跨文化交际--理论与实践Unit 4

Case Study 1
A British tourist is visiting a Chinese family. The Chinese hostess introduces herself and her husband to guest… Chinese hostess: Welcome to my home. My name is Cai Hong, and this is my husband. British tourist: Thank you, Mrs. Cai. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Cai. I’m Lucy Taylor. Chinese hostess: Have a seat, Madam Lucy.
Analysis: The British tourist thinks that Cai Hong‟s surname is her husband‟s surname, since she is unaware of the fact that in China women still use their own surname after marriage. Cai Hong thinks that „madam‟ is a respectful term of address for any female English-speaker, unaware of the fact that in Britain it is usually used by someone who is providing a service such as a shop assistant to a customer or a policeman to a member of the public as in „Can I help you, madam?‟ It is never used as a title before someone‟s name. She also mistakes the given name for the surname.
Case Study 2
Professor Liang has written a book on Chinese culture in Chinese. His book is put on display in Beijing International Book Fair’ 96. Professor Liang would like to have his book translated into English and submitted to Thompson Publishers. Professor Liang has asked Li Yan, whom he meets regularly in the English Corner, to help him to talk to Peter Allright, a Thompson representative. Liang: 奥莱特先生，这是鄙人的拙作。 Li : Mr. Allright, this a clumsy book written by your humble servant. Allright: No, no, no, you're not my humble servant. We do not publish books in Chinese. Li: 不，不，不，你不是我的仆人，我们不出中文书。 Liang: 我要请李艳翻译成英文。 Li: Professor Liang will ask me to translate it into English. Allright: Mm that’s interesting.
4.4 American Male-Female Differences in Directness
Gender differences in communication styles:
Less direct (more polite, soft ) More direct
百度文库
• making requests • expressing criticism • offering opinions
Cultures influence communication styles.
4.1 Conversational Involvement
“high involvement” conversational styles
♣ talk more ♣ interrupt more ♣ expect to be interrupted ♣ talk more loudly at times ♣ talk more quickly
• talking about emotional issues and feelings • making suggestions, giving criticism, expressing ideas in workplace
4.5 Cross-Cultural Implications
• Many American in the business world do not realize that a large percentage of the world’s cultures value indirectness (e.g. Latin American / Asia…).
• One way to determine whether a culture favors a direct or indirect style in communication is to find out how the people in that culture express disagreement or how they say, “No”.
Deborah Tannen
EX: Russian, Italian, Greek, Spanish, South American, Arab, African
“high considerateness” conversation styles
♣ speak one at a time ♣ use polite listening sounds ♣ refrain from interruption ♣ give positive and respectful responses
• not angering, embarrassing, or shaming another person. • saving face • maintaining harmony
Note: Although Latin American conversation styles is considered “high involvement”, and many Asian styles are considered “high considerateness”, they both tend to value indirectness.
EX: Asian cultures, Mainstream American conversation
4.2 Incorrect Judgments of Character
• Judgments that people make about regional differences within a country are similar to those they make about people from another culture.
Case Study 3
One cold winter day in a Chinese city, Wang Lin on his way to the library met an American professor who knew very little about China. After greeting him, Wang said: “It’s rather cold. You’d better put on more clothes.” But the professor didn’t appear happy on hearing this. Analysis:美国人以及大部分西方国家的人们不喜欢被告知要 怎么做怎么做，他们比较喜欢独立，然而中国人则习惯关心别 人，这个案例中王林的建议表达的就是一种对他人的关心，可 是美国教授却不习惯这样的表达。
4.6 Ethnocentric Judgments
• The judgments that people make about each other are often ethnocentric. • “Normal” and “correct” often mean what is “normal” and “correct” in one’s own culture.
Case Study
Analysis: Chinese authors almost always belittle their works by describing them as clumsy writings, and they use the same description when they present them to Chinese publishers. But this will be counterproductive in English. Instead, authors should point out the merits of their works rather than “clumsiness”.
4.2 Incorrect Judgments of Character
• The important differences in communication create problems of stereotyping and incorrect judgments among members of diverse groups.
4.3 Directness and Indirectness
directness indirectness
(U.S culture)
Ex: “Get to the point!” “Don‟t beat around the bush” “Let‟s get down to business” “Honesty is the best policy”