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Bridging Cultural Gaps Bridging Cultural Gaps GracefullyGracefully

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Contents:

I.I. Lead-in Lead-in

II.II. StructureStructure

III.III.Language pointsLanguage points

IV.IV. Discussion and Discussion and translationtranslation

V.V. TestTest

VI.VI. AssignmentAssignment

Lead-in Questions:• I. Almost everything in our life is I. Almost everything in our life is

associated with a kind of culture, for associated with a kind of culture, for example, example, tea culturetea culture. Can you name . Can you name some other kinds of culture?some other kinds of culture?

culture

football

national

china

Chinese

wine

classroomcity/urban

human

What is culture?

is the total accumulation ( 积累 ) of______,_______,_____, _______ and ___________________that are ______, _______ and passed down through the generations in a group of people.

beliefs

customs

values

behaviorscommunication

patternsshared

learned

literature, history,art and tradition

Culture

2.What is culture?

Culture is like the water a fish swims in.

Culture is like the air a person lives in.

Culture is all around us, but we seldom notice it.

Culture is like an iceberg.

about 10%

about 90%

•Culture is like an iceberg. Like an iceberg, only some of culture

is visible. This includes things such as history, literature, and customs. Most of the culture is below the surface of our awareness. It includes feelings and attitudes about how things are and how they should be.

An iceberg!

visible etiquettecustomsclothing

history

musicliterature

invisible valuesattitudesfeelingspatterns

3. Look at the following pictures, and work in groups to discuss the pictures so as to come up with a story about what is happening.

• Mike, an American boy in Beijing, holds a party at his home. He invited many of his friends, including his Chinese friend Wang Ping.

• Try to use the words and phrases given.

Picture 2Picture 1

Picture 1

hot sweating thirty modest

No, no… Don’t

bother!

Would you like something to

drink?

Picture 2Where is my drink ?

Puzzled

Talk away

suffer from

When people come in contact with another culture or get along with foreigners, they tend to think and behave in terms of their own culture. But for most of the time it doesn’t work. What might seem rude or strange in one culture might seem normal or logical in another culture.

Example: forms of address

Calling the teacher by their first name(common in American colleges)

The reason:

• reduce social distance

• allow freer communication

Visible or invisible? When should you say “thankyou”?

What is friendship?

Are women better than men?

When should gifts be given?

Do old people deserve respect?

visible

invisible

invisible

visible

invisible

Context• Context is the situation in which

language occurs:– physical location– relationship between people– shared knowledge (culture, memories, etc)– reason for communication– gestures– behaviour

High/low context Communication

• Low context communication:The message is mainly carried by the language.eg. TV, books, talking to a stranger

• High context communication:The message is mainly carried by the context.eg. telling your mother how you feel

Talking to your mother• She will listen to what you say.• She will consider the context:

– your gestures and facial expressions– your past behaviour– your current situation

• If the message from the context does not match the message from the language, which will she believe?

High/low context cultures

High

Low

China

America

Japan

Germany

Example• You are going overseas to study at an

American college.

• Before you even leave China, you receive a lot of written information:– handbook for international students– information about passports and visas– how to get from the airport to the college

• There is nobody to meet you at the airport.

Explanation• Westerners look for, and trust, impersonal (low

context) information.(books, internet, advice from officials, etc)

• The Chinese student in America, with no human to help them, might feel that the situation is cold and unfriendly.

• The Westerner travelling to China feels uncomfortable when they hear: “You’ll find out all the details when you arrive!”

Comment on the views• Studying a second language without

learning the culture is like learning how to drive a car by studying a driver’s manual and never getting behind a steering wheel.

• As adults learning a second language we must make a conscious effort to examine the cultural context of the language we want to learn.

Comment on the views• Meaning is in the person, not in the

word.

• Thinking that “culturally different” means “culturally wrong” will promote intercultural misunderstanding.

• Much of what we communicate is nonverbal

Translation Problems• Vocabulary equivalence• Idiomatic equivalence• Grammatical –syntactical

equivalence• Experiential equivalence• Conceptual equivalence

• YELLOW appears in such Chinese expressions as 黄色电影，黄色书刊，黄色音乐 . How should these be translated into English? Not as yellow movies, yellow books, yellow music. Such terms would not be understood.

• For 黄色 one might use pornographic, trashy, obscene, filthy, or vulgar, as in pornographic pictures, obscene movies, filthy books, vulgar music.

• Also, in most American homes one can find a big thick book called Yellow Pages.

• This is a book with the telephone numbers of different shops, businesses, organizations, etc., arranged according to different categories; for example, all the food stores, all the radio shops, all the amusement parks, all the airlines, all the hospitals. It is a most useful book. Its pages are yellow, but it is not a 黄色书 in the Chinese sense.

Another exampleA trade fair in Beijing

George Hall: an American businessman

Mr. Li: manager of a Chinese company

George suggested that they arrange a meeting.

Mr. Li replied in fairly good English, “That would be interesting.”

“When can we met?” asked George.

“Ah. This week is very busy,” replied Mr. Li.

“It sure is,” said George, “How about 10 o’clock tomorrow? Meet you here.”

“Tomorrow at 10 o’clock?” asked Mr. Li thoughtfully.

“Right,” said George, “I’ll see you then?”

“Hmm, yes, why don’t you come by tomorrow,” was the reply.

The next day at 10 o’clock he went to Mr. Li’s company’s exhibit only to find that Mr. Li had some important business and was not able to meet with George. He called back later in the day and was told that Mr. Li was not available.

Explanation• Westerners often think the best way to

communicate is for everyone to speak directly.

• Once all the information has been shared, a decision can be made.

• They pay attention to words, rather than context.

• But people from a high context culture often communicate indirectly.

Whom would you like to make friends with, American or British

people?Chinese American British

hospitable Adventurous conservative

modest creative gentlemanlike

intelligent straightforward reserved

Hard-working Open-minded humorous

shy independent mild

Self-confident emotional reliable

Warm-hearted imaginative sincere

generous romantic serious

Body Language is heavily culture loaded

Chinese American

to show anger or impatience

normal, acceptable

to denote respect

insulting

to show impatience or anger

immodest

irrelevant practice

to show sympathy encouragement

Stamp the foot

Clap for oneself

Give a gift with 2 hands

Pat adult on the head

1. Where there’s a will there’s a way.

2. At sixes and sevens.

3. Strike while the iron is hot.

4. More haste, less speed.

5. Out of sight, out of mind.

6. All good things must come to an end.

7. Great minds think alike.

1. 有志者事竟成

2. 乱七八糟。3. 趁热打铁。4. 欲速则不达。

5. 眼不见，心不烦。

6. 没有不散的宴席。

7. 英雄所见略同。

Culture Bridges

• Wet behind the ear

• Stick together through thick and thin.

• Sheep without a shepherd

• A black sheep

• Every dog has its day.

Culture Bridge

• 乳臭未干

• 有福同享 , 有难同当

• 乌合之众

• 害群之马

• 人人都有出头之日 .

2. Your attitudes towards our cultures and foreign

ones? How to deal with culture shock? • The higher standard of material life in Western

Europe and the US proves the superiority of western culture.

• There is no superiority or inferiority in all cultures.

• Absorb what is good and reject what is bad.

• Learn from others’ strong points and close the gap.

(no)

Discussion

• 1.Why is cross-cultural communication necessary and inevitable?

• 2. Your attitudes towards our cultures and foreign ones? How to deal with culture shock?

Why is cross-cultural communication necessary

and inevitable?• Trains, planes, telephones, the Internet, Trains, planes, telephones, the Internet,

and other forms of modern and other forms of modern transportation and communication transportation and communication reduce the time and distance. We are reduce the time and distance. We are living in an information age global living in an information age global village. Now markets and businesses are village. Now markets and businesses are global. Everyone wants to benefit from global. Everyone wants to benefit from global trade and advanced technology, global trade and advanced technology, and they want to live among people who and they want to live among people who respect one another. And they want to respect one another. And they want to live in their own way.live in their own way.

•There are some of the There are some of the challenges of living in a global challenges of living in a global village. People need to learn village. People need to learn about other cultures, so it is about other cultures, so it is necessary to learn how to necessary to learn how to communicate across cultures. communicate across cultures. All the residents in the village All the residents in the village need to develop a broader need to develop a broader worldview, a more global worldview, a more global psychology, and the cultural psychology, and the cultural skills necessary for building skills necessary for building relationships and solving relationships and solving problems across cultures. problems across cultures.

AssignmentParagraph writing (Choose either of the following topics, not less than eighty Words)1)Write a story about your first contact with a foreigner.2) introduce any kind of a local culture.

1. Someone who fights in boxing matches

5. Succeed in doing sth.

2. At a low price

3. Traveling from place to place to find grass for their animals.

4. A plan or suggestion which is made formally to an official person or group

7. Correct or suitable for a particular time, situation, or purpose

9. Make small changes to sth., often to improve it.

8.. Possible and is likely to work

10.Add manure or chemical substances to soil to make crops grow well

6. Extremely unpleasant and making someone feel sick

13. a warning to be careful

15. The meat from pigs

14. Enough or adequately

11. Order someone not to do something

12. Be even better or greater than; exceed

19. Persuade sb. not to do something, especially by making it seem difficult or bad.

20.The way of following all the accepted social rules

17. Say something nice to someone in order to praise him/ her

16. Sudden and unexpected

18. Not allowed, not acceptable socially