Inga Milevica has been awarded a micro grant for international travel, funded by the Association for Business Communication through the Center for Intercultural Dialogue. The following is her description of herself and the project. You can also read the main article describing all award winners.
Dr. Inga Milevica is a researcher and teacher in Latvia, author of more than 90 scientific papers. Her main research interests are: gender communication, business communication, mass communication and translation problems, in particular, problems of translation in films. Milevica has been working at Alberta College since 2008 in all its fields of study: Legal foundation of the business, Entertainment management and production, Cultural tourism management, Marketing and marketing′s innovations, Staff work organization, Business accountancy and taxes, Information technology, Game development, Economics and organization of small companies and Public relations. She teaches the following courses: Rhetoric and Presentation Skills, Introduction into Communication Theory, Corporate Culture, Business Communication and professional Ethics, Stylistics and Culture of Latvian Language.
The first and the main scientific-practical task of the project is to participate in the international forum and represent one of the private colleges of Latvia – Alberta College. The international forum “Socio-Cultural and Linguistic Aspects in Educational and Scientific Context” will take place in Kyoto (Japan) in Kyoto Sangyo University, September 25-29, 2014. The paper “Naive Argumentation of Authority” is being prepared for the section Intercultural Aspects in Pedagogical Activity. There will be basic peculiarities of the argumentation and especially of an argument authority discussed in the paper, based on the verbal and written discourse of the students.
The second task deals with methodical planning. The partners of the forum are such famous and respected educational institutions of the world as Kyoto Sangyo University (Kyoto, Japan), Middlebury College (Vermont, USA), University of Bologna (Bologna, Italy), Sangmyung University of South Korea (Cheonan, South Korea), Almaty Institute of Power and Communication (Alamty, Republic of Kazakhstan), International Centre of Scientific-Educational Platform of Interaction of Cultures (Yekaterinburg, Russia), Institute of Foreign Languages and Multimedia at University of Greifswald (Greifswald, Federal Republic of Germany). The author intends to discuss with the representatives of the universities possibilities of the programme Erasmus+, which starting from 2014 will expand both geography of the trips and scientific and educational profiles, both for the students and teaching staff.
In addition, this project will help to perfect practical knowledge about the distinctive culture of Japan. For example, such important categories for successful communication and overcoming potential barriers as time (monochrome or polychrome perception) and place (public or private – and to what extent) should be felt already on the airplane, in the hotel, on the streets, at the university, etc., and such a category as argumentation (linear or holistic) also can and must be experienced in real communication.
Center for Intercultural Dialogue 