ABSTRACT
One of the key concerns raised in this volume is the need to devote more effort to analyzing the cross-cultural issues affecting technical communication, precisely because the World Wide Web is a global medium. As one of the few who have taught professional and technical writing in the Eastern republics of the former Soviet Union,11 offer some insights on the cultural issues that should inform the work of technical communicators in our global village. My months living in the post-Soviet culture and new nation of Armenia have made clear to me that current ways of framing questions about cross-cultural issues belie the infancy of our international understanding. My experience clarified for me that the truly critical
issues arising from cultural differences are the cognitive patterns that are shaped by and, in turn, shape the educational, political, and economic systems of any country. That we still discuss cross-cultural issues in our classrooms in terms of contrasting color preferences in varying cultures or by cautioning students against using American idioms in business letters for international clients indicates that we as yet blithely bypass the deeper ethical questions in our field. Doing so will limit our success as technical educators and practitioners in the global arena, but transcending these limits will enable us-and our students who will soon enter the professional world-to make a more effective contribution to educational, political, and economic realms intentionally. We must begin teaching in a manner that prompts us to investigate the truly significant differences in the cultures, economies, and politics of other countries.
