跨文化交际 情景case study

Case 1 (Page 23) This case took place in 3 cultures. There seemed to be problems in communicating with people of different cultures in spite of the efforts to achieve understnading.
1) In Egypt as in many cultures, the human relationship is valued so highly that it is not expressed in an objective and impersonal way. While Americans certainly value human relationships, they are more likely to speak of them in less personal, more objective terms. In this case, Richard’s mistake might be that he choseto praise the food itself rather than the total evening, for which the food was simply the setting or excuse. For his host or hostess it was as if he had attended an art exhibit and complimented the artist by saying, “What beautiful frames your pictures are in!”
2) In Japan the situation may be more complicated. Japanese people value order and harmony among a group, and that the group is valued more than any particular member. In contrast, Americans stress individuality and are apt to assert individual differences when they seem justifiably to be in conflict with the goals or values of the group. In this case, Richard’s mistake was making great efforts to defend himself even if the error is notintentiona. A simple apology and acceptance of the blame would have been appropriate 3)When it comes to England, w expect fewer problems between Americans and Englishmen than between Americans and almost any other group. In this case we might look beyond the gesture of taking sugar or cream to the valuess expressed in thi s gesture: for Americans, “Help yourself”; for the English counterpart, “Be my guest.”American and English people equally enjoy entertaining and being entertained, but they differ in the value of the distinction. Typically, the ideal guest at an American party is obe who “makeshimself at home”. For the English host, such guest behavior is presumptuous or rude.
Case4 (Page 25)
It might be simply a question of different rhythms. Americans have one rhythm in their personal and family relations, in their friendliness and their charities. People from other cultures have different rhythms. The American rhythm is fast. It is characterized by a rapid acceptance of others. However, it is seldom that Americans engage themselves entirely in a friendship. Their friendship are warm, but casual and specialized. For example, you have a neighbor who drops by in the morning for coffee. Y ou see her frequently, but you never invite her for dinner------not because you don’t think she could handle a fork and a knife, but becau se you have seen her that morning.
Therefore, you reserve your more formal invitation to dinner for someone who lives in a more distant part of the city and whom you would not see unless you extended an invitation for a special occasion. Now, if the first friend moves away and the second one moves nearby, you are likely to reserve this------see the second friend in the mornings for informal coffee meetings, and invite the first one more formally to dinner.
Americans are, in other words, guided very often by their own convenience. They tend to make friends rapidly, and they don’t feel like it necessary to go to a great amount of trouble to see friends often when it becomes inconvenient to do so, and usually no one is hurt. But in similar circumstances, people from many other cultures would be hurt very deeply.
Unit 2 Case 5 (Page 60)
Analysis: The Chinese guide should refuse the first offer because he is obeying the Chinese rules for communication. We Chinese are modest, polite and well-behaved. Maybe the guide is waiting for a second or third offer of beer, but he doesn’t know the reasons behind the rule in American culture that you do not push alcoholic beverages on anyone. A person may not drink for religious reasons, he may be a reformed alcoholic, or he may be allergic. Whatever the reason, you do not insist on offering alcohol. So they politely never made a second offer of beer to the guide.
Case 8 (Page 62)
When the Chinese girl Amy fell in love with an American boy at that time, it seems that she preferred to celebrate Chritmas in the American way, for she wanted very much to appear the same as other American girls. She did not like to see her boyfriend disappointed at the “shabby”Chinese Christmas. That’s why she cried when she found out her pare nts had invited the minister’s family over for the Christmas Eve dinner.
She thought the menu for the Chritmas meal created by her mother a strange one because there were no roast turkey and sweet potatoes but only Chinese food. How could she notice then the food chosen by her mother were all her favorites?
From this case, we can find a lot of differences between the Chinese and Western cultures in what is appropriate food for a banquet, what are good table manners, and how one should behave to be hospitable. However, one should never feel shame just because one ’ s culture is different from others ’ . As Amy’ s mother told her, you must be proud to be different, and your only shame is to have shame.
Unit 3
她们的小孩子在公园一起玩Judy and Carmen are not real friends. They don’ t want to get together, really. They once met each other a month ago. Americans sometimes make general invitation like “ Let ’ s get together sometimes.” Often this is just a way to be friendly. It is not always a real invitation. If they ’ d l ike to set a specific (exact) time, that means a real offer.
Case 9 (Page 96)
Traditional Japanese respect their elders and feel a deep sense of duty toward them. The elders in traditional Japanese families are typically overpowered. So the grandfather seemed to be an absolute authority for the young chairman. In Japanese culture challenging or disagreeing with elder’ s opinions would be deemed as being disrespectful. That is why the young chairman said nothing but just nodded and agreed with his grandfather. And it results in the Japanese company’s withdrawal from the negotiations concerning a relationship with Phil’ s company a week later.
Case 10 (Page 97)
In Japan, a company is very much like a big family, in which the manager will take care of the employees and the employees are expected to cevote themselves to the development of the company and, if it is necessary , to sacrifice their own interests for the interests of the company. But to the French, a company is just a loosely-knit social organization wherein individuals are supposed to take care of themselves and their families. And the family is the number one priority, which is unlike the Japanese model “not involving females and the right to decide by dominant male” . Case 11 (Page 97)
In most cultures, an apology is needed when an offence or violation of social norms has taken place. Too many Westerners, Japanese apologize more frequently and an apology in Japanese does not necessarily mean that the person is acknowledging a fault. To many Japanese, Westerners may seem to be rude just because they do not apologize as often as the Japanese would do. In this case, the attitude of the Australian student’s parents is shocking the Japanese but will be acceptable in an English-speaking society, for the student is already an adult and can be responsible for her own deeds.。