unit-4-verbal-communication.ppt

1、Unit 4 Verbal Communication,Case analysis Cultural-loaded words Cultural reflections on proverbs Taboos Differences in cultural thought patterns Exercises,Case Analysis,Shoes for street walking A misunderstanding caused by a joke Look out!,Case 1 Street walker? Have a fit?,Case 2 Hustle: 1) If you h

2、ustle someone, you are trying to make him go somewhere or do something quickly. 2) Romance or sex is hinted,Case 3: Look out! 1) Ill look out the photograph you want to see. 2) Will you go to the station and look out for Mr. White? 3) She swivelled round to look out of the window. 4) Tell the childr

3、en to look out when they cross the main street,“Careful with fire,” is good advice, we know; “Careful with words,” is then times doubly so. Will Carleton, The First Settlers Story The cultural connotations of words can make the difference between an active social life and none at all.,Cultural-Loade

4、d words,Same word, different connotation 龙：龙颜、龙袍、龙椅、龙心大喜 dragon: monster,知识分子: in China, it refers to those people including college teachers, college students, middle school teachers, and such people as medical doctors, engineers, interpreters who have had a college education. Intellectual: include

5、s only people of high academic status, e.g. university professors ) derogatory complimentary,intelectual for English,for Chinese,Object/concept existing in one culture but not in another 干部/cadre? (officialfunctionaryadministrator),社会科学/social science (political science, economics, history, sociolog

6、y that study human society) humanities(language, literature, philosophy etc., the branches of learning dealing with the cultural aspects of civilization),公与母 male chicken, cock, rooster, hen, chick duck, drake, duck, duckling horse, stallion, mare, foal male leopard female panda she wolf,副/vice,asso

7、ciate,assistant,deputy,lieutenant, under,Vice-chairman, vice-president associate professor, associate director assistant manager, assistant secretary deputy director, assistant secretary lieutenant governor, lieutenant general undersecretary (of State, U. S.),单词及词组 -望文之义 -实际意思 busboy ? 公共汽车售票员 餐厅服务员

8、 book keeper ?书籍保管员 薄记员,rest room ?休息室 洗手间 go moonlighting ?月下漫步 赚外块,personal remark ?个人评论 人身攻击 at sea ?在海里 不知所措,bad sailor ?坏水手 晕船的人 familiar talk ?熟悉的谈话 庸俗的交谈,由误解词义而产生的望文生义的句子 1Can I take your order？ 【误】我能接受你的命令吗？ 【正】你现在点菜吗？ 【析】order作为命令时常用复数，此处意为点菜。 2She is a homely woman 【误】她是一个家庭妇女。 【正】她是一个朴素的女

9、人。 【析】homely意为简朴的，朴实的，而非家庭的。 3He lost a cool thousand dollars 【误】他损失了一千美元，还很冷静。 【正】他整整损失了一千美元。 【析】cool用于数额前意思为整整的，不折不扣的。,4This is an open question 【误】这是个公开的问题。 【正】这是个没有解决的，有争议的问题。 【析】open在此句中意为未解决的，容许争议的。 以上例句，一个共同的、易犯的错误是在理解翻译时被某些关键词的基本词义所束缚，而忽视了他们真正的、具体的、准确的意思。,The major semantic differences betwe

10、en English and Chinese terms might be grouped as follows: 1. A term in one language does not necessarily have a counterpart in the other language. 2. Words or terms in both languages appear to refer to the same object or concept only on the surface, but actually refer to quite different things.,3. T

11、hings or concepts are represented by one or perhaps two terms in one language, but by many more terms in the other language, that is , finer distinctions exist in the other language. 4. Terms have more or less the same primary meaning, but have secondary or additional meanings that may differ consid

12、erably form each other.,Cultural reflections on Proverbs,Proverbs may provide interesting glimpse or clues to a peoples geography, history, social organization, social views, etc. The following proverbs show the similarities of human experiences and observations of both English and Chinese cultures.

13、 A new broom sweeps clean. Many hands make light work. Dont put off until tomorrow what you can do today. Killing two birds with one stone.,Haste makes waste. Beauty is just skin deep. Give a person a dose of his own medicine. Spare the rod and spoil the child. Where theres smoke theres fire. The gr

14、ass is always greener on the other side of the fence.,Strike while the iron is hot. Out of sight, out of mind. Birds of a feather flock together. Look before you leap. Where there is a will, there is a way. All good things must come to an end.,Since culture is powerful in giving a language its chara

15、cteristics, the dissimilarities are naturally more apparent. Chinese proverbs without commonly known English equivalents are too numerous to be listed, for example, 良药苦口利于病，忠言逆耳利于行 Frank advice is like good herbal medicine: hard to take, but ultimately beneficial.,一人得道,鸡犬升天. Even the dog swaggers wh

16、en its master wins favor. 瓜田不纳履, 李下不整冠 Neither adjust your shoe in a melon patch; nor your hat under a plum tree.,要知朝中事，乡间问老农。 Ask the common folk, if you want to know how the country is faring. 衙门自古朝南开，有力无钱莫进来。 Court door may open, but not to the poor.,There are also some fairly common English prov

17、erbs that do not have exact Chinese equivalents, for example, Absence makes the heart grow fonder. An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Let sleeping dogs lie. You cant teach an old dog new tricks. You cant have your cake and eat it too.,It takes two to make a quarrel. A miss is as good as a mile. G

18、ilding the lily. Life begins at forty.,Taboos,In any culture, some words or expressions are to be avoided because tradition or social custom strongly frowns on their use. These are verbal taboo. Taboos beyond veral ones, such as, 1) Stir Christmas pudding clockwise.,Many Westerners think, stir puddi

19、ng can make their own luck in the coming year. Therefore, when doing the Christmas pudding, every member of the family at least stir about pudding, and make a wish. But pudding-stir can only be clockwise, not counterclockwise.,2) To get out of bed on the wrong side means you will have a bad day. 3)

20、It is unlucky to have a black cat cross the road in front of you. 4） The bride should not see the husband on the morning before the wedding. 5 ) To pass under a ladder brings bad luck. 6) Lighting three cigarettes from one match brings bad luck to the third person.,English and Chinese have certain a

21、reas of agreement on taboos. For example: 1) Excreta and acts of human excretion 2) Sexual intercourse and certain parts of the body such as, four-letter words: fuck, tits, etc. 3) Swear words: swear words: Damn! Damn it! Son of bitch! 4) death and illness,Euphemism and taboo,A euphemism and its cor

22、responding taboo are the two sides of a coin. Euphemisms are mild, agreeable, or roundabout words used in place of coarse, painful, or offensive ones. Euphemisms are powerful linguistic devices which “are embedded so deeply in our language that few of us, even those who pride themselves on being pla

23、inspoken, never get through a day without using them”. ( Huge Rawson ),Death,Chinese “百年后” “长眠”, “安息”, “上天国/升天堂”, “去见老祖宗”, “作古” “去世”， “长眠”，“安息”，“没了”，“作古”，“谢世”, “与世长辞”，“去见马克思” “死”（die）,English pass away, pass out, pass over, pass on, go to sleep, depart, depart from the world forever, decease, rest i

24、n peace, be at rest, breathe ones last, go the way of all flesh, pay ones debt to nature, go to a better world, be in heaven, be with God, etc.,Illness,Chinese 铁拐李/腿脚不方便， 耳朵背/耳朵有点不好使， 眼睛不太好,English “the mobilityimpaired, the hearingimpaired/hard of hearing, visually impaired, partiallysighted/people

25、 with low vision” etc,Excretion actions,Chinese “出恭” “更衣” “起夜” “ 解手” “去去就来”, “方便方便” ,“有事”, “去洗手” “去打个电话”,English go to the mens /ladies room, go to the rest room, wash ones hands, relieve oneself, see a man about a horse, because nature calls; if a woman feels the call of nature, she can just say, “

26、where can I powder my nose?” or “Where to freshen up?”,Sex,Chinese “房事”, “过夫妻生活”, “同房”, “圆房”, “行房”, “做爱”, “云雨”, “发生关系”,English “have an affair with”, “go to bed with”, “ be in bed”, “do it”, “make love”, “lie with”, “ make it,Euphemism and taboo,一个唱白脸一个唱黑脸 Taboo - serves as a norm in language commun

27、ication about things that should not be said (bad-cop) Euphemism- about way of saying certain things（good-cop）,Differences in Cultural Thought Patterns,After examing the problem-solving approaches and patterns of thought in Chinese and English cultures, Kaplan (1970) concluded that the problem-solving approaches and thought patterns of English speakers from the United States were more linear an