The visual image-symbols as a means of development of “readiness to understand” in intercultural communication

The article deals with the development of one of the components of intercultural competence - the readiness to understand the Other. The author carries on traditions of the intercultural hermeneutics as applied to the learning of Russian as a foreign language, foreign languages, intercultural communication at the university. The visual images-symbols are considered as a tool to promote the understanding of the values and meanings of other cultures, personal experience of the Other. The author discusses the readiness of a teacher to appreciate the plurality of interpretations.