Encounter with Westerners Unit 2

1、2012/9/22,1,encounter with westerners unit 2,ii. encounter:the gift frank is a student in china who has just been granted a special scholarship to study at a university in the west. his english teacher, ms.kelsen, wrote a recommendation letter that was instrumental in his getting the scholarship. fr

2、ank feels very grateful to ms.kelsen, so he decides to buy her an expensive gift, a landscape painting, as a way of thanking her.,ii. 事件：礼物 弗兰克是中国学生，刚被授予某项奖学金去西方某大学学习。他的英语老师，凯瑟女士写了封推荐信，这对他拿到奖学金帮助很大。弗兰克对凯瑟女士心存感激，决定送件贵重的礼物，一幅风景画给凯瑟女士，以表感激。,2012/9/22,2,encounter with westerners unit 2,ii. encounter:the

3、 gift one day after class has ended the other students have left, frank presents the gift to ms.kelsen. looking surprised, ms.kelsen says thank you, but says that she cant accept his gift. frank offers the gift several more times but ms.kelsen insists on refusing.,ii. 事件：礼物 一天，下课后，其他同学都离开了，弗兰克把礼物呈现在

4、凯瑟女士面前，凯瑟女士很惊讶地说谢谢，但不能接受礼物。弗兰克又几次呈送礼物，但凯瑟女士坚持拒收。,2012/9/22,3,encounter with westerners unit 2,ii. encounter:the gift some likely interpretations: suggested procedure note: the task requires students to list their interpretations in order of likelihood, so when groups report, you might start by havin

5、g each group tell you which interpretation they chose as most likely. then, if there is still room on the board, ask for other possible interpretations that have not yet been mentioned.,2012/9/22,4,encounter with westerners unit 2,ii. encounter:the gift some likely interpretations (1): ms. kelsen ma

6、y feel that teachers should not accept gifts, especially valuable ones, from students. (in the west, it is rare for individual students to give teachers gifts, especially expensive ones).,2012/9/22,5,encounter with westerners unit 2,ii. encounter:the gift some likely interpretations (2) ms. kelsen d

7、oes not think it is right to accept a gift, especially a valuable one, just for doing her duty as a teacher.,2012/9/22,6,encounter with westerners unit 2,ii. encounter:the gift some likely interpretations (3): ms. kelsen is afraid that other people will find out that she accepted the gift, end that

8、they will think she took a bribe.,2012/9/22,7,encounter with westerners unit 2,ii. encounter:the gift some likely interpretations (4): ms. ketsen may feel that she only did her duty, so she has done nothing to deserve such a special gift.,2012/9/22,8,encounter with westerners unit 2,ii. encounter:th

9、e gift some likely interpretations (5): ms. kelsen may feel uncomfortable because she assumes frank cannot afford to give expensive gifts. *,2012/9/22,9,encounter with westerners unit 2,encounter:the gift some likely interpretations (6): ms. kelsen may feel that accepting the gift would put her unde

10、r obligation to frank. (most westerners feel that accepting a valuable gift entails a degree of re-ciprocity. ),2012/9/22,10,encounter with westerners unit 2,ii. encounter:the gift possible closing point; one negative - or positive - experience with a foreigner can often leave a very deep impression

11、.,2012/9/22,11,encounter with westerners unit 2,ii. encounter: the gift culture notes gift giving in the west (1): westerners generally only give gifts on certain culturally designated occasions such as birthdays or certain holidays such as christmas. in general, westerners do not use gifts to incur

12、 or repay social obligations (davis 2001:113).,2012/9/22,12,encounter with westerners unit 2,ii. encounter: the gift culture notes gift giving in the west (2): it is not generally necessary to reciprocate for small personal favors by giving gifts; usually saying thank you is sufficient. in situation

13、s where someone does want to show gratitude by offering a gift, westerners are often comfortable with being taken out to eat, or with a small gift that has more personal significance than monetary value.,it is not generally necessary to reciprocate for small personal favors by giving gifts; usually

14、saying thank you is sufficient. in situations where someone does want to show gratitude by offering a gift, westerners are often comfortable with being taken out to eat, or with a small gift that has more personal significance than monetary value. perishable gifts like food and drink can also genera

15、lly be accepted relatively easily. valuable gifts are an appropriate way to show gratitude only for a truly significant favor, and only in situations where it will not look like the gift-giver is trying to buy favor.,2012/9/22,13,encounter with westerners unit 2,ii. encounter: the gift culture notes

16、 gift giving in the west (3): perishable gifts like food and drink can also generally be accepted relatively easily. valuable gifts are an appropriate way to show gratitude only for a truly significant favor, and only in situations where it will not look like the gift-giver is trying to buy favor.,2

17、012/9/22,14,encounter with westerners unit 2,ii. encounter: the gift culture notes gifts and bribes (1): in most western cultures, it is not considered appropriate to accept a private gift, especially a valuable one, as a reward for performing a work-related duty. such a gift would often be viewed a

18、s a bribe, outside of well established occasions like christmas and birthdays, circumspection is observed so that gift giving appears personally anonymous or offhand.,2012/9/22,15,encounter with westerners unit 2,ii. encounter: the gift culture notes gifts and bribes (2): the gifts significance is c

19、arefully limited to avoid a personal meaning that might be construed as offering a bribe, seeking special favors, or as requiring reciprocity. (stewart and bennett 1991: 95),2012/9/22,16,encounter with westerners unit 2,ii. encounter: the gift culture notes public and private distinction (1): in bot

20、h china and the west, expressing gratitude for work-related service by giving a personal gift would often be considered inappropriate. there are, however, differences between east and west on more specific points of how this general principle is applied.,2012/9/22,17,encounter with westerners unit 2

21、,ii. encounter: the gift culture notes public and private distinction (2): on the whole, western (individualist) cultures generally feel there should be a clearer distinction between public and private life than eastern (collectivist) cultures would make, and this causes westerners to feel it is mor

22、e wrong to do things that would transgress the boundaries between these two parts of life. one consequence of this is that westerners are less likely to feel it is necessary to be rewarded (privately) for doing (public) duties.,2012/9/22,18,encounter with westerners unit 2,iii. intercultural communi

23、cation reading interpreting what foreigners mean a very important aspect of intercultural communication is interpretation, the process of deciding what foreigners words and actions means and why they do what they do. for example, when frank tries to understand why ms.kelsen refused his gift, he is i

24、nterpreting her behavior.,iii. 跨文化交际阅读 领会外国人的意思 跨文化交际的一个重要方面是“领会”，即思考外国人的语言行为的意思的过程及他们为什么要那样做。比如，当弗兰克努力想象为什么凯瑟女士会拒绝他的礼物时，他就是在领会她的行为。,2012/9/22,19,encounter with westerners unit 2,iii. intercultural communication reading interpreting what foreigners mean interpretation is a part of all communication-

25、including communication between people from the same culture. imagine a western friend greeting you by saying how are you? even though her question seems very simple and easy to understand, you still need to interpret what she means:,iii. 跨文化交际阅读 领会外国人的意 领会是所有交流，包括与来自同一文化的人交流的一部分。想象下，一西方朋友给你打招呼说“你好吗

26、？”即使她的问题很简单也很容易回答，你仍需要领会她的意思。,2012/9/22,20,encounter with westerners unit 2,iii. intercultural communication reading interpreting what foreigners mean perhaps how are you? is just a polite greeting, the same as hello. or perhaps she really wants to know how you are (and expects you to stop and chat

27、with her). or perhaps her question means she is worried about your health (maybe because she has heard that you were sick).,iii. 跨文化交际阅读 领会外国人的意思 也许，“你好吗？”是跟你“好”一样的礼貌问候。 也许她真的想知道你最近怎（希望你停下来与她交谈）。 也许她的问题意味着她很关心你的健康（也许是因为她听说你生病了）,2012/9/22,21,encounter with westerners unit 2,iii. intercultural communi

28、cation reading interpreting what foreigners mean in and of themselves , the words how are you ? only convey part of the meaning of your friend s message , so you need to use other evidence - the setting, the expression on her face, the tone of her voice, your knowledge of western culture, and so for

29、th -to help you interpret what she means and decide how to respond .,iii. 跨文化交际阅读 领会外国人的意 “你好吗？”这一句子中和句子本身仅包含你朋友想要传达信息的部分意思，因此你需要用到其它证据即当时环境，她脸上表情，她声音的语调，你有关西方文化的知识等等来帮你领会她的含义，以决定如何回应。,2012/9/22,22,encounter with westerners unit 2,iii. intercultural communication reading interpreting what foreigners

30、 mean when you interact with other chinese people, especially chinese people you know well, you can often understand their intentions quite accurately even if you interpret quickly without thinking about it very much.,iii. 跨文化交际阅读 领会外国人的意思 当与其他中国人交谈时，尤其是很熟的中国人，通常你能很准确地领会他们的意图，即使不加太多的思考，也会很快地领会出来。,20

31、12/9/22,23,encounter with westerners unit 2,iii. intercultural communication reading interpreting what foreigners mean in fact, the interpretation process is often so automatic that you are not aware that you have interpreted anything at all. because it would be impossible for you to think carefully

32、 about everything other people say or do, you have to interpret very quickly at least most of the time.,iii. 跨文化交际阅读 领会外国人的意思 事实上，领会过程通常是自发的以至于你根本没有意识到你在领会什么。想要仔细思考他人的所作所为是不可能的，因此你不得不很快地领会，至少大多数情况下是这样的。,2012/9/22,24,encounter with westerners unit 2,iii. intercultural communication reading interpreti

33、ng what foreigners mean it is more difficult, however, when you try to interpret what foreigners mean, especially foreigners you dont know well. your natural habit will be to interpret the words and actions of foreigners almost as quickly and automatically as you interpret the words and actions of c

34、hinese people.,iii. 跨文化交际阅读 领会外国人的意思 然而，领会外国人会更困难，尤其是不太熟悉的外国人。你会习惯性地像领会中国人的言行那样快速自发地领会外国人的言行。,2012/9/22,25,encounter with westerners unit 2,iii. intercultural communication reading interpreting what foreigners mean however, when you interpret the behavior of foreigners, you dont have so much cultura

35、l background information to help you understand their behavior, so you have to guess and use you imagination much more. if you interpret their behavior quickly, without thinking carefully and getting as much information as possible, it is very likely that your interpretation will be at least partial

36、ly wrong.,iii. 跨文化交际阅读 领会外国人的意思 然而，当领会外国人的言行举止时，你没有太多的文化背景知识来帮你理解他们的行为，因此，你只能猜，只能尽量想象。如果你不加深思快速地领会出了他们的行为的含义，但未能最多地获得信息，很有可能你的领会有误或至少部分有误。,2012/9/22,26,encounter with westerners unit 2,iii. intercultural communication reading interpreting what foreigners mean for reasons we will discuss later in thi

37、s book, there is also good chance that your interpretation of foreigners words or actions will also be overly negative; in other words, that you will find the foreigners are worse (more rude, stupid hostile, strange, dangerous, and so forth) than they actually are.,iii. 跨文化交际阅读 领会外国人的意 由于本书后面将讨论到的某些

38、原因，很有可能你对外国人言行的领会会过多地消极。换句话说，你会觉得外国人比他们实际上更坏（这包括更粗鲁，愚昧，不友好，奇怪，危险，等等）。,2012/9/22,27,encounter with westerners unit 2,iii. intercultural communication reading interpreting what foreigners mean the way you interpret the words and actions of individual foreigners will shape how you evaluate these people

39、. for example, if frank decided if ms. kelsem refused his gift because she wanted something more expensive, he will also probably conclude that she is a greedy person.,iii. 跨文化交际阅读 领会外国人的意 对外国人言行的领会方式会定格你如何评价他们。比如，如果弗兰克认为凯瑟女士拒绝她的礼物是因为她想要更贵的礼物。他会很可能得出结论觉得凯瑟女士是个贪婪的人。,2012/9/22,28,encounter with wester

40、ners unit 2,iii. intercultural communication reading interpreting what foreigners mean on the other hand, if he interprets her refusal as evidence that she doesnt want to appear like she is accepting a bribery, he will probably conclude that she has integrity. often conclusions you draw about whethe

41、r individual foreigners are nice or mean, intelligent or stupid, friendly or hostile, normal or strange, safe or dangerous, and so forth will influence how you evaluate other foreigners from that culture.,iii. 跨文化交际阅读 领会外国人的意思 另一方面，如果他把她的拒绝看成是她不想被看成是在受贿，那么会觉得她很正直。通常你从某个外国人身上得出的结论，他很好或吝啬，聪明或愚蠢，友好或不友好

42、，正常或奇怪，安全或危险等等，这种结论会影响你对那一文化其他外国人的评价。,2012/9/22,29,encounter with westerners unit 2,iii. intercultural communication reading interpreting what foreigners mean effective intercultural communicators need to learn to pay attention to how they interpret what foreigners say and do. the more aware you are

43、 of how you interpret, the more able you are to slow down and be careful, and the more likely you are to avoid misunderstandings.,iii. 跨文化交际阅读 领会外国人的意思 好的跨文化交际者需要学着注意应如何领会外国人的所言所为。对领会方式越清晰，就越能够放慢脚步越仔细，这样就越有可能避免误会。,2012/9/22,30,encounter with westerners unit 2,iii. intercultural communication reading

44、 individualist 個人主義 p9individualist 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 preference

45、s, 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.,2012/9/22,31,encounter with westerners unit 2,iii. intercultural commu

46、nication reading collectivist集體主義p9collectivist 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 chinas,

47、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 me

48、mbers of these cultures.,2012/9/22,32,encounter with westerners unit 2,iii. intercultural communication reading public behavior /private behavior public behavior is the behavior in public settings, such as in work places, shops and so on. private behavior is the behavior in private life, such as whe

49、n you are at home or with your family and so on. both individualist and collectivist cultures make a distinction between public life and private life. however, individualist western cultures tend to make an especially clear and firm distinction between the public and private, and generally feel that

50、 these two aspects of life should be kept separate from each other. in other words, westerners tend to believe that having a personal relationship with someone should not affect how you treat that person in public, work-related situations.,2012/9/22,33,encounter with westerners unit 2,iii. intercult

51、ural communication reading supplementary notes on the role of interpretation in communication (1) : scholars agree widely on the important role interpretation plays in all communication, consider the following: “ . the meaning of the message one person transmits is never exactly the same as the mean

52、ing another person interprets. (gundykunst and kim 1997: 7) the meanings we exchange by speaking and by writing are not given in the words and sentences alone but also constructed partly out of what our stoners and our readers interpret them to mean. (scollon and scollon 1995: 6),2012/9/22,34,encoun

53、ter with westerners unit 2,iii. intercultural communication reading supplementary notes on the role of interpretation in communication (2) : “ . communication is always an interpretive process. whenever people communicate, they must interpret me symbolic behaviors of others and assign significance t

54、o some of those behaviors in order to create a meaningful account of the others actions. this idea suggests that each person in a communication transaction may not necessarily interpret the message in exactly the same way. indeed, during episodes involving intercultural communication the likelihood

55、is high that people will interpret the meaning of messages differently. ( lustig and koester 1996: 29- 30),2012/9/22,35,encounter with westerners unit 2,iii. intercultural communication reading supplementary notes on the role of interpretation in communication (3) : the interpretation process plays

56、a very important role in intercultural interactions. an american audience may interpret the smiles on the faces of japanese athletes after being terribly defeated by their opponents as indicating that japanese athletes dont care about losing the game. from the japanese perspective, the same smile is

57、 interpreted as a painful expression that is used to cover the embarrassment of being defeated. (chen and starosta 1998: 35),2012/9/22,36,encounter with westerners unit 2,iii. intercultural communication reading supplementary notes interpretation as a rapid, automatic process: . the inferences we dr

58、aw in ordinary conversation (as well as in reading written text) are drawn very quickly. most researchers suggest that such inferences must be drawn every time it becomes possible for speakers to exchange turns, and that such occasions occur approximately once every second in normal conversation. (s

59、collon and scollon 1995:11 ),2012/9/22,37,encounter with westerners unit 2,iii. intercultural communication reading supplementary notes perception: chen and starosta (1998:33-35) note that the perception process has three stages: 1 ) selection, this is further divided into three aspects: a. what people choose to expose themselves to b. what they choose to pay attention to c. what they choose to remember. 2 ) categorization. this is the process of organizing data into a coherent whole. 3) interpretation,2012/9/22,38,encounter with westerners unit 2,iii. intercultural communica