This article focuses on autostereotypes about France and the French, as well as their linguistic expression in French. Autostereotypes are presented as a type of mental stereotype and understood as representations of France and the French that are widespread within the linguistic community. The concept of stereotype in modern linguistics has many interpretations. The article offers an overview of different approaches to the investigation of stereotypes in sections of linguistics such as semantics, ethnolinguistics, sociolinguistics, culture studies, and psycholinguistics, and clarifies the distinction between language and mental stereotyping. While the former is understood as a linguistic unit that is stable and idiomatic, the latter is a set of associations that are consistently attributed to lexical units. The collection Le Jacassin, a humorous work by a writer and journalist Pierre Daninos, was chosen as the material, as it reflects the main prejudices and clichés prevalent in France in the 1950^s and early 1960^s. The sections of the collection are diverse in form: fictitious dialogue, maximally saturated with stereotypes; dictionaries of general and political vocabulary; practical advice to the reader, presented in the form of detailed lists. In the proposed material, 45 passages containing elements of autostereotype were selected, on the basis of which three substantive sides are highlighted: self-portrait of the country and its inhabitants, «we−they» opposition, as well as domestic elements and lifestyle. All these elements are united by the motive of comparing the past and the present, as a rule not in favor of the latter. The article provides a detailed analysis of linguistic means at various linguistic levels (morphological, lexical, syntactic, pragmatic). These tools include the author’s active use of attributional constructs, including adjective definitions, metaphors, precedent names and quotations, as well as antonyms, synonyms and logical connectors. An important feature of stereotypical statements turned out to be extreme hyperbolization and generalization, achieved through the use of indefinite pronouns, adverbs, negative constructs and restrictive phrases.

   The escalation of socio-economic and geopolitical tensions is heightening the potential for conflict not only in intercultural but also in monocultural communication. Within this context, the media plays a significant role in shaping public sentiment and fostering situations conducive to conflict.

   This study aims to define the Conflictogenicity Index of Media Discourse (CIMD), examine its correlation with national communicative styles, and analyse the specific realisation of Lexical Pragmatic Markers of Conflictogenicity (LPMCs) in contemporary Mexican and American media.

   A particular focus is placed on devising a methodology for calculating the CIMD and trialing it through the analysis of empirical data. The analysis draws on a corpus of 680 online publications from 2021 to 2025, sourced from outlets including La Jornada, Excélsior, El Milenio, Fox News, The New York Times, The New York Post, etc. These publications address the migration crisis − an issue of common concern to both Mexico and the United States − thereby framing the investigation of conflictogenicity within an “Us vs. Them” dynamic. The findings confirm that norms of national communicative style govern the selection, frequency, density, and permissible strength of negative evaluation in LPMCs. This study also reveals that both the perceived intensity of a conflictogenic marker and the overall CIMD are subject to cross-cultural variation. To illustrate, articles deemed highly conflictogenic within Mexican linguoculture may be rated as medium or even low on the CIMD scale compared to American media. Ultimately, the research demonstrates that LPMCs, as key indicators of conflictogenicity in discourse, not only signal underlying social tensions but also help to pinpoint the society’s most pressing issues.

   The article presents the findings of the study of the genre and rhetorical structure of corporate social responsibility (CSR) discourse, based on the Barclays Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility Report 2024. The research is conducted using a combination of move analysis method based on the Swales-Bhatia model and the Yu & Bondi typology with K. Hyland’s model of metadiscourse.

   The aim of the study is to identify the universal and culture-specific strategies employed by the corporation to legitimize its activities and construct its identity.

   As a result of the analysis, a typical rhetorical sequence of Barclays’ CSR discourse was reconstructed, including five key moves: presenting corporate identity and values, presenting achievements, appealing to international norms and standards, mentioning stakeholders and partnerships, and declaring future strategies and commitments. Quantitative analysis revealed the dominance of moves related to presenting results (30 %) and declaring future strategies (30 %). A comparison with the cross-cultural study by Yu I. Bondi revealed both common genre conventions (an emphasis on performance and standards) and the specificity of Barclays’ English-language discourse, characterized by a rationalized style, a focus on quantitative indicators, and a minimization of narrative and missionary strategies compared to Chinese and Italian traditions. Metadiscourse analysis confirmed that Barclays employs a complex of interactive (transitions, frame markers, evidentials) and interactional (hedges, boosters, attitude markers) resources to structure the text, express the author’s stance, and engage the reader. It is concluded that the CSR report serves a triple function: reporting, legitimation, and strategic representation, shaping the corporation’s image as a responsible participant in the global sustainable development agenda. This work contributes to the study of the generic functioning of CSR discourse and the corporate rhetoric of sustainable development. The obtained data allow the CSR report genre to be interpreted as a hybrid formation combining features of reporting and public rhetoric. The identified strategies can be used in practice for the critical analysis of corporate messages, for preparing more effective reports, and as a model for comparative studies aimed at identifying cultural and institutional variability in the global discourse of sustainable development.

   The purpose of the study is to explore the distinctiveness of the Spanish folk tradition and its role in shaping Spain’s national consciousness.

   Spanish folklore, as a result of the interaction of various ethnic groups, not only reflects Spain’s unique multicultural identity but also preserves its national unity. Despite the significant role Spanish folklore has played in the cultural unification of the country, interest in its folk heritage has been uneven and often aligned with the methodologies of other European
traditions rather than continuity within the national school. The study of Spanish folklore began in the Middle Ages, emphasizing both the originality of Iberian folk forms and their adherence to the broader Mediterranean mythological tradition. Renaissance proverb collections, the literary influence of the Golden Age, and 19^th-century essays mark the key stages in the development of Spanish folkloristics. In the 20^th century, the works of J. Caro Baroja and G. Díaz Plaja represent the pinnacle of a scholarly approach to studying Spain’s cultural-historical imagery. These works highlight the unique characteristics of Galicia, Andalusia, Castile, Asturias, and other regions, analyzing their mythological worldviews. Folklore texts and festive traditions reflect historical and socio-geographical factors that have shaped the popular worldview. Since the medieval chronicles the Spanish corpus of folklore narratives has developed as a resource reflecting national identity, unified by historical and cultural experience. Among the study’s findings is the conclusion that the Spanish language, in which folklore narratives from various Spanish regions have long been expressed, became a key factor in forming a unified Spanish folkloric worldview, also influencing Latin American traditions. Despite modern tendencies toward regionalism, folk creativity remains a unifying element of multicultural Spain. The study employs historical-cultural and comparative-anthropological approaches. Methods of historical structuralism and comparative mythology are used to identify the cultural dominants of Spain’s regions.

   The article creates a discursive portrait of the President of Argentina Javier Milei. The politician is distinguished by eccentric behavior, and his speeches are characterized by a high degree of emotionality. The article analyzes the texts of 86 speeches of J. Milei for the period from December 10, 2023 to December 10, 2024, that is, during the first year of his tenure as President of Argentina. A review of scientific publications dedicated to the discourse of J. Milei and his supporters is given. A number of lexical units used by J. Milei to create the image of an “enemy” and an “ally” are highlighted. The Argentine politician considers the Peronists and Socialists as his opponents, in relation to whom he uses such lexemes as “casta”, “siniestros”, “sátrapas”, etc. Politicians who are ideologically close to J. Milei are such personalities as the US President D. Trump and the leader of the Spanish party “Vox” S. Abascal. It is shown how J. Milei copies the discursive practices of these political figures. The use of historical precedents in the discourse of the President of Argentina is considered. The analyzed texts are dominated by references to the period of the late 19^th – early 20^th centuries. This era is perceived by the head of state as the “golden age” of Argentina. The article analyzes J. Milei’s use of colloquial vocabulary, including a number of lexical units characteristic of the colloquial-lowered register of Rioplatense Spanish (for example, “berretada”, “chanta”, “ñoqui”). The analysis is conducted of the politician’s use of the formula “¡Viva la libertad, carajo!” at the end of his speeches. Although this formula is often perceived in the media as the most striking feature of J. Milei’s discursive portrait, the study shows that it is recorded in only 55 of the 86 analyzed texts.

   The article focuses on the current problem of changes in the language norm in the Italian language caused by both objective trends in the unification of languages in the era of information globalization and the subjective features of its formation and development. Italian is a Florentine dialect of the 14^th century, “intertwined” in the works of the natives of Florence – Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio. But this language was a written language; it was spoken by an extremely narrow group of educated people (no more than 3 % of the population). Founded in the 16th century, the Kruska Academy pursued a deliberate policy of rejecting new vocabulary and grammatical phenomena in order to preserve the purity of the language. This language was not a native but a learned language, since even in Florence the dialect deviated from the samples of the 14th century. The situation began to change after the unification of Italy in 1861. The State adopted an Italian language education program. The following factors played an important role: the appearance of the radio and the media in Italian, the education of children in school, maintenance of documentation and administrative activities in the official language, mass resettlement of residents of southern Italy to the northern regions and, most importantly, the advent of television in the 60^s − 70^s of the 20^th century. Italian became an oral, native, spoken and popular language, and, accordingly, subjected to change. But grammars and textbooks designed to preserve the language norm are slow to respond to these changes. Students notice discrepancies in what they study as a linguistic norm, and what they hear and read in modern texts, which lead them to reasonable uncertainty and doubts. The collected corpus of materials contains examples of grammatical and lexical fluctuations. The changes in the language norm are analyzed and recommendations are given to students and teachers of the Italian language regarding these phenomena.

   This study explores the metaphor of the mechanism, focusing particularly on its subordinate sub-metaphor of the cog and examining how this image conceptualizes roles and functions within complex systems. While earlier research has primarily applied Conceptual Metaphor Theory, this paper introduces a combined approach that integrates Conceptual Metaphor Theory with Conceptual Integration Theory to reveal emergent meanings that cannot be explained by direct source–target mappings. This approach provides a more dynamic model of how mechanical and abstract input spaces interact to generate blended metaphorical structures. The empirical basis consists of corpus data drawn from the Corpus of Contemporary American English and the Russian National Corpus, including twenty representative examples from diverse discourses. The analysis shows that the superordinate metaphor “a system is a mechanism” is pervasive in both languages, while the subordinate metaphor “an individual is a cog” dominates across institutional, political, and cultural contexts. However, evaluation patterns diverge: English examples often frame cogs as cooperative or indispensable elements contributing to systemic efficiency, whereas Russian discourse frequently foregrounds depersonalization, ideological control, and functional replaceability. The findings demonstrate the adaptability of mechanistic metaphors and confirm the explanatory potential of Conceptual Integration Theory for identifying emergent meanings. These meanings − such as the loss of individuality, functional determinism, and even pride in indispensability could not be fully analyzed by simple domain mapping as proposed by Conceptual Metaphor theory alone. The results contribute to cognitive linguistics, metaphor theory, and discourse studies, offering insights into how mechanical imagery shapes conceptualizations of agency, hierarchy, and systemic order in abstract frameworks.

   This article is devoted to the possibilities of using video game localization in teaching translation activities in higher education. The relevance of the problem is due to the fact that currently video games are not only a way to spend leisure time, but also a kind of didactic material.

   The purpose of the work is to determine the requirements for the content of courses on video game localization and to propose strategies for teaching this type of activity when training translators in the higher education system.

   The article analyzes various scientific approaches to understanding the essence of video games, defines the differences between the terms “translation” and “localization” in the context of video games, and proposes its own definition of localization. The study also outlines the basics of teaching translation activities, the concept of translation competence and its role, which made it possible to develop the idea of the possibility of using video games in teaching translation. To assess the prospects for training a translator-localizer in higher education, the method of pedagogical analysis and the method of pedagogical modeling were used. The educational programs for teaching video game localization and their curricula based on Russian and foreign higher education institutions were used as research material. A total of 4 courses were analyzed (2 Russian, 1 Spanish and 1 Argentine). As a result of the study, the authors of the article identified the need to involve professional translators in localization work, the discrepancy between modern educational programs and the demand in the localization market, and also proposed strategic recommendations that can be used when creating courses on video game localization in the domestic higher education system. This work not only contributes to the study of video games as a linguistic phenomenon, but also represents a new look at the problem of teaching translation in higher education institutions to students of both the Linguistics and Translation Studies programs as part of their basic educational program.

   The research explores the features of simultaneous translation of lexical means of expression in modern socio-political discourse.

   The relevance of the paper stems from the widespread use of linguistic means of expression in the speeches of public leaders and politicians, which poses significant difficulties for a simultaneous interpreter and increases the risks of making mistakes in simultaneous translation.

   The aim of the study was to examine the lexical expressive means in modern social and political discourse and the features of their simultaneous translation from English into Russian.

   The paper analyses cases of the use of lexical expressive means in social and political discourse based on recent speeches by political and public leaders in Russia and some Western countries. In the first part of the research, the author analyses the texts of speeches by the heads of state, government and international organizations for 2024-2025, in which such lexical linguistic means as metaphor, hyperbole, litotes, oxymoron, metonymy, personification, epithet, allusion and comparison were found. In the second part of the study, the author uses materials from the speech of the British Prime Minister K. Starmer at the general debate of the 79^th session of the UN General Assembly on September 26, 2024 as secondary empirical data, and examines the lexical linguistic tools used by K. Starmer and the UN official simultaneous interpretation from English into Russian. For the analysis, the author has transcribed the audio recording with simultaneous interpretation of K. Starmer’s speech and compared the translation of the UN interpreters with the original text and video recording of the speech published on the UN General Assembly official website. In total, 11 epithets, 4 phraseological units and 1 idiom were found in the text of the speech. The results of the study identified the main difficulties and errors that can arise with simultaneous translation in social and political discourse. The author comes to the conclusion that the interpretation of lexical linguistic means of expression requires from a simultaneous interpreter not only certain skills and competencies, but also eloquence, erudition and intercultural awareness.

   The article considers the possibility of using the text material of Russian folk songs in teaching foreigners Russian as a foreign language.

   The study aims to describe the material of Russian folk songs as a potential educational text.

   The research material includes more than 100 songs, with a total volume of 10,475 words. Within the framework of the study, a linguistic corpus of Russian folk songs was created, where the complexity of song tests was determined according to such linguistic parameters as the lexical diversity index (TTR) and the Flesch-Kincaid readability index (FRGL), also, the language level of the song material was determined according to the state system of certification levels of general proficiency in Russian as a foreign language; the number of occurrences of cultural code units was identified. The educational potential of song texts was described and tasks exercises based on them are created. The text of this song material shows a low TTR (0.5) and a fairly low FRGL (3, 36). The language level of almost all folk songs corresponds to the level of A1; the average value of occurrences of units of the cultural code is 5.6. Descriptive parameters for assessing the complexity of the lyrics were calculated using the RuLingva automatic test profiler, created by a team of Russian scientists to automate routine arithmetic and research operations with the text in Russian. The conducted analysis of the texts of Russian folk songs showed that they can be used as a valid tool in Russian language lessons, especially at the initial stage of its study. Songs provide material for expanding the vocabulary of students and allow them to master certain grammatical constructions; and being an authentic text, they provide an opportunity to get acquainted with the facts and features of Russian reality, history and culture. The prospects of the work are seen in the creation of a teaching aid containing the theoretical foundations of the integration of pedagogical technologies into the educational process using song material.

   This paper addresses the notion of “national methodological school of foreign language instruction” as applied to the theory and practice of foreign language education within an individual country, as well as to the professional community employing specific approaches, methods, and techniques.

   Thus, the article aims to expand and refine the conceptual apparatus of foreign language teaching methodоlogy in the part of determining the specifics of the concept “national methodological school of foreign language instruction”, which constitutes the relevance of the conducted research in the context of globalization of education.

   The concept facilitates the conceptualization of teaching practices within distinct professional communities—an area that has been underexplored by researchers to date. The main method of research is the criterion analysis of methodological sources (textbooks, manuals, etc.). The study sets forth the basic criteria for analyzing a methodological school of foreign language instruction, including the aims and objectives of teaching, characteristics of instructional materials, the nature of teaching means, the pedagogical organization of proficiency development, the type of interaction between a teacher and a student, and other criteria for in-depth investigation. Using this framework, the paper explores national methodological schools for teaching the Japanese language in Russia, the United States, and Japan. These schools serve as ideal subjects due to the fundamental differences in the methodological principles underlying the Japanese language instruction in these countries. The empirical part of the study analyzes the most widely used course books and instructional-methodological packages employed in teaching Japanese as a foreign language in the specified countries. The paper presents key conclusions drawn from the description and analysis of the approaches and methods reflected in these teaching materials. In essence, the results of the study showed the reliability of the concept of “national methodological school of foreign language instruction” and the methods of its core characteristics research.

   The study reveals clear distinctions among the methodological schools of teaching Japanese in Russia, the United States, and Japan, particularly regarding their leading teaching methods.

   Notably, the Russian school employs the conscious-comparative method, while the traditional American school has predominantly relied on the audio-lingual method until recently. In contrast, the Japanese school adheres to the direct method, explicitly excluding translation as a teaching tool. Furthermore, the study highlights the interpenetration of methods and the influence of globalization on foreign language education, evidenced by the adoption of European assessment standards and competence level scales. The widespread adoption of the communicative approach is identified as a key manifestation of these globalizing trends.