中西跨文化語言交際中的文化沖突

Cultural Conflicts in Verbal Communication Between China and the West

摘 要：隨著全球化進程的發展，中西方文化交流也越來越多。由于中西雙方有著不同的文化和歷史背景，在中西跨文化交際中，文化沖突的事例屢見不鮮，對交往的順利進行造成了一定影響。本文列舉了言語交際中的諸多例子。人們應重視這種交際障礙，減少交際沖突，以便更好地進行中西跨文化交流。

Abstract:With the development of globalization， the Chinese and the West have more and more communication.But because both China and the West have different cultural and historical background，in cross-cultural communication，the examples of cultural conflicts are too numerous to mention，which result in communication misunderstandings.There are a lot of examples in verbal communication And in order to have a better communication between China and the West， people should attach more importance to this communication barriers to reduce the social conflicts.

關鍵詞：文化沖突；交際；語言交際

Key words: cultural conflicts; communication;verbal communication

作者簡介：侯寶華（1987－），女，河南新鄉人，西南民族大學外國語學院，碩士生，研究方向：翻譯理論與實踐。

1.What Is Communication

People can define communication from various aspects， but they would not be unified. One way to define communication is to explain the process of communication. As Smith noted， “ Whenever people interact they communicate.To live in societies and to maintain their culture they have to communicate” Communication—the ability to share one’s ideas and feelings—is the basis of all human contact. Wherever human being live， all participate in the same activity when communicate.

2.Cultural Conflicts in Verbal Communication Between China and the West

Communication is based on the interaction between people. Verbal communication is a way for people to communicate with each other face to face.

When people came to this world，most of them have vocal cords， which can produce sounds. As time goes on people began to learn how to form these sounds into words." Some words may be imitative of natural sounds， but others may come from expressions of emotion， such as laughter or crying.At first words alone have no meanings. But when people put meaning into words.As meaning is assigned to words， people began to “speak”to others，and this kind of speaking promoted the development of communication.

2.1. Differences in the Concepts of “Thank You”

When people received someone’s help，they usually express thanks to that kind person， indicating their appreciation of the favor.There’s no doubt that both the Chinese and Western culture enjoy it.Yet differences"can"be"easily found between them in how people express their gratitude and thanks.In China，when people help their parents do the housework，their parents will not say “thank you”.And it is the same when a Chinese receive some help from his parents， because all of them think they are too familiar to say “thank you”.If they say “thank you”， maybe the counterpart will think they are treating him as a stranger，or they are lacking of intimacy.On the contrary，the native Chinese tend to say “thank you” many times to those whom they are not familiar with，because the Chinese want to show their politeness and give others a good impression. But the situation is different in the west. When people show their glorification or congratulations to someone， the counterpart will say “thank you”happily.Just imagine，one day a Chinese girl bought a new coat， when she put it on and show it to a foreigner，the foreigner may say:“Oh you are beautiful”，then this Chinese girl will respond like:“where？(哪里），where？(哪里)”But if the girl answers“Oh no，I am not beautiful”，it will puzzle the foreigner， he would think this girl lacks confidence，or she is just pretending.

2.2. Cultural Conflicts in Personal Privacy

In China， people think the individual should belong to the collective， and it is common for people to ask their friends personal questions when they have a chat. The nation of privacy is not so strong as that of the western people.Chinese always think that asking"others personal questions is a good way to show friendliness. For example， Chinese people always want to know other people’s age， occupation， even incomes when they meet for first time.But in the west， privacy and personal space are very important. The western people would not"like to mention excessive personal affairs to other people. When two western people meet，they always begin their communication by talking about the weather，or other public thing，such as news，TV series，sports games and so on.But"when"two Chinese meet around meal time， they often say“Have you had a meal？”(吃了沒？)，or if they haven’t see each other for a long time， they would begin their topic by saying “Oh， you are thinner/fatter than before”，“where are you going?”and so on.The Chinese"believe that"asking others private questions"can show they care about the counterparts and it is also a good method to begin a conversation.

2.3. Differences in the Animal Words

People live with various kinds of animals for a long history，and words for animals usually have the same denotations in different language，but very often with different connotation.For example， the term dog elicits different feelings in these two cultures，too.In China gou (dog) often has derogative meanings， such as狗急跳墻，狗仗人勢，狼心狗肺，狗腿子，etc.But the animal“dog”in the West is considered the best friend of man，which is well established in their culture." So the western people feel disgusted at eating dog meat.

Long is a symbol of the emperor in ancient China. It represents the almighty power to the Chinese.Today long is often identified with China or Chinese."For example， the Chinese often refer to them as the descendants of the long.Many Chinese parents 望子成龍—longing to see their sons to be longs，that is， be successful.The Chinese long has been rendered in English as “dragon”.However in the west，dragon is a fire-spitting monster，cruel and fierce that destroys everything and therefore must be destroyed， for this reason， this translation is inappropriate. That is why the English version of “亞洲四小龍”is“The Four Tigers of Asia” instead of"“The"Four Dragons of Asia”.

3.Ways to Encourage Cross-cultural Communication

The previous section shows that there are potential problems in"cross-cultural communication.

3.1. Being Conscious of One’s Own Culture

Knowing one’s own culture is necessary for developing cultural awareness required for effective intercultural communication，because what people bring to the communication event greatly influences the success or failure of the event. So firstly， people have to identify their attitudes， prejudice，and opinions. Knowing one’s own likes，dislikes，and degrees of personal ethnocentrism enables people to place them out in the open so that people can detect the ways in which these attitudes influence communication.

3.2. Appreciating Similarities and Respecting Differences

It is true that cultures are different due to a host of factors， but it doesn’t mean that there are no similarities or commonalities.To the contrary， human beings share a series of crucial characteristics that link people of different countries or cultures together. For example，people share the same planet for a long period of time.People all desire to be free from external restraint:the craving for freedom is basic，though the freedom can be of different degrees and with various implications.

There are generally two attitudes toward differences.One is to take differences as polar opposites;the other is to see them as being different in degrees.In cross-cultural communication，most people think the latter attitude is reasonable，that is people have a lot in common，although they vary greatly by different cultures.

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