实例3：时空文化差异与跨文化交际

XXX：认真看过你的文章，觉得问题不少。

总的来看，整篇文章的论证过程较为混乱，不少观点尚值商榷（其中较为严重之处详见文中黄色字批语）；其次，整篇文章似乎是在简单罗列别人的观点，重点不够突出，结构更像是教科书而不大像一篇学术论文，除了结论部分，似乎很少有属于自己论述的东西（我指的是内容而不是语言问题）。

也正因如此，结论显得较为突然但又苍白无力。

语言表达问题相当严重。

主要体现在总体表达不够流畅，翻译腔太浓；词语搭配过于随意；词性不分。

建议你请个写作语言功底较好的同学帮你重新修改、润色，切切！注：文中紫色字是我已为你改好的部分，可不必再改，但也要认真看一看，对于你自己写作的提高应该是有帮助的。

红色字部分是有较严重错误的或是我不明就理的地方，望你认真修改。

绿色字部分内容涉及到文章中的格式问题，不符合学术论文的写作规范，也望修改为盼。

顺祝假日快乐！黄清贵Time and Space Cultural Differencesand Inter-Cultural Communication Abstract:Time and space behaviors make greatest difference and sensitivity in the intercultural communication. Due to the differences of ways of thinking, people of different cultures have different attitudes to time and space when they communicate with each other. Thus, the paper studies not only Chinese ethical attitude to time andspace and the attitude to time and space in other cultural background, but also the similarities and differences between them. It well reacts on both promoting the intercourse between Chinese and western countries and reducing the number of lapsus in the intercultural communication. The paper leads us to comprehend more correctly and deeply and to master comparatively correct and moderate time and space behaviors in the intercultural communication.Key words: Intercultural communication; attitude to time; attitude to space; cultural differences1.IntroductionAs we all know, different countries have different cultures. 'Culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one category of people from one another.' (Hofstede, 1991) The world today is characterized by an ever growing number of contacts resulting in communication between people with different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. This communication takes place because of contacts within the areas of business, military cooperation, science, education, mass media, entertainment, tourism but also because of immigration brought about by labor shortage or political conflicts.In all these contacts, there is communication which needs to be as constructive as possible, without misunderstandings and breakdowns. It is our belief that research on the nature of linguistic and cultural similarities and differences here can play a positive and constructive role.(Prof. Jens Allwood , Journal of Intercultural Communication)Time and space differences in the non-verbal communication play an important role in the inter-cultural communication. Different concepts of both time and space among different cultures definitely influence the communication on business, technology, and even life.To improve intercourses between Chinese and foreigners, the paper studies the characteristics of time and space concepts in both China and foreign nations, and leads us to comprehend more correctly and deeply and to master comparatively correct and moderate time and space behaviors in the intercultural communication.2.The actuality on research of the thesis2.1 Characteristics and cultural differences of attitudes to time in both China and western countries2.1.1 The difference of time seriationWhile learning foreign languages, we find that there is a great difference between people from western countries and Chinese people on the case of time seriation. InChina, we arrange the date as the order of Year, Month, Day, while they arrange the date as the order of Day, Month, Year or Month, Day, Year.2.1.2 The difference of time tropismChina is a society, which is directed by traditions. The traditional ideologies and thought ways is still used nowadays, and they are widely identified as well as they are criterions of people’s behaviors. As a result, whatever we do, we would rather consider that whether we did do it ever before, what did we learn from it (the successful experiences or the lectures); we usually evaluate what we do nowadays on the basis of the foretime experience. So absolutely obeying the rules becomes Chinese social criterion(norms?). As for people from western countries, regression has no outlet, there is a hope only if they forthcome. As a result, the people from western countries hold the future time tropism. They believe that the life will be better in the future. People from western countries don’t respect teachers and the seniors as much as Chinese people do, because they think that the age and experience count for nothing and are not worthwhile. They seldom obey the rules or adore their ancestors absolutely, and they don’t even believe in the fate, however, they would rather concentrate on finishing what they have planed in the near future. This is the reason why people from western countries prefer diversification andinnovation.(Zheng Hua, Mar, 2003)2.1.3 The differences of attitudes to punctualityThere are big differences of attitudes to punctuality in different culturesAmerican Anthropologist Hall developed the classification of time as a form of communication. Hall proposed that cultures organize time in one of two ways: either monochronic (M-time) of polychronic (P-time) (Adapted from Larry A. Samovar, Richard E. Porter and Lisa . A. Stefani Communication Between Cultures[M], 170). M-time is characteristic of people from Germany, Australia, Switzerland, and America. As the word monochronic implies, this approach sees time as lineal, segmented, and manageable. Time is something we must not waste; we must be doing something or we feel guilty. We behave as if time were tangible: we talk of “saving time,” “losing time,”or “killing time.”The time clock records the hours we must work, the school bell moves us from class to class, and the calendar marks important days and events in our lives. Appointments and schedules are very important to members of monochronic cultures.( Larry A.Samovar,Richard E.Porter and Lisa A.Stefani Communication Between Cultures[M], 170)People from cultures on P-time live their live their lives quite differently. P-time cultures, for example, deal with time holistically. They can interact with more than one person or do more than one thing at a time. They also take great stock in the activity that is occurring at the moment and emphasize people more than schedules. They do not perceive appointments as iron-clad commitments and therefore often break them. For P-time cultures, time is less tangible; hence, feelings of wasted time are not as prevalent as in M-time cultures. This leads, of course, to a lifestyle that is more spontaneous and unstructured—characteristics that often confuse and frustrate Americans and other Westerners. ( Larry A.Samovar,Richard E.Porter and Lisa A.Stefani Communication Between Cultures[M], 170)In the daily life, Chinese make use of blur attitude to time on many occasions and appointing dates, but people from western countries even limit the appointing times to some minutes.(Wang Zhiqiang, 2007)2.2 Characteristics and cultural differences of attitudes to space in both China and western countries2.2.1Due to different cultures, people’s requirements of space and the communicating rules relating to space are different--the differences of the body’s distanceChinese limit their own bounds to their bodies just like what people from south Europe, Arabian and Japanese do. Chinese are used to congested condition, and they won’t feel impinged even if they are butted by others. People from English speaking countries enlarge their own bounds to the exterior of bodies, and consider the action that others enter this bound as being impinged. (Zhou Xiaodong/Fang fang, 2006) 2.2.2Due to different cultures, people’s associations and feelings towards the bound of space are different—different attitudes to personal demesneChinese are affected by other tropism and colony tropism, so Chinese are used to think for others. In contrary, American are affected by individualism tropism, so they are lack of patience and acceptance that Chinese people have.(Zhou Xiaodong/Fang Fang, 2006)2.2.3 There are many cultural differences of space angle and space order in the communications. For example, while going downstairs, most Englishmen go in the front in order to protect ladies and children; but there is no such rules in China. Chinese people are used to let it slide.(Lin Dajin, Oct, 1996)3. The research purport of the cultural differences of both attitudes to time and space & successful strategies of intercultural communication.3.1 The research purport of the cultural differences of both attitudes to time and spaceTime and space differences in the non-verbal communication play an important role in the inter-cultural communication. Different concepts of both time and space among different cultures definitely influence the communication on business, technology, and even life. In our real life, due to the lapsus of cognition of attitudes to time and space , the communication failures often take place, and as a result, it’s a pity that some business negotiation between Chinese and foreigners break down. In order to improve the intercourses between Chinese and western people and in order to study the attitudes to time and space, it’s extremely urgent that we should look after moderate communicating methods.3.2 Successful strategies of intercultural communication3.2.1 The time and space factors in the intercultural communication3.2.1.1 The time factors in the intercultural communicationTime is part of the fundamental structure of the universe，and time itself is something that can be measured. Time has objectivity and perceptibility. Human beings’ attitudes to time are cognitions and reflections on objective time.In the long-term practices, human beings form three cognitions of time—biological attitude, psychological attitude and cultural attitude.(Since not relating to intercultural communication, this paper doesn’t talk about biological attitude to time.)3.2.1.1 Psychological attitude to timeThere are concepts of the foretime, now and the future in most of cultures all over the world. Since there are differences of the choice on the three concepts, people form four different time tropisms psychologically:Zero time tropismIn some cultures, people don’t have any attitude to time at all, so they don’t care about the past, present or future.Past time tropismPeople who hold such kind of time tropism either remember the foretime and treat something happened long ago as what has just happened, or attach importance to old life styles and repeat things in the past. As a result, whatever we do, we would rather consider that whether we did do it ever before, what did we learn from it (the successful experiences or the lectures); we usually evaluate, according to the foretime, what we do nowadays.(Yang Xiaohong, July, 2001)Present time tropismIn some cultures, people think the present time is the most important.Future time tropismWestern people, especially Americans, keep future in mind, and future tropism is their significant attitude to value. The theory of original sin impacts western deeply. As to them, there is no outlet if they turn back, and there is the hope only if they do their best to go forward and exceed themselves. Americans believe firmly that they will change the actualities if they work hard. As to those who have wills of iron and attic faith, nothing is impossible. In the contrary, failure indicates he/she doesn’t do his/her best and the incompetent behave. The future tropism toward time brings Americans achievements , development and higher living conditions.3.2.1.2 Cultural attitude to timeCultural attitude to time, mainly refers to the way that 1)how people in different cultures regard time and 2)how people in a certain culture use the time. There are three cultural time systems in the world: technological time, formal time and informal time.Technological timeIt’s the time span measured by scientific methods, such as hour, minute, second and so on.Formal timeIt refers to that how do people in some certain cultures regard time. For example, the traditional Chinese calendar divides oneyear to “twenty-four fortnightly periods”, however, western people are used to regard ten years as a unit. The compound mode of formal time means to combine the time units in some certain cultures and make the mode valuable. We can define it through two factors: firstly, the time needs to be arranged. What time…, how long…, time order, etc need to be scheduled and arranged; secondly, it is intended to regard time as the link that make things relative with one another. Things happening one after another, people usually look for the causal relationship through the time-lag between two things, and if the time-lag is comparatively long, people will not consider that they have some certain relationships.(Yang Xiaohong, July, 2001)Informal timeSimply speaking, it is the time which people generally mention. The western culture (America, Germany, Switzerland, Britain, etc) regard time as the objective time, while others(China, Japan, Arabian nations, Africa, etc)consider the time as the subjective time.(Li Junwen, July, 2003)3.2.1.2The space factors in the intercultural communicationWe can use distance and space to transfer informations in the non-verbal behaviors, including the distance among speakers, and the use of space in the public, the office and at homeA s soon as the space and distance perform functions in the non-verbal communication, they will involve the concept of private space. It can be narrowly comprehended as the bound around our bodies, which are like intangible space. When the space is impinged and we feel uncomfortable, we normally will move up a little or change our seats or even make some radical actions.(Xu Xiaoqiu, Sep, 2001) For example, when I am on the train, one man is continuously coughing, I cant’t help to keep some certain distance away from him to avoid the pollution from his spitting.The comprehension differences of The bound of home space among different cultures may easily bring misunderstanding. Asian people usually think that their own house is crowded and small, and may make American customers feel uncomfortable, so Asian hosts put them up in the restaurant, however, American customer will thinkthat the hosts are keeping the communicating distances. B ecause in their opinion, it is the best way to show their friendship that they hold the dinner at home for the friends. English people regard their houses as their castles and quite private places. Normally English people live in independent houses with a garden at the back yard instead of living in flats, and they would rather not share with others. So it is difficult for them to understand American living habits.( Xu Xiaoqiu, Sep, 2001)3.2.1The time and space attitudes’ influence on the intercultural communicationThe differences between eastern and western cultures bring people the differences of time using.(Feng Caiyan, 2006)The attitude to time of western people is tied in the attitude to money. “Time is money” runs deep in western people’s mind(Xu Xiaoqiu, Sep, 2001), so they form a good habit that they are always punctual for appointments. In western countries, one should tell the people whom he/she will visit beforehand or make an appointment in advance, and explain the purpose, fix the time and negotiate with each other over what place to meet. Chinese people use the polychronic time system. Unlike western people, some Chinese use the time quite casually. Hence, western people are usually unaccommodated to it, and, as a result, cultural conflicts may occur.British and American people have strong sense of time. Teachers ask the students to hand in the homework on Monday without delaying, and it is the so-called dead line.(Kong Yuhua, May, 2005)People who come from different culture backgrounds have different attitudes to space, which lead to different talking distances. American culture emphasizes individualism, whereas, Chinese culture emphasizes collectivism. Each nation has its own communicating distance. It indicates that the private territory is impinged if the habitual distance is break down. Many scholars refer to contact culture and noncontact culture when they are studying the so-called space language. The former means that people are used to contact with others on the process of interpersonal interactions; the latter means that people are not used to contact with others on the process of interpersonal interactions. So if we don’t know the difference, we probably will make inter-cultural communication mistakes.3.2.1Proper ways to avoid the intercultural communication lapsus due to the cultural differences3.2.1.1Cultivate the non-verbal communicating ability.Nowadays, non-verbal communications show up in many occasions, especially communications about time and space. So, to improve one’s non-verbal communicating ability, promotes he or she to contact with foreign cultures more accurately and effectively.3.2.1.2More intercultural communication text books are required to be published.As we know, in China, the test-oriented education is widely spread all over the country, hence, text books guide students to learn what knowledge they need to gain from class. In order to memorize the intercultural communication knowledge, they have to be given the exams and be tested the contents of the text books. And then step by step, they will receive some certain tests of practical abilities about intercultural communication.3.2.1.3English corners provide us large platforms to learn from foreigners.Foreigners would rather enter for the activities of English corners, and they are eager to learn Chinese and Chinese culture from Chinese people, and therefore, in the process of communicating, we may exchange ideas with foreigners, take cognizance of foreign cultures, and even get some variational informations from foreign friends about their traditions and customs.4. ConclusionAlong with the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games drawing near, Chinese people are endeavoring to learn Foreign languages. At the same time, the function of studying intercultural-communication is continuously deepen. To accurately grasp and to make use of the attitudes to both time and space become important subject of intercultural- communication, and meanwhile, it well reacts on improving the intercourses between Chinese and western countries and reducing the amount of communicating lapsus, and it also provide China with strong guarantees in order that China catch up with the world footsteps.reference documentation1. Larry A.Samovar,Richard E.Porter and Lisa A.StefaniCommunication Between Cultures[M] 外语教学与研究出版社2000-8：164-1702. 王志强从跨文化角度理解中西文化行为的差异 InterculturalPerspectives on Chinese Communication[M]上海:上海外语教育出版社2007:193-2003. 李君文非言语交际跨文化差异——时间行为之文化对比[A]湘潭:湘潭大学社会科学学报 Jul. 2003 （Unpublished）4. 林大津跨文化交际研究[M] 福建：福建人民出版社Oct.1996:230-2425. 孔玉华跨文化交际中的非言语交际[A] 河南:河南商业高等专科学校学报 May 2005（Unpublished）6. 杨小红跨文化交际中的时间观念[A] 深圳:深圳大学学报 Jul.2001（Unpublished）7. 郑华跨文化交际中的时空观念差异[J] 河南:河南社会科学Mar. 20038. 周晓东/方芳跨文化交际中的中美空间观差异[A] 内蒙古:内蒙古农业大学学报 2006 （Unpublished）9. 徐筱秋时间和空间在非言语行为中的体现[A] 南昌:南昌航空工业学院学报 Sept. 2001（Unpublished）10. 冯彩燕浅析跨文化交际中的时间使用方式差异[A]江苏:江苏农林职业技术学院学报 2006（Unpublished）。