英语教学中的跨文化交际(1)(2)
2017-02-05 01:04
导读：These are five characteristics of culture that will enable us to see how these characteristics influence communication First, culture is not innate but learned. From infancy on, members of a culture l
These are five characteristics of culture that will enable us to see how these characteristics influence communication
First, culture is not innate but learned. From infancy on, members of a culture learn their patterns of behavior and ways of thinking until they have become internalized.
Second, culture is transmissible. It always transmitted from one generation to anther.
Third, culture is dynamic. They can produce change through the mechanisms of invention and diffusion
Fourth, culture is selective. Every culture represents a limited choice of behavior patterns from the infinite patterns of human experience
Fifth, culture is ethnocentric. Ethnoentrism might well be the characteristic that most directly related to cross-culture. [2]
.2.2 On cross-culture and the importance of learning cross-cultural knowledge
Those characteristics are the common features of most countries’ culture. We know that different country has different culture, and has its own character. As the development of the society, technology, economy, and trade, cross-communication is necessary for every country. Since the culture of different country is individual, if we pay no attention to each other’s culture, there will be many conflicts, even some trifling matters. Many failures exist during communication. For example, eye contact. Eye contact is an important body language. In conversation with people who know each other, the customs of English-speaking countries demand that there should be eye contact. Which applies to both the speaker and the listener. For either one not to look at the other people could imply a number of things, among which are fear, contempt, uneasiness, guilt, and indifference. However, in China, Japan, and Korea, people are expected to avoid prolonged eye contact. In particular, when a child converses with his or her parents or grandparents, he or she is not allowed to stare at them too much. Thus if an American is always gazing at a Chinese in the conversation, the Chinese may consider the American is aggressive，threatening and disrespectful whereas the Chinese is considered suspicious and dishonest if the Chinese always avoids eye contact. Besides, the American may think the Chinese has no interest to talk with him.
（科教论文网 Lw.nsEAc.com编辑整理） Another example is greetings. Thanks to cultural value differences, greeting behaviors involve different subjects. American people tend to talk about weather， life，work, and so on after greeting one another, to manage to find out common subjects. However, such a greeting behavior doesn’t go for every culture. In Chinese culture, for example, people usually begin a conversation by either “Have you eaten?” or “Where are you going”. And these greetings are very common and accepted in China, but if Americans are greeted with such questions, communication failure will take place. If asked the former question, Americans will misunderstand that it could indicate an invitation to a meal. As far as the latter question is concerned, Americans will consider that it interfere their privacy. The natural reaction of Americans to this greeting would most likely be “It’s none of your business”. This greeting, for most English-speaking people, is considered as a taboo.
