, changing styles (formal to informal), summarizing, editing, etc.
Evaluation of writing skills in Business Advantage
Accordingly, the ideas presented above prove that writing skills are of paramount importance for tertiary education, especially for high-level learners majoring in economic subjects and with the intention to professional self-realization in the business environment. Therefore, in this paper I would try to analyze the benefits and limitations of writing sections included in the commercial coursebook Business Advantage (upper-intermediate). The course is organized by 14 units based on separate topical materials which are carefully researched and chosen to provide the learners with the comprehensive foundation in the main areas of business they would expect to find on a general management training course or academic business course. In the case of writing sections, they are based on authentic materials which enable learners to produce a variety of effective written business
communications (per two units) [2, c. 8]. The beforementioned characteristics of the course design are given by the authors of the book.
After working with the coursebook for some years with the 3rd year students and surveying learners' feedback of business writing parts, I would try to analyze the appropriateness and usefulness of the provided writing activities. The course concentrates mainly on the following writing skills:
1. Designing effective presentation slides;
2. Description of a business process;
3. Presenting pros and cons of private ownership;
4. Describing graph showing carbon emissions across industries;
5. Writing persuasive copy for an internet site;
6. Writing an email to your manager;
7. Applying for a job via email.
The input and output activities vary among comprehension questions, gap-fill tasks, matching, brainstorming, summarizing, reporting and writing. The course writing materials are based on both approaches - problem solving and genre, though it is obvious that the former is dominating, thus allowing much wider space for learners' creativity and ingenuity. The prevalence of this approach is explained by the presumed language competence of the target audience (at least B1) and feasible learning outcomes. What refers to the choice of writing skills they are dictated by the thematical divisions, e.g. Unit 2 discusses how businesses deal with future uncertainty and the theoretical background presents the business tool - STEEP analysis. Consequently, the choice of the writing skill of Preparing presentation slides looks quite relevant and applicable. The range of tasks includes lead-in or comprehension questions, matching, correcting the illustrated slides, summing up information in bullets and concluding the section with a writing assignment. Overall, the activities are based on Harmer's ESA teaching model, suggesting students first to get emotionally engaged with the situation, later study the language, and then activate it. This approach mainly focuses on what is learnt.
Conclusion
In business English classrooms the main teaching approach is based on CLT (communicative language teaching) focusing on how learning takes place, in other words language is learned via the negotiation of meaning in real communication. 'People learn by using the language to achieve a specific outcome. The main theoretical argument is that people do not learn in a neat, pre-ordained fashion, so deciding what language items to focus on is not an effective way to teach' [3, c. 124]. It may be much better to provide the right input and atmosphere, which allow learning to take place at the individual's own pace and in response to their needs. This is often done via tasks where the focus is primarily on using language to do something.
In the coursebook Business Advnatage the authors have preserved the mentioned approach which leads the leaners to immediate usage of the writing skills via the output activities. It is the outcome of the task which is important, just as in the business world the language is a means to an end, not an end in itself.
Nevertheless, during the teaching process I have come across some limitations of the coursebook Business Advnatage. Firstly, it is the lack of such writing activities like memos, minutes, press releases, reports, letters of different types, which prove to be far more necessary for managerial staff. Secondly, taking into consideration the current regulations in the sphere of tertiary education due to which the number of academic hours for studying foreign languages is decreasing gradually, it would be helpful to include more writing activities, even per unit, to ensure that learners acquire sufficient knowledge and professional support through textbooks and other supportive materials.
References
1. FrendoE. How to teach business English // Pearson Longman, 2005. 160 p.
2. Handford M., Lisbo M., Koester A., Pitt A. Business advantage, student's book, Upper-
intermediate // Cambridge, 2011. 192 p.
3. Korobova E. V., Mironova D. A., Godina D. H. The use of business games in teaching a foreign
language to students of economics for the formation of a professional foreign language
competence // Pearson solutions for enhanced students' and teachers' academic mobility. Pearson.
Moscow, 2016. P. 123-130.
