III. Religions

1. Bulgaria. Most Bulgarians (82.6%) are, at least nominally, members of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, the national Eastern Orthodox Church. Other religious denominations include Islam (12.2%), various Protestant denominations (0.8%), Roman Catholicism (0.5%), with other denominations, atheists and undeclared numbering ca. 4.1%.

2. South Africa does not have an established (national) church. Most Afrikaners belong to the Dutch Reformed Church or its sister churches. Most English-speaking whites belong to Anglican, Congregational, Methodist, or Roman Catholic churches, or to Jewish congregation.

Most coloured people belong to different branches of Christian church. Some coloured people are Muslims. The majority of Asians are Hindus or Muslims.

Nearly 45% of black people are Christians, while the others almost in equal parts follow traditional African religions or belong to the Zion Christian church or other African indigenous churches. These churches combine Christian and traditional African beliefs.

3. Japan. Around 84% of Japanese people profess to believe both Shinto (the indigenous religion of Japan) and Buddhism. Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism from China have significantly influenced Japanese beliefs and mythology. Religion in Japan tends to be syncretic in nature, and this result in a variety of practices, such as parents and children celebrating Shinto rituals, students praying before exams, couples holding a wedding at a Christian church and funerals being held at Buddhist temples. A minority (0.7%) profess to Christianity. In addition, since the mid-19^th century, numerous religious sects emerged in Japan.

4. India. People of India practice more than seven religions (sometimes two or more at the same time): Hinduism, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Jainism, Islam, and Christianity. The usage of this or that religion very often depends on the occasions like in Japan.

There are the names of the main religious confessions existing in the world given below. Please, answer the following questions.

Christianity Catholicism Orthodoxy Judaism Islam Buddhism Hinduism Shinto Confucianism

1. In which parts of the world are these religions particularly influential?

2. Which of them worship one God (monotheism) and which worship many gods (polytheism)?

3. Which of them believe in reincarnation?

4. Who is the founder of each religion?

Text I.

Population of Russia, Languages and Religions.

Render this text in English.

Ни в одной из стран нет такого количества народностей, обладающих собственной государственностью, но при этом считающих себя россиянами. Всего на территории России проживает более ста тридцати наций и национальностей - некоторые народы имеют численность во много миллионов, тогда как другие менее тысячи человек.

Государственный язык в республике – русский, который служит как средство коммуникации для всех народов, населяющих страну. Но еще тридцать других языков являются вторыми государственными языками (co-official languages) в различных регионах. В крупных городах есть национальные школы, где преподавание ведется на каком-либо национальном языке, большая часть из них являются воскресными школами.

Россия является по преимуществу православной страной. Вторая по численности религия – мусульманская. Многие люди исповедуют также католическую, протестантскую и иудаистскую веру. В Бурятии и Калмыкии распространен буддизм. Но более 50% населения считают себя атеистами.

When speaking about different countries, of course, we discuss not only the geographical position, economy, languages, political system and so on. It is interesting, but much more interesting is to learn about different customs and traditions, holidays and the lifestyle of a people.

Do you know the nationalities and languages the people speak in this or that country? Please, fill in this chart.

Country	Nationality	Language
		French
	Liechtensteiner
Egypt
Check Republic
	Peruvian
		Polish
	Israeli
Viet-Nam
		Urdu
	Canadian
		Icelandic
	Brazilian
		Greek
The Netherlands
		Dutch

Which countries have the currencies listed below? And what nationality are most of the people who have that kind of money in their pockets? Can you name the capitals of these countries? Match the names of the currency in the first column with the name of the country. Fill in the other two columns independently.

Currency	Country	Nationality	Capitals
1. Rand	Russia
2. Yen	Iran
3. Rouble	Poland
4. Rial	Venezuela
5. Shekel	Thailand
6. Zloty	Israel
7. Baht	Chile
8. Bolivar	China
9. Yuan	Japan
10. Peso	South Africa

Which countries have these cities as the capitals? And what nationality are most of the people living in them? Fill in the last column independently.

City	Country	Nationality
1. Sofia	Kenya
2. Nairobi	Indonesia
3. Montevideo	Belgium
4. Amman	Bulgaria
5. Baghdad	China
6. Jakarta	Jordan
7. Copenhagen	Uruguay
8. Brussels	South Africa
9. Beijing	Denmark
10. Pretoria	Iraq

In what countries would you find these dishes most often? And what capitals are there? What nationality would most of the people eating them be? Match the dishes in the first column with the name of the country in the second, please, fill in the last two columns.

Dish	Country	Capital	Nationality
1. satay sauce	Turkey
2. couscous	Sweden
3. kebabs	Belgium
4. smőrgos	Indonesia
5. white chocolates	Morocco
6. brown cheese	Portugal
7. kangaroo-tale soup	Denmark
8. chicken livers in port	Norway
9. pastries with nuts & dried fruit	Australia

There are always famous people known not only in their own countries but all over the world. Can you say what nationality are they? The names of their native countries are given in the second columns; you should match the name and the country.

1. Bjorn Borg, tennis-player	Denmark
2. Pablo Picasso, artist	Turkey
3. Hans Christian Andersen, story-teller	The USA
4. Alexander Flemming, inventor of penicillin	Sweden
5. Kemal Ataturk, national hero	Russia
6. Lech Walesa, trade union leader	Spain
7. Thomas Alva Edison, inventor	France
8. Michael Gorbachov, state person	Great Britain
9. Charles de Golles, general, state person	Poland

Write or say the word you think first to go with each of the words below. Possible answers are given on the right. See how often you think of the same word as the one done here. You can give several variants.

Whose?	Your answers.	Possible answer
Danish		Bacon
German		Beer
French		Perfume
Irish		Whiskey
Japanese		Motor bikes
Americam		Football
Greek		Islands
New Zealand		Butter
English		Weather
Argentinean		Beef
Egyptian		Pyramids
Russian		Dolls

Now, the other way round. Write or say the nationality you associate with the things given below. Are they the same as given in the right column? You can give several variant in the middle column.

What?	Your answers.	Possible answer
Cigarettes		Turkish
Cheese		Swiss
Carpets		Persian
Coffee		Brazilian
Tortillas		Mexican
Silk		Thai
Shoes		Italian
Rugby		Welsh
Tulips		Dutch
Goulash		Hungarian
Cigars		Cuban
Guitar		Spanish
Restaurants		Chinese

Where are these dances from? Can you name any other dances from different countries?	Tango	Brazil
	Waltz	Spain
	Polonaise	Argentina
	Flamenco	France
	Gavotte	Ukraine
	Samba	Greece
	Gopak	Poland
	Sirtaki	Austria

VIII. Topic 'Travelling'