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Unit 1 introduction一．文化文化是冻结了的人际交流，而交流是流动着的文化----W.B. Pearce, 1994.背景：长期以来，文化被认为是无处不在，无所不包的人类知识和行为的总体。
被笼统地当作“生活方式”，社会生活的一切方面，积淀物，价值观念体系，众多规范，乃至艺术，政治，经济，教育，修养，文学，语言，思维的总和。
概括地讲，文化即是人们所思，所言，所为，所觉的总和。
在不同的生态或自然环境下，不同的民族创造了自己特有的文化，也被自己的文化所塑造。
It is said that there are at least 150 definitions about culture.“Culture may be defined as what a society does and thinks”(Sapir, 1921)“Culture is man’s medium, there is not one aspect of human life that is not touched and altered by culture. This means personality, how people express themselves, including shows of emotion, the way they think, how they move, how problems are solved, how their cities are planned and laid out, how transportation systems function and are organized, as well as how economic and government systems are put together and fuction.” (E.T. Hall,1959)“A culture is a collection of beliefs, habits, living patterns, and behaviors which are held more or less in common by people who occupy particular geographic areas” (D.Brown, 1978)文化的特性：1). 文化是由人们的内隐和外显行为组成的。
The differences in body language between China and the United Stateslike verbal language, is also a part of culture .Different culture shavedifferent body languages except some world known ones. And in inter cultural communication, the same body language may mean different things.There I will introduce some basic examples, emphasizes the significance of body languages in interculturalcommunication by comparing the body la nguages in the United States and China.Ⅰ.Action is the same, Meaning is different⑴Index finger banging on the templesChinese meaning:Said people are trying to think, meditate.American meaning:Said the man crazy, spirit is not normal.⑵Prick up middlMiddle finger upChinese meaning: Don't have any special meaning.e fingerAmerican meaning: Is a very rude behavior⑶Make a fistChinese meaning: Show power or to try to do something.American meaning:Said Angry⑷Stamping feetChinese meaning: Angry; Angry; Lose heart; regretAmerican meaning: ImpatientⅡ. Meaning is the same, Action is different⑴Come hereChina's body language: Reach out to called people,and Palm down, a few fingers bend several times at the same time.Body language in the u.s. : To called people, palm up, clench fist with the index finger back and forth. (Chinese antipathy to this).⑵"A shame" ,“unabashed” (a joke)China's body language: Stretched out index finger, with your fingertips on his face a few strokes, like itching, but the fingers are straight Body language in the u.s. : Stretched out his hands index finger, palms down, wipe with a forefinger index finger on the back of another.⑶"I'm full." (after dinner)China's body language: With one hand or both hands gently patted his belly Body language in the u.s. : Place one hand on your throat, palms down, often say "here" at the same time.Not all of the examples here, but can explain the difference of body language, also understand the importance of body language in another language. In a sense, all body language should be put in specific situations to understand, otherwise,Ignoring the whole situation will happen misunderstanding.。
跨文化交际英文版集团文件版本号：（M928-T898-M248-WU2669-I2896-DQ586-M1988）C r o s s–c u l t u r a l c o m m u n i c a t i o nThesis statement: This paper is mainly talking about the culture differences between several countries.Outline:Chapter 1: Language and culture in communicationChapter2: Culture shockChapter3: What’s in a name?Chapter4: Social interactionChapter 5: Roles and relationsChapter6: Non-verbal communicationChapter 7: In other words.Chapter 8: From a primitive Tribe to a Global VillageConclusionChapter 1: Language and culture in communication There is no denying the fact that out daily lives depend largely on communication, without it we can’t know each other. So, we should come to realize that communication is of great importance.What is communication?In total, communication can be divided into two parts; they are verbal communication and non-verbal communication. However,different people hold different opinions about communication.In general, if there is communication, there must have 4 cases: there are at least two or more people, some contact between communicators, a language shared by communicators, an exchangeof information has taken place. I just take the fist one for example. Suppose there is one person, there can’t be communication. Otherwise, he may talk to himself.Communication not just exist in human-beingsThere are five kinds of communications they are human communication, animal communication, human-animal communication, human machine communication, machine communication. So, Animals and machines can also communicate with each other.For human beings, how can we communicatewith each other?Experts say that there are various kinds of communication. Nowadays, there are different kinds of tools for us to communicate .For people we can use telephone and computer to communicate with each other. By them, finally we can receive message.What is social situationWhen there are two or more people gather to do a job or an activity, then it creates a social situation. That is to say, an individual working alone can not constitute a social sA social situation may have two definitions. One is given by the community, and the other by the participants. Finally, we should notice that being polite plays a crucial role in social situation.Chapter2: Culture shockWe should not only know what communication is but we should know what culture shock is.In contemporary society, as our country is developingfaster and faster, more and more foreigners will come to our country. Communicating with foreigners is an interesting thing. However, there is no doubt that it can easily cause misunderstanding which is called culture shock. There are several kinds of culture shock.Hospitality: First of all, in Britain, hospitality can not be judged by whether hosts put the food into your dishes, in there, everyone has own dishes, everyone helps themselves. By contrast, in our country, when we have guests, hosts may put the food into guest’s dishes to show thei r hospitality, sothis is different.Politeness: When it comes to this word, in many case, foreigners were described as being polite than Chinese. For example, when we finish work, foreigners may say thank you to us, although it is out duties. However, for Chinese, they seldom say thank you because they think someone who serves them are their duties.What’s more, when we get along with foreigners, we should avoid asking their salaries, jobs and religious and so on. For the young, it’s all right to ask thei r ages, for the adults, this question is not allowed, especially for the females. Butin china, these questions are allowed.In conclusion, when we face these culture shocks, it is better to keep a cool head, and then make an adjustment toward it, finally, we can cope with it. As time goes by, we can adapt it. For example, American Jewish and Israel, the two groups are equal and integration. Both groups have positive attitudes toward one another. So I am sure that after learning this unit, we can know a lot about culture shock and can easily communicate with foreigners.Chapter 3: What’s in a name?The topic of unit three is “what’s in a name?” As is known to all, the English name is different from the Chinesename .The Chinese name consists of family name and givenname ,with family name put first. But in contrast, the family name of English name is coming last. Most English people have three names. The last name , or surname is the familyname .This is the family name of the father and is given to all his children. And the first name is given to the child at birth, which is called “given name”. And another name used to referto them is Christian name.However, Chinese name can give all sorts of information about a Chinese people .they may give the address, thebirthday ,and also tell us about the family relationship, ethic groups, sex and the parents’ expectation for their children.At the same time, in Chinese the use of kin terms is closely related to age politeness, such as that children are expectedto call an old lady, Granny and call a male adult who is older than their fathers, elder uncle. The appropriate and extend use of kin term according to age is taken as reflecting good manners.Chapter4: Social interactionWhat is “social interaction”. It is the topic of unit four. Social interaction is an important way of human existence, and it is different from other animals’ communication. Andit’s meaningful. Different countries have different social interactions. Many Chinese people tend to ask age, marital status, and even salary when they meet each other first. To the Chinese people, these are open conversational topic. and Chinese people pay much attention to family life. So in their spare time, they will talk about the family member features as a common topic. It is so natural. And the salary is not a secret .and when a Chinese offers refreshments or drinks to his colleague, his colleague often declines the offer politely, because he don’t want to trouble the person who offers. And it also shows his politeness. But in western countries, if you ask the person who meet you first about these, they will feel so bad. They think it is not polite.Do you know how English native negotiate a time tomeet .from the text I know that you may find their way of settling on a time is quite similar to our own, that is , normally one gives or suggests a time, then the other may find it is not suitable and suggest another time, and finally a time is fixed which suits both.Consequently, you can know from above, different countries have different habits.Chapter 7: In other words.Different languages cause some misunderstandings There are many countries that their language is the same. such as America , British, Canada, Australia，and so on, they all speak English, people from America and British speak different varieties of English. They usually find little difficulty in understanding each other. However, there are some differences which may cause some misunderstanding, because of profusion of synonyms that they use different words to refer to the same thing. But for other countries which do not speak English they hardly understand the idioms, for example “face the music” in America it means to accept the criticisms, unpleasant consequences, etc . it probably comes from the custom in some Western armies of punishing soldiers to the sound of beating drums, if a person who is come from China may comprehend that enjoy himself by listening to music. on the contrary，they can not understand the meaning of Chinese idioms.There are some similar in languagesWith the exception, both English and Chinese have many such idioms that refer to animals, and some animals have similar associations in both cultures: deer, for example , are bloodthirsty and cruel, ect . But some other animals haverather different associations, like dogs, in the eyes ofEnglish-speaking people，dog is loyal ,but in the eyes of Chinese it aways contains derogatory sense are seen rather differently from the way appear to us. About proverb, since human experiences and observations of the world are in many respect similar. in spit of the dissimilar cultural backgrounds of the Chinese and the English-speaking peoples, the number of proverbs or saying in two language that are equivalent or closely approximate is rather surprising.Swearwords is the taboo for every countries Every language contains a special group of taboo words which people avoid using because they find them embarrassing or offensive. In many languages, swearwords are taboo, this is generally true of both English and Chinese. In English, certain swearwords seem to be more offensive than others and consequently the social prohibition against their use is stricter.Chapter 8: From a primitive Tribe to a Global VillageAnimals might have astonishing ways of showingtheir emotions and feelings.This unit takes us back in to history, inviting us to reflect upon how man has extended his limbs and senses by using newtechnologies. Nowadays, the technologies are so advanced that communication over long distance can be done in a split of a second. People all over the world are living, quite literally,in a global village. In the textbook, we have learned that animals might have astonishing ways of showing their emotionsand feelings. The way different kinds of animals behave, have fascinated great minds since Plato and AristotleCommunication is covering everywhereOne point that is beyond doubt is that our ancestorswere extremely handicapped --- in comparison with us now --- in communication. From the Stone Age, to the present day, over2,000,000 years, man has done his best to extend himself inorder to improve his way of communication. Writing, printing technology, postal services, telegraph, telephone, radio,picture communication, television, computer and laser technology, internet --- these have extended man’s mouth, eyes, ears, hands, legs, in short the whole body beyond a house, a village, a county, a province, a country, an ocean, a continent, and even beyond the mother earth to the moon and the Mars.Going global is great, but an entirely different tone was heard: Globalization is a menace to mankind. Globalization will makethe powers more powerful but the weak is weaker and the poor is poorer.ConclusionDifferent countries have their own cultures, so it causes the different cultures .Consequently, sometimes the people come from different places may cause some misunderstandings. After learning this textbook we can getalong well with people all over the world.Finally, through this paper, we can learn more knowledge.。
