Unit 1Communication Across CulturesWarm UpQuestions1. Why is it difficult to explain to a blind person what colors are?2. Do you sometimes find it hard to make yourself properly understood by others? If you do, why do you think it is hard?It is very difficult for people to understand one another i f they do not share the same experiences. Of course, we all share the experience of being human, but there are many experiences which we do not share and which are different for all of us. It is these different experiences thatmake up what is called ―culture‖ in the social sciences － the habits of everyday life, the cues towhich people respond, the automatic reactions they have to whatever they see and hear. These often differ, and the differences may introduce misunderstandings where we seek understanding.Reading IIntercultural Communication：An IntroductionComprehension questions1. Is it still often the case that“everyone‟s quick to blame the alien”in the contemporary world?This is still powerful in today‘s social and political rhetoric. Forinstance, it is not uncommon intoday‘s society to hear people say that most, if not all, of the social and economic problems arecaused by minorities and immigrants.2. What‟s the difference between today‟s intercultural contact and that of any time in the past?Today‘s intercultural encounters are far more numerous and of greaterimportance than in anytime in history.3. What have made intercultural contact a very common phenomenon in our life today?New technology, in the form of transportation and communication systems, has accelerated intercultural contact; innovative communication systems have encouraged and facilitated cultural interaction; globalization of the economy has brought people together; changes in immigration patterns have also contributed to intercultural encounter.4. How do you understand the sentence“culture is everything and everywhere”?Culture supplies us with the answers to questions about what the world looks like and how we live and communicate within that world. Culture teaches us how to behave in our life from the instant of birth. It is omnipresent.5. What are the major elements that directly influence our perception and communication?The three major socio-cultural elements that directly influence perception and communication are cultural values, worldview (religion), and social organizations (family and state).6. What does one‟s family teach him or her while he or she grows up in it?The family teaches the child what the world looks like and his or her place in that world.7. Why is it impossible to separate our use of language from our culture?Because language is not only a form of preserving culture but also a means of sharing culture. Language is an organized, generally agreed-upon, learned symbol system that is used to represent the experiences within a cultural community.8. What are the nonverbal behaviors that people can attach meaning to?People can attach meaning to nonverbal behaviors such as gestures, postures, facial expressions, eye contact and gaze, touch, etc.9. How can a free, culturally diverse society exist?A free, culturally diverse society can exist only if diversity is permitted to flourish without prejudice and discrimination, both of which harm all members of the society.Discovering Problems: Slim Is Beautiful?Questions for discussionWhich do you think is the mark of beauty, thin or fat? Why is it often said that beauty is in the eye of beholder?One sociologist once said that with the greater influence of American culture across the world, the standard of a beauty is becoming more and more Hollywood-like, characterized by a chiseled chin and a tall, slim figure. One can see such beautiful images in almost any American movie. We Chinese also share the notion that the standard idea of beauty includes being tall, thin, and light skinned. It seems that with the process of globalization, eastern and western beauties look more and more alike.But we have to remember that the definition of beauty differs from culture to culture. For example, Hispanic standards of female beauty are to have big hips, a moderate tan, and a short height. As is described in the article, in southeastern Nigeria, Coca-Cola-bottle voluptuousness is celebrated and ample backsides and bosoms are considered ideals of female beauty.What‘s more, the ideal standard of beauty varies from time to time. For instance, during timesof famine, the ideal standard of beauty for women is a much larger body size. Larger size and more body fat may reflect one‘s status; for it suggests that the person is well fed and healthy. Thinness then would reflect malnutrition. However, during times of plenty, plumpness is not a reflection ofstatus. People may easily associate fatness with hypertension, heart disease or other potential diseases. Likewise, during eras in which lower-class labors had to toil predominantly outside for hours a day, tanned skin was an indication of lower status, and therefore the ideal standard of female beauty was very pale skin; women during those times actually used a lot of white powdered cosmetics to exaggerate the paleness of their skin. Now, however, tan is a reflection of having more leisure time spent on seashores instead of working in an office all the time, and therefore it may suggest higher status, so women strive for darker skin tones.It is true that beauty is in the eye of the beholder because people of different cultures and in different situations may have different ideas about what is beautiful and what is not.Group WorkFirst share with your group member whatever experiences you have had in communication events that can be considered as intercultural. Then work together to decide whether each of the following cases of communication is possibly intercultural or not and, if it is, to what extent it is intercultural. Try to place all the cases along a continuum of interculturalness, from the most intercultural to the least intercultural.All the cases may seem to be intercultural but they differ in the extent to which they are intercultural. However it may be very difficult for us to place all these cases along a continuum of interculturalness from the most intercultural to the least intercultural, for many other factors haveto be taken into consideration if we have to decide which is more intercultural than another. For instance, whether communication between a male manager and a female secretary is intercultural or not and, if it is, how intercultural it may be, may depend on the cultural and social backgrounds of the two persons. If they are from drastically different cultures, communication between them is surely intercultural and may be very intercultural. If they are from the same culture, communication between them may be little intercultural.The following is tentatively suggested for measuringthe interculturalness of the cases of communication, and the cases are presented from the most intercultural to the least intercultural:Communication between a Chinese university student and an American professor; Communication between a Canadian girl and a South African boy;Communication between a first-generation Chinese American and third generation one; Communication between a businessperson from Hong Kong and an artist from Xian; Communication between a teenager from Beijing and a teenager from Tibet;Communication between a father who is a farmer all his life and his son who works as an engineer;Communication between a software technician and a fisherman;Communication between a male manager and a female secretary (supposing they are of the similar cultural and social backgrounds) .DebateThe class is to be divided into two groups and debate on the two different views mentioned in thefollowing on intercultural communication. State your point of view clearly and support your argument with convincing and substantive evidence.Pro: People are people; more interactions would lead to grea ter understanding of each other.（Commonality precedes）Con: People are shaped by different environments they find themselves in, therefore, the difference overrides. (Differences precedes)Possible Arguments for Pro:1. Human beings tend to draw close to one another by their common nature. We all share the common basic needs.2. Rapid expansion of worldwide transportation and communication networks have made it far easier than ever before for people throughout the world to contact with one another.3. The process of globalization may reduce the regional differences between people all over the world. We are all members of the ―global village‖.4. Economic interdependence in today‘s world requires people of different countries to interact onan unprecedented scale, and more interaction will result in more similarity among people.5. More and more people from various cultures have to work and live together and they will adapt to each other to such an extent that cultural differences between them may no longer matter.Possible Arguments for Con:1. People throughout the world may be similar in many aspects, but differences in habits and customs keep them apart.2. Though the basic human needs are universally the same, people all over the world satisfy their basic common human needs in different ways.3. As our society is becoming more and more diversified, differences between people tend to grow larger in some aspects.4. It is differences between people that underlie the necessity of communication, and it does not follow that communication which may increase the possibility of understanding between people will always reduce differences.5. People nowadays are more likely to try to maintain their unique cultural identities when they find themselves living closely with people of other cultures.From the two seemingly opposite viewpoints, we can learn something that we should keep in mind when we are involved in intercultural communication. First, all human beings share some common heritages that link us to one another. To some extent, people throughout the world are pretty much alike in many aspects, and that has formed the very basis on which it is possible for people of various cultures to communicate. However, what we have to realize is that there are also vast differences between people from various cultural groups. To really understand a person whose cultural background is different from yours can be very difficult, for both you and that person maybe subconsciously influenced by each one‘s own cultural upbringing. In a sense, what we should doin intercultural communication is to treat people of other cultures both as the same with and as different from us.Reading IIThe Challenge of GlobalizationComprehension questions1. Why does the author say that our understanding of the world has changed?Many things, such as political changes and technological advances, have changed the world very rapidly. In the past most human beings were born, lived, and died within a limited geographical area, never encountering people of other cultural backgrounds. Such an existence, however, no longer prevails in the world. Thus, all people are faced with the challenge of understanding this changed and still fast changing world in which we live.2. What a“global village”is like?As our world shrinks and its inhabitants become interdependent, people from remote cultures increasingly come into contact on a daily basis. In a ―global village‖, members of once isolated groups of people have to communicate with members of other cultural groups. Those people maylive thousands of miles away or right next door to each other.3. What is considered as the major driving force of the post-1945 globalization?Technology, particularly telecommunications and computers are considered to be the major driving force.4. What does the author mean by saying that“the…global‟may be more local than the…local‟”?The increasing global mobility of people and the impact of new electronic media on human communications make the world seem smaller. We maycommunicate more with people of other countries than with our neighbors, and we may be more informed of the international events than of the local events. In this sense, ―the ‗global‘ may be more local than the‗local‘‖.5. Why is it important for businesspeople to know diverse cultures in the world?Effective communication may be the most important competitive advantage that firms have tomeet diverse customer needs on a global basis. Succeeding in the global market today requires the ability to communicate sensitively with people from other cultures, a sensitivity that is based on an understanding of cross-cultural differences.6. What are the serious problems that countries throughout the world are confronted with?Countries throughout the world are confronted with serious problems such as volatile international economy, shrinking resources, mounting environmental contamination, and epidemics that know no boundaries.7. What implications can we draw from the case of Michael Fay?This case shows that in a world of international interdependence, the ability to understand and communicate effectively with people from other cultures takes on extreme urgency. If we are unaware of the significant role culture plays in communication, we may place the blame for communication failure on people of other cultures.8. What attitudes are favored by the author towards globalization?Globalization, for better or for worse, has changed the world greatly. Whether we like it or not, globalization is all but unstoppable. It is already here to stay. It is both a fact and an opportunity. The challenges are not insurmountable. Solutions exist, and are waiting to be identified and implemented. From a globalistic point of view, there is hope and faith in humanity.WritingRead the following and then try to write a short essay on what one has to learn to get prepared for working and living in a new cultural environment.There seems to be so much that one can do to get oneself well prepared for working and living in a new cultural environment. Apart from what is mentioned in the pass age, the following may be what a person in Anna‘s situation should also try to do:1. Learning the language that is used in the new cultural environment.2. Learning about the history and present social situation of the area or the country.3. Learning about the dominant religious belief and some important social customs.4. Learning about the cultural uses of nonverbal means including time and space for communication.5. Learning to look at things and people in new perspectives that are different from what one is accustomed to.6. Developing a more tolerant attitude toward any unfamiliar phenomena.7. Becoming aware that problems and misunderstandings a re inevitable in intercultural communication.8. Learning about how foreigners are usually perceived and treated by the local people.Identifying Difference: How We Address Each OtherQuestions for discussionHow do you address a friend from an English-speaking country? And how should we do it if he or she knows our culture very well or if we speak Chinese to each other?Usually we can address a friend from an English-speaking country by his/her first name withoutmentioning his/her surname or title out of respect for his/h er culture. Because people from English-speaking countries attach great importance to casualness in addressing each other in order to form a relatively intimate and equal relationship. But if he or she knows our culture very well or if we speak Chinese to each other, we can address him/her in the Chinese way. Just as the old sayinggoes, ―When in Rome, do as the Romans do‖, it‘s better for our friend to learn more about andbecome better acquainted with the Chinese culture. In this way, when addressing him/her, we can add ―xiao‖ (young) or ―lao‖ (aged) before his/her family name according to his/her age so as to create an amicable atmosphere. We can also address him/her by using his/her title in a humorous way,or by inventing some nickname for him or her in either English or Chinese, depending on the degree of intimacy.SurveyConduct a survey among some Chinese students to find how much they know about the possible cultural differences between Chinese andEnglish-speaking people in the speech behaviors listed below.Speech behaviorChina English-speaking countries Greeting When greeting each other, the Chinese often begin with ―Have you eaten?‖, ―Where areyougoing?‖, ―What are youdoing?‖, ―Long time no see.‖ and so on.People from English-speakingcountries usuallysay ―Hello.‖―Good morning/afternoon/evening‖ ―Nice to meet you./Glad to see you.‖ or ―How doyou do?‖Apologizi ng Chinese people seem to apologize less often than English-speaking people. The Chinese apologize only when they think it is about something thatreally matters.People from English-speaking countries often apologize intheir daily life even forthe most trivial things.Making requests Chinese people tend to make requests in indirect ways, especially when the p eoplePeople from English-speaking countries tend tomake requests directly andopenly.involved are not on int imate terms with one another.Expressin g gratitude Chinese people often express their gratitude not just bywhat they say, but also by whatthey do and what they give toothers who have done them a favor.People from English-speakingcountries tend to show theirgratitude more verballyto others who have helpedthem.Expressin g disapprov al Chinese people are reluctant toexpress their disproval openlyfor fear of making others loseface. If they have to expressdisapproval, they often prefer todo it in a very indirect way.People from English-speakingcountries are more likely toexpress their disapproval freely and directly.Leave-tak ing Chinese people tend to excusethemselves by claiming that theothers must be tired or busy, etc,using the expressions that imputethe motive of tiredness or business to the otherparty when parting.People from English-speakingcountries would usually findreasons to part related tothemselves rather than to others.Intercultural InsightExplorationTry to describe and explain the possible similar experiences in your use of English as a foreign language in communicating with native speakers.What a student tells us below can further illustrate the po int that how we communicate appropriately in intercultural encounters may not be as simple as we tend to assume:I remember in the first class of oral English when I was a freshman at university, we students habitually addressed our amiable foreign teacher as ―teacher‖ as we did to the other Chinese teachers. But he asked us to call him by his first name instead. Since he seemed morethan fifty years old we were embarrassed but gradually we learned that was the suitable way to address a teacher in the United States, for teachers in the United States generally prefer to be seen as equal and like a friend to their students. However, when I was already a junior, to our great surprise, one of our foreign teachers who taught us intensive reading told us that hepreferred to be called by us as ―Professor White‖or ―Doctor White‖. The reason was simplythat he wanted to be properly respected in China.Translation纵观历史，我们可以清楚地看到，人们由于彼此所处地域、意识形态、容貌服饰和行为举止上存在的差异，而长久无法互相理解、无法和睦相处。
