Cross-culture Communication By Zhangle

Cross-culture Communication  1. How to understand Cross-culture Communication.  2. Why we should learn this course.  3. What is the key point in cross-culture communication.

A Brief Introduction to Cross- culture Communication  1. Cross-culture Communication (BrE) =Intercultural Communication (AmE)  2. Two words: culture & communication what happens when people from different cultures come together to share ideas, feelings, and information. 3. Two levels: linguistic level (comparatively lower) and cultural level (comparatively higher)

Why We Should Learn This Course? Cross-culture communication is not new. But in ancient times, those communications were frequently confusing and quite often hostile because of the lack of the accompanying cultural knowledge. Today’s intercultural encounters differ from earlier meetings. They are more abundant and more significant duel to the reality of a global economy makes today’s contacts far more commonplace than in any other period of the world’s history. In order to prevent the misunderstandings in the process of intercultural communication, this course is very important and necessary.

The Key Point in Cross-culture Communication  The difference of culture background in eastern and western countries: Individualism & Collectivism. ( 个人主义和集体主义 )

Unit 1 Language and Culture in Communication

Important Concepts of Unit 1  1. Communication (P8 &P10).  2. Direct & Indirect Communication (P11).  3. Mono-cultural language communication (P16).  4. Cross-cultural Communication: Unilaterally & Bilaterally cross-cultural language communication (P17 &P18).  5. Three meanings: Utterance meaning, Speaker’s meaning & Hearer’s meaning (P23).  6. Social situation& Private Goals (P29 &P31).

Communication  How do we translate this word? 交际 交流 沟通 传播 通信 交通 传 理  The basics of Communication: 1. At least two communicators 2. Some contact 3. A language 4. Information exchange (If you want to know more about communication, you can refer to your guidance book, page 5.)

Mono-cultural language communication  Mono means one or single, so this phrase means communication between people speaking the same language in the same cultural environment. It is not a kind of cross-culture communication.

Unilaterally cross-cultural language communication  Unilaterally means relating to only one side, so this phrase means one person who knows two languages communicates with another person who knows only one language. It is a simple and common kind of cross-culture communication.

Bilaterally cross-cultural language communication  Bilaterally means affecting or undertaken by two sides equally, so this phrase means one person who knows two languages communicates with another one who also knows two languages. It is a more complicated kind of cross-culture communication.

Three Meanings  Example: Is that your car?  Utterance meaning: Is that your car?  Speaker’s meaning:  1. Your car is so good! I don’t know you’re so rich!  2. Your car is so bad! I’d never drive a car like that!  3. Your car is on my way! Get lost!

Social Situation  A social situation is formed when two or more people gather to do an activity or fulfill a purpose.  A social situation has the following essential components: Two or more participants, definitions of the situation and goals, setting, schema, verbal communication, non-verbal communication, time and space.

Private Goals  It is like the speaker’s meaning, in other words, when a person speak a certain sentence, he may have something hidden behind the sentence which is not expressed directly. (the example of three meanings)

The Biggest Problem in Cross- culture Communication: Misunderstanding  Misunderstanding occurs very often in cross- culture communication, why? The reason is the influence of mother language and mother culture, we call that Language Interference. (Remember the model of cross-culture communication.)  What can cause misunderstanding in cross- culture communication? Three meanings, private goals.

Difficult points in this unit: Meaning in Communication(P45)  Words do not mean anything themselves. It is language users who give them the meanings. In other words, what a word or an object to us is actually our interpretation. Human interpretation relies on our knowledge about the language and the world.

Conventional meaning ( 约定俗成的意义 )  Conventional meaning is of two kinds. They are conceptual meaning and associative meaning.  Example: 龙 in English is Dragon, but do they refer to the same thing in Chinese Culture and English Culture?

Conceptual meaning( 概念意义 ) and Associative meaning( 联想 意义 ).  In China, 龙 is kind of mythological animal with a long body, scales, horns, wings and feet, which could walk, fly, swim and gather clouds to pour down rain. 龙 was a symbol of the emperor in feudal China. The character was also affixed to things used by the emperor.We consider ourselves as the successors of the Dragon.It gives us Chinese good association. But in the west, dragon was different, it has the power to breathe out fire, and it is a very bad animal in the western country culture.

Other Examples  1. 红 and red.Their associative meaning are different. In China, red can make people feel happy and festive. In the west, it refers to danger.  2. Bat. In Western cultures, where bats have been associated with witches since the Middle Ages, these flying animals are generally considered bad luck and ghosts while in china they are symbols of long life.