Literary text as a means of developing intercultural competence in Chinese linguist trainees

Abstract

The article studies the development of intercultural competence in the process of teaching international students. We discuss the preparation of trainee linguists from the People’s Republic of China for intercultural communication while studying fiction.

Reading literary works develops the students’ ability to empathize and argue their position, their skills of text analysis, enriches the students’ language. A literary text is an important means for introducing international students to the culture they are studying, specific national characteristics and traditions of Russia, which is a part of their preparation for intercultural communication.

The article points out the difficulties that foreigners experience in the perception of poetic works, caused by their ambiguity and imagery, but concludes that it is necessary and possible to study not only prose, but also poetry with trainees from the PRC.

To participate in intercultural dialogue interns need to be able to compare the features of their native and studied cultures in order to identify differences and similarities in national cultural values and to realize universal human values. We consider it important for interns to be able to talk about their native culture in the target language. To solve these problems, we turn to literary texts of Chinese literature along with the study of Russian literature.

Based on the gained experience, the article provides examples of studying fiction with trainee linguists from the People’s Republic of China.