新编跨文化交际案例分析

1、Unit 5Culture and Verbal CommunicationCase 17When these two men separate, they may leave each other with very different impressions. Mr Richardson is very pleased to have made the acquaintance of Mr Chu and feels they havegotten off to a very good start. They have established their relationship on a

2、 first-name basis and MrChus smile seemed to indicate that he will be friendly and easy to do business with. Mr Richardsonis particularly pleased that he had treated Mr Chu with respect for his Chinese background by callinghim Hon-fai rather than using the western name, David, which seemed to him an

3、 unnecessaryimposition of western culture. In contrast, Mr Chu feels quite uncomfortable with Mr Richardson. He feels it will be difficultto work with him, and that Mr Richardson might be rather insensitive to cultural differences. He isparticularly bothered that, instead of calling him David or Mr

4、Chu, Mr Richardson used his givenname, Hon-fai, the name rarely used by anyone, in fact. It was this embarrassment which caused himto smile. He would feel more comfortable if they called each other Mr Chu and Mr Richardson.Nevertheless, when he was away at school in North America he learned that Ame

5、ricans feeluncomfortable calling people Mr for any extended period of time. His solution was to adopt awestern name. He chose David for use in such situations.Case 18Even if the American knew Urdu, the language spoken in Pakistan, he would also have tounderstand the culture of communication in that

6、country to respond appropriately. In this case, hehad to say No at least three times. In some countries, for instance, the Ukraine, it may happen that a guest is pressed as many asseven or eight times to take more food, whereas in the UK it would be unusual to do so more thantwice. For a Ukrainian,

7、to do it the British way would suggest the person is not actually generous.Indeed, British recipients of such hospitality sometimes feel that their host is behaving impolitelyby forcing them into a bind, since they run out of polite refusal strategies long before the Ukrainianhost has exhausted his/

8、her repertoire of polite insistence strategies.Case 19Talking about whats wrong is not easy for people in any culture, but people in high-contextcountries like China put high priority on keeping harmony, preventing anyone from losing face, andnurturing the relationship. It seems that Ron Kelly had t

9、o learn a different way of sending messagewhen he was in China. At home in Canada he would have gone directly to the point. But in China,going directly to the problem with someone may suggest that he or she has failed to live up to his orher responsibility and the honor of his or her organization is

10、 in question. In high-context cultures likeChina, such a message is serious and damaging. In low-context cultures, however, the tendency isjust to spit it out, to get it into words and worry about the result later. Senders of unwelcomemessages use objective facts, assuming, as with persuasion, that

11、facts are neutral, instrumental, andimpersonal. Indirectness is often the way members of high-context cultures choose to communicateabout a problem.Case 20It seems that the letters of request written in English as well as in Chinese by Chinese peopleare likely to preface the request with extended fa

12、ce-work. To Chinese people, the normal and polite way to form a request requires providing reasons that are usually placed before the requests. Of course, this is just the inverse of English conventions in which requests are fronted without much face-work. In the view of the English-speaking people,

13、 the opening lines of Chinese requests and some other speech acts do not usually provide a thesis or topic statement which will orient the listener to the overall direction of the communication. Worst of all, the lack of precision and the failure to address the point directly may lead to suspicions

14、that the Chinese speakers are beating around the bush. To them, the presence of a clear and concise statement of what is to be talked about will make the speech more precise, more dramatic, and more eloquent. However, the Chinese learning and using English in communication may find it difficult toco

15、me to terms with the common English tendency to begin with a topic statement. In the Chineseculture, stating ones request or main point at the beginning would make the person seem immodest, pushy, and inconsiderate for wanting things. If your speech gives others the impression that you are demanding

16、 something, you would lose face for acting aggressively and not considering the others. Thus youd be hurting people by claiming something for yourself. In such a situation, it is usually considered a smart strategy if you carefully delineate thejustifications that will naturally lead to your request

17、 or argument. Therefore, instead of stating their proposition somewhere in the beginning and then proceeding to build their case, Chinese people often first establish a shared context with which to judge their requests or arguments. Only after carefully prefacing them with an avalanche of relevant d

18、etails, as if to nullify any opposition, will they present the requests or arguments.Unit 6 Culture and Nonverbal CommunicationCase 21Sometimes our best intentions can lead to breakdowns in cross-cultural communication. Forexample, one of the very common manners of touching - handshaking - may resul

19、t in conflictwhen performed with no consideration of cultural differences. Among middle-class North Americanmen, it is customary to shake hands as a gesture of friendship. When wanting to communicate extrafriendliness, a male in the United States may, while shaking hands, grasp with his left hand hi

20、sfriends right arm. However, to people of Middle Eastern countries, the left hand is profane andtouching someone with it is highly offensive. Therefore, in Vernons eyes, Kenneth was actually anextremely offensive message to him.Case 22In Puerto Rican culture, as in some other Latin American and East

21、ern cultures, it is not right fora child to keep an eye-contact with an adult who is accusing him or her, while in the United States,failing of meeting other persons eye accusing him or her would be taken as a sign of guiltiness. Asthe principal knew little about this cultural difference in using ey

22、e-contact, he decided that the girlmust be guilty. Generally speaking, avoiding eye-contact with the other(s) is often considered as aninsult in some cultures, but may signify respect for authority and obedience in other cultures.Case 23Just like smile, laughing does not always serve the same functi

23、on in different cultures.Interestingly, for us Chinese, laughing often has a special function on some tense social occasions.People may laugh to release the tension or embarrassment, to express their concern about you, theirintention to put you at ease or to help you come out of the embarrassment. I

24、n this case, the peoplethere were actually wishing to laugh with the American rather than laugh at her. Their laughingseemed to convey a number of messages: dont take it so seriously; laugh it off, its nothing; suchthings can happen to any of us, etc. Unfortunately the American was unaware of this. She thoughtthey were laughing at her, which made her feel more badly and angry, for in her culture laughing onsuch an occasion would be interpreted as an insulting response, humiliating and negative.Case 24I