跨文化交际中的语用失误：原因及对策.doc

pragmatic failure in cross-cultural communication: causes and countermeasures跨文化交际中的语用失误：原因及对策pragmatic failure in cross-cultural communication:causes and countermeasuresabstract: with the rapid development of globalization and frequent contacts among different countries, cross-cultural communication is becoming more and more important and becomes one of the most frequent and significant activities in the twenty-first century. however, people from different countries may have different beliefs, values, attitudes and world views. they may use their own cultural values, beliefs and attitudes to understand the others who have different cultural backgrounds. as a result, pragmatic failure will come into being and bring many obstacles into cross-cultural communication.in cross-cultural communication, due to negative transfer, different cultural connotations, cultural values, social norms, and improper foreign language teaching in the classroom, pragmatic failure can hardly be avoided. to cultivate the learners pragmatic competence and to improve the awareness of cultural differences of the learners are also important to reduce pragmatic failure in cross-cultural communication. key words: cross-cultural communication； pragmatic failure； causes and countermeasures摘 要：随着全球化进程的加快，跨文化交际越来越成为当今世界重要活动之一。但是，由于交际者可能来自于不同文化，他们不了解异族文化的特点，各自遵循的信念、价值观、世界观等也不尽相同，经常会在跨文化交际中出现语用失误，影响跨文化交际的成功进行。在跨文化交际中，由于不适当的文化迁移，不同的文化解读、价值观念，社会习俗，及不当的外语教学方法，语用失误几乎不可避免。培养学习者的语用能力及提高学习者的文化差异意识，可有效地减少跨文化交际中的语用失误的发生。关键词：跨文化交际；语用失误；原因及对策contents. introduction.1. literature review.2definitions to some terms.21. cross-cultural communication.22. pragmatics.23. pragmatic failure.2. classification of pragmatic failure .3a. pragmalinguistic failures.31. pronunciation and intonation.32. vocabulary.33. grammar.44. text .4b. social-pragmatic failure.51. address.52. greetings.53. compliments.64. taboos.6. main source for pragmatic failure.6a. negative transfer.7b. improper teaching in the classroom.7c. different cultural connotation.8d. different social norms.8e. different cultural value system.9. countermeasures to pragmatic failure.10a. using knowledge of pragmatic principles in cross-communication.10b. teaching the second language with the help of pragmatic knowledge.11c. increasing students awareness of cultural differences11d. cultivating learners communicative competence.12. conclusion.12works cited.13. introduction：the rapid development of economy and technology has brought the human beings into an age of globalization in which people of one culture are increasingly in contact with people of other cultures. there is a great potential for communicators to suffer from communication breakdowns in cross-cultural context because of the cultural differences. in cross-cultural communication, the communicators are inclined to negatively transfer their native cultural conventions and linguistic knowledge into communication， thus they will commit pragmatic failurefailing to understand the counterparts intentions, and they will transmit their actual ideas into the communication. with an analysis of classic examples and application of pragmatics theory, the purpose of the thesis is to provide some useful references for foreign language teaching in china and for a better cross-cultural communication.the thesis is divided into five parts:part one gives the basic concepts of some terms, such as cross-cultural communication, pragmatics, pragmatic failure, communicative competence，so that a clear view of pragmatic failure in cross-cultural communication is formed in the reader mind.part two focuses on the pragmatic failure in cross-cultural communication, which is generally reflected in social-pragmatics and pragmalinguistics. in this part, a lot of real examples from different angles are given to analysis their manifestation forms in cross-cultural context.part three explores the causes of pragmatic failure in cross-cultural communication. from this point of view, negative transfer, different cultural connotations, cultural values, social norms, and improper foreign language teaching in the classroom and cross-cultural barriers such as ethnocentrism and stereotypes and so on, are all considered as the causes of pragmatic failure in cross-cultural communication. part four is about the countermeasures to pragmatic failure in cross-cultural communication. it is of great importance to learn some principles in communication and to teach foreign language with some pragmatic knowledge. in addition, cross-cultural communicators should cultivate the awareness of cultural differences and to develop the pragmatic competence of communicators. part five is the conclusion of this thesis, in which a brief summary of this thesis is made. literature reviewa. definitions to some terms1. cross-cultural communicationcross-cultural communication is the communication activities between people from different cultural backgrounds (including different cultures between different nations and different sub-cultures in the same culture). cross-cultural communication may produce two quite opposite consequences. on one hand, exposure to another culture can broaden ones perspective, promote personality growth and promote mutual understandings between the people of different cultures, which can lead to better international relations and less inter-group friction and hostility. on the other hand, cross-cultural communication often leads to hostility and poor inter-personal relations among those involved in this communication because of some cultural and psychological factors.2. pragmaticsthere are various definitions to pragmatics from different scholars. based on their ideas, we can summarize it as the study of meaning in context which is distinct with word and sentence meaning.3. pragmatic failurethomas j. is the first one to put forward with the term “pragmatic failure”. and she has defined it to “the inability to understand what is meant by what is said. it seems to thomas that it is the hearers fault that causes pragmatic failure. (thomas 91)according to the chinese scholar he ziran, pragmatic failure refers to the errors resulting from inappropriate utterance, intact manner, or unidiomatic expressions, and as a result, the communication fails to achieve the expected effect. (he ziran 348)in qian guanlians opinion, speakers can make grammatically correct utterances in communication, but they may unconsciously violate interpersonal or social norms, or produce utterances that are not in accordance with the time, the place, or the interlocutors, and then pragmatic failure occurs. (qian 195)as stated above, pragmatic failure should be defined from two perspectives. first, pragmatic failure refers to the failure resulting from the hearers faulty interpretation of utterances. second, it refers to the speakers unconscious violation of interpersonal, social norms, value systems, and intact manners. as a result, the effect of communication cannot be as satisfactory as expected or even worse. communication breaks down or ends in failures. classifications of pragmatic failurethomas has categorized pragmatic failure into pragmalingluistic failure and socio-pragmatic failure. (thomas j 91)a. pragmalinguistic failurespragmalinguistic failure refers to the failure in the language use itself. it occurs when language users can not avail themselves of the same language form and function to make them understood. it mainly manifests itself in the arrangement of phonetics, lexicon, grammar and discourse, mostly the failures in lexicon and grammar.1. pronunciation and intonation pronunciation is the martial body of language. it has physical, biological and social attributes as its common characters in language use. in cross-cultural communication, the pronunciation prosperities of the target language should be paid highly attention, so that they can be utilized effectively and correctly. as to pronunciation, english has phonetic symbols which do not exist in chinese which is a little bit difficult to pronounce appropriately. the most obvious mistakes in pronunciation are the distinction between the consonants and s, l and n. a great number of people often pronounce night as lait, thanks as snks. all these mentioned above are likely to cause misunderstandings in cross-cultural communication. the intonation of a speaker is a useful basis to tell his or her attitude. though the literal sentence is the same, the expressed connotation would vary due to the different intonation. in a french restaurant, a waiter asks a gentleman “is there anything i can do for you” in a falling instead of a rising tone. then there comes the problem. the gentleman becomes angry and gives up enjoying the dinner, because he thinks the waiter is impolite to him by a falling tone!2. vocabularya principle of verbal communication is to be polite and courteous. and politeness is fully connected with how to apply a language appropriately. thus the word “please” is undoubtedly involved in some phrases related to politeness both in chinese and english. however, students of english, for example, often equate the usage of “please” in english with that of “请” in chinese. because they do not pay attention to the differences of these two linguistic words on a pragmatic level no matter how similar they are on a semantic one. as a result, the chinese students commonly misuse “please ” in the expression of “请”, which comes out to be a pragmalingluistic failures in cross-cultural communication.on the other hand, in some situations, “please” indicates a meaning of an order or impatience, which is considered to be impolite. for instance, “请打开窗户” in chinese is not always equal with “please open the window”. in english, if the addressee in communication is a guest or elder, we should say “do you mind opening the window?” in order to overcome the misunderstandings.3. grammarin cross-cultural communication, the use of a target language requires building a new set of linguistic system, including a new grammar different from that of a source language. for instance, some chinese often use “although” and “but ”in one english expression, because they do not realize that “虽然” and “但是” cannot be used at the same time in english. on the contrary, it is common to use both of them simultaneously in chinese. yes-or-no question exists both in chinese and in english. though it seems to be simple, the answer to this typical question reflects the differences of thought patterns between the two languages. when responding to a yes-or- no question in chinese, we should answer it directly on the utterance of speaker, such as the answer of “你不去看电影吗？” can be divided into an affirm one“是的，我不去。” and a negative one “不，我去。” however, the yes-or-no question in english does not aim at the addressee but at the intention of the speaker. thus the answer of “arent you going to the park?” in english should be “yes, i am.” or “no, im not.”4. textthere are terms that both chinese and foreigners use to express their emotion. although they can express the same meaning, they are used to different people on different occasions. for example, the use of the locution “i love you” fluctuates greatly across cultures. in some cultures, the connotation of the declaration is marriage while in other cultures, people say it all of the time to their family, friends, lovers and so on. b. social-pragmatic failuresocial-pragmatic failure refers to the failure in the cultural context where the hearer cannot understand the speaker. it occurs when the communicators cannot appropriately use language according to different communicative occasions, different language habits and different characteristics of different cultural background. it mainly includes the address, greetings, compliments and taboos.1. addresswhen a form of address is appropriate to the relationship of the speaker and the addressee, and is in accord with the rules of the communication, it will always be regarded as adequately polite. however, any forms of address that are not correspond to the relationship of the speaker and addressee, or to the rules, can be perceived as impolite no matter which variant is used for a break of the rules. for example, in england, the job title of “engineer” seems more highly respected than it is in the united states. when a group of workers from england came to the united states on business, the americans did not give the engineers in the visiting group any special treatment to distinguish them with job title from the rest of the group, because the americans didnt think it necessary, or inappropriate to do so. but the engineers felt frustrated since they thought they are superior to other workers.however, a violation of address norms does not necessarily lead to impoliteness, such as to call the name of ones parents, or teachers directly. whether a spontaneous change of address is to be interpreted as appreciating or as offensive, can be gathered from the context and from the custom, etc.2. greetingsgreetings happen at very low levels of interactions in peoples daily life. but this everyday practice can help people to realize that life is important for the understanding of the structure, the essence of a society and culture. for example, friends can acknowledge, conform and strengthen theist relationship with the performance of a greeting. moreover, like many other situations, such as parting, complimenting, apologizing, wedding, etc., greeting is one of the excellent tools of cultural behavior expression. in western countries, people sometimes talk about such things as greetings on the surface. if one engaged in such a greeting, s/he might always hear “nice day, huh?” “rainy, isnt it?” which “should go without saying”. when we encounter such kind of greetings, we may get frustrated, because they are so meaningless. as a result, possible cross-cultural difficulties occur.3. complimentsin daily life, when being praised by others, the chinese students often deny the merit by saying something like “im not any good at it yet” or “i do not deserve the praise”. otherwise, after expressing his/her thanks for the praise, he/she will add some words in which he/she emphasize a favor from others, or the help from the surroundings. by doing so, he/she tries to ascribe his or her virtue or achievements to the power of something other than his or her own ability or efforts. however, the chinese way of reacting to compliments can inevitably cause embarrassment to the person giving praise, because s/he thinks that his/her words are appropriate and not exaggerated. the reason why this difficulty happens is that responses to praise differ from culture to culture.4. taboos different cultures have a great number of taboo topics. those vocabularies, phrases, numbers and topics which implies something bad or unrefined, cannot be used in cross-cultural communication. like for a woman, it is impolite to ask for her age, and it is commonly known that privacy, income, as well as religion are sensitive topics in cross-cultural communication.in the western countries, christianity plays a decisive role in the life of the westerners. so when communicating with christians, be captious to comment on their god, the blessed virgin mary, etc. some ominous numbers such as “13” and “friday” should also be avoided to use. what is more, different regions have different religious etiquette. thus, their norms and customs related to their religion should be respected. main source for pragmatic failurein this part, this paper will analyze the reasons for pragmatic failure in cross-cultural communication from an objective view. there are various causes of pragmatic failure. negative transfer from their mother tongue to the target language is one of the main causes for pragmatic failure. students lack of the knowledge of the different cultural connotations of many things is another cause. different value conception is another factor to lead to pragmatic failure. lastly, some errors induced by teaching in the classroom can also lead to pragmatic failure.a. negative transfer students negative transfer of some semantically or syntactically identical structures from their mother tongue to the target language is one of the main causes, which result in pragmalinguistic failures. for example,a. hello, john. im wei dong.b. hello, wei dong. speaking.when chinese people speaking on the phone, they often say “我是” (i am ) instead of “this is ”, which is the tradition of english-speaking countries. speaker a violates the rules of speaking that are suitable for the western people. similarly, chinese “吃了没有” and its english equivalent “have you eaten?”, “当然” and its english equivalent “of course”, “改善生活” and its english equivalent “improve ones standard of living” are semantically or syntactically identical, but they have different pragmatic forces in concrete situations. if students do not understand this, some pragmatic failur