Cultural Background Knowledge and English Teaching(2)
2013-11-24 01:41
导读：causewelackknowledgeofculturalbackground. Hereisasentencefromareport:“ThepathtoNovemberisuphillalltheway.”“November”literallymeans“theeleventhmonthofyear”.Buthererefersto“thePresidential
cause we lack knowledge of cultural background.
Here is a sentence from a report: “The path to November is uphill all the way.” “November” literally means “the eleventh month of year”. But here refers to “ the Presidential election to be held in November”. Another example is “red–letter days”—which is a simple phrase and is easy to hear, meaning holidays such as Christmas and other special days. But students are often unable to understand them without teacher’s explanation.
Below are two jokes often talked about by Americans:
1. A: Where are you from?
B: I’ll ask her. (Alaska)
A: Why do you ask her?
2. A: Where are you from?
B: How are you. (Hawaii)
A may think B has given an irrelevant answer. But if A knew something about geographical knowledge of the USA, and the names of two states of the USA—Alaska and Hawaii, he would not regard “Alaska” as “I’ll ask her”, or “Hawaii” as “How are you”.
In view of this, the introduction of cultural background is necessary in the teaching of English listening.
Likewise, speaking is not merely concerned with pronunciation and intonation. Students can only improve their oral English and reach the aim of communication by means of enormous reading, mastering rich language material and acquaintance of western culture. Therefore, in oral training, teachers should lay stress on factuality of language and adopt some material approaching to daily life, such as daily dialogues with tape, magazines, newspapers and report etc., because the material is from real life, and it helps students to be well acquainted with standard pronunciation and intonation, to speak English appropriate to the occasion, to understand western way of life and customs etc. Otherwise, misunderstanding and displeasure are inevitably aroused. Let’s look at some examples.
（科教论文网 Lw.nsEAc.com编辑整理）
Many fixed English ways of expression cannot be changed randomly. For example, the answer to “How do you do?” is “How do you do?” When asking price, people usually say, “How much, please?” instead of: “How much do you charge me? Or “How much do I owe you”; When paying bill, “Waiter, bill please.” Instead of “Excuse me, sir. We’re finished eating. How much is it, please?” When asking the other one’s name on the telephone, “Who’s speaking, please?” or “Who is it, please?” instead of “Who are you?” “Where are you?” “What’s your surname?” or “What is your unit?”
In English, there are so many euphemisms that sometimes it’s hard to know the other one’s actual mood. So we should pay attention to our answer. For example, when one ask: “How do you like the film?” and the other answer: “I think it’s very interesting”, it shows he doesn’t like it very much instead of the literal meaning “very interesting”. When one asks: “What do you think of my new coat?” and the other answers: “I think the pocket is very nice”, it also shows his dislike. In America and England, usually people don’t say unpleasant words to one’s face, they always say pleasant words to the full or evade direct answering, saying “I don’t know.” For example, when one asks, “Do you like our teacher”, you may answer: “Well, I don’t know him very well.” Sometimes out of his politeness, when meeting unfamiliar people, he may conceal his true feelings. For example, A asked B: “How are you?” Although B had got a bad cold, his answer was “Fine, thank you”, but not “Not very well, I’m afraid ”, or other similar answers.
（科教作文网http://zw.ΝsΕAc.Com编辑整理） During oral communication, speakers need standard pronunciation and intonation, as well as the suitable use of language for the occasion. There are numerous examples that we could cite of expressions that are correct according to grammatical rules, but unsuitable for the occasion.
Once, after a student gave a lecture, he asked a foreign visitor for his advice. He said like this, “I am desirous of exploring your feeling on the lecture”—which caused the foreign visitor’s surprise. He said: “You English is too beautiful to be true.” But the student refused to accept the comment. He said the sentence was extracted from the book. The visitor explained that phrases like “desirous of exploring your feelings” were not fit for spoken language, which should be replaced by “I’d like to hear your views on the lecture” or “May I have your views on the lecture?”
A person comforted a bereaved young wife, “I’m terribly sorry to hear that your husband has just died, but don’t let it upset you too much. You’re an attractive young woman. I’m sure you’ll find someone else soon.” Although the words accord with grammatical rules, they cannot be applied in communication, and at the same time, they betray the social customs.
（科教范文网 fw.nseac.com编辑发布） As peoples are diverse, customs are diverse. It is only natural then that with differences in customs, differences often arise in using of language. For example, when someone praise your English is very good, American and Chinese replies to compliments are different. According to Chinese customs, they generally murmur some reply about not being worthy of the praise, while according to American customs, they tend to accept the compliment with the pleasure. The reply like “No, I don’t speak good English”—Americans think which seems to criticize the other side, is impolite.
Reading English articles requires a certain language basis, but the competence of reading comprehension is not entirely related to one’s language level. Knowledge of cultural background is also important. Reading is a process affected by integration of one’s language knowledge, cultural background knowledge and other professional knowledge, and a process of continuous guesses and corrections according to available language material, cultural background and logical reasoning. Generally speaking, Chinese people study Chinese without the difficulties aroused by cultural background. Chinese proverbs like “只许州官放火，不许百姓点灯”, “平时不烧香,临时抱佛脚”, “差之毫厘,失之千里” will not influence our understanding of article. The connotation of such new words as “改革开放” “大腕” “追星族” are easily understood, too. However, when we read English articles, differences between Chinese and western cultures often bring us many difficulties.
（科教作文网http://zw.NSEaC.com编辑发布） Following, effect of cultural background on reading will be discussed, with some common terms or expressions in reading material, which is often not understood by Chinese learners unfamiliar with western culture, as illustration.
Many allusions drawn from history, religion, literature etc., often appear in English works and have become common household terms. But without the knowledge of western culture and history, such allusions are not always easy to understand, and without understanding there can be little appreciation .For example:
a Herculean task—task requiring great power of body or mind. Hercules was a powerfully built hero of ancient Greek mythology. As punishment for a serious misdeed, he was ordered to do twelve virtually impossible tasks. Hercules succeeded in doing all and was rewarded with immortality. Example:
