跨文化交际
Cross-cultural Communication
Unit 2
Culture Shock
czl@ahut.edu.cn
Unit 2. Culture Shock
Objectives:
1.
2.
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5.
Understand cross-cultural differences in approaches to
hospitality, modesty, privacy, and politeness
Appreciate how differences in cultural values shape
behavior
Identify and avoid taboo subjects in Western cultures
Avoid pitfalls in CCC
Adjust more smoothly to a new cultural environment
Homework:
How to cope with culture shock?
Unit 2. Culture Shock
Warm up
Activity 1.
Activity 2.
Activity 3.
Activity 4.
Activity 5.
Activity 6.
Hospitality
Politeness
Privacy
Theories
Adjustment
Acculturation
Activity 1. Hospitality
• Hospitality = a friendly welcome and kind or generous
treatment offered to guests or strangers
• Task 1. Too Much…
• In the West, if you were invited to have a meal at
someone’s home, there will often be__________ dishes.
Even if it was a formal dinner, it would be usually just
three courses: _____, _____ and ______. But in China, an
informal dinner would have______ dishes and ____ soup;
a formal dinner would have __________ dishes and ____
soup.
• Key: only one of two/ soup, main dish, and dessert// four,
one//at least eight/ one
Activity 1. Hospitality (continued)
• Task 2. … or too little?
• stew = a dish of meat, fish, or vegetables, or a combination of them, that
is cooked by slow simmering<煨，炖>
• T/F? British people are inhospitable.
• (British people show their hospitality in a different way.)
• Task 3. Identifying Problems When East Meets West
• ★For Westerners compliments should be accepted and appreciated, but
we Chinese often negate compliments in order to appear modest. （哪里！
哪里！过奖！不敢当！……）
• ★showing concern for guests in a proper way.
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外办主任：爱玛小姐，坐这么长时间的飞机一定很累吧？你好好休息！咱们明
天在谈。
翻译小王：______________________.
爱玛小姐: _______________________.
• Note: We Chinese often show our concern by saying something like:
“You must be tired. Have a good rest.” Some Westerners are sensitive
about such comments, taking them as implying that they are not strong
enough and so easily get tired, that they are old and weak.
Activity 1. Hospitality (continued)
• Task 4. Avoiding Misunderstandings
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Oral English Practice : Act out the conversation (P.57)
Task 5. You Try
Place: at the table, in a restaurant
You are curious about a new food. What would you say?
Give your comments on the answers given. How can you improve them?
1. “What’s this?”
2. “Is this sweet or salty?”
3. “What are the materials?”
(Keys: P.58)
When you are offered some food you don’t like. What would you say?
4. “No. I don’t want any.” 5. “No thanks, I don’t want any.”
6. “No. I don’t like it.”
7. “No thanks, I don’t like it.”
When you are offered a second helping but you have already had enough.
What would you say?
• 8. “No, thanks. I’m full.”
• (Keys: P.58)
Activity 2. Politeness
• ★ Q1: Do you often greet strangers?
• ★ Q2: P. Somerville greets almost everybody he meets. How do you
explain this?
• Task 1. Better or Worse?(P.59 Reading I.)
• Task 2. Studying Details
• Title: impolite and over-polite
• Two categories: 1) violations of Chinese hospitality norms -- impolite
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2) unnecessary politeness to strangers – over-polite
• Task 3 You try (Reading II)
• ★ Q: Is the implicature <含意> of “Are you hungry?” a question or an
invitation? (It concealed different intentions. How to catch the speak’s
intention correctly?)
• Task 4. Completing a Text (P.64)
Activity 3. Privacy
• English-speaking people place a high value on privacy.
The English have a saying A Man’s Home Is His Castle,
meaning a man’s home is sacred to him; no one should
come in without permission. So it is also with his life
and personal affairs. To ask questions such as 七不问
would be considered prying into an individual’s personal
life, which is another form of invading a person’s
“castle”.
• The whole matter of privacy, as understood in the West,
is alien to many Chinese ——in fact, there is no
equivalent Chinese term for PRIVACY. This may due to:
Activity 3. Privacy
• Reason 1: the close living arrangements of the Chinese.
(big villages in countryside, 四合院)
• Reason 2: the communal spirit or spirit of brotherhood
that has long prevailed among the Chinese. Close
contact and a certain amount of mutual dependence and
mutual concern mean that one person’s affairs are also
very much the affairs of one’s family, one’s neighbours,
and even the larger community that one belongs to.
• Case study:
• If a foreign guest says, “I’m going out.” or “I have an
appointment.”, what would you say?
• Key: You should not ask where. It would be improper to
ask with whom or what kind of appointment it is.
Activity 3. Privacy
• Task 1. Paraphrasing Idioms and Expressions
• as old as Methuselah = very old Methuselah = a man in the Bible who was an
ancestor of Noah and is said to have lived 969 years.
• Bold as brass =厚脸皮,厚颜无耻 The cheek =厚颜
• Be full of pep = be active and full of energy
• Get on a bit = to be getting old
• About to keel over at any moment = about to die <figurative speech,
euphemism >
• ★ Read the following dialogue. Can you guess why Grandma is upset?
• John: Here’s Grandma.
• Tim (a friend from Paris): And your Grandpa?
• Grandma: I’m sorry my husband’s just passed to the other side.
• Tim: ?!
• John: She means Grandpa’s kicked the bucket.
• Tim: I hope his foot will be better soon.
• John: No, he’s not here. He’s snuffed it … you know!
• Tim: But you’ve got electricity here.
• (Key: In this comic strip, the use of euphemisms caused misunderstanding.)
Activity 3. Privacy(continued)
• Task 2. Avoiding Western Taboos
• Taboo = words, expressions, etc. that are considered as being unpleasant
or disgusting. (which convention prohibits)
• 1. Age 2. Salary 3. Rent 4. The size of one’s flat 5. Religious beliefs 6.
Marriage status 7. Personal appearance 8. Sth. reflecting their financial
status 9. Bluntly comment on sb’s appearance 10. Fat --- 发福
• Task 3. Understanding Westerners’ Need for Privacy and
Independence(listening)
• Task 4. Subtitles (Reading III.P.68)
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Privacy · Nurturing Independence · Background
Nurture = encourage sb. or sth. to grow, develop, thrive and be successful.
• Task 5. Scanning for Detail
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(1) 114 students were involved. (2) 296 incidents were collected.
(3) 14 responses discussed expressions of the need for autonomy and privacy.
• Task 6. Analyzing a Case
• “Culture bump” (P.71)
Activity 4. Theories
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Task 1. Reading for Background
Focus: the contrast between individualism and collectivism(I/C)
Task 2. Choosing Subtitles (P.72 Reading IV)
Task 3. Contrasting Cultures (P.76)
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In individualist cultures, the following statements are true:
1) People stress their differences from others
2) There is a positive attitude towards disagreement.
3) Uniformity is not highly thought of.
4) Privacy is important.
5) Individual freedom is highly regarded.
6) Children are brought up to draw attention to themselves.
In collectivist cultures, the following statements are true:
1) The group is the basic social unit.
2) People think in terms of “we” rather than “I”.
3) Disclosure of private feelings is distasteful.
4) People are suspicious of outsiders.
• Task 4. Explaining Cultural Surprises
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Five Basic Themes (p77)
Activity 5. Adjustment
• Task 1. Pre-Listening(P.78)
• Different people have different experiences, but there is a common pattern
which many people go through.
• Task 2. Identifying Different Stages in Adjustment
(P.78)
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1. Euphoria: a feeling of happiness and cheerful excitement
2. Depression
3. Adjustment
4. acceptance
• Task 3. You Try (P.79)
• Task 4. Giving Advice
Activity 5. Adjustment (continued)
• Task 5. Coping with Culture Shock(P.81)
• Subject: How can we ease the process of coming to terms with a new
culture
• Bad News: We can’t avoid the experience of culture shock
• Good News: We can lessen its severity and hasten adjustment
• How? 1. Realize not individual inadequacy but normal response
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2. Suspend judgment until you understand the local ways
• Sources of information
• 1. From those who come from the same cultural background, who have
gone through the same experience and successfully adjusted to life in the
new environment
• 2. From members of the host culture
• 3. Reading, particularly novels
• Need to avoid
• 1. Associating only with members of one’s own culture
• 2. Complete and total immersion in the new culture
Activity 6. Acculturation
• Task 1. New Words from the Text(P.82)
• 1. Acculturation： the process of becoming adapted to a new culture文化适应
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(the process by which somebody absorbs the culture of a society from birth onward）
• 2. Cognitive-oriented: placing great weight on careful thought and logic认
知型的(1. relating to the process of acquiring knowledge by the use of reasoning,
intuition, or perception; 2. relating to thought processes)
• 3. Psychomotor-oriented: stressing the need for action, to be up and doing
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心理运动型的 (relating to bodily movement triggered by mental activity, especially
voluntary muscle action)
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4. Affective-oriented: guided by one’s emotion感情型的
(relating to an external expression of emotion associated with an idea or action)
Task 2. Matching Different Cultural Attitudes to Life (P.83)
Task 3. You Try (P.84)
Task 4. Giving Definition
Social distance = refers to the degree of similarity or dissimilarity between two
cultures. (The first sentence of the report.P.84)
Activity 6. Acculturation(continued)
• Task 5. Reading for Detailed Info
• 8 factors that affect language learning situations:
• 1. Dominance 2) Integration pattern 3) self-sufficiency 4) cohesiveness
5) congruence 6) size
7) attitude
8) length of residence
• Task 6. Table Completion(P.86-88)
• Task 7. You Try
Ex: Read the following passage and give your comment.
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Teaching in China was a life-changing experience that awakened my senses
and expanded my world view. But it was not an easy experience. In many ways
it was the hardest year of my life.
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One friend asked if I was concerned about culture shock, but I assured her I
wouldn't get it. How could I, in such an international city as Shanghai?
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For me, being constantly stared at became a big problem. As the only
foreign woman in Jinshan, I was such a novelty; the local media did stories on
me. I suspect this only made the staring worse.
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Everywhere I went, people peered at me unsmilingly. They would even
pause in the middle of the street and watch me pass. Sometimes they would
point and comment (I soon learned the words “老外”and “美国人”) and
sometimes they would yell “Helloooo” to entertain their friends. It was
relentless.
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I began to empathize with movie stars, cripples and freaks. I felt like a freak.
I would go shopping and four shop assistants would follow one step behind me,
whispering furtively. I’d walk into a restaurant for takeaway, and people would
stop eating and turn to look in my direction. Once, two boys chased me out of a
shop to look at my foreign face.
Review
• 第二单元
文化休克
• 内容：介绍不同文化背景的人接触时常常感到的种种“文化诧异”
现象。
• 教学目的：通过对各种“文化诧异”现象的分析培养学员的文化
意识。
• 学习目标：通过练习认识到英汉在好客、谦逊、隐私、礼貌等方
面的文化差异，进一步体会不同的文化价值观对交际行为的影响，
初步学会如何适应一个新的文化环境。