中西方礼仪文化差异(ENGLISH)

中西方礼仪文化差异

With China entry the WTO and will hold the Olympic game s 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 re presentation of Western, to look at some cultural difference

in etiquette, and then analyze the reasons. Furthermore, we will discuss how to learn western culture.

一.

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?"

……

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, during 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, during 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. Chineseleave-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 environment

https://www.360docs.net/doc/784938650.html,pliments and Response

To 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 due 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.

二.

Different cultural factors may result in cultural differences, and consequently, the acknowledgment of the factors that affect the cultural differences will facilitate the understanding of such differences, part of which will vie discuss in

the followings. Since it is impossible to cover all of the factors in this thesis, the factors discussed here are some important ones. Cultural Background

One of the cultural different reasons between China and western is cultural background. In Spring and Autumn and Warring s periods of China emerged Confucianism, Taoism and other ideologies .As different ideologies developed and combated each other, the basic framework of Chinese civilization was established. And then Confucianism became the foundation stone of Chinese philosophy system. Confucianism's central doctrine is that of the virtue of Ren. What is Ren? Ren is translated variously as goodness, benevolence, humanity and human-heartedness. In short, Ren means affection and love. For more than 2 thousand years it has molded and shaped the civilization of China and exerted a profound influence upon almost

one fourth of human race. Just as DR. Sun-Yat-Sen said:" Therefore the old morals of loyalty and piety, affection, and love, faithfulness and righteousness, are superior to those of the foreign countries Let alone that peace and harmony. These high standards of morals are our national spirit.

"Different from China, Christianity plays an important role in western. The English speaking countries are generally considered as Christian countries where many people believe in Christianity. Christianity is the region based on the life and teaching of Jesus Christ. He is the founder of Christianity. According to the doctrine

of Christianity, the Trinity is the union of the three forms of God, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ the son of the God, and the holy book of Christianity is the Bible, which consists of the Old Testament and the New Testament. However, the power of the church cannot compare with the past time, it still influence many aspects of people 's daily life. For example, there are a few important festivals in the western is concern with Jesus Christ. Christmas day is a festival in celebration of the birth of the Jesus Christ on Dec.25.Virgin Birth refers to the birth of Christ, which Christians believe to have been caused by God rather than by ordinary sexual union.

三.

How to Learn Western Culture.

Establish a right attitude toward cultural differences Attitude is a manner of feeling and behaving. It can form a part of one's perception of self, of others, and of the culture in which one is living.

A foreign language learner should set up a right attitude toward different culture to be open-minded to them. Prejudice should be avoided. Prejudice in culture refers to an intolerant, unfair or biased attitude toward another culture. Regardless of the existence of Prejudice, cross-cultural communication may become difficult

because it stands in the way of acquired knowledge in it. When facing a new culture, people should be flexible and able to adapt themselves to the new situation."Do as the Romans do is an effective way for those who are experiencing cultural differences. Therefore, being open-minded to cultural difference is a prerequisite to a successful communication with native speakers. 2. Reading extensively for cultural information Having the successful communication is the main purpose of English.

The cultural information that the students need in authentic communication greatly exceeds that covered in any courses. To developed people's communication competence, people should read authentic materials such as foreign newspapers, advertisements, journals, short stories, novels, plays and other types of literature works. Literary works are of great significance to foreign language learners. In many cultures, particularly those whose languages are widely taught, literature performs an important role in society. They can reflect a culture, help readers gain deeper insights into the target society, enable them to have a better understanding go the national character of the people who produce the literature, and of the values they cherish. If we regard literature as a treasures house, then paying a visit to it will enable us to absorb cultural information stored in it. Informative works relevant to national character studier

are another source of cultural information. Historians, sociologists and anthropologists, who engage themselves in the study of the target society, usually write these books. Foreign language learners can benefit a lot from these books since the books provide them with a detailed explanation of the people's character in the target culture.

杨阳

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