Стр. 14 - Сборник материалов VII Международной научно-практической конференции на иностранных языках

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14
It is known that every nation has its own mentality formed with the help of
people's culture, its history and traditions. Each language has its own characteristics
in terms of pronunciation and spelling. Language not only reflects the inner world of
men and culture but also keeps it all to be passed from generation to generation. That
is why a language plays a very significant role in shaping the national character, eth-
nic community and the national mentality [6].
Nowadays with the development of international relations and with the advent
of the Internet it is obvious that while communicating with each other people of dif-
ferent nationalities use the words and phrases that sometimes can’t be easily under-
stood by their partners. This is a manifestation of national mentality in the language
of human culture or rather their connection. Let’s consider this connection in phonet-
ics, grammar and vocabulary of various languages. For example, on the part of pho-
netics Russian and French present a set of sounds that differ in their parameters. If we
compare the processes of assimilation even more or less similar sounds will have
great difference for perception. This is confirmed by the fact that even borrowed
words sound different in these languages not to mention the word formation process-
es: бистро (le bistro), кашне (cache-nez), шедевр (chef-d'œuvre), омлет (omelette)
etc. Therefore we can say that the French and Russian mentalities are different in
terms of the perception of the sounds of language. Another problem of the phonetic
properties is the intonation. R.P. Milrud, in describing the communication between
Russian and English students said the following. «Analysis of English student’s
judgments shows that Russian intonation is often perceived by the British as being
too categorical unfriendly or even hostile because of the abundance of descending
tones in Russian melodies. The abundance of high and sharply descending intonation
of Russians can impress the ongoing quarrel, although in reality it wasn’t meant « [1].
The differences in phonetics in this situation lead to ethical misunderstands, though
on the part of mentality is a different perception of speech. We can also assume that
in terms of phonetic German language is more similar to Russian language as it is al-
so characterized by sharp and abrupt tone. Let's try to give examples that reflect the
linguistic consciousness and mentalities of different nations.
For example, the French are found of any kind of advice and instructions. Russian
language uses imperatives: «Не влезай! Убьёт! «; «Не прислоняться! «; «Не ку-
рить! Не сорить! «. Compare «Attention! Danger de mort! «; «Defense de fumer!
«; «Defense de s'adosser! «. French mentality recourse in such cases to the replace-
ment of one part of speech to another one (transposition). The French prefer to use in
this case a softer means of expression or expressions with modal verbs «vouloir,
pouvoir «. For example: «Voulez-vous me passer le pain, s’il vous plaît?»; «Claire,
veux-tu reciter notre fable?». Thus it is often possible to observe the differences in