Transcript Communication

Cross-Cultural
Communication
----跨文化交际
Tutor: Xu Yan
主讲： 徐琰
Contents
Unit 1
Unit 2
Unit 3
Unit 4
Unit 5
Unit 6
Unit 7
Unit 8
Language and Culture in Communication
Culture Shock
What’s in a Name?
Social Interaction
Roles and Relations
Non-verbal Communication
In Other Words
From a Primitive Tribe to a Global Village
Unit One
Language and
Culture in
Communication
Language and Culture
in Communication
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Objectives
Language and Culture
Communication
Models of
Communication
Meanings in
Communication
Communication in Social
Situations
Language Appropriateness
Group Tasks
Thanks!
Your Objectives
By the end of this unit you will be able to

understand the relationship between language,
culture and communication;
 distinguish some general concepts, models and
types of communication;
 recognize the meanings in communication, the
definitions of a social situation and the goals in a
social situation;
 be aware of situational schema and different values
and non-verbal signals in communication.
Language and Culture
Questions for Group Discussion
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What is Culture?
What is Language?
Can we learn a language without learning its
culture?
Does culture apply to all members of one culture?
Are cultural generalizations the same as
stereotypes?
Are there any rights or wrongs in the crosscultural communication?
Does culture explain all behavior?
Culture
Culture: A shared background(e.g. National, ethnic,
religious) resulting from a common language and
communication style, customs, beliefs ,attitudes,
and values. It refers to the informal and often
hidden patterns of human interactions, expressions,
and viewpoints that people in one culture share.
Culture
Language
Food
Appearance
Communication style
Beliefs
Attitudes
Values
Perception
Culture is like an ice-berg.
Language
Language is a part of culture and plays a very
important role in it. It is considered as the
keystone of culture, for without language, culture
would not be possible. In the broadest sense,
language is the symbolic representation of a
people, and it comprises their historical and
cultural backgrounds as well as their approach to
life and their ways of living and thinking.
Language
Learning a foreign language also means learning
to see the world as native speakers of that
language see it, learning the ways in which their
language reflects the ideas, customs, and behavior
of that society, learning to understand their
“ language of the mind”.
Learning a language, in fact, is inseparable from
learning its culture.
Principles

Culture, unlike language, is not comprised of fixed
rules that apply to all members of one culture.
 Cultural generalizations are different from
stereotypes.
generalization: a general statement 概说，普遍化
stereotype: a conventional, formulaic,
oversimplified conception, opinion, or image 陈见
 There are no absolute ‘rights’ and ‘wrongs’
implied in this course, only cultural differences.
Principles

Two levels of observation:
a. All cultures have values and ideals that their
members say are true;
b. People’s behavior may not always reflect those
values.
 Culture does not explain all behavior.
It is best not to overemphasize either cultural
differences or cultural similarities.
 Finally, learning about culture is enriching.
Communication
What is Communication?
Communication
commonis
Communication is the the process of
sharing meaning through verbal and
nonverbal language, or rather the
exchange of thoughts, messages,
information, as by speech, signals,
writing or behavior.
What is Cross-cultural Communication?
A kind of communication (verbal and nonverbal)
between people from different cultures
Communication Criteria
information
A
contact
language
B
Communication Types
animal
animal
information
A
human
machine
contact
language
B
human
machine
Communication Types
animal
animal
A
human
machine
information
contact
in/direct
ways
language
B
human
machine
Communication Language
symbolic
/ logic
language
human
artificial
object
verbal
nonverbal
machine
body
non-word sounds
special
purpose
/ Braille
Life and Communication

Life is communication and communication
is life.
Successful /unsuccessful communication in
life
 Communication means not only life but also
development.
Information is communicated and
information means power and money.
Models of
Communication
Models of Communication
One typical model of communication
Source of
information
message
encoder
code
medium
noise
channel
decoder Retrieval of
information
Models of Communication

Mono-cultural language communication:
Communication between people speaking the
same language.
 Unilateral cross-cultural language communication:
Cross-cultural communication together with a
bilingual speaker.
 Bilateral cross-cultural language communication:
Communication between people/interlocutors who
have mastered both languages, they can switch
freely to either of the two languages.
Models of Communication
shared
knowledge
language and
culture
activate
activate
linguistic
competence
exercise
communicative
skills
generate
exercise
interpret
message
linguistic
competence
communicative
skills
Case Study

When having a dinner with Adam, a Canadian
tourist who does not know Chinese at all, Xiao
Wang is talking to him in simple English: “This is
Sweet and Sour West Lake Fish. Please try try.”

Please use bilateral cross-cultural communication
model to analyze this communication.
language
Xiao Wang has learned Adam’s _______
and_______.
culture
 --This shared __________
knowledge makes their
communication possible.
competence
 --Xiao Wang activates his English ___________
and exercises his English____________________
communicative skills
generate a message: “This is Sweet and Sour
to ________
West Lake Fish. Try try”
activates his English competence and
 --Adam _______
exercises his English communicative skills to
________
interpret Xiao Wang’s speech.
_________

Language Interference
How to treat the guest when having a dinner?
Improper English:
Try try.
Proper English:
Have a try.
Help yourself.
Try it please.
Language interference takes places when one speaks
tongue
________________,
____________affects
the way
a foreign language one’s mother
uses
he or she ______it.
Meanings in
Communication
Meanings in Communication
Questions for group discussion:
1. What do you think of a word and its meaning?
2. Do the words mean anything by themselves?
3. How does a word come into being?
4. How many kinds of meanings do you know?
5. What do you think of the word red?
How many meanings can it have to you?
Different Meanings
What it normally means.
utterance
meanings
speaker
intention
convention
conceptual
hearer
What the hearer
understood.
associative
Meanings in Communication
Diagnose the problems in the following case
please:
 Angela, a Canadian, married a Chinese engineer
Joe Wang in the States. Later Joe’s mother came to
visit them from Hangzhou, China. The next day
after her arrival, Angela talked to Joe while his
mother was playing with their little son Jeremy in
the garden.
Angela: Joe, how long is your mum going to stay?
Joe: I don’t know. I haven’t asked her.
Angela: Why not ask her?
Joe: How could I ask her?
Angela: Why not? I just want to ask her how long
she’s going to stay.
To Angela’s great puzzlement, the next day, her
mother-in-law told them that she would leave for
Hangzhou in a week. It seemed that the mother
had overheard their conversation. But why?
Question: What went wrong with Angela and her
mother-in-law?
Reference

Utterance meaning: The meaning what the
utterance normally means.
E.g.: How long is she going to stay?
 Speaker’s meaning: The meaning the speaker has
intended to convey by way of utterance meaning.
Angela wanted to know her mother-in-law’s plan
so that she might make some good arrangements.
Reference

Hearer’s meaning: The meaning the hearer has
understood on the basis of the utterance meaning.
According to Chinese custom, it might be impolite
for a host to ask a guest about his or her staying
plan which might imply that the guest is not
welcome. Having overheard their conversation,
Angela’s mother-in-law misunderstood that
Angela didn’t welcome her, so she decided to
leave them earlier than expected.
Communication in
Social Situations
Communication in Social Situations

Essential components
definition of the
situation and goals
participants
verbal
communication
Social situation
schema
non-verbal
communication
time and space
setting
Definitions of Social Situations

Definitions of a social situation
a. community definition
official interpretation of the situation--social
situation of meeting,classroom teaching, etc.
b. participants’ definition
Goals in Social Situations
What is a goal?
A goal is a purpose you want to achieve by
doing something.
Goals in a social situation:
a. institutionalized goals in public places
b. private goals
Situational Schema

When you join a social gathering, you
must be aware of rules and procedures that
govern the way things are going to proceed.
There is a technical term for such rules and
procedures—schema (程式,模式,计划).
Situational Schema
Question for group discussion:
What was your schema of entertaining a guest
at home?
Situational Schema
An American host’s schema of entertaining a
guest at home:
 giving invitation
 prepare everything before the arrival of guests
 receiving guests
open the door / express welcome
take their overcoats / introduce guests
offer them drinks / make them comfortable
Situational Schema

serving food
set the table / soup first / main course
desert / fruit / cakes / coffee / tea
 post dinner activities
chat / play music / offer more drinks
 seeing guests off
thank them for coming / good night
Reflection
social situation
 A______________
is formed when two or
more people come to each other’s presence. They
monitor each other’s behavior and one person’s
behavior affects the other’s.
social situation receives two types of________.
definition
 A_____________
One is given by a community, and the other by the
participants.
goals
__________
People pursue different______
in a
social situation.
Reflection

There are______
rules and__________
procedures for social
situations and goal attainment. Technically they
schema
are called________.
 When we say and do things, there are various
non-verbal
signals
_______________attached
to them. We should be
always careful about them, because they may hurt
our partners without our awareness.
Language
Appropriateness
Language Interference
How to treat the guest when having a dinner?
Improper English:
Try try.
Proper English:
Have a try.
Help yourself.
Try it please.
Language interference takes places when one speaks
tongue
________________,
____________affects
the way
a foreign language one’s mother
uses
he or she ______it.
How to Open a Seminar?

--Right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this
seminar. I have the great honor of presenting
to you Prof. Simpson. His topic today is “…”.
Professor Simpson, please.
 --Well, it’s time. Every one is here? I’m
pleased to introduce Mr. …
How to Organize the Lecture?

--My talk consists of four parts. Part 1
outlines the relation between language,
culture and communication; Part 2
introduces to you the notion of models of
communication. Part 3 focuses on meanings
in communication. And the last part will be
on different values in communication.
How to Highlight the Most Important
Message?

The point I want to drive home is we all make
generalizations. Everyone generalizes every day
just to make sense of his experience. Some
generalizations include positive or negative
judgments.
How to Switch from One Section to
Another?
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So first things first. Let’s start with Part 1…
Any questions so far? No? Good. Now part 2.
This leads to the topic of Part 3.
Let’s move on to the topic of pollution, Part 3.
Finally Part 4…
Reference

The problem is the use of clumsy book (拙著) and
humble servant (鄙人). Since Professor Wang
didn’t know American culture quite well, he was
being polite by belittling himself in perfect
Chinese way. However, this is not American
politeness. In America, people would always try to
be self-confident but not belittle themselves.
Self-abnegation would be regarded as lacking
confidence and thus would be shrugged off.
Reference

Prof. Johnson didn’t know much about Chinese
politeness either. At first he was shocked by Prof.
Wang’s polite expressions, then took them
literally and pointed out that Prof. Wang was not
his humble servant.
What’s more, Prof. Wang didn’t realize that in
America the title of “Prof.” is more appreciated
than “Mr.”. The meaning of “Mr.” is not the same
as in Chinese “先生” which could be used to
show high respect.
Group Task 4
Briefly dramatize or present one similar
situation of cross–cultural social gatherings
that might cause misunderstandings according
to different values.
Home Work

A Chinese student had just arrived in the States.
One day, when reading in his room, he heard
someone shouting outside: “Watch out!” So he
went to the window and stretched out his head and
tried to find out what’s going on outside. Just then,
his head was right poured by the water from
above…
Question:
Would you please analyze the saying “watch out”
with the three meanings?
Thanks!