Different countries different cultures
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发布时间：2022-04-20 02:39
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时间：2023-09-10 01:13
Firstly,Western and Chinese cultures have a long
tradition .Generally speaking,western culture includes Rome 、Greece and Christian. Chinese culture also has many differentorigins.Confucian culture will always be able to maintain the purity of a conceit .
Secondly, the two cultures also differentiate in the spirit of the performance.Chinese cultural emphasizes on the real world、 accomplishment and application. But Western culture emphasizes on the study 、thinking and knowledge.Confucius and Socrates are the typical representatives of two cultures.
Thirdly,The transcendent spirit of Western culture leads to
the skepticism of Western Philosophy.Chinese concept of reedom has always been lacking in a sense of awareness of the rules and order.So,the two cultures have the basic differences.
With China entry the WTO and will hold the Olympic Games in 2008, the relationship between China and Western in politics, economy, culture will become more and more close. It is undoubtedly that the etiquette will play an important role in this process. To the definition of etiquette, China and Western have a different understanding. As Chinese thinks that the etiquette is the common behavior standards that all the members must obey, and its purpose is to keep the normal living order of the society. In ancient China, a famous philosopher thinks that etiquette is a principal to deal with the relationship between man and supernatural beings, man and ghosts, man and men. There are also many words about etiquette
in English. For example, courtesy which means courteous behavior, good manners;
protocol which means system of rules governing formal occasion, e .g, meetings,
between governments, diplomats, etc. And these words are all from the same French word etiquette. Of course, more spread and more profound cultural comment of
the western etiquette is from the Classical Period, i.e., old Athens and Roma culture. Today, etiquette become the reflection and manifestation of one country’
s politics, economy, culture in people’s social contact. And it include the principal and moral that people should obey in daily life. Etiquette formed in the
process of the deposition of culture and social contact. So every nation have their own etiquette standard which created with the spirit of this their nation. Because of this formed the cultural difference between different nations. As languages is the carrier of the human culture. This difference must reflect in the language of different nations. So in the following, we will take china, British and America as the representation of Western, to look at some cultural difference
in etiquette, and then analyze the reasons. Furthermore, we will discuss how to
learn western culture.
1
Cultural differences on politeness between western and Chinese can be found in
many aspects of daily communication, including addressing, greeting and parting,
compliments, apologies, thanks, etc. In the following, we will look at some cultural different between China and western.
1.Greeting and Parting
When people meet acquaintances or friends, people usually greet each other
. The purpose of greeting is to establish or maintain social contact. So formulaic expressions are often used, but such formulaic expressions often causes conflict because of the great cultural differences between Chinese and native English
speakers. In English, people often employ the following expressions to greet each other “Good morning/evening/afternoon. “Fine day, isn’t it? ”How is everything going?” Have you eaten yet?” What are you going to do?” Where have you
been?”etc. Westerners treat them as real question. While in Chinese, we always
say “你吃了吗？”“你上哪里去？”“你干什么去？”to show our consideration. Parting may be divided into two steps. Before the final prating, there is usual a
leave-taking. Western and Chinese cultures have diverse ways to deal with leave-
takings. Firstly, in English society, ring the closing phase of an encounter,
from ”I” perspective, reasons for terminating the encounter are presented in mitigatory comments. Typical comments are associated with expressions of apology,
such as “I” am afraid I must be off, I have to relieve the baby-sitter” etc.
Western people believe that to be willing to visit and converse with someone is
to have respect for him.; to terminate the visiting is not of one’s own free will, but because of some other arrangements, therefore they always try to make their leaving sound reluctant by finding some reasons and apologize for it to make the leaving acceptable for both parties. English speakers often signal several
times before leaving. “Well, it’s been nice to see you again. I do enjoy our
talk and the lovely dinner, but I must be going soon”. Thank you very much for
asking me over. I hope we’ll be able to get together again before long…” Consolidation in a wider range of common acquaintances also occurs, in expressions such as “Say hello to Jack for me” or “Remember me to John”. In Chinese society, ring the closing phase of and encounter, usually, from a “you ”perspective, reasons for ending the encounter are set forth in mitigatory expressions. Such expressions include“你挺忙的，我就不多打扰了。”“你一定累了，早点休息吧，我
要告辞了。”, etc. With these words, they may stand up from their seats. Chinese
leave-taking is very short and quick. Western people think it so abrupt that they have not prepare for it. While moving to the door, Chinese employ expressions
of apology like“对不起没，打扰了。”“对不起，占用你不少时间。”It should be noted that these expressions employed by Chinese guests to show concern for their
hosts can only be appropriate for business visits in the English environment2..AddressingBoth western and Chinese people have two kinds of personal names---a surname and
a given name. But the order and the use of these names in the two languages are
somewhat different. In Chinese, the surname comes first and then the given name
. And people like add“小”before their family name. Such as“小王”、“小郑”、
“小李”、“小徐”and so on.. While westerners names are written and spoken with
the given name first and the family name last. So John Smith's family name is Smith, not John. In a formal setting, address men as "Mister" (abbreviated as "Mr
."), married women as "Misses" (abbreviated as "Mrs."), and unmarried women as "
Miss" (abbreviated as "Ms."). These days many women prefer to be addressed using
the abbreviations "Ms." or "M.", pronounced "miz". If the person has an M.D. or
Ph.D., they will often be addressed as "Doctor" (abbreviated as "Dr."). Faculty
are addressed as "Professor" (abbreviated as "Prof.").In an informal situation,
westerners will introce each other by first name, without titles, and occasionally by just the last name. If you are introced to somebody by first name, you can address him or her by first name the next time you meet. The only exception would be for someone who holds an important position, such as the university president or provost. Unless they tell you otherwise, faculty should be addressed
using their title and last name (e.g., "Professor Smith"). When in doubt, use the formal manner of address, since it is better to err on the side of formality.
2
It is also appropriate to ask how they prefer to be addressed. Children should
always address alts in the formal fashion, using their title and last name.
Another difference is about the form of addressing. From the viewpoint of sociolinguistics, forms of addressing can serve as an indication of the relationship of power and solidarity in the society. In calling their superiors or elders, the
Chinese are accustomed to the nonreciprocal or asymmetrical addressing, in other words. They use “title +surname” to address their superior or elders rather
than call them surnames, while the superior or elders call the addressers their
names. The Chinese tend to abide by the polite principle of depreciating oneself
and respecting others to show appropriate respects towards the persons being addressed, otherwise, the addresser may be considered as ill mannered, ill ecated or rude. But in English speaking countries, people have a tendency to follow the reciprocal or symmetrical addressing. Although they are different in age and
status, they can call the other directly, namely, their names, even first names
except when they call the doctors, not arousing offence between them, but demonstrating the sense of intimacy and the conception of” Everyone is created equal”
. Chinese people feel unnatural addressing a westerner by his given name, feeling that it indicates too close a relationship, and westerners, on the other hand,
may feel that if a Chinese insists on using his surname, it indicates an unwillingness to be friendly and maintains a gap between them. So the use of forms like” Miss Mary” or “Mr. Smith ” may be a Chinese forms of compromise. With Miss Mary, the use of the given name indicates friendliness, but the addition of the title indicates the respect they feel they ought to show. And with Smith, the
lack of a title indicates friendliness, but the use of the surname prevents if sounding too intimate. However, both addressing used by the Chinese sound very strange and uncomfortable to the westerner.
3.Compliments and ResponseTo compliment is to praise the addressee’s virtues, ability, behavior, appearance, clothing, personality and belongs. Appropriate compliments can serve as effective supplementary means in inter-personal communication. Western and Chinese culture are at polar opposites about compliment. An western hostess, if she is complimented for her cooking skill, is likely to say,” Oh, I am so glad that you
liked it. I cook it especially for you.” Not so is a Chinese hostess, who will
instead apologize for giving you “Nothing”. They will say“随便作几个菜，不好吃
。”If translate this into English“I just made some dishes casually and they are not very tasty. Perhaps the foreigner will think why you invite me to you family and have the untasty food. You aren't respect me. The English-speaking people
are more active to praise others and to be praise than Chinese people. For example, the Americans are “straight forwardness”, the Chinese take pride in “modesty”. That modesty has left many a Chinese hungry at an Americans table, for Chinese politeness calls for three refusals before one accepts an offer and the Americans hosts take ”no ” to mean “no ”, whether it is the first, second or
third time. Still bigger differences exist in people’s attitude towards compliments, i.e., in the response to compliments. Chinese are tend to efface themselves in words or refuse it, although they do feel comfortable about the compliments
. So many westerners simply feel puzzled or even upset when their Chinese friends refused their compliments. The Chinese people are not intending to be modest with the sacrifice of friendship in so doing, but it is rather
e to the traditional Chinese philosophy, that of modesty. The Chinese people
regard modesty as a most valuable virtue, so they seldom agree to the compliment on their own.
4.Apologies and ResponsesIf wrong things are done, there must be apologies .As to how to offer apologies,
both western and Chinese people may “I am sorry….”,”I apologize for…”. Etc. But Chinese would like to apologize for the crowded state of their dwellings
and for small numbers of dishes, although the room is big enough and there are many dishes. Chinese stay these to express self-depreciation only out of courtesy
, not having other implication. But the westerners would wonder, since the room
is so large and there are so many dishes, why do they say so. May be they do not
welcome our visit, they don’t like us to eat more. When Chinese contact with westerners, if they do not know these differences, if will lead to misunderstanding. The ways to respond to apologies are different, too.
A: Oh, I’m sorry. I forget it.
B1: It doesn’t matter.
B2: That’s all right.
B2 is westerners. B1 is a Chinese person. “It doesn’t matter” is a translation of “没关系”from Chinese, which is a common pattern in Chinese to respond to
apologies. If a Chinese uses this to respond to apologies, westerners will think
that he is a sharp person, who simply cannot forgive a very little wrong thing.
5. Thanks and Responses
“Thank you” is widely used in English to show gratitude in such cases as being
invited, helped, given a gift, etc. Cultural differences exist between Chinese
and western in how to express thanks and responses. In fact, “Thank you” is uttered in English for more than acknowledging favor or gratitude, and it is often
a means to show politeness. On many occasions, the English use this utterance while the Chinese may say “有劳您了。”or do not say a word at all but just smile or nod. As a matter of fact, “Thank you ” is used more widely by westerners
than Chinese use“谢谢”, for minor favors like borrowing pencil , asking directions, requesting someone to pass on a message , receiving a telephone, etc. “Thank you” not only shows politeness but also carries a person’s grateful feeling for those who offer help. Without using expressions of gratitude, misunderstandings may arise because the help seems to be taken for granted and is mot appreciated, For westerners, each person is an equal indivial, whether he is a family member of not. In Chinese, “谢谢”is not frequently used between intimate friends and family members because it may imply a certain distance between the addresser and the addressee. Native speakers may respond to “Thank you ” by saying
: You are welcome /It’s a /my pleasure/ Not at all/ Don’t mention it/That’s all right. While Chinese people may say:“这是我应该做的”， which may convey to
westerners the message that the Chinese did not really want to do it, or that he
/she did it only because it wall his/her ty. This message is quite different
from what the Chinese speaker intended to express.
6. Asking Personal Affairs
People from China do not regard it as asking personal affairs when they ask others name、year、marital status、wages、personal life、belief and political points. It is regard as concerns. While the westerns will think you 侵犯their right
of privacy. when we talk to the westerns, we must avoid asking some questions like this:“How old are you?”、“Are you married？”、“How many children do you
have？”、“How much do you make？”、“What’s your weight?”、“Do you go to the church？”
7.Invitation and Saying Good-Bye
In the culture of British and America, it is very important to consult a time before you invite somebody to attend a banquet or take part in social activities.
Esp. in America, invite somebody means you are borrow times of others. So they respect time very much. While in China, people are prefer to an uninvited guest.
And otherwise, You will be thought unfriendly if you cannot receive an uninvited
guest very well.
8.关切语
In China, we always say“你辛苦了！”、“你一定累了吧！”to show our consideration when somebody from far place. While the westerners do it in a different way.
They will say "How is your trip? "You must be very interesting." These sentences
are all express in psychological aspect. Concerning the old people is the virtue of human race. But different cultures have different styles. In China, people
will say“您年纪大了，你坐吧！”when they 让座to a old man. But this is regarded
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时间：2023-09-10 01:13
In many aspects of our life, we often divide the world into two parts: the eastern one and the western one. The former usually refers to Asia and the latter includes mainly Europe, North Africa and America. We divide like this not only because of the geographical location differences, but also e to the cultural differences to a large extent. In the following parts, you’ll see such differences, from the causes to the customs of the two sides nowadays.
Part I What leads to the cultural difference?
The cultures of the East and the West really distinguish each other a lot. This is because the culture systems are two separate systems on the whole.
The origin of the eastern cultures is mainly from two countries: China and India. Both of the two cultures are gestated by rivers. In China, the mother river is the Yellow River while the Indian one is the Hin River. These two cultures were developed for several thousand years and formed their own styles. Then in Dang Dynasty of China, the Chinese culture graally went overseas to Japan, mixed into the Japanese society and shaped the Japanese culture nowadays. Though a bit different from the Chinese one, it belongs to the same system.
When the two mother rivers gave birth to the eastern culture, another famous culture was brought up on the Mesopotamian Plain ---- the Mesopotamian Civilization. This civilization later on developed into the cultures of the Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. And these two are well-known as the base of the European culture. Like the Chinese culture, the European one also crossed waters. When the colonists of England settled down in America, their culture went with them over the Atlantic Ocean. So the American culture doesn't distinguish from the European one a lot.
At the same time, the difference of the language systems adds to the cultural differences. In the East, most languages belong to the pictographic language (see the picture below) while the Western languages are mostly based on the Latin system, for example, the one I’m using to write this paper.
Other factors like human race difference counts as well. But what’s more, e to the far distance and the steep areas between the East and West, the two cultures seldom communicate until recent centuries. So they grew up totally in their own ways with almost no interference from the other.
Part II How differently do people behave in daily life?
The differences are everywhere. They affect people’s ways of thinking and their views of the world. Even in everyday life, the cultural differences show up from the moment the eyes are opened to the minute the dreams are invited.
In the following, I’ll give some typical example of the differences
Section 1: Greeting
Greeting is the first step to form a culture, because people begin to communicate with others. The indivials become a community.
How do we Chinese greet each other? Informally, if we meet an friend in the street, we are used to say: “Hi, have you had your meal?” or “Where are you going?”. When it is the case of two gentlemen, they tend to shake hands.
However, in the western countries, the above questions are just questions, not greeting at all. They may think you’re inviting them to dinner if you ask about their meals. Usually, they’ll just give each other a smile or greet with a “Hi.”. They’ll shake hands only in some formal situations. By the way, Westerners can leave a party or meeting halls without a formal conge, nor should they shake hands with every attendee like most of us will do here.
Section 2: Expressing gratitude
Think of the situations below. Your mother is busy in the kitchen. She suddenly asks you to fetch a bowl for her. You do so. What’ll your mother’s response be? Probably she’ll just continue doing the cooking. After a while, the dinner is ready. Your mother hands you your bowl of rice. What’s your response? Probably just begin to eat.
That’s what I want to say. In Chinese families, we rarely say “Thank you” to other family members for receiving help or service. Neither will we say so between good friends. It’s such an unpopular response that if you say it, the counterpart will think you are treating him as a stranger, otherwise you are lacking of intimacy.
But in the West, "thank you" is one of the most frequently used sentences. Teachers will thank a student for answering a question; husbands will thank his wife for making a coffee.
However, as an interesting phenomenon, it’s a custom to say "thank you" in Japan. No matter in family or among friends, Japanese chronically use it all the day. This is probably the aberrance of the culture.
Section 3 Dining
The ways people eat, that is, the table manner, really distinguish a lot. The reason for this is probably because of the different dining tools and menus.
Easterners use chopsticks, or sometimes even grasp rice straightly with hands as Indians do. The thin and long chopsticks cannot be used to cut food, so we usually use our teeth to act as knives. We hold our food, meat or vegetable, with the chopsticks, send them to the mouths, bite off a part of it and remain the other part on the chopsticks. That’s the usual way we eat. We are also used to hold up our bowls when having rice or soup. Japanese hold bowls to have miso soup without spoons. But all these habits are considered rude in the Western countries.
The etiquette in the West requests that when eating, bowls and plates cannot leave the tables. Food should be cut by knives to fit into the mouths. Of course your mouth cannot touch the plates or bowls. So the regular process is like this. You cut your steak on the plate with fork and knife, send the meat cube into the mouth with fork and nothing will be returned back but the fork alone.
Section 4 Symbolizing
Symbolization is how people imagine or regard something. It actually reflects the way people think. Here I’ll only discuss some symbolization that frequently appears in daily life.
First is about the colors. We often give each color some meanings, because we feel differently when facing different colors. So people always have preference when choosing colors of clothes, decorations, etc. In the APEC summit held in Shanghai several years ago, in the last day, the presidents from all over the world wore the traditional Chinese Dang suits and took a photo together. The colors of the suits were chosen by themselves freely. However, it’s quite interesting to find that most Easterners chose red while most of the westerners preferred blue. To explain this, it’s easy to realize that what red means is almost opposite in the East and the West. Red means luck, fortune here. We Chinese often use this color to decorate in festivals, such as red lanterns, red Chinese nodes, red bangers. But red stands for blood, revolutions in the West. So the presidents avoided wearing this unlucky color.
Another interesting discovery is about the dragons. In the East, dragons are imagined as something like snake and are flowing in the sky for most of the time. The dragon is said to have the face of the horse, the horns of the deer, the ears of the ox, the body of the snake, the claws of the eagle and squama of the fish. We regard dragon as God and say that we Chinese are the offspring of the dragon. The God of Dragons of the four seas can charge the rainfalls, so we sometimes also call them the God of the water or rain. But in the West, people think dragons as dinosaurs, which can stand on the ground with feet and fly with huge wings. They lay eggs just like dinosaurs. The dragons of the West have the ability to erupt fire, instead of water. The fire can destroy everything so the dragons are not welcomed at all. They even become the symbol of the Devil.
Part III What can we do to treat the culture gap?
Now we have seen that there exists such a huge gap between eastern culture and western one. Then what should we do to face this gap in the graally globalizing world?
Firstly, we cannot deny any of the cultures. Every nation has its own characteristics and it’s mainly through its culture that we first begin to know the nation and its characteristics. So we cannot say that this culture or custom is right and that is wrong. Equal respect should be attached to every culture in the world, even to those that are not in existence any more.
Next, we should get to learn how to coordinate the different cultures. We say the world is becoming smaller and smaller. More foreigners come and go everyday. When it is in the same country, the same city, the same neighborhood, the cultural collision is expected to be more serious. So we should try to avoid this happening. One important thing is to get some basic knowledge about the other cultures so as not to misunderstand some actions or habits of the foreigners.
When the above two is done, we can start to communicate. I mean we can take in some strong points from the foreign cultures. Though there doesn’t exist correctness in terms of culture, it does have the terms of more advanced or more suitable for the world nowadays. Of course, we cannot throw away our own culture and accept another one totally. Every culture is a treasure to the history of the Earth, so we should only pick out those we lack to perfect our own.
Different cultures add the most colorful element to the world of 21st century. The cultural gap should not be the obstacle to the civilization of human being. It ought to be the motivation of our going farther.
参考资料：http://202.120.60.18/coolenglish/docs/essay/Culture
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时间：2023-09-10 01:13
上www.diandian.cn
或者。普特英语论坛。
热心网友
时间：2023-09-10 01:14
这个嘛,你还找得到人教般的高中英语书吗,好象是高二的课本(不好意思,记不清了,我也大一了),介绍文化的一篇课文,那篇课文讲得比较详细.
