General cultural differences
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[Abstract] Different cultures would be the reason to understand the same thing as opposite ways. This paper discusses the differences in cross-cultural communication and business English.
[Key words] general cultural differences；Chinese；Westerners
1. Introduction
In recent years， with the accelerated paces of reforming and opening， the foreign contacts are more and more extensive. The world today is characterized by an ever-growing number of contacts between people with different languages and cultural backgrounds. In this paper， the author would discuss the differences in cross-cultural communication and business English. In the first part， it shows the general difference between China and the western countries， and then discusses the different points in business English based on the cross-culture context.
2. General cultural differences between Chinese and westerners
Politeness
Cultural differences on politeness between westerners and Chinese can be found in many aspects of daily communication， including addressing， greeting and parting， compliments， apologies， thanks and so on. When people meet acquaintances or friends， people usually greet each other. The purpose of greeting is to establish or maintain social contact. So formulaic expressions are often used， but such formulaic expressions often causes conflict because of the great cultural differences between Chinese and native English speakers. In English， people often employ the following expressions to greet each other “Good morning/evening/afternoon.” “Fine day， isn’t it？ ” “How is everything going？” “Have you eaten yet？” “What are you going to do？” “Where have you been？” etc. Westerners treat them as real question. While in Chinese， we always say ni chi le me （你吃了吗？）ni shang na li qu（你上哪里去？）ni gan shen me qu（你干什么去？） to show our consideration. Parting may be divided into two steps. Before the final prating， there is usual a leave-taking. Western and Chinese cultures have diverse ways to deal with leave- takings. Firstly， in English society， during the closing phase of an encounter， from “I” perspectives， reasons for terminating the encounter are presented in motivator comments. Western people believe that to be willing to visit and converse with someone is to have respect for him.I do enjoy our talk and the lovely dinner， but I must be going soon” or “Thank you very much for your invitation. I hope we’ll be able to get together again soon…” Consolidation in a wider range of common acquaintances also occurs， in expressions such as “Say hello to Jack for me” or “Remember me to John”. In Chinese society， during the closing phase of and encounter， usually， from a “you” perspective， reasons for ending the encounter are set forth in expressions. Such expressions include“ you are so busy that I won’t trouble any more.”， and “you may tired，please have a rest，I am leaving now”， etc. With these words， they may stand up from their seats. Chinese leave-taking is very short and quick. Western people think it so abrupt that they have not prepared for it. While moving to the door， Chinese employ expressions of apology like “I’m sorry for trouble so much” “I’m sorry for taking you so much time”. It should be noted that these expressions employed by Chinese guests to show concern for their hosts can only be appropriated for business visits in the English environment.The Chinese tends to abide by the polite principle of depreciating oneself and respecting others to show appropriate respects towards the persons being addressed， otherwise， the addresser may be considered as ill mannered， ill educated or rude. But in English speaking countries， people have a tendency to follow the reciprocal or symmetrical addressing. Although they are different in age and status， they can call the other directly， namely， their names， even first names except when they call the doctors， not arousing offence between them， but demonstrating the sense of intimacy and the conception of” Everyone is created equal”. Chinese people feel unnatural addressing a westerner by his given name， feeling that it indicates too close a relationship， and westerners， on the other hand， may feel that if a Chinese insists on using his surname， it indicates an unwillingness to be friendly and maintains a gap between them. So the use of forms like” Miss Mary” or “Mr. Smith ” may be a Chinese forms of compromise.
Responses to compliments， apologies and thanks.
To compliment is to praise the addressee’s virtues， ability， behavior， appearance， clothing， personality and belongs. Appropriate compliments can serve as effective supplementary means in inter-personal communication. Western and Chinese culture are at polar opposites about compliment. An western hostess， if she is complimented for her cooking skill， is likely to say，” Oh， I am so glad that you liked it. I cook it especially for you.” Not so is a Chinese hostess， who will instead apologize for giving you “Nothing”. They will say sui bian zuo ji ge cai ，bu hao chi （随便作几个菜，不好吃 ）.If translate this into English” I just made some dishes casually and they are not very tasty. Perhaps the foreigner will think why you invite me to you family and have the ugly food. You do not respect me. The English-speaking people are more active to praise others and to be praise than Chinese people. “Thank you” is widely used in English to show gratitude in such cases as being invited， helped， given a gift， etc. Cultural differences exist between Chinese and western in how to express thanks and responses. In fact， “Thank you” is uttered in English for more than acknowledging favor or gratitude， and it is often a means to show politeness. On many occasions， the English use this utterance while the Chinese may say you lao nin le （有劳您了）.Or do not say a word at all but just smile or nod. As a matter of fact， “Thank you ” is used more widely by westerners than Chinese use xie xie（谢谢）， for minor favors like borrowing pencil ， asking directions， requesting someone to pass on a message .
Conclusion
Based on the above discussion， the different cultures would cause the different understanding of the same thing， westerners and Chinese have opposite ways to deal with the things by interesting culture background. This paper suggests that language teaching would care about the complex culture backgrounds of students， and express or communicate with people by understanding and getting to know the culture context clearly.
Reference：
[1] Hu Wenzhong. Cultural and Communication Beijing： Foreign Language Teaching And Research Press， 2010.
[2] Lan Wood & Paul Sanderson， Pass Cambridge BEC Vantage/ Student Book 2011.
[3] Robert N. Bellah and others， Habits of the Heart： Individualism and Commitment in American Life New York： Harper & Row， Publishers， 1985.