Questions for 21/4

Qualifying Claims about Contrastive Rhetoric
Severino puts forth some lofty research goals in this article. How far do you think they are actually possible? Can an outsider really reach into another culture and grasp its nuanced rules for language and writing? And then think about all the different subcultures within that larger state? Moreover, should we charge ourselves with trying to categorise everyone? Should we not leave it up to their own scholars to write if they so choose?

Influence of Cultural and Linguistic Backgrounds
This was an interesting, but I fail to see how this knowledge can practically help a writing consultant (beyond what we have already read). It is not possible for us to take crash-courses in the language backgrounds of all the cultures we may encounter. However, since this isn't possible...can you think of something that might be?

Creating Common Ground
I think the most persuasive (and easily accomplishable) task this article calls us to do is be observant. I think it's cool that we might work with a student that holds on to their own cultural style of writing, because we could learn a lot from that perspective. However, we would also want to make sure they've written as clearly as possible within that style. Are we qualified to do that since we're not from the same background? With all the questions we could potentially be asking, it might turn into a reverse consultation session (not that that's wrong). What do you think?