A Comparison of Taboos Between Chinese and Western Culture 英语论文.doc

重庆第二师范学院 题 目：a comparison taboos between chinese and western counties 课程名称： 跨文化交际课程 院 系： 外国语言文学系 专 业： 英语（国际贸易） 班 级： 三班 姓 名： 学 号: 1210401323 课程论文成绩： 指 导 教 师： 2013年12月18日 a comparison of taboos between chinese and western culture abstract: as we know, language and culture influence each other tightly. anyignoranceofsocialcustomsandculturalvaluesmaynotonlycausecommunicativeobstacles,butalsolikelybringaboutprejudice,offence,evenhostilityincross-culturalcommunications .anyignoranceofsocialcustomsandculturalvaluesmaynotonlycausecommunicativeobstacles,butalsolikelybringaboutprejudice,offence,evenhostilityincross-cultural communications.key words: taboos; culture; comparison;introductionin recent years, as international cultural exchanges more and more frequent, opportunities for cross-cultural communication become more and more, cross-cultural communication has become a generally accepted vocabulary. the leader carries out the political negotiations is carrying out the trans-culture human relations cross-cultural communication, make business negotiations with foreign businessmen are also conducting cross-cultural communication, go abroad for travel, study or receipt foreigners are doing cross-cultural communication.in the cross-cultural contact, the taboo is the most sensitive topic. the cultural taboos research has become an important content of cross-cultural communication. the so-called taboo is in the daily life either the work forbids or abstained from the people do the matter or said words. the taboos english correspondence word is taboo. the taboo is the cultural phenomenon, which is shared by world various nationalities. main body1. privacy taboositisuniversallyknownthatthewesternersplaceahighvalueonprivacy.theyareself-centeredandholdtheviewsthattheirindividualinterestscantbeinvadedatanytime.forexample,inthewest,whenwevisitsomeone,weneedtomakeanappointmentwithhim;itisimpolitetovisitsomeonesuddenly.recentyearsourchinesepeopleespeciallybusinessmenorpoliticiansbegantomaketheappointmentbeforetheyweregoingtovisitsomeone,butcomparativelyspeaking,wedonttakeitseriously.thereisanenglishproverbwhichseemstobeagoodexampletoillustratetheimportanceofprivacy.amanshomeishiscastle.itmeansahomeistooscaredtodisturbwithoutpermission.noonehasarighttocome.inthewesterncountries,askingsomequestionsandtopicssuchasoneslifeorpersonalmatterswillberegardedasawayofpryingintoanindividualsprivatethings.intheconversation,peoplearestrictlyprohibitedinvolvingpersonalthings,suchasage,income,marriage,love,property,weightandsoon.butinchina,it is very common.2. number tabooswesterners generally considered that thirteen is inauspicious number, should avoid it as far as possible. the reason they so taboo to thirteen, mainly due to two kinds of legends: one is the christian legend, according to legend, one of jesus 12 disciples, judas, for the sake of 30 silver coins, betrays jesus to judaism person in power, and lead the way to arrest jesus . because of his betraying, jesus was crucified on the cross. the italian painter, leonardo da vinci create the great picture the last supper take this as the theme, describes jesus and his disciples with the dining scene on the eve of he was betrayed, in the picture, the 13th individual participates in the dinner is judas. another legend from norway, nordic mythology, legend in heaven, in the pantheon of the heroes holds the dinner for mourning soldiers, who died, when 12 god dining together, suddenly an unexpected visitor - - - evil spirit rocky brush into, added up to 13 individuals, as result, the highest god odins son, light god bald died, and other gods were always in trouble. these two legends spread widely, therefore, the westerner think that thirteen is a symbol of misfortune. and also westerners generally think that friday is inauspicious. according to christian legend, jesus was crucified on friday. another legend, the adam and eve violated gods prohibition on friday. in general, the westerners not hold activities in 13th, even the house number hotel number, the floor, the banquet table number, the motorcade automobiles serial number, and so on are not use thirteen, invitation not arrange in 13th to hold. if 13th and friday in the same day, then this day is called “the black friday”. in addition, the death of the west because of the war of terror, but also taboo 3, especially in the cigarette lighter, when the third person point, they are often reluctantchinese think that a few figures age is a taboo, 55 and 66 are considered that they would bring bad luck, the proverb said: the person lives for 55 years, the yammer counts; the person lives for 66 years, he would dead or in trouble. also 73 and 84 are considered trouble age by chinese. moreover, if a person lived to 100 years old, can not said：a millennium turtle and ten thousand year essence, 100 year old hedgehog； as if lived to 100 years old would become an animal. it would be say the age normally after one hundred years.3. religious taboosreligious taboos are observed most stringent in peoples lives. various countries have the different religious belief, the western people mainly believe in christianity, it including catholicism and eastern orthodoxy. in china, people mainly believe in buddhism, islamism and taoism.western christian cannot worship the idol, and cannot misuse the name of god, indias christians envy with holding wedding ceremony in the evening, tongas christian envy with leaving home to work on sunday. catholic teachers are not allowed to marry. nasilafu catholic envying with hold wedding ceremony on tuesday or sunday. within the two or three weeks after the funeral, the family of the deceased envying with interviewing guests, and cannot hold party within this year. protestants can not worship any idols and other gods, before meals and going to bed, they must pray.chinese buddhist envying with drinking, killing, and eating meat. they cant marry and accept any property. taoism priests taboo is similar with buddhism. islam envy with eating pork and animals blood, they are not allow to drink, sending gift envy with the gift with animal logo, they envy with putting on shoes to enter the mosque, in addition, they envy with use left hand to touch food.4.color tabooscolor is closely linked with ours life, it not only can affect our daily emotions，but also reflect each persons personality. in general, red symbolizes passion, happy, glorious, justice and power; green symbolizes peace, friendliness, hope and vitality；purple symbolizes noble, majestic and mysterious；yellow symbolizes harmony, religion and belief; black symbolizes solemn；blue symbolizes calm；white symbolizes purity, simplicity; gray symbolizes ordinary, simple; gold silver symbolizes wealth and ornate；coffee color symbolizes solid and subtle. however, color taboo means different countries and regions prohibition of using a certain color established by popular usage. on one hand, social community forbids an individual to use a certain color; on the other hand, an individual restrains oneself to use a certain color. some color taboos stem from colors visual impressions from physics, chemistry, physiology; but most of them originate from colors emotional and symbolic effects namely peoples comprehension. as a culture phenomenon, color taboos will weaken and disappear with the development of the society, but many new understandings will be produced.in color, the chinese envies with using red color pen to write a letter or their name. red on behalf of celebrations or revolution in china, therefore, red is forbid used at funeral. the yellow was kings symbol in the ancient times, if the person used yellow, it means that he wanted to kill emperor, and he would be killed by the state. in modern china, yellow freely used, it means bright, but it used in the derogatory meaning in certain time.whats more, due to political and historical reasons, the use of color is also taboo