跨文化交际常见问题

跨文化交际常见问题
1. What are the reasons which might contribute to an increase of intercultural contacts in the world?
Nowadays, the increasing trend of intercultural contacts can be ascribed to four main factors: the advancement of technology, immigration, economic globalization and the emergence of multiculturalism.
A. With the development of technology, the transportation systems and communication systems have witnessed great advancement. Trips once taking days are now measured in hours, making it possible for people to go to anywhere of the world in one day, and thus speeding up intercultural contact. Moreover, the advanced communication technologies, such as Internet, mobile phones and cable TV transmission equipment, have give people access to sharing and exchanging information and ideas instantaneously.
B. Changes in population migration have also contributed to the development of increasing intercultural contact. Pursuing a better job or endeavoring for a better life, people from all over the world leave their country while bringing their own culture, habits, language and so on to the other.
C. Economic globalization is another factor for increasing intercultural contacts. With the accelerated trend of economic globalization, the world we lived in is more and more interdependent and interrelated. And each country’s economy is tied to the economy of other countries. Therefore, the intercultural contacts between regions, countries and continents are inevitably increased.
D. Multiculturalism is the view that the various cultures in a society merit equal respect and scholarly interest, describing the coexistence of many cultures in a
locality, without any one culture dominating the region. Therefore, with the increasing of the trends of multiculturalism, the communications between regions and cultures will inevitably strengthened and increased.
2. What are characteristic of communication and culture common to all human beings?
Although communications are different from one another in their forms and norms, all communication systems around the world share certain characteristics.
A. Indirect: one characteristic of communication is that people can only obtain messages from other’s words and behaviors instead of obtaining from the mind of others.
B. Interactive: Communication takes place between at least two individuals, and each one in a communication process will affect or be affected by the other’s words or behaviors, and as a consequence, he/she will immediately modify or alter his/her responses either in words, tones, gestures, and so on.
C. Dynamic: as all communication processes and their consequences are affected by the specific time, place, occasion and the number of people with their particular rules, values, customs, and so on, the communication can be perceived as an ongoing and ever-changing activity.
D. Self-reflective: as human beings have a unique ability to think about themselves, to watch how they define the world, and to reflect on their past, present, and future, all forms of communication will inevitably involve and
enhance this kind of activity, and thus endowed itself the self-reflective nature. Cultures, like communication, vary according to different history, geography, religion and world views, but they still share certain features.
A. Invisible: as we refer to a certain culture, we often mean the world views, perceptions, values, attitudes and preference beneath all the phenomena in that culture, which are all intangible object to human beings.
B. Learned: culture is not a procession that we inherited from out parents or forefathers, but is gradually acquired after birth by the influence of the traditional patterns and standards in the community we living.
C. Ethnocentric: Each culture has its religion, myth and legends which convince every generation that they are special, powerful and intelligent and are thus capable of great achievements. Such pride helps to bind people in a society together to strive for ever greater accomplishments.
D. Integrated: Culture is a complex and inclusive system in which all components, such as values, norms, perceptions and rules, are interrelated. And any change in one aspect of the culture will affect many other aspects.
3. How are culture and language related to each other?
A. Language is a guide to social reality. Language does not merely serve to allow us to describe what we see as reality, but language also shapes the way we see this reality.
B. Language can record culture
Language can record the development of a society. People can learn culture left
behind by their ancestors through language, and leave their culture to descendants through language. For example, if we want to know the Chinese culture 1000 years ago, we can research the records of that time. Therefore through language, civilization passes over from generation to generation. The society will then make progress step by step.
In fact, we can know other cultures by reading books. We don't need to go to go abroad to know about cultures of foreign countries. Language brings us convenience to learn different cultures.
C. Culture affects language
From the definition of culture, we know that culture includes geography, religion, tradition, custom, value and so on. In fact, culture often affects language through them.
Every nation lives and works in a certain natural environment, which is reflected by its language. People from different regions may have different languages. They use different words, metaphors to express their views towards their environment.
Nearly every nation has its religion. Religion is an important part in culture. Many daily used words are from religion. For instance: Adam's apple (喉结); my rib(我妻); Judas's kiss(背叛)。

Every culture has its specific features, which is reflected through language. Chinese people from some regions are accustomed to sleep on a 炕（a heatable bed）. They eat 冰糖葫芦（candied haws on a stick）. Whereas westerners go to motel eat hamburger.
People from different cultures have different values. Sometimes, the differences cause misunderstandings. People should pay attention to the different values of different cultures.
Culture background determines a man's native language. For example, if a Chinese infant is adopted by an American couple who live in American, he or she will grow up speaking perfect English.
4. How does the perception of communication due to cultural differences affect intercultural communication?
Culture strongly influences our subjective reality and there are direct links among culture, perception, and behavior. There are some factors in cultural belief, value, and patterns that might influence both perception and communication.
Firstly, belief systems are significant to the study of intercultural communication, because they are at the core of our thoughts and actions. They are our conviction in the truth of something. They tell us how the world operates. Belief systems are important because they are learned and hence subject to cultural interpretation and cultural diversity. We must be able to recognize the fact that cultures have different realities and belief systems. Beliefs are such an influential factor in intercultural communication because they affect our conscious and unconscious minds, as well as the manner in which we communicate.
Secondly, one of the most important functions of belief system is that they
are the basis of our value. Formally, a value may be defined as an enduring belief that a specific mode of conduct of end-state of existence is personally of socially preferable to another. An awareness of cultural value also helps us understand our own behavior. Thus, value is another very important factor to affect intercultural communication.
Thirdly, cultural patterns can affect intercultural communication; culture is extremely complex and consists of numerous interrelated cultural orientations besides beliefs and value. Cultural patterns refer to both the conditions that contribute to the way in which a person perceives and thinks about the world, and the manner in which they live in that world.
These three factors make people have different culture, and also affect both the perception and communication.
5. How do you understand about globalization? What factors may lead to the growth of globalization?
Globalization: An overview
Now people from all over the world are more connected to each other than ever before. Information and money flow more quickly than ever. Goods and services produced in one part of the world are increasingly available in all parts of the world. International travel is more frequent. International communication is commonplace. This phenomenon is called “globalization”.
Globalization describes the political, economic, and cultural atmosphere of today.
While some people think of globalization as primarily a synonym for global business, it is much more than that. The same forces that allow businesses to operate as if national borders did not exist also allow social activists, labor organizers, journalists, academics, and many others to work on a global stage.
While coming up with a definition is difficult, an even greater challenge is deciding whether globalization is a good thing or a bad thing. Globalization is much like fire. Fire itself is neither good nor bad. Globalization can be incredibly empowering and incredibly coercive. It can democratize opportunity and democratize panic. It makes the whales bigger and the minnows stronger. It leaves you behind faster and faster, and it catches up to you faster and faster. While it is homogenizing cultures, it is also enabling people to share their unique individuality farther and wider.
Globalization will always have cheerleaders who are blind to the destruction globalization can cause. And it will always have strident opponents blind to the way globalization gives some people their first opportunity to fulfill basic aspirations.
Some factors contributing to globalization
The current era of globalization began shortly after the end of World War II with the victorious western powers supporting a worldwide “open”trade and investment policy (Y an Ming, 2006).
1. New technology
Technology is one reason for the globalization phenomenon. Computers, which have eased telecommunication burdens, are cheaper now than they have
ever been — and more powerful, too. New technology will lead to even further global business integration, as the internet becomes more accepted as a business medium worldwide.
2. Open market
Those who argue that globalization is a good thing say companies dealing on the world stage will eventually become much more efficient as they benefit from large economies of scale. Productivity will be boosted and living standards everywhere have the potential to rise as the world becomes richer and more prosperous because of globalization.
3. Overseas job opportunities
Globalization creates more jobs than it actually destroys, but they are in different sectors and in different geographic regions. It takes more skill, education and mobility to be employable. The jobs lost in Europe and North America over the decades have generally been those requiring relatively uneducated workers. Indeed, wage differences between the skilled and unskilled will likely increase. Both sides can point to ample examples to support their cases. What is irrefutable is that the world economic pie is indeed bigger — and it is being sliced differently than before.
Part II Discussion
1. Explain this statement and give examples of it “People are alike, and people are different”
The similarities of humans: All humans around the world are like every other human being. Our commonalities as a species go far beyond the ways in
which we share ideas and information. We are identical in numerous physiological and chemical ways. We all have a heart, lungs, brain, and the like. We are also literally made of the same components: water, salt, blood and so on. Moreover, emotions like self-respect, admiration, vanity, and so on are common to all cultures. Take the concept of self-respect for example. In Western culture, we may say ego; and in China, we may say face-saving, macho in Mexico, and pride in Japan. The point is, such feelings evoked very much the same.
Differences of human beings: since the creation of the world there never were two cases exactly parallel and even the people. Our experience of the world is both internal and unique, therefore we each response to the world differently. Culture, as well as individual, differences keep us apart. Although the philosophical issues of death, isolation, free choice, and meaning confront everyone, our resolutions for each issue have their roots deep in culture. For example, Hinduism tells its members that they will be reincarnated when they die. In Islam, death moves people into heaven or hell, depending on how they lived.
(In a word, it is inappropriate to say that we are more alike or we are more different, because people are more alike than they are different. Our society is dynamic, we want to live and have to adapt to our dynamic society. The economic development level, political system and educational ideals are different in different periods so that we have common ideas and concepts in sometime but in other times may not. All of these will have influence on our values, thought, and communication. Therefore, it is always the theme that a successful
intercultural communicator appreciates similarities and accepts differences.)
2. Do you always agree with people that knowing about the correct choice of grammar and vocabulary of a language can ensure a successful communication between a native and non-native speaker of that language?
We live in an increasingly complex world. One element of this complexity is the mixing of different cultures, languages and faiths. Knowing the grammar and vocabulary of a language is of course not enough to communicate successfully because different cultures have different communication styles.
Take China and America as an example. Because of the collectivistic culture of China, the Chinese people are more at ease when speaking as members of group than as individuals. They often offer personal opinions by using “we” instead of “I”. T his can create great difficulty for Americans in differentiating personal views from collective ones. And they will tend to consider such statement as lack of personal opinion and self-confidence.
3. What is your motivation for studying intercultural communication?
It is important to study intercultural communication.
With the increasing trends of communication between regions, nations and cultures, intercultural communication has become more and more important in our daily life. Therefore, the importance of studying intercultural communication cannot be overstated.
1)Studying intercultural communication can increase cultural awareness.
Cultural awareness is the first step toward intercultural communication competence. And it is only such awareness that can enable us to acknowledge, respect, tolerate and integrate cultural differences.
2)Studying intercultural communication can reduce communicative barriers.
As we know, the world we live in a complex one where different cultures, languages and faiths mixed. Knowing the grammar and vocabulary of a language is not enough to communicate successfully as different cultures have different communication styles. Therefore, by studying intercultural communication, we can get a better understanding of the cultural backgrounds, and thus reducing communicative barriers.
3)Studying intercultural communication can reduce communicative conflicts. Conflict is inevitable in all social and personal relationships. And in the context of intercultural communication, miscommunication because of cultural differences may result in the communicative conflicts. Therefore, by studying intercultural communication we can get a better understanding of other cultures, which will inevitably reduce communicative conflicts.
4)Studying intercultur al communication can widen people’s vision and
improve intercultural competence.
Our brain is open and as long as we acquire more and more intercommunicative knowledge our vision can be enlarged and intercultural competence can be improved.
4. How can intercultural dialogue be used as a tool to maintain cultural
diversity?
Intercultural dialogue is a process that comprises an open and respectful exchange between individuals, groups and organizations with different cultural backgrounds or world views. Among its aims are: to develop a deeper understanding of different perspectives and practices; to increase participation or the freedom to make choices; to ensure equality; to enhance creative process.
Cultural diversity involves the cultural differences that exist between people, such as language, dress and traditions. It also includes the way societies organize themselves, their conception of morality and religion, and the way they interact with the environment.
In this globalized independent world, cultural differences can hardly be avoided. Thus the ability to enter into a tolerant and respectful dialogue is a vital skill for nations, communities and individuals. From the intercultural perspective, intercultural dialogue should be used to enrich the mutual knowledge of different cultures. Intercultural dialogue is one of the best ways of maintaining cultural vitality; sustaining social cohesion, sustainable development and peace building.。