A comparison on the importance of the context in China and the USA.doc

a comparison on the importance of the context in china and the usa since the beginning of 21st century, high and information technologies have shown their magic power in shrinking the world. people on the earth, no matter where they live, what languages they speak and what their skin colors are, are now having more and more opportunities to communicate with each other, do business, make friends and solve problems. however, there are many differences between their languages, cultures and customs. one of the biggest differences between china and america lies in the cultural differences in the importance of context in communication.according to e.t. hall in his book beyond culture, communication can be divided into two kinds from the angle of context. the communication with main reliance on context is called high-context communication, while the communication relying mostly on language is called low-context communication. this thesis is developed on halls theory of high-context and low-context cultures, mainly dwelling on the comparison of communication styles between high-context and low-context cultures with china and the usa as the representatives respectively.context plays an important role in communication. hall and his wife defined context as “the information that surrounds an event; it is inextricably bound up with the meaning of that event.”low context tends to prefer direct verbal interaction and understand meaning at on level only. while high context tends to prefer indirect verbal interaction and understand meanings embedded at many socio-cultural levels. in low context, people value individualism, rely more on logic and employ linear logic. however, in high context, people value group membership, rely more on context and feeling and employ spiral logic.chinese are typical example of high context, they talk around point, avoid saying “no”. communicate in simple, ambiguous, noncontexted messages; understands visual messages readily. on the country, the usa are typical example of low context, they say “no” directly and communicate in high structured messages, provide details, stress literal meanings, give authority to written information.in america, communication is considered as a process of conveying messages through language, which means that meaning is trusted almost entirely to words. context is not assumed to share the task with language in communication. the messages are supposed to be explicit, direct and detailed so that others can act upon them. otherwise, the communicators would consider their meanings are not understood correctly or completely.in america, goals and tasks tend to weigh heavily in peoples daily communication. message is conveyed for the purpose of achieving goals or fulfilling tasks, work efficiency being attached great importance in the process. in americans minds, time is linear like a river that keeps running from its source to the ocean and never returns, so it should not be wasted. plans and time schedules are taken seriously. there is no room for delay or inferring from context. everything should be stated clearly for the sake of immediate and correct understanding.people from low-context cultures usually prefer to keep their job tasks separated from their relationship. indeed, relationships are seen as outside the task rather than an integral part of it. various groups, such as professional organizations, religious groups and personal interest groups are formed not because the members are close to each other but because they have common goals.to them, groups are temporary. if the goal has been achieved, the mission of the group is finished, so members are dismissed to look for another group to reach the next goal.in china, communication is considered as a task shared by both language and context. for most of the time, context takes most of the responsibility for conveying messages, as beamer and varner point out that “high-context cultures rely on the context, either the actual physical environment of communication or an internalized social context or both, to convey a large part or even all of the messages meaning.” context is assumed to be well understood by both senders and receivers. the contextual factors, such as the status of the communicators, usually have a great influence on the topics, manners and behavior in communication. in china, people communication with each other in an effort to make friends, expand personal connections, and more importantly, to keep in harmony with each other, for a harmonious relationship is considered as the key to achieve success, which is clearly shown in the following idioms: “if the family lives in harmony, all affairs will prosper”, “harmony is priceless”, “harmony brings fortune”. so, for the sake of it, people tend to avoid open confrontations for their own rights. those who are willing to think of the interests of each others ahead of themselves are more likely to win the respect and welcome among group members. indirect speech acts are often applied to protect the fa