8.2. Vocabulary Enrichment

Assignment 1. Complete the following table. Use a dictionary for any of the words you don’t know. Some of these nationality adjectives, as well as the nouns, have a change in stress and/or pronunciation from the name of the country. Make sure you can pronounce them.

1. Country: I live in England.

2. Adjective: He reads English literature.

3. Noun: She is an Englishwoman.

COUNTRY	ADJECTIVE	NOUN
Argentina
Austria
Australia
Bangladesh
The Republic of Belarus
Belgium
Botswana
Brazil
Britain
Cambodia
Chile
China
Colombia
Croatia
the Czech Republic
Cyprus
Denmark
England
Finland
Greece
Holland
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Ireland
Israel
Jamaica
Japan
Lebanon
Lybia
Madagascar
Mexico
Monaco
Montenegro
Morocco
Norway
Peru
the Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Rumania
Saudi Arabia
Scotland
Serbia
the Slovak Republic
Sweden
Switzerland
Thailand
Tunisia
Turkey
Vietnam
Wales

Assignment 2. Look at the list of adjectives below and mark them as + (adjectives denoting a strength), and – (adjectives denoting a weakness). Then try to give their opposites.

ADJECTIVE	+/–	ADJECTIVE WITH AN OPPOSITE MEANING
ambitious
arrogant
bullying
caring
casual
competitive
confident
conservative
controlling
easy-going
emotional
enterprising
enthusiastic
focused
forceful
formal
friendly
frivolous
fun-loving
generous
hard-working
helpful
hospitable
humorous
indecisive
interfering
irresponsible
lazy
nationalistic
nosy
obsessive
opportunistic
outgoing
prudent
punctual
quiet
reserved
respectful
romantic
ruthless
serious
sociable
sophisticated
supportive
talkative
tolerant

Assignment 3. Look at the list of adjectives given in Assignment 2 and write out the adjectives that may characterize the Belarusian Character.

The Belarusians are generally _____________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Assignment 4. Match the following terms to their definitions.

1	alienation (n) to be alienated (v)	a	physical or emotional pain causing physical or emotional pain
2	attitude of superiority (n) To feel superior (v)	b	anger, hatred, strong opposition
3	discrimination (n) to discriminate against (v)	c	belief that one's own group (culture, race, country) is better than others are
4	ethnocentrism (n) ethnocentric (adj)	d	a very simple, often mistaken, generalization about a group of people
5	generalization (n) To generalize (v)	e	special treatment (good or bad) based on race, religion, physical appearance, age, social class
6	harm (n) harmful (adj) To harm (v)	f	A person or group who is given the blame for the mistakes or failures of others, promoted through the use of propaganda.
7	hostility (n) hostile (adj)	g	belief that one is better than others are
8	intolerance (n) To be intolerant (v)	h	characteristics, features
9	prejudice (n) to be prejudiced against	i	a feeling of being separate, a feeling of not belonging
10	racism (n)	j	fear or dislike of foreigners and strangers
11	scapegoat (n)	k	a statement that does not include details or important differences
12	stereotype (n)	l	lack of kindness or understanding toward people who are different
13	traits (n)	m	a negative, unfair opinion about a person or group of people, usually based on limited information or limited experience
14	xenophobia (n) xenophobic (adj)	n	belief that an ethnic group is superior or inferior to other groups

Assignment 5. Read the following abstract on stereotypes and fill in the gaps with the words given in the table below. In some cases you may need to use the same word several times.

attributes	traits	discrimination	accurate	eliminating
generalizations	assumptions	prejudice	beliefs	appreciate
stereotypes	harmful	hostility	generalization	identify

1. ____________ can be either positive or negative, but they are all unfair and misleading. In general, stereotypes reduce individuals to a rigid, inflexible image; they do not account for the fact that human beings are complex and multidimensional, with unique 2. ____________. Stereotypes suggest that people or groups of people are the same, when, in fact, they are quite different. Stereotypes about human beings tend to dehumanize people, placing all members of a group into one, simple category.

Although 3. ____________, the basis for stereotyping, represent a natural part of the learning process, when they are directed at human beings, they can be dangerous and 4. ____________. When we stereotype people, we prejudge them; we assume that all people in a group have the same 5. ____________. This form of blind categorization leads to false 6. ____________ about people and causes misunderstandings, 7. ____________, abusive behaviors, conflicts, 8. ____________, and 9. ____________. For example, if we are walking through a park late at night and encounter three senior citizens wearing fur coats and walking with canes, we may not feel as threatened as if we were met by three high school-aged boys wearing leather jackets. Why is this so? We have made a 10. ____________ in each case. These generalizations have their roots in experiences we have had ourselves, read about in books and magazines, seen in movies or television, or have had related to us by friends and family. In many cases, these stereotypical generalizations are reasonably 11. ____________. Yet, in virtually every case, we are resorting to prejudice by ascribing characteristics about a person based on a stereotype, without knowledge of the total facts.

Civil societies can only thrive when damaging stereotypes are broken down. The difficulty is that stereotypes are sometimes hard to recognize because they are fixed 12. ____________. Learning to 13. ____________ stereotypes is one of the first steps we must take to build a civil society. After identifying stereotypes, we can work toward 14. ____________ them from society. When stereotypes are eliminated, it will be easier to acknowledge and 15. ____________ individual differences. When we live in a society that is open to cultural diversity and that values the contributions of all society members – regardless of cultural and ethnic backgrounds, race, life styles, and belief – we will be one step closer to living in a civil society.