中西文化下的礼貌用语分析doc资料

1、精品文档中西文化下的礼貌用语分析A Comparative Study of Polite Discourses betwee nChin ese and Wester n Cultures闫晶 2010103010231摘 要：礼貌的表现方式在不同的文化中是达不相同的，它与某一特定社会群体的典 型行为密切相关。总的来说，礼貌用语中的称呼语、问候语与告别语、致谢 语、道歉语以及赞扬语在人们的日常生活中扮演着重要角色。本文对中西礼 貌用语进行了具体而详尽的对比与分析，并概括了不同文化之间的礼貌用语 存在差异的原因，即是由于不同的历史文化背景和不同的价值取向造成的。 通过分析比较中西文化下的礼貌用

2、语差异，人们可以更好的学习英语，同时 对于跨文化交际有一个更深层次的了解。关键词：礼貌用语；文化；价值取向Abstract: The expressive ways of politeness are different from culture to culture and are closely associated with the typical behaviors of some particular social groups. Gen erally, polite discourses such as address, greet ing and leave-tak ing, t

3、ha nks, apology and complime nt play a vital role in peopleThis papeymakesa detailed con trast and an alysis to the polite discourses betwee n Chin ese and En glish cultures, and summarizes the reas ons for the differe nces of the polite discourses differe nt historical and cultural backgro und and

4、differe nt value orientation. According to the analysis, people can leann English better as well as have a deeper un dersta nding of cross-cultural com muni cati on.Key words: polite discourses; culture; value orientationIn troductio nPeople all com muni cate with others all the time. No matter how

5、well they un dersta nd each other, com muni cati on is hard. “ Culture ” is oftertnatroot of com muni cati on challe nges. The culture in flue nces how people approach problems, and how they participate in groups and in com mun ities. When they participate in groups they are ofte n surprised at how

6、differe ntly people approach their work together.People ' s histories are a critical piece of their culture. Historical experiencehether of five years ago or of ten gen erati on bacshape who they are. Kno wledge of your history can help you understand yourself and one another better. Exploring t

7、he ways in which various groups with our society have related to each other is the key to ope ning cha nn els for cross- cultural com mun icati on. This thesis is inten ded to compare differe nt expressive ways of politeness in Chinese culture with that in English culture to have a better understand

8、ing of the polite discourses with different cultures. Through the brief analysis, it can be concluded that it is the historical and cultural background and different value orientation that determines the dissimilarities of polite discourses un der differe nt cultural con texts. Lear ning the relatio

9、 nship betwee n Ian guage and culture and how that in flue nces com muni cati on and un dersta nding will help people participate in groups in an easy and frie ndly way.1. The different expressive ways of polite discoursesThere are various Ian guages with differe nt meanings in the world. People fro

10、m differe nt cultures might misun dersta nd each other because they dorhave a good kno wledge of the differe nces of polite ness. Here are some detailed examples of polite discourses to an alyze the behaviors in differe nt cultures by which people can improve their ability to com muni cate with othe

11、rs.1.1 AddressThe forms of address in every Ian guage reflect social status of the speaker, of the addressee, of the relati on ship betwee n them. As far as En glish and Chin ese forms of address are concerned, each has a system of its own due to the different cultures they have derived from. Gen er

12、ally speak ing, there three no ticeable differe nces betwee n Chin ese and En glish address systems which are likely to cause problems for in tercultural com muni cati on.First, a proper Chin ese n ame is arran ged in the order of sur name plus give n n ame(s). An English name, however, is arranged

13、in reverse order from the Chinese. The English first name (equivale nt to the Chin ese give n n ame), is a non-kin public address term. So, in En glish, the usual forms of address for the En glish teacher are as follows: Mr. Lewis, or An drew. (not: Teacher Lewis, Mr. An drew, etc )Second, some Chin

14、 ese kin ship terms have exte nded and gen eralized usage. This is not the case of English counterparts. For example, a child may call a policema警察叔叔 (police un cle), a young street peddler may address a middle-aged female customer大姐.Yeye (gran dpa), nainai (gra ndma) can be used to address people w

15、ho have no familiar relati on with the addresser. We may say that in Chin ese culture kin terms are widely used to address known or unknown people, with the appropriate use of kin terms reflect ing a perso' polite ness, respectf uln ess, and frie ndli ness.The third difference is that most occup

16、ational titles can be used as address terms in Chinese, but their En glish equivale nts are not n ecessarily used in the same manner. Look at a talk excha nge which actually occurred betwee n a Chin ese stude nt (C) and an En glish teacher (E): C: Teacher, how do you do?E: How do you do? Where do yo

17、u teach?C: No, I'm not a teacher. fm a stude nt.Here, C was using teache” as an address term, which was interpreted by E as a selfin troducti on.The three differe nces also reveal the Chin ese system of forms of address has bee n dominated by status and politeness norms for many years. In contra

18、st, with the gradual rise of domestic ideology, and equality in creas in gly become prevale nt in forms of address in En glish.1.2 Greeti ng and leave-tak ingPeople of differe nt cultures have differe nt ways of greeti ng and leave-tak ing. One cdti start a talk without greeti ng, and one cartkeep o

19、n the relati on ship without bidd ing farewell at leave-tak ing.Giving regards to others directly, this is characterized in En glish. En glish hasGood morning” and Good afternoon”.ln Chinese culture there are similar structures, such as你 身体好吗？”(How are you?) and 近来怎么样 ”(How are you keeping recently?

20、).Comme nting weather is the most ofte n used in En glish, but whe n Chin ese frie nds meet on street, they greet one another by saying去哪呀?”(Where are you going?) around meal time, a com mon greeti ng is 吃过了吗？”Have you had your meal?). These greet in gs, en coded as greeting in Chinese culture, are

21、often decoded in Western culture, as preliminary to a request for information in the first case and to an invitation to a meal in the latter.In Western culture, it is com mon to in dulge in a couple of minu tes talk, as preparati on for leaving. This maybe the along the lines of: Well, it's been

22、 lovely to see you again, but I must be going soon. I hope well be able to get together aga in before long. While it is customary for the Chinese guest to say 慢走” 走好 ” etc. The host usually insists on seeing his guest off, while the guest tries to decli ne. Here aga in, what is con sidered as an act

23、 of polite ness in Chin ese culture might be regarded as a face-threate ning act in Western culture. To Wester ners, a smile and a gesture of farewell would be eno ugh.1.3 Tha nksHow to respond to thanks is also associated with cultural norms. Below is an example show ing how Chin ese n ative speake

24、rs and En glish n ative speakers may resp ond to tha nks differe ntly in the same situati on.Chin ese Customer: Thank you for your excelle nt service.En glish waiter: Don' t men ti on it.Chin ese waiter: This is what I should do.The above example dem on strates that the Chin ese resp onse is ass

25、ociated with a sense of duty, which to the Chin ese is a moral obligati on. To say that what you have done w hat you should do shows that you are modesty and courteous, since the resp onse in dicates that one n eed not to be tha nked for what one should do. In comparis on, the modesty and courtesy t

26、hat the En glish n ative speakers resp onse reflect is not lin ked with moral obligati on. En glish may feel upset and offended sinceEnglish 'interpretation of Chinese ' response is that Chinese is obliged to do so rather tha n do it willi ngly.1.4 ApologiesApologiz ing is a speech act addre

27、ssed to the offen ded perslface-n eeds and inten ded to remedy an offense and thus to restore the frie ndship betwee n the two. However, people in differe nt cultures have differe nt ways of express ing apology.For the Chin ese, apology most ofte n occurs betwee n people of un equal social status an

28、d it is usually the person with less power apologizes to the person with more power, e.g. students to their teachers, employees to employers. But for the native English speakers, an apology is n ecessary whe never inconvenience or offence is made with little con siderati on of the status or social p

29、ower of the people concern ed. For example, a man ager will say sorry if s/he has to answer a phone call during a conversation with his or her clerk.In resp onding to an apology in both En glish and Chin ese, one can reject the n eed for apologiz ing. But in En glish society, what the hearer can not

30、 do is to accept the apology; whereas in Chin ese society, it is perfectly polite to accept the apology by say ing我接受你 的道歉 ”。(I accept your apology).It' obvious that there are differe nt rules gover ning the apology behavior of the Chin ese and English speakers. Thats the reason for the fact tha

31、t the Chinese may not seem polite eno ugh to En glish speakers and the En glish speakers may seem too insin cere to the Chin ese.1.5 Complime ntCulture affects ways of complime nt and resp onse eve n more. I n givi ng a complime nt, the speaker is attempti ng to get the addressee to recog nize the f

32、ornferpositive evaluati on about the latter. Take the verbal in teract ions of complime nt in America n En glish and Chin ese as an example; please compare the followi ng two groups of resp on ses to complime nt:En glishChin ese(1)A: This is really a n ice sweater. A: Your sweater is very good.B: I&

33、#39;m glad you like it.B: I bought it only for five Yuan.A: You did a good job.A: You did the job very well.B: Thank you/Tha nks.B: Thats the result of jo int efforts/Ther6s still much room for improveme nt.Accordi ng to the examples, say ing tha nks is the primary con siderati on for the group ofEn

34、 glish whe n they resp ond to complime nts. While the Chin ese an swer reflects aconversational habit: when commenting on a purchase, we often ask or voluntarily tell whether the price is cheap or expe nsive. Many Wester ners feel somewhat in hibited about talk ing about price of possessi ons. Also,

35、 that is very likely to be take n as a rejecti on of n ative English speakers ability to judge.In giving compliments, frequency of the sentence pattern“like/love it ” in American English is much greater than that in Chinese anc“ou” and your” appear in most of the Chinese compliments. Overuse of I” i

36、s marked by the Chinese as a sign of arroganee or the inten ti on of show ing off, which is n aturally avoided in complime nti ng others. In resp onding to complime nts, America ns tend to accept them as a kind of recog niti on of their in dividual efforts, whereas the Chin ese tend to efface themse

37、lves, for too much emphasis on in dividual efforts will not be socially acceptable, and regard those who praise themselves or simply accept complime nts without hesitati on as blow ing on' own horn.2. The reasons for different polite discourses between Chinese and English culturesJust as the abo

38、ve analysis, the politeness indicates its own great diversity during its realizati on in differe nt cultures, but there exist deeper cultural differe nces below those phe nomen a. It is caused by the differe nt historical and cultural backgro unds as well as the differe nt value orie ntati ons betwe

39、e n two kinds of differe nt cultures.2.1 Different historical and cultural backgroundsA country or a n atio n's cultural orie ntati on, lifestyles, and com muni cative behavior, to great extent, are determined by its geographical and other physical conditions. The four countries with an ancient

40、civilization in the world are all developed on the basis of farming. The Chin ese n atio n rises in Yellow River Valley, which dem on strated that the an cie nt Chin ese people relied on agriculture heavily and developed a steady lifestyle for survival. Union and stead in ess has always bee n the im

41、porta nt thing in every dyn asty. This kind of stead in ess has permeated through all areas in cludi ng family, society and eve n dnesocial status and relati on ships. Moreover, i n Chin ese there is an elaborate system of ki nship terms, because Chinese families used to be very big and highly hiera

42、tical, so to some extent the Chin ese system of forms of address has bee n domin ated by status and polite ness norms for a long time.In contrast, the Western countries usually rise in the oceanic environment. They immigrated cross the ocean and conquered other countries and regions as their colonie

43、s. All these experie nces formed their differe nt men tal attitudes and characteristics. And they also try to escape from the shackles of family. Every one is created equal has become the core of social no rms. This kind of parallel or equal social relati on ship of course has a great effect on peop

44、le's com muni cative behavior.2.2 Different value orie ntati onsIt is believed that in dividualism is the core of Western cultural value, while collectivism is the core of Eastern cultural value. People in Western countries value freedom and places high priority on openness. The wordprivacy has

45、positive connotation for people in Englishspeaking countries. They think of the privacy of their homes, the right to privacy, and the right to private property. The word exclusive nessi ndicates that a pers on withdrawal from a society, is a loner, or does not fit in. However, the traditional Chines

46、e did not have a concept of privacy. As a result, there is no corresp onding word in the Chin ese Ian guage. Typically privacy is tran slatedexclusive nesswhich brings up very differe nt conno tati on in En glish from the word privacy. Moreover, the Chinese people, in general, place emphasis on rela

47、ti on ships, group harm ony, cooperati on, and family. As a result, differe nt value orie ntatio ns might lead to differe nt behaviors.Con clusi onThis thesis mainly talks about the differe nces of polite ness un der differe nt cultures. In the first part, it sets several detailed expressive ways of

48、 polite discourses as examples, reveali ng the dissimilarities of politeness in different cultural backgrounds. In the second part, it in troduces the reas ons for the differe nces. From the above an alysis, people can lear n the differe nces of polite discourses betwee n Chin ese and En glish cultures. This can also help the speakers behave politely and properly whe n com muni cati ng with others.With the globalizati on of economy,