Intercultural Communication and the Differences between West and Chinese Cultures 英语专业毕业论文1.doc

Intercultural Communication and the Differences between West and Chinese Cultures一、 课题(论文)提纲0. 引言1. 跨文化交际的重要性2. 提高跨文化交际能力2.1 了解自己2.2 了解自己国家的文化2.3 了解自己的态度2.4 了解自己的交流类型3. 跨文化交际对中西文化的影响: 中西文化差异的表现3.1 日常交际的差异3.1.1 对待表扬的不同方式3.1.2 打招呼的不同方式3.2 日常行为的差异3.2.1 个人隐私3.2.2 时间观念3.2.3 称呼语3.2.4 风俗习惯3.2.5 餐桌礼仪3.2.6 语言应用3.3 教育方式的差异3.3.1 从小培养小孩的责任感3.3.2 合理地运用鼓励3.3.3 培养孩子独立生活的能力4.其他方面的差异4.1 个人荣誉感和谦虚4.2 自我中心与无私奉献5.造成文化冲突现象的原因5.1思维模式不同5.2行为规范各不相同5.3价值取向不同6.总结二、内容摘要中国有着上下五千年的灿烂文化，西方国家也有着自己独特的文化,，随着改革开放和世界一体化的加深，中西方不断接触，不断交流，与之产生的中西方的文化摩擦和碰撞也随之出现，为了解决或尽量避免这些摩擦和冲突，中国学生就要尽量的了解中西文化的差异，提高跨文化交际的能力。三、 参考文献1许果、梅林，文化差异与跨文化交际能力的培养C.重庆大学学报(社科版)，2002(6)2顾江禾，东西方文化对比小议C. 太原重型机械学院学报，2001(4)4吴锋针，中西习俗文化“冲突”C. 绥化师专学报，2003(1)5程晓莉，英语跨文化交际教学的思考C. 安徽农业大学学报(社会科学版)，2003(5)Intercultural Communication and the Differences between West and Chinese Cultures Abstract China has five thousand years splendid culture, so does the west. Nowadays, with the frequently communicating between East and West, and the Open Policy in China, more and more western come into China, many western culture are found everywhere in our life. Still, there are many conflicts between the eastern and western culture. In order to avoid the conflicts, our Chinese students should learn more about the features of all kinds of cultures. At the same time, we should also improve the ability of intercultural communication. Therefore, in this paper, we will discuss the idioms reflecting the differences between Chinese and Western cultures in various levels with many lively, important, and interesting examples.Key words: Intercultural Communication; Cultural Difference; Cultural Conflict 0. IntroductionIn its most general sense, intercultural communication occurs when a member of ones culture produces a message for consumption by a member of another culture. As 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 another. Frequently the term cross cultural communication is used when referring to communication between people from different cultures. There are many matters of cultural conflicts in intercultural communication of Chinese culture and western culture, and it seriously affects the course of communication, so it is necessary for us to find the in-depth reason and make some plans on how to improve the ability of intercultural communication. 1. Importance of intercultural communicationIntercultural communication is of great importance in our life, it play a very important role in the developments of countries, have encountered people different from themselves since the beginning of time, those settings are frequently confusing and quite often hostile. In ancient times, the recognition of alien differences lacked accompanying cultural knowledge and often elicited the human tend to respond badly to those differences. This notion was expressed over two thousand years ago by the Greek Playwright Aeschylus who wrote, "Everyones quick to blame the alien", this sentiment is still a powerful element in todays social and political rhetoric. For instance, it is common in todays society to hear that all of the social and economic problems in the United States are caused by immigrants. 2. Improving intercultural communicationWe need to offer a few qualifications related to the issues of how to become a more competent communicator. Whenever we tell another individual how to think or act, we run the risk, particularly if he or she listens to us of making matters worse. The person may have been better off without our advice. For example, we believe that many of us already know a great deal about intercultural communication and, in fact, are very good practitioners of the art. In these cases, we run the risk of spoiling what it took years to develop. What we are saying is somewhat analogous to the following Chinese fable. In this fable, a monkey and a fish were very good friends, one day, however, they were separated by a dreadful flood. Because the monkey could climb trees, he was able to scramble up a limb and escape the rising waters. As he glanced into the raging river, he saw his friend the fish swimming past with the best of intentions; he scoped his paw into the tree. The result was obvious. From this modest story, we can see the difficult choice we face, so please remember as we offer advice that like the monkey, we have the best intentions. Our propositions place us in the center of the activity, whether we are asking someone to learn more about a cultures view toward the elderly or appealing to people to develop some new skills. Our approach is consistent with most discussions of intercultural communication competence. 2.1 Knowing ourselves What we bring to the communication event greatly influence the success or failure of that event. Although the idea of knowing ourselves is common, it is nevertheless crucial to improving intercultural communication. As with many of the suggestions we offer in this section, it is easier to state the advice than to practice it, we can write the words “know ourselves ” with just a few strokes on our keyboard, but it will take a great deal of effort for us to translate this assignment into practice. 2.2 Knowing our culture The first step of introspection should begin with our own culture, regard ness of what that culture might be remember, we are products of our culture-and that culture observation when they wrote: “ An awareness of American culture along with examples of contrasting cultures contribute to the individuals understanding of anyone else as a cultural being.2.3 Knowing our attitude By exhorting us to examine others attitudes and perceptions, we are not referring to any mystical notions involving another reality, nor we are suggesting you engage in any deep psychological soul searching. Rather, people are asked to identify those attitudes, prejudices, and opinions that all carry around and that bias the way the world appears to us, if we had a certain attitude toward gay men, and a man who is a gay talking to us, our pre-communication attitude will color our response to what he says, knowing our likes, dislikes, and degrees of personal ethnocentrism enables us to place them out in the open so that we can detect the ways in which these attitudes influence communication.2.4 Knowing our communication style The third step in knowing ourselves is somewhat more difficult than simply identifying our prejudices and predispositions, it involves discovering the kind of image we portray to the rest of the world. Ask ourselves, “How do I communicate and how do others perceive me?” If we perceive ourselves in one ways, and the people with whom you interact perceive you in another way serious problems can arise. We have all heard stories of how foreigners view Americana traveling abroad, the “ugly American” example might be old and trite, but our experiences continue to reinforce its truth. If we are to improve our communication, we must, therefore, have some idea of how we present ourselves. If, for instance, we see ourselves as patient and calm, but we appear rushed and anxious, we will have a hard time understanding why people respond to us as they do. 3. Intercultural communication influences：The feature models of cultural differences 3.1 The difference in daily communication3.1.1 Westerner are dour, easterner are modest. So there are different reactions for receiving praise. In the West Countries, people can easily receipt praise, As to Chinese influenced by Confucianism for a long time, so forming the character of modest and careful is necessary, they always hold a attitude of self-abasement or no-self for any praise and celebration from others, otherwise others will think you as a pride one, it is just OK we only say Thanks for the westerners praise.3.1.2 When meeting familiar people, the salutation of the west and east are different, Chinese except saying Hello, generally we will ask, Have your dinner? What are you doing? And so on. But in the English-American culture such expressions would not be regarded as salutation, the salutation the western usually use is “How are you?” or “Nice to meet you!” If they are going to leave, it will be changed to “Nice meeting to you! ” or “Have a nice day!”3.1.3 If we are talking to westerners, and we have to leave, we can not stop the conversation directly, when at the pause of the conversation, we should be polite to say “Nice talking to you, I am afraid I must be going now. However, Chinese are with their friends, in order to show their modest, they will take friends opinion as the first choice; they will let friends make the choice. In western countries the saying “I dont care” is an irresponsible words to the listeners, and this is considered impolite. In public places, if there is any offence between each other, both sides will say “Sorry”, the meaning is “It is not my purpose, please dont make in mind.” By doing this, it can avoid trouble; western will not quarrel with others for some bagatelle in public. When they are talking with the guests with rang ringing, westerners will say “Excuse me” to the partners, then they listen to the call, but Chinese usually does not have the habit. 3.2 The daily behavior difference between China and the West3.2.1 InvitationIn China, when meeting some people who are familiar with each other, we usually say, Have your dinner? Where are you going? But in fact we dont care about if they have had dinner or where they are going. Their answer also should be yes or no, I havent or go out. Because Chinese share the same cultural foundation, we will not get to the bottom of a matter or ask endless. But for the western people the matter doesnt look like simple. If you greet people in the above way, they may misunderstand you make an invitation for dinner to him/her, or you want to inquiry about his/her privacy. So foreigners must learn about the situation of China, of course, Chinese also should know some expressions the foreigners commonly used: “How do you do?”, “Nice to meet you.”, “Good morning.” and so on.3.2.2 Appellation There is great disparity between East and West. In China, we usually use some family title to call some unfamiliar people, such as Uncle LeiFeng, Grandmother BingXin, by doing this we can shorten the distance between others and it also makes the listener feel more cordial. At the same time, Chinese also think this as a mark to appraise a person whether he/she is high-quality, polite or not. But in Western, no matter you are the same age, elder or junior, they directly call you name, such can increase a feeling of kind. However, in the view of Chinese, it is an impolite behavior, in addition, in China, we usually use some words such as doctor, engineer and manager linking with peoples family name as an appellation to show respect, for example, Doctor Wang, Manager XU, but there are not such expressions in west. The correct saying is according to the west custom connecting Mr., Ms with peoples family name to show respect or polite.3.2.3 Personal secret Comparing with western people, Chinese have a frail concept of secret. People usually pretend to care about someone actually they want to ask about something personal, of course there are somebody pleased to share his/her secret with others, they rely on this showing theirs close relationship. However, the western people attach a great importance to their personal situation; they dont willing to talk something more about themselves. Initiative inquiry is even impossible. On the other hand, it is most likely problem-arousing during the communication of Eastern and Western. According to Chinese convention, first greet, we will initiative ask for others age, profession, and family income, it is very unacceptable for the foreigners, it may make a poor impression on them.3.2.4 Schedule Western people have a strong consciousness of time. They think time is money, so they quite cherish time; they will make a thorough plan and full arrangement for their daily life. In West, if you want to call on somebody or invite others, you must make an appointment in advance. The most taboo is a temporary decision or a changed arrangement, but Chinese are paying little attention to time, their plan for time is indifferent, it is quite different for the foreigners to accept this.3.2.5 Customs Different custom has different feature and image. For example, every culture has its own view on colors, numbers, even animals. Now taking colors as an example, every country or race has its own color, China usually prefers red, because it stands for festival and lucky, black and white only appear on the Chinese funeral, they represent sorrow and sadness, so if you are in China, you will find hugged red lantern when an important occasion or festival is coming. People wear red clothes, especially in China wedding, if the guests wear simplicity clothes, they may make the host feel unhappy , but the West have special favor of black and white, on their wedding, in order to show chastity, the bride will choose white robe, the inviters will wear black to show sobriety.3.2.6 Different application environment of language Different culture makes us use different expressions, the environment we stay are different too. For example, “thank you” is used in the English cultural environment more and widely than in Chinese cultural environment. In China, only when you receive others help saying “Thank you , but for the western, though you hand in the homework to you teacher, the teacher also says "Thank you". Actually, in the English cultural environment, if only one thing passes to the other, the people will say "Thank you". So we should learn so much about the western culture that can make us avoid embarrassment in the communication with the foreigners.3.3 The different teaching style3.3.1 Form the feeling of responsibility from the early ageIn china, if a child make some mistake, his parents must take the main responsibility, and the child may stay behind with lower his head, the suffer mainly only talk with the parents, but in American, if the child makes something trouble, his parents will teach him to pay his fault at the first time. Following is an example:An 11 years old boy was playing football and broke up a neighbors glasses, the suffer claimed for USD 12.50 compensation. The boy who got into trouble acknowledged the mistake to his father, the father told him to be responsible for his fault He embarrassed said: “I have no money to pay my fault”, the father said: “I will pay it for you, but you must pay back for me one year later.” From then on, the boy will go out