culture differences

其一 传说耶稣受害前和弟子们共进了一次晚餐 参加晚餐的第 13 个人是耶酥的弟子犹太 就是这个犹大为了 30 块银元 把耶稣出卖给犹太教当局 致使耶稣受尽折磨 参加最后晚 餐的是 13 个人 晚餐的日期恰逢 13 日 13 给耶纸带来苦难和不幸 从此 13 被认 为是不幸的象征 13 是背叛和出卖的同义词 其二 西方人忌讳 13 源于古代希腊 希腊神话说 在哈弗拉宴会上 出席了 12 位天神 宴会当中 一位不速之客 烦恼与吵闹之神洛基忽然闯来了 这第 13 位来客的闯入 招 致天神宠爱的柏尔特送了性命 星期五和数字 13 都代表着坏运气 两个不幸的个体最后 结合成超级不幸的一天 所以 不管哪个月的十三日又恰逢星期五就叫 黑色星期五 1970 年 4 月 11 日阿波罗 13 号航天器在佛罗里达的肯尼迪航天中心发射 一些人指出几乎 是灾难性的阿波罗 13 登月使命证明数字 13 是一个不吉利的数字 在西方人看来 星期五是不吉利的日子 在这天 有些人会因为恐惧而下不了床 还有些 人会拒绝乘飞机 买房子 甚至购买胜券在握的股票 而如果星期五与 13 号重合 那就是 特大倒霉日了 因为在这一天人们不会像往常一样乘飞机或做生意 商业损失可达 8 到 9 亿美元 他估计在美国这种恐惧折磨着几千万人民 4 9 是日本人最忌讳的数字 666 666 的意思是撒旦代码 韩国人普遍忌 四 字 因韩国语中 四 与 死 同字同音 传统上认为是不吉利的 因此 在 韩国没有四号楼 四层楼 四号房 军队里没有第四师 宴会厅里没有四桌 敬酒不能敬 四杯 点烟不能连点四人 日本人忌讳 4 和 9 因为它们在日语中的发音同 死 和 苦 谐音 所以在同日本人交往时 要注意并尽量避免这些数字 13 也是忌讳的数字 许多宾馆没有 13 楼层和 13 号房间 羽田机场也没有 13 号停机坪 The Difference between Chinese 七嘴八舌 into seven mouths and eight tongues 三 长两短 into three longs and two shorts no one will understand what does it really mean And in English culture there exists culture of numbers everywhere w 你好 ch deals with many fields showing that culture of numbers should be paid attention to too seven is holy and mysterious number w 你好 ch is regarded as a lucky numbers if seven or nine times any of the odd numbers and your age is one of them 21 27 35 45 49 63 81 you will be considered as the one who has a dangerous time The seventh son of one s seventh son is always accepted as an outstanding And what is more there are many idiomatic usages with seven in English culture For instance how do you translate t 你好 s sentence into C 你好 nese Seventy times seven did I take counsel with my soul Some one will translate it like t 你好 s 我在内心深处考虑了多达七 十七次 but the right one should like t 你好 s 我在内心深处不知考虑了多少次 Here seventy times seven can be translated into 很大的数目 w 你好 ch comes from the Bible Jesus saith unto 你好 m I say not unto thee until seven times but until seventy times seven From the above examples we can see that either C 你好 nese or English idioms with numbers we should translate them freely for cultural differences exist everywhere Hello everyone I m Michael I m Monica and this is CIO Culture Radio from Confucius Institute Online Today we re gonna talk about Chinese numbers we hope you will enjoy the following conversation MONICA Michael wanna hear something unbelievable MICHAEL Do I have a choice MONICA Oh come on I went to a charity auction last Sunday and guess which product got the highest bid MICHAEL I don t know Megan Fox s address MONICA she s hot isn t she I think she s hotter than Angelina Jolie MICHAEL Totally MONICA Anyways back to what I was saying the highest bid was actually a QQ number Can you believe it MICHAEL a what MONICA a QQ account number ya pretty unbelievable huh I mean I ve heard that people like QQ in china just like people like MSN in North America But who would think that a QQ number could sell for 260 000 Yuan That s like what almost 40 000US MICHAEL wow what QQ number was it MONICA The Ultimate 88888 The so called luckiest number you can ever get in Chinese QQ history MICHAEL Oh no wonder It s a really good number MONICA So you believe in numbers too MICHAEL Well kind of Two years ago I bought my girlfriend a special phone number ending with 201314 for her 24th birthday And trust me it was 2 months of my salary MONICA No kidding What s so special about 201314 MICHAEL You need to read it in Chinese Then you ll realize that it sounds like love you with my entire life in Chinese 爱你一生一世 MONICA Oh how romantic MICHAEL You know Chinese numbers are believed by some to be lucky or unlucky based on their sounds It may be difficult for foreigners to understand but numbers are a huge deal in China MONICA Is that so Well in North America I can t say we completely don t have a thing for numbers Like we try to avoid the number 13 and prefer the number 7 We fear the number 666 and MICHAEL Wait a second you guys don t like the number 666 MONICA Ya it s the number of the devil man I mean if I have a house numbered 666 I will probably burn it down MICHAEL Really It s quite the opposite in China You know 6 means smooth in Chinese So 666 could mean everything will go smoothly If I have anything numbered 666 I would be able to sell it on the internet for a good price We love that number MONICA Are you serious Wow Interesting Why don t you tell me what other numbers stand for in Chinese then MICHAEL Well 4 means bad luck and death 5 and 7 means luck 6 means fluidity which is good for business 8 means prosperity and wealth 9 means forever and also 9 is considered as the biggest and most powerful number in China MONICA Why 9 not 10 MICHAEL Well in the past odd numbers are considered as masculine and even number as feminine Therefore being the largest single digit number 9 represents the ultimate power and masculinity MONICA That s amazing So Chinese numbers together can form a meaningful sentence while individually they can mean something else MICHAEL Exactly Well personally I find it interesting to convey a certain message using numbers than using words It s less direct in a way MONICA Oh I see thanks to you Michael I ve learned so much about Chinese number culture today MICHAEL Well if you would like to know more about interesting Chinese Cultures you can listen to CIO culture Radio from Confucius Institute It s very helpful MONICA Ok cool thanks Do you believe in numbers If you read these romantic umbers in Chinese you will realize that it sounds like some special lucky or unlucky meanings of Chinese words It may be difficult for fo