跨文化交际视听说案例分析

Case 1 Xiao LI and Xiao Wang were colleagues. Xiao LI gave a lot of help to Xiao Wang financially and socially. Recently Xiao LI would get married. But he forg ot inviting Xiao Wang attend his wedding. Later Xiao Wang got information ab out Xiao LI’ wedding and sent RMB 500 Yuan to Xiao LI. Question: What cultural phenomenon can be reflected? Why? In Chinese culture influenced by Confucianism, if someone does a favor fo r you, you should return the favor to them. This is very common for Chinese people..In the philosophy of Confucianism Reciprocity are the base of relation ships. Gratitude and indebtedness are important parts of Chinese culture. If a person feels uneasy to be indebted of someone, payback is necessary to achi eve balance in the relationship. Case 2 An English guest: Each time a new dish arrived his parents would lean ov er and load my plate with tasty morsels. As they had taken all the trouble to c ook it I just had to polish it off. As soon as my plate was empty they would pu t more on. Of course, I felt duty-bound to eat that too. A Chinese guest: Can you imagine how many dishes I had? Only one -- a stew with meat and vegetables. The meat was over done and too hard to e at; green vegetables were no longer green. They never put food on your plate but just ask you to help yourself. If you, as a guest, are shy or modest, waiti ng for the food to be put on your plate, you will remain half-starved. Question: Are there any differences in hospitality between a Chinese and English? What are the reasons? Yes. The Chinese student felt disappointed at British hospitality because s he used the Chinese way of showing hospitality to judge the British one. In th e story taking place in China, the westerner couldn't imagine that there shoul d be sixteen dishes prepared for her. When she ate from the eight cold dishes , she couldn't eat anymore. It is because a Western meal normally severs one main course plus a starter and sweets or desserts. The fact is that different p eople in the world show their different hospitality in different ways. Case 3 Li Lan had an American friend Susan. They usually had lunch together an d Li Lan often asked Susan for advice on problems she faced adjusting to Am erican society. Susan gave Li Lan a lot of advice and helped her to improve he r English. Once Li Lan needed urgently a big sum of money to pay her tuition fee. Since she has no other friends in the States, she turned to Susan for help and promised that she would return the money soon. To Li Lan’s great disappointment, this time Susan didn’t seem happy to le nd the money to her. Though Li Lan returned the money as she promised, the y didn’t get along well from then on. Question: Why did Li Lan feel unpleasant? Li Lan asked to borrow money from her American friend Susan, which is r arely part of Western friendship. Li Lan and Susan have different expectations of friendship. In the West, people prefer to be independent and equal rather than depe ndent, so they don't feel comfortable in a relationship in which one person giv es more and the other person is dependent on what is given. Among friends t hey mostly provide emotional support to each other and spend time together, so they rarely borrow or lend money to each other. They would ask for a loan from the bank rather than from their friends. While in China, people expect their friends to be loyal to each other, and t hey even take risks for their friends. So they would give not only emotional s upport to each other but also concrete help to each other, such as helping to f ind a job, solving a problem, or even giving money to help one out over a lon g period of time. So when a friend is in need, the first person he or she wants to ask for help is naturally his/her friend. Case 4 In 1997, a Danish woman from Copenhagen left her 14-month- old baby girl in a stroller outside a Manhattan restaurant while she was inside. Other diners at the restaurant became concerned and called New York City P olice. The woman was charged with endangering a child and was jailed for tw o nights. Her child was placed in foster care. The woman and the Danish cons ulate explained that leaving children unattended outside cafes is common in D enmark. Pictures were wired to the police showing numerous strollers parked outside cafes while parents were eating inside. Question: What cultural phenomenon can be reflected? This case reflects one of the barriers to the effective intercultural commun ication---- assuming similarity instead of difference. In American culture, it is illegal for p arents to leave their baby alone. Whereas it is commonplace for parents to le ave their baby alone in Danish culture.The Danish woman had assumed that Copenhagen is similar to New York, that what is commonly done in Copenhag en is also commonly done in New York. Case 5 Describing the differences of verbal communication Styles between Chine se people and American people. Take examples to explain it. The Chinese shout be loud when talking about everything. Direct eye-contact is rare when speaking person to person. Counting on your fingers is di fferent. Instead of just holding out the number of fingers on two hands as in America, the Chinese have specific finger signs for numbers one to ten. To indicate yourself, Americans tend to use their thumb or forefinger and point at or touch their chest. Chinese people usually point at their nose with t heir index finger to do so. Chinese people feel no compunction against staring at other people for long periods of time. Young people, both boys and girls u p to the age of 21, engages in all manner of rough- housing, often hitting each other. Women often walk arm and arm down the s treets. Men and men hold hands or embrace shoulders as they walk outside. Nothing is wrong with that if they are friends. Case 6 Xie Li and Tom have been working on a scientific experiment at a British u niversity for some months. It has not been totally successful. They are discus sing the situation in the laboratory. Xie Li: I don’t know where it went wrong! Tom: Don’t feel so bad. Cheer up; you’ve done your job. Xie Li: But our experiment has turned out to be a failure. Tom: Relax for a couple of days. I’ll face the music. Xie Li: Tom, we are not playing children’s games here. This is a scientific experiment. Tom: I’ve never taken the experiment as child’s play and I’m playing the game. Xie Li: You say you’re playing the game! It’s a rather important experime nt! Xie Li walks out of the laboratory angrily. Tom is puzzled. Question: What’s the problem in this case? Idiomatic phrases are often misinterpreted.In English, face the music mea ns: face reality and take the consequence and play the game means: abide co mpetition rules. Here Xie Li misinterpreted two idiomatic phrases Tom used. F irst he thought that Tom didn’t take the failure of the experiment seriously an d wanted to escape from it, because he would “face the music”; secondly, he misinterpreted Tom’s“playing the game” as that he hadn’t done the experime nt seriously, which might lead to its failure. Case 7 A young Chinese officer, together with his wife, was meeting an American consultant at an airport. After phatic communication, the consultant complimented him on his wife out of politeness, “Your wife is beautiful!” The officer felt embarrassed and said, “Where! Where!”(哪里!哪里!)“Where! Where!” the consultant was puzzled and had to say,“From head to foot.” Question: What went wrong in the case and Why? In this case, the words of the Chinese conveyed a message quite different from what was intended. The Chinese officer would be suspected of “fishing for compliments” even though the remarks might have been quite sincere because the consultant was almost fo rced to say “Your wife is beautiful from head to foot.” Forced compliments like this can leave a bad taste in the mouth.Because as far as the responses to praise and compliments is concerned, there are great difference between Chinese people and native English speakers. Native English speakers, especially Americans tend to verbalize their compliments and accept them, whereas the Chinese tend to efface themselves to show modest. In contrast, native English speakers, in the same situation, will say Thank you or Thank you for saying so or Thanks a lot, etc. to acknowledge and accept the thanks as a kind of recognition of their individual efforts. Case 8 A young Chinese woman in U.S was complimented by an American woman for the lovely dress she was wearing: "It's exquisite. The colors are so beautiful!" she was pleased but somewhat embarrassed. In typical Chinese fashion, she replied, "Oh, it's just an ordinary dress I bought in China." Question: What went wrong in the case and Why? Case 9 A married couple are going to visit a friend. They have been driving around for some time looking for the street. B is angry because A refuses to stop and ask direction of someone. Question: What cultural phenomenon can be reflected? This case reflects the masculine emphasis on maintaining autonomy and not appearing weak or incompetent. Men are less likely than women to seek directions from others. Part of the reason for this may well lie in sensitivity of men to issues of status. From the perspective to ask for information and help from others implies that the person asking is inferior. From a woman's point of view, however, sharing information is a way of cementing bonds. Case 10