The culture difference between East and western.docx

1、The culture difference between East and westernThe culture difference between East and western默认分类 2007-08-23 19:56:30 阅读557 评论0 字号：大中小Please be attention. If you meet me here by chance, please be patient to read this chapter. It maybe useful for your career.The culture difference between East and w

2、esternWith China entry the WTO and will hold the Olympic Games in 2008, the relationship between China and Western in politics, economy, culture will become more and more close. It is undoubtedly that the etiquette will play an important role in this process. To the definition of etiquette, China an

3、d Western have a different understanding. As Chinese thinks that the etiquette is the common behavior standards that all the members must obey, and its purpose is to keep the normal living order of the society. In ancient China, a famous philosopher thinks that etiquette is a principal to deal with

4、the relationship between man and supernatural beings, man and ghosts, man and men. There are also many words about etiquette in English. For example, courtesy which means courteous behavior, good manners; protocol which means system of rules governing formal occasion, e .g, meetings,between governme

5、nts, diplomats, etc. And these words are all from the same French word etiquette. Of course, more spread and more profound cultural comment ofthe western etiquette is from the Classical Period, i.e., old Athens and Roma culture. Today, etiquette become the reflection and manifestation of one country

6、s politics, economy, culture in peoples social contact. And it include the principal and moral that people should obey in daily life. Etiquette formed in theprocess of the deposition of culture and social contact. So every nation have their own etiquette standard which created with the spirit of thi

7、s their nation. Because of this formed the cultural difference between different nations. As languages is the carrier of the human culture. This difference must reflect in the language of different nations. So in the following, we will take china, British and America as the representation of Western

8、, to look at some cultural difference in etiquette, and then analyze the reasons. Furthermore, we will discuss how to learn western culture.一.Cultural differences on politeness between western and Chinese can be found in many aspects of daily communication, including addressing, greeting and parting

9、, compliments, apologies, thanks, etc. In the following, we will look at some cultural different between China and western.1.Greeting and PartingWhen people meet acquaintances or friends, people usually greet each other. The purpose of greeting is to establish or maintain social contact. So formulai

10、c expressions are often used, but such formulaic expressions often causes conflict because of the great cultural differences between Chinese and native English +-speakers. In English, people often employ the following expressions to greet each other “Good morning/evening/afternoon. “Fine day, isnt i

11、t? ”How is everything going?” Have you eaten yet?” What are you going to do?” Where have you been?”etc. Westerners treat them as real question. While in Chinese, we always say “你吃了吗？”“你上哪里去？”“你干什么去？”to show our consideration. Parting may be divided into two steps. Before the final prating, there is

12、usual a leave-taking. Westernand Chinese cultures have diverse ways to deal with leave-takings. Firstly, in English society, during the closing phase of an encounter, from ”I” perspective, reasons for terminating the encounter are presented in mitigatory comments. Typical comments are associated wit

13、h expressions of apology, such as “I” am afraid I must be off, I have to relieve the baby-sitter” etc. Western people believe that to be willing to visit and converse with someone isto have respect for him.; to terminate the visiting is not of ones own free will, but because of some other arrangemen

14、ts, therefore they always try to make their leaving sound reluctant by finding some reasons and apologize for it to make the leaving acceptable for both parties. English speakers often signal several times before leaving. “Well, its been nice to see you again. I do enjoy our talk and the lovely dinn

15、er, but I must be going soon”. Thank you very much for asking me over. I hope well be able to get together again before long” Consolidation in a wider range of common acquaintances also occurs, in expressions such as “Say hello to Jack for me” or “Remember me to John”. In Chinese society, during the

16、 closing phase of and encounter, usually, from a “you ”perspective, reasons for ending the encounter are set forth in mitigatory expressions. Such expressions include“你挺忙的，我就不多打扰了。”“你一定累了，早点休息吧，我要告辞了。”, etc. With these words, they may stand up from their seats. Chineseleave-taking is very short and

17、quick. Western people think it so abrupt that they have not prepare for it. While moving to the door, Chinese employ expressionsof apology like“对不起没，打扰了。”“对不起，占用你不少时间。”It should be noted that these expressions employed by Chinese guests to show concern for their hosts can only be appropriate for bus

18、iness visits in the English environment2.AddressingBoth western and Chinese people have two kinds of personal names-a surname anda given name. But the order and the use of these names in the two languages aresomewhat different. In Chinese, the surname comes first and then the given name. And people

19、like add“小”before their family name. Such as“小王”、“小郑”、“小李”、“小徐”and so on. While westerners names are written and spoken withthe given name first and the family name last. So John Smiths family name is Smith, not John. In a formal setting, address men as Mister (abbreviated as Mr.), married women as

20、Misses (abbreviated as Mrs.), and unmarried women as Miss (abbreviated as Ms.). These days many women prefer to be addressed usingthe abbreviations Ms. or M., pronounced miz. If the person has an M.D. orPh.D., they will often be addressed as Doctor (abbreviated as Dr.). Facultyare addressed as Profe

21、ssor (abbreviated as Prof.).In an informal situation,westerners will introduce each other by first name, without titles, and occasionally by just the last name. If you are introduced to somebody by first name, you can address him or her by first name the next time you meet. The only exception would

22、be for someone who holds an important position, such as the university president or provost. Unless they tell you otherwise, faculty should be addressedusing their title and last name (e.g., Professor Smith). When in doubt, use the formal manner of address, since it is better to err on the side of f

23、ormality.It is also appropriate to ask how they prefer to be addressed. Children shouldalways address adults in the formal fashion, using their title and last name.Another difference is about the form of addressing. From the viewpoint of sociolinguistics, forms of addressing can serve as an indicati

24、on of the relationship of power and solidarity in the society. In calling their superiors or elders, theChinese are accustomed to the nonreciprocal or asymmetrical addressing, in other words. They use “title +surname” to address their superior or elders ratherthan call them surnames, while the super

25、ior or elders call the addressers theirnames. The Chinese tend to abide by the polite principle of depreciating oneselfand respecting others to show appropriate respects towards the persons being addressed, otherwise, the addresser may be considered as ill mannered, ill educated or rude. But in Engl

26、ish speaking countries, people have a tendency to follow the reciprocal or symmetrical addressing. Although they are different in age andstatus, they can call the other directly, namely, their names, even first namesexcept when they call the doctors, not arousing offence between them, but demonstrat

27、ing the sense of intimacy and the conception of” Everyone is created equal”. Chinese people feel unnatural addressing a westerner by his given name, feeling that it indicates too close a relationship, and westerners, on the other hand,may feel that if a Chinese insists on using his surname, it indic

28、ates an unwillingness to be friendly and maintains a gap between them. So the use of forms like” Miss Mary” or “Mr. Smith ” may be a Chinese forms of compromise. With Miss Mary, the use of the given name indicates friendliness, but the addition of the title indicates the respect they feel they ought

29、 to show. And with Smith, thelack of a title indicates friendliness, but the use of the surname prevents if sounding too intimate. However, both addressing used by the Chinese sound very strange and uncomfortable to the westerner.3.Compliments and ResponseTo compliment is to praise the addressees vi

30、rtues, ability, behavior, appearance, clothing, personality and belongs. Appropriate compliments can serve as effective supplementary means in inter-personal communication. Western and Chinese culture are at polar opposites about compliment. An western hostess, if she is complimented for her cooking

31、 skill, is likely to say,” Oh, I am so glad that youliked it. I cook it especially for you.” Not so is a Chinese hostess, who willinstead apologize for giving you “Nothing”. They will say“随便作几个菜，不好吃。”If translate this into English“I just made some dishes casually and they are not very tasty. Perhaps

32、 the foreigner will think why you invite me to you family and have the untasty food. You arent respect me. The English-speaking peopleare more active to praise others and to be praise than Chinese people. For example, the Americans are “straight forwardness”, the Chinese take pride in “modesty”. That modesty has left many a Chinese hungry at an Americans table, for Chinese politeness calls for three refusals before one accepts an offer and the Americans hosts take ”no ” to mean “no ”, whether it is the first, second orthird time. Still bigger differences exist