Examining politeness in the explanation of English and Tshivenda apologies and greetings

Proficiency in English politeness is an invaluable tool in maintaining effective communication. Differences in beliefs, culture and customs, values and norms exist between English and other languages. Non-native English speakers encounter difficulties when making apologies and greetings in the language. The research examined politeness of English and Tshivenda apologies and greetings. The research paper adopted a qualitative research approach designed to build a holistic narrative description concerning social or cultural phenomenon. Formal and informal interviews were carried out ethnographically to collect data from selected 15 historical experts at Phawe, Zoutpansberg in Limpopo Province, South Africa. Data were quantified, simplified, organised, and interpreted using an 'emic' approach because they were interpreted from the perspective of the population under study. The research found that some Vhavenda people could narrate stories around politeness in their society. The research recommends the continuous practice of apologies and greetings to preserve the Vhavenda culture and custom.

“By the time she got sick it was just kind of too late”: A qualitative study on advanced care planning among bereaved lesbian, gay, and bisexual older women

Background: Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) older women have unmet communication needs around palliative and end-of-life care. Past research has found communication differences for LGB women patients. Consequently, older LGB women may experience healthcare communication barriers around advance care planning. Aim: To explore experiences of bereaved LGB older women to understand perspectives regarding advance care planning communication between clinicians, patients, and dyads. Design: Guided by queer gerontology as a theoretical framework, this qualitative descriptive study employed individual interviews with purposively recruited participants. Interviews were conducted in person using a semi structured protocol and analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. Setting/participants: Sixteen LGB women, age 60 years or older from across the United States who had lost a spouse/partner within the past 5 years. Results: Four main themes emerged from the transcripts, LGB older women: (1) experience unclear advance care planning communication and end-of-life care support from clinicians, (2) often avoid advance care planning discussions with spouse or partners, (3) lack of knowledge about palliative or end-of-life care, and (4) have more positive experiences when there is consistent communication with spouse or partner and clinicians during a spouse/partner’s illness and end-of-life. Discussion: While certain experiences and opinions may reflect those of non-LGB older adults, novel advance care planning barriers exist for LGB older women. Greater understanding among clinicians is needed regarding advance care planning conversations with LGB dyads. We recommend four improvements in training, recognition, acceptance, and dyad-based communication interventions.

Analisis Situasi Tutur dalam Perbedaan Berkomunikasi Presiden Jokowi Melalui Cuplikan Video pada Channel Youtube Metrotvnews

Dalam berkomunikasi sehari-hari seorang penutur perlu memperhatikan adanya situasi tutur. Maksud dari sebuah tuturan dapat dipahami dan diidentifikasi oleh mitra tutur karena adanya situasi tutur. Selain itu, situasi tutur juga mempengaruhi penutur untuk menentukan ragam bahasa yang sesuai digunakan ketika tuturan itu terjadi. Penelitian ini mendeskripsikan perbedaan berkomunikasi Presiden Jokowi dalam situasi tertentu. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode analisis deskriptif. Metode pengumpulan data pada penelitian ini menggunakan metode simak dan catat. Hasil temuan penelitian ini adalah pola tuturan Presiden Jokowi dalam situasi resmi dengan mitra tutur, yaitu pemimpin negara, wartawan, dan atau masyarakat melalui media massa menggunakan tindak tutur lokusi, ilokusi, dan performatif. Produk tindak verbal dari tuturan tersebut adalah penggunaan ragam bahasa formal. Pola tuturan Presiden Jokowi dalam situasi tidak resmi dengan mitra tutur, yaitu rakyat secara langsung menggunakan tindak tutur perlokusi. Produk tindak verbal dari tuturan tersebut adalah penggunaan ragam bahasa santai. Manfaat penelitian ini adalah untuk meningkatkan kesadaran masyarakat agar semakin memperhatikan tuturan yang digunakan agar tidak terjadi kesalahpahaman. Selain itu, masyarakat juga perlu memperhatikan penggunaan ragam bahasa dalam situasi tutur tertentu.Kata kunci: Tindak tutur, situasi tutur, ragam bahasa, ragam formal, ragam santai In daily communication, a speaker needs to pay attention to the existence of a speech situation. The meaning of a speech can be understood and identified by the speech partner because of the speech situation. In addition, the speech situation also influences the speaker to determine the appropriate variety of language used when the speech occurs. This study describes President Jokowi's communication differences in certain situations. This research uses descriptive analysis method. The method of collecting data in this study used the observation and note method. The findings of this study are the speech patterns of President Jokowi in official situations with speech partners, namely state leaders, journalists, and / or the community through the mass media using locusive, illocutionary and performative speech acts. The product of the verbal act of the speech is the use of various formal languages. President Jokowi's speech patterns in informal situations with speech partners, namely the people directly use perlocution speech acts. The product of the verbal act of the speech is the use of a variety of casual language. The benefit of this research is to increase public awareness in order to pay more attention to the utterances used in order to avoid misunderstandings. Apart from that, people also need to pay attention to the use of various languages in certain speech situations.Key words; Speech act, speech situation, language variety, formal variety, casual variety

Key Words and Political Parties in the 2020 Pre-Election Campaign on Facebook

The research paper analyses key words found in pre-election communication of electorally successful political parties, based on which the main communication differences among those parties and the specifics of pre-election communication, as well as the pre-election discourse as a whole, are identified. Research material consists of political parties’ microblogs published on individual political parties’ Facebook profiles in the period from January 1, 2020 to February 28, 2020, with a reference corpus formed by the total of these microblogs. The analysis showed professionalization of political communication, the use of new, but also traditional ways of interaction with the electorate, pre-election communication based on the presentation of candidates, offensive and combative tone of the most successful parties, self-presentation, hints of persuasive and manipulative techniques, topic points of electoral programmes, but also thematic neutrality and non-specificity that suggest smaller electoral success.

Translation in Intercultural Communication: Differences and Solutions: A Case Study of the English Translated Text of Song of a Pipa Player

Intercultural communication has always been an important concept and core hot-spot in the field of intercultural research. In the early 1980s, Chinese scholars introduced the study of intercultural communication. The study of intercultural communication in China has formed a trend of cross-integration with the disciplines including Language Teaching, Translation Studies and Culturology, etc., after about 40 years of development. Thanks to the differences between Chinese and English, there are still many issues in translation on intercultural communication. Therefore, this research focuses on the in-depth analysis of three types of differences in the English translated text of Song of a Pipa Player from the perspective of intercultural communication to put forward corresponding translation strategies for intercultural communication and offer some help to the translation among different cultures.

Cross-Cultural Interpreting With Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Patients

The aim of this study is to investigate ways in which interpreting practice in health care settings can be further developed to better facilitate communication with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients. Data used include 15 hours of transcribed audio recording from semi-structured interviews with interpreters and Aboriginal Liaison Officers who discuss their perceived experiences of interpreting in medical settings. They offer insights into how language is used to resolve communication differences that may confound the interpreting process and in doing so identify roles interpreters assume and discourse patterns that emerge in interpreting practice. As evidenced through the findings, provisions need to be made for cultural differences. Interpreters report they have to “unpack” medical terminology and explain such terminology and related concepts in tangible terms to ensure patient understanding. Other strategies include talking about taboo topics using culturally appropriate terms, avoiding certain question–answer routines, and being aware of nonverbal aspects of communication.

Kulturális különbözőségek elfogadása a külföldi orvostanhallgatók beilleszkedésében

Összefoglaló. Bevezetés: A 21. századra a multikulturális társadalmi közegben az interkulturális tudás, mint készség, fokozott mértékben válik kulcskompetenciává. E társadalmi kompetencia elsajátításának egyik lehetséges területe a nemzetközi hallgatói mobilitás, mely világszerte, így hazánkban is, egyre nagyobb jelentőségű. Célkitűzés: Magyar és külföldi hallgatók körében folytatott vizsgálatunk fókuszában a beilleszkedési folyamatoknak, valamint az interkulturális kompetencia és érzékenység kialakulásának és fejlődésének vizsgálata állt, a Pécsre érkező mintegy 60 különböző kultúra, valamint a magyar befogadó közeg vonatkozásában egyaránt. Kutatásunk során többek között arra kerestünk választ, hogy az eredeti és a befogadó kultúra közötti különbségek mely területeken nyilvánulnak meg a leginkább, illetve egy másik kultúrához történő alkalmazkodás során milyen beilleszkedést lassító vagy támogató tényezők tárhatók fel. Módszer: Kutatásunkban kvantitatív és kvalitatív módszereket alkalmaztunk, önkitöltéses kérdőíves felmérés, valamint fókuszcsoportos interjúk formájában. A PTE ÁOK német, angol és magyar nyelvű általánosorvos-képzésében részt vevő hallgatókat a 2010 és 2018 közötti időszak tavaszi szemesztereiben saját fejlesztésű, anonim, önkéntesen kitölthető kérdőívvel kerestük meg (a kitöltött kérdőívek száma: n = 13 084 kérdőív). A kérdőíveket három tanévben hét, félig strukturált fókuszcsoportos interjúval egészítettük ki (n = 92 fő). Eredmények: A hazánkba érkező külföldi orvostanhallgatók számára a befogadó közeghez való alkalmazkodást tekintve a kapcsolódás elsősorban a szocializációs, nyelvi, kommunikációs különbségek miatt bizonyult kihívásnak. Megállapítható azonban, hogy a képzési idő előrehaladtával a különbözőségekből fakadó nehézségek csökkentek, így a hallgatók egyre inkább képessé váltak az etnorelatív irányba történő elmozdulásra, valamint a multikulturális közeg pozitív aspektusainak értékelésére. Következtetések: A multikulturális környezetben folytatott tanulmányok alatt a kultúraközi kapcsolódási pontok és együttműködések kialakulása és fejlődése lehetővé teszi és támogatja az interkulturális kompetencia elsajátítását, annak minden résztvevője számára, akár az egyetemi képzésen túlmutatóan, a későbbi orvosi pályát tekintve is. Orv Hetil. 2021; 162(25): 978–987. Summary. Introduction: In the increasingly multicultural social environment of the 21st century, intercultural knowledge as a social skill is gradually becoming a key competence. One of the possible areas of acquiring this competence is international student mobility, which is of increasing importance worldwide, including Hungary. Objective: The focus of our study was to examine integration processes and the development and improvement of intercultural competence and sensitivity among Hungarian and international students, both in relation to the approximately 60 different cultures arriving in Pécs and in relation to the Hungarian host environment. In the course of our research, we sought – among other factors – areas, in which the differences between the original and the host culture are the most prominent, and we aimed at identifying those factors that are slowing down or supporting the integration during the adaptation period to another culture. Method: In our research, we used both quantitative and qualitative methods, in the form of a self-administered questionnaire and focus group interviews. General medical students of the University of Pécs studying in the German-, English- and Hungarian-language programmes participated in the survey during the spring semesters of the academic years between 2010 and 2018. We used our self-developed questionnaires (number of completed questionnaires: n = 13 084), which were filled in on a voluntary basis and anonymity was ensured. The questionnaires were supplemented with seven semi-structured focus group interviews over three academic years (n = 92 students). Results: Regarding the adaptation to the host environment of foreign medical students studying in Hungary, relationship building arising from socialization, language and communication differences, proved to be a challenge. However, it can be stated that as the training time progressed, the difficulties arising from the differences decreased, so that the students gradually became more able to move towards an ethno-relative direction and evaluated the positive aspects of the multicultural environment. Conclusion: During studies in a multicultural university environment, the emergence and development of intercultural connections and collaborations enable and support the acquisition of intercultural competence for all of the students, which will be of great benefit for them, even beyond the university, in their future medical career. Orv Hetil. 2021; 162(25): 978–987.

Twelve-week project to improve medication reconciliation at hospitals in Wellington, New Zealand

Inaccurate prescribing of medications on admission to hospital exposes patients to significant risk, both during the admission and at discharge. Initial data at Capital and Coast District Health Board (CCDHB, Wellington, New Zealand) showed that 0% of medication reconciliations initiated by pharmacy were completed correctly. A widespread lack of awareness of existing processes and communication differences between doctors and pharmacists were identified as root causes of the problem. A 12-week quality improvement project collected baseline data and then three interventions were carried out aiming to improve the rate of completed medication reconciliation. The interventions were education of house surgeons (junior hospital doctors), standardisation of pharmacist practice and a redesigned paper notification system. After three plan, do, study, act cycles our results showed an improvement in the rate of completed medication reconciliations from 0% to 37% and an improvement in pharmacist uptake of text messaging from 30% to 88%. The rate of partially completed reconciliations (where discrepancies were reconciled but documentation was not completed) fell from 82% to 37%. We were not able to show an increase in proportion of discrepancies rectified (in fact a decrease occurred) due to our data collection methodology. The interventions made have improved the quality of medication reconciliations at CCDHB and are likely sustainable in the longer term.