Cross-cultural communication skills as the basis in formation of multicultural personality in the context of modernization of Kazakhstani education

Foreword

The modern world can be called multicultural due to racial, cultural and ethnic diversity. Through the process of globalization and immigration modern society has become a mixture of different nations and cultures. Cross-cultural contacts have grown nowadays. Thanks to globalization we can enjoy foreign goods, food, music, ideas, technologies and practices. Multiculturalism supports the ideals of a democratic society in which every person is free and equal in dignity and rights. It leads to understanding, friendship and respect among racial and ethnic groups. The people are equal which enables them to participate fully in social, cultural, economic and political life irrespective of their race, religion, colour of skin or origin.

Educational system should train students to cooperate and communicate with people of various nationalities, races, religions, however keeping their national identity and nativeness. In other words students should be trained for life in multicultural context.

Various communication practices with foreigners show that even profound knowledge of foreign language can't exclude misunderstanding and the conflicts with language speakers. Successful contacts with the representatives of various cultures are impossible without knowing culture specifics and practical skills in cross - cultural communication.

In this part of the study-guide we are going to deal with the information on cultural attitudes which have important implications for business and national specifics of etiquette in business communication in Kazakhstan. Etiquette norms in traditional society penetrate practically all everyday life of an individual, defining his behavior. We marked out the basic principles of  the traditional Kazakh etiquette which are the contents of the adopted behavior standards. To form the multicultural personality in the conditions of modernization of public consciousness in Kazakhstan complex studying of various parts of national etiquette, identifying its traditional specific features is an important scientific task. From various etiquette norms we choose to describe the etiquette of greetings and etiquette of business communication.