This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 Unported License, permitting all non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

This article studies the problem of distance teaching in the pandemic of spring and autumn 2020. The topic of the necessary transition to the computer-mediated interrelation between university teachers and students gains important nowadays, as the worldwide events lead to an inevitable transformation of the educational structure. The changes in the higher educational institutions make students and teaсhers review their attitude to the system and methods of education. We can find the analysis of distance learning in many sources, but the remote learning in state of emergency has not been fully examined. The purpose of this article is to analyze the situation, connected with the distance learning in higher educational institutions, its impact on the level of students’ knowledge and skills. This article gives the perspectives of education taking into consideration information and communication technologies. The authors have conducted the theoretical and comparative analysis of literature, observed the learning process at university, and offered a questionnaire to university teachers and students. The researchers have revealed that, in spite of the technologies being a part of our lives, the quality of education depends on teachers who can use these technologies to their best. A technology without a person does not work. According to the majority of the respondents, the principles of teaching dominate over technologies. However, some elements of teaching should be definitely automated. The pandemic revealed the specific mistakes and weaknesses of high education in Russia, and the authors suggest some ways for its improvement in the period of sanitary and epidemiological restrictions.

The article defines "enculturation" as the process of learning the norms of social life and culture by an individual. General meaning of the term that implies a dialogue of different cultures, i.e. intercultural communication, is used. The authors consider intercultural communication in the form of various relations and connections between individuals and groups belonging to different cultures. In the present research, structuralsemiotic and axiological approaches were used to study the problem of enculturation, since values are determinant in the process of intercultural communication, which is determined by the sign system. The authors emphasize the mutual influence of the communicants on each other in the process of communication and the need of feedback. They analyze various types of communication and give an example of Russian -British intercommunication pointing out the significance of the two countries masterpieces of fine arts for the dialogue between the cultures. Intercultural communication is important for the study of the modern society as it is necessary to differentiate the limits of globalization and to save pluralism and tolerance. Socialization and enculturation created in the process of intercultural communication lead to the appearance of a multicultural personality.

Reality quests are becoming very popular in different studies conducted by researchers and practitioners as they see how many people are interested in this kind of games, especially those, who want to get freedom, leadership and independence. That's why this phenomenon should be studied from sociological and psychological point of view. Under constant stress it is necessary to examine the ability to transform it into constructive, socially approved channels. Quests can help people realize their desire to be free and independent. When people participate in such social practices, they socialize and become more stable in the face of stress. In the paper the authors tried to prove the positive impact of quests on people, i.e. adaptation to the modern way of life, a sort of training to get ready for stressful situations. We consider the quests, taking into account their importance in everyday life, influence on the processes of socialization and adaptation at different levels: individual, group, and society.

The paper deals with the problem of linguistic interference in the field of translation from one language to another. It is generally accepted that, when contacting, two languages affect the norms and standards of each other. People participating in cross-cultural communication, especially those who are to transfer information, both orally and in written form, should keep in mind that such difficulties can inevitably occur. The phenomenon of interference is believed to be especially important in the context of teaching future translators. The study of negative consequences of interference contributes to methodological recommendations for overcoming or avoiding interference in order to develop translation skills and competences. On the basis of the data, the authors generalize some ways of dealing with linguistic interference in the process of teaching future translators at university.