跨文化较完整版

精品文档 1欢迎下载 DEFINITION InterculturalIntercultural communicationcommunication There are three kinds of things you need to learn if you want to be able to communicate effectively with Westerners First you need to learn a foreign language usually English Second you should learn as much as possible about Western cultures However studying English language and Western culture is not enough You should also learn something about what happens when people from different cultures try to communicate with each other in other words intercultural communication CultureCulture Culture is a learned pattern of behavior and is a way in which a person lives his life It is an integral part of every society and creates a feeling of belonging and togetherness among the people of that society Culture encompasses various aspects of communication attitude etiquette beliefs values customs norms food art jewelry clothing styles etc Every society has a different culture which gives it an identity and uniqueness People from different cultures live in different regions have different jobs have different ethnic backgrounds and so forth StereotypesStereotypes It is a derogatory word It means that image idea character that has become fixed or standardized in a conventional form without individuality and is therefore false and shallow Stereotypes may have a basis in fact but they are too broad and shallow and they give us the mistaken idea that a people s culture can be summed up easily in a few short simple statements Stereotypes are also dangerous because they may trick us into believing that knowing a few stereotypes is the same thing as understanding another culture 精品文档 2欢迎下载 InterpretationInterpretation Interpretation is a very important aspect of intercultural communication It is the process of deciding what foreigners words and actions mean and why they do what they do Interpretation is a part of all communication even the most simple conversations IndividualistIndividualist Individualist culture is one in which people tend to view themselves as individuals and emphasize the needs of individuals In general Western culture tends to be individualist They view themselves as independent of collectives are primarily motivated by their own preferences needs rights and the contacts they have established with others give priority to their personal goals over the goals of others and emphasize rational analyses of the advantages and disadvantages to associating with others CollectivistCollectivist Collectivist culture is one in which people tend to view themselves as members of groups families work units tribes nations and usually consider the needs of the group to be more important than the needs of individuals Most Asian cultures including China s tend to be collectivist People see themselves as parts of one or more collectives are primarily motivated by the norms of and duties imposed by those collectives are willing to give priority to the goals of these collectives over their own personal goals and emphasize their connectedness to members of these cultures HierarchyHierarchy Every society has hierarchy to some degree In other words some people have higher rank and more power than others perhaps because they are older stronger wealthier or have some kind of official 精品文档 3欢迎下载 position On the other hand however most modern societies also believe that equality is a virtue at least to some extent So each culture needs to find its own balance between hierarchy and equality 1 Westerners generally have less respect for seniority age position and so forth than would be the case in a collectivist culture 2 Western societies often try to limit the power of government officials 3 Westerners tend to have a somewhat suspicious and even negative view of power and authority CultureCulture shock cultureshock culture fatiguefatigue Culture shock is a feeling of being confused and overwhelmed by life in another culture People who experience culture shock often feel fatigued impatient and irritable They may also begin trying to avoid interaction with foreigners and even become increasingly critical and hostile toward them Foreigners in China sometimes experience culture shock and so do Chinese who go to live in other countries LowLow contextcontext Low context culture in which context is not assumed to be understood messages are explicit direct and completely encoded in words and meaning is entrusted almost entirely to words Low context communication is just the opposite of high context communication it s the mass of information is rested in the explicit code e g American German HighHigh contextcontext communicationcommunication 精品文档 4欢迎下载 High context culture rely on the context either the actual physical environment of communication or an internalized social context or both or convey a large part or even all of a message s meaning High context communication is a kind of communication in which most of the information is already in the person while very little is in the coded explicitly transmitted part of the message e g Chinese Japanese ProjectedProjected culturalcultural similaritysimilarity Projected cultural similarity is the tendency to assume that people from other cultures basically think and feel more the same way we do In other words we sometimes assume that while foreigners may look different dress differently and speak different languages inside we are all more or less the same People from different culture assume they understand each other instead of asking each other what they think Because they each expect the other person to react more or less the same way they would they don t check to see whether or not the other person actually has the same feelings and reactions they would LooseLoose culturescultures Loose culture doesn t demand a high degree of conformity In loose cultures people have a relatively wide range of views as to what is considered normal behavior They also tend to be relatively tolerant of behavior that does not conform to cultural norms And there is less pressure on individuals within the same culture to behave the same way most other people in the culture do TightTight culturescultures expect a relatively high degree of conformity There is a clear 精品文档 5欢迎下载 consensus as to what is and is not acceptable behavior and there is more pressure on people to conform to the norms of the culture Here is an example of how people deal with people who are born left handed In tight cultures children who favor their left hand are encouraged or even forced to use their right hand instead and the percentage of left handed people in the adult population is much smaller EthnocentrismEthnocentrism Ethnocentrism is the tendency to think of one s own culture as being at the center of the world in other words to assume that one s own culture s way of thinking and acting is more natural normal and correct than the way people from other cultures think and act IngroupsIngroups people are accustomed to self centered when they communicate with foreigners they usually assume that foreigners are similar to us 3 As we grow up and learn what is right and wrong truth and false normal and abnormal and so forth we naturally learn to view the world as our culture views it The only to solve PCS is communication CommentComment onon thethe GoldenGolden RuleRule DoDo untounto othersothers whatwhat youyou wouldwould havehave themthem dodo untounto you you Projected Cultural Similarity 定义 The sentence means that it s better not to do things to others what you don t want others do to you This behavior shows the phenomena projected cultural similarity In our cultural system if you don t like thing done to you you just don t impose on others It s a kind 精品文档 11欢迎下载 of virtue But from the aspect of PCS people just assume people from other cultures view things the same way we do What we think is right we consider others will think it s right too However it just doesn t work out like that Because of different cultural background we have different interpretations of everything happened We cannot expect others o think or act the same as we do CommentComment onon conformityconformity inin WesternWestern cultures cultures Loose culture 定义 Tight culture 定义 One interesting aspect of culture is the degree to which its members expect everyone to conform to all think and act in similar ways Some scholars divide cultures into two broad categories loose and tight Loose cultures do not demand a high degree of conformity In loose cultures people have a relatively wide range of views as to what is considered normal behavior Tight cultures in contrast expect a relatively high degree of conformity There is a clear consensus as to what is and is not acceptable behavior and there is more pressure on people to conform to the norms of the cultures This may cause some difficulty for Chinese may expect Westerners to be more uniform in their beliefs values and ideas than is in fact the case Chinese culture is tight culture and western cultures are loose cultures So conformity in western cultures is less than it in Chinese culture FactorsFactors contributingcontributing toto tightness tightness loosenesslooseness inin a a society society 精品文档 12欢迎下载 Loose culture 定义 Tight culture 定义 加些自我发挥 1 The degree of change in the population the more people move the more loose and individualist a society tends to be 2 The density of the population small dense societies tend to be collectivist hence tighter Large dense society tend to be more complex hence not quite so tight melting pot 3 The number of choices available in society the more choices available the more room there is for individualism 4 The degree of conformity of one country the more conformity there is the tighter and vice versa TheThe similaritysimilarity however they feel less obligation to outsiders Chinese often view outsiders who come to china as guests and give them much special treatment In part this is because Chinese view guests as a kind of in group and tend to treat in group members very well CharacteristicsCharacteristics ofof warwar sto