Card #6. Cultures and national stereotypes.

A nation is a group of people who share common history and usually a language and usually, not always live at the same area. Culture can be described as our everyday life: how we communicate, what makes us happy and said. It also includes our language, religion, traditions, behavior, way o life - in other words, what we do each day.
People that belong to various nations may differ and they always differ from one another. For example, the Germans are regarded as scientifically-minded and industrious, they're always considered solid, intelligent, mathematical, extremely nationalistic, arrogant and even aggressive. And, for instance, Jews are believed to be mercenary, industrious, shrewd, loyal to family, religious. There is a big amount of examples we can list about national character of different people.
Proving the difference of the national stereotypes I want to compare Russian and English nations. There are a lot of features that vary.
The Russians are industrious, tough, brave, progressive and suspicious. They are always considered to be nationalistic, over - patriotic (because of this reason they're good soldiers), we are willing to respect opinion of other people.
Speaking about Englishmen I may note that they're reserved, tradition-loving, courteous, honest, extremely nationalistic and etc. To my mind, they have a specific sense of humor. They say that they can't understand our jokes and anecdotes not only because of the different meanings of the words, but because of their humor is more delicate.
Looking at these features of the Russians and the Englishmen it is not hard to mark out the differences. The Englishmen are reserved, but the Russians are open-hearted and communicative. The Englishmen are tradition - loving and the Russians, to my mind, don't keep their traditions in such a degree.
There is a great majority of factors that influence the nations stereotype and its people's character. People that live in the southern countries have less problems than those who live in the North and because of this they're more cheerful and artistic. The history also has a great influence on the national character. The peoples in Asia are revengeful because their forefathers often were at war with others. In Africa many countries were colonies of the Great Britain, Holland, Spain and so on and they (Africans) were the slaves and because of this they're still hard-working and industrious.
The National Character exists. It is not a myth, it's a reality. But the National Character doesn't describe the character of every person, it describes the character of people of nation in general. Every person has its own character, but according to the person's belonging to some nation many traits of character are similar and these features may be explained as the national character.

Card #7. English stereotype.

As is known in Britain there exists the accepted code of behavior. This accepted code of behavior of the British people doesn't allow the straightforward expression of what they think and feel. In contrast to Russians who prefer directness, British people tend to understate things. A conversation in English is full of hints, half tones and half-statements.
British people will not particularly like to interfere in other people's affairs. They are known to have a cult of privacy. They generally tend to keep to themselves to hate to intrude in other people's privacy. For example, as a matter of fact, they don't particularly like to speak about their personal matters and interests and when they do, they always do it in an apologetic manner.
In a conversation they mostly avoid direct questions and strong dogmatic ones, 'cause the culturally accepted code of behavior doesn't allow asking other people about their personal matters in a direct way. So we see that the British are guided by the principal of non-interfering in other people's affairs.
The British see self-possession as the highest quality of human character. They regard the free display of emotions as vulgar and antisocial. They value highly the ability to stay calm in all kinds of situations and leave things unsaid.
In one word - British are extremely reserved people. They are also considered to be industrious, polite, tradition-loving, courteous, honest, extremely nationalistic and etc. They are known to have a specific sense of humor. To my mind their humor is delicate.

Card #8. Stratification in British Society.

In any society people are divided into different social groups and they are awarded unequal amount of prestige, economic rewards and power. The division into upper lower and middle classes had for many decades been the cause of enmity and bitterness in Britain. But the English at last have acknowledged the futility of these ancient partitions and try to sweep them away. The bad old system is being smashed and the new Britain is being born.
There has been social mobility in English society for a long time. Now, at the end of the 20th century, we have reached the point where in such fields of life as politics or the Church it is possible to rise to a very top without being born in the famous and rich family.
Harold Wilson, Edward Heath and Margaret Thatcher all came from modest background. And so did John Major, who without the advantages if private education or personal wealth, became a Prime Minister. He is living proof of the flexibility of the English class system. But Mr. Major is wrong in believing that it is possible to create a classless society; at any rate no such society has ever existed. He is wrong too if he thinks that English class system is particularly rigid.
Nevertheless class distinctions in Britain still influence greatly a person's life and career.
The royal family, the surviving titled families and old landowing families enjoy special status in Britain. The status of extremely wealthy people. Wealth means assets which are worth of money if they are sold. The main forms of wealth are: property, stocks and shares. The Queen is said to be the wealthiest person in Britain and one of the richest women in the world. The British land aristocracy is also among the richest, 'cause it owns 40% of British land. This group of the rich has obtained its wealth exclusively through inheritance. There are around 24000 millionaires in the UK. They include supermarket owners, writers, inventors, members of the aristocracy and the royal family, famous writers and music stars.
There is a big difference in the language of the upper class and the rest classes. According to one's accent some people can tell all about the person: how much a person earns, how well mannered the person is, where one lives.
Most people in England are classified according to their occupation. Occupation is connected with many differences in people's access to life chances in such areas as education, health, leisure style and working conditions. According to their occupation people in Britain fall into two broad groups: the middle class (white-collar workers) and the working class (blue-collar workers).
Traditionally, the middle class in Britain was composed of managers and traditional professionals. All people who earned their living in non-manual jobs are considered as middle class people. Nowadays the middleclass is facing two major changes: the growth of the professionals, stimulated by the expansion of service industries, and as for the clerical workers, they have sunk into the working class, however they still enjoy some advantages over manual workers. So, they have become a marginal group, representing the borderline between the working class and the middleclass.
Since the 1950s there has been a massive growth of the middle class and at the same time the working class has started rapidly declining in Britain.
Now there are two clearly distinguishable groups within the working class. They are as follows:
- The traditional working class (belonging to areas of traditional employment such as mining, docks and heavy industry).
- The new working class (the efficient working class, employed in the new industries of advanced technologies and high industry).
These two groups are quite different in their life styles. For example in living conditions, areas of employment, in income, voting behavior, in the feeling of working solidarity and their children's chances in education.
It is important to notice that nowadays the top 50% of the population in Britain own about 97% of the marketable wealth. As for those, who are at the bottom, share about 4% of the national wealth of the UK. Income is less unequally shared that wealth, 'cause it includes tax and benefits.
It is impossible to establish a society in which there are now unprivileged classes and there are certain functions that can not be provided by the poor.

Card #9. British Commonwealth.

The British Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 49 independent states that have been or still are ruled by Britain. Independent states are "full members of the Commonwealth". Among these states are Barbados, Australia, Kenya, Nigeria, India, Singapore, New Zealand, the UK of GB and Ireland, Cyprus, etc.
Dependent territories (colonies + protectorates) are "Commonwealth countries", among them are Bermuda, Falkland Island, British Antarctic Territory, British Virgin Islands and other.
The new Commonwealth has grown out of the old British Commonwealth and British Empire. In the days of the old Commonwealth the only self-governing nations were Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The population of Australia, New Zealand and Canada (except for the French-speaking Canadians of Quebec) was almost entirely of people of British descent.
When the old British Commonwealth and the British Empire came to an end with the 2nd World War, the new Commonwealth was born. It was born after Britain granted independence to India and Pakistan in 1949. The Commonwealth has no charter, treaty or constitution. The Commonwealth people are drawn from all the world main races, from all continents. The Commonwealth people confess many different religions. Among Commonwealth countries are those in which the dominating religious confessions are Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism.
The queen is recognized as head of Commonwealth; she is also head of state in 18 countries such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand.
The Commonwealth Secretariat is in London. It is headed by a Secretary-General appointed by the heads of governments of member states. In 1990, for example it was headed by Emeka Anyaoko from Nigeria. The Secretariat promotes consultations, spreads information on matters of Commonwealth interests, organizes meetings and conferences. It coordinates Commonwealth activities related to economic, social and political affairs including youth programs, food, production, technology, science, law and health.
Britain plays an active part in the Commonwealth activities, it values the Commonwealth as a means of consulting and cooperating with people of different cultures and perspectives.
Britain plays an active part in the work of the Commonwealth Fund for Technical cooperation, established within the Secretariat to provide technical assistance for economic and social development in Commonwealth developing countries, and Britain contributes almost a third of its income. The Fund provides experts to undertake advisory assignments or fill specific posts. It has a special program to help countries develop their exports, production and rural development. This fund also contains a small technical assistance group to give advice in key areas.
Britain is a major contributor to the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan, a system of awards for people of high intellect organized in order to make them study in Commonwealth countries. It was agreed in 1984 that the number of awards would be increased to about 1700 of which Britain would provide some 800.