Intercultural Communication Failures

Lindafang Liu

Intercultural communication between cultures is becoming more and more popular and is playing important roles in many aspects with the rapid development of society and technology. However, we should not turn a blind eye to the pragmatic failure which has become so serious that it has often caused misunderstanding" title="n.误解；隔阂">misunderstanding between different cultures. Attentions should be paid to it. Linguists have done many researches on it and have made outstanding progress. Politeness principle is the basic of intercultural communication and must be mutually obeyed. Even though people have already know the differences between value, morality and customs, communication failures still happan. We are here today to discuss some of the mine fields in intercultural communication, hoping to increase the ability of using language consciously and correctly.

We know that most of our students learn English in a set way, that is, reading the words and phrases first, then analyzing the text, then doing some exercises. People pay little attention to or even ignore the background of the language in which the language originated. But, as a matter of fact, this is very important in learning a foreign language. Only when you have a better understanding of not only the language, the words, the phrases, the grammar, but also of the culture, the morality, the custom the language roots in can you make your communication successful. And today , we will talk about some of the intercultural communication failures in Chinese students.

1.Greetings:

1).When meeting someone you know, English people often say " Hi" or "Hello", "How are you? ", " Good morning" " How have you been? " " How are things getting on? " How are you going" " how is everything? " " Nice to meet you here! What a surprise!"... However, Chinese people would say: "Have you had your meal?" " Where are you going? " If we say " Have you had your meal?" to an English person, he would probably think that you are inviting him to dinner, he may feel very happy! If we say " Where are you going ? " to a foreigner, he would think , Wow, it's none of your business!

2). When picking up someone at the airport, we Chinese often say: "欢迎欢迎，一路辛苦了！" Shall we put it this way: Welcome, welcome! You must be tired all the way!" No, in English, we'd better say: " Did you have a long flight? " That would be much better and polite.

2.Daily Communication

1) When inviting some friends at dinner, we Chinese often say: "今天的菜不好，请多多包涵。" " The dishes are not good, Please forgive me." In fact, it is a Chinese way of being modest, what he really means is that all the dishes here are really wonderful ! What he really hopes is compliment from the guests! But the English would not understand it at all! Now that it is not good, why should you present the dishes before us?! The English would say to their guests: Enjoy yourselves when eating and " Hope you've enjoyed yourself" after eating.

2) While eating, we Chinese often say to the guests: "慢慢吃，你慢吃，" "Eat slowly, eat slowly" this would be very puzzling to the foreigners: Am I eating very violently? Am I eating too quickly or too much? Of course, he would be very angry.

3) And now come to the end of the dinner, your guests will leave. The Chinese would say: "你请慢走" that is "Walk slowly!" in English. This is a very polite saying in Chinese, but will also be confusing to the foreigners: Why? Why can't I walk fast? Does it matter whether I walk fast or slowly? Are you worrying that I may fall over? So change your "慢慢走" for a simple "Bye!" or "See you next time!"

4) When giving gifts to friends, we Chinese often say: "区区薄礼，不成敬意" "This is only a little, no respect" , Chinese modest again! But the English would say " This is a special gift for you, hope you will like it." And he really means it.

While receiving gifts, the Chinese will say "thank you" only but no comments about the gifts. They will wait till the sender leaves , then rush to the gift and tear the wrap paper to see what the gift is. The English would open the wrapper immediately he receives the gift and says: "Thank you very much. I really appreciate it. This is what I expect"

5) When meeting an old lady or man, sometimes we want to show our concern, we would say: "您年纪这么大，身体还是这么健康。" " You are so old, but still look so healthy." Why, are you saying that I should die? So, please say: "You look great and energetic." I can still remember , once on a bus, Mr Xiao, the headmaster, was standing beside me, I stood up and said: "您年纪大了，您坐吧" "Please take a seat because you are old." So, boys and girls, watch your mouth!

6) When receiving compliments, Chinese people often say: "哪里，哪里，你过奖了，我做的一点都不好" "No, no, I didn't do it well! Not beautiful! "Foreigners would think you lack confidence, or you are just pretending, which they don't like and can't understand. So, please respond simply: "Thank you" or " It's very kind of you to say so."

3. privacy

With the deep influence of Confucianism, we Chinese people are quite used to nosing into other persons' affairs, they think they are showing their concern. They take it for granted. It is not unusual for the Chinese to talk about each other's privacy when meeting one another. Once, When I went to Chengdu, I chatted with a girl very happily. She was really very talkative. When getting off the train, I almost knew everything about her, her salary, her age, her address, even her love affairs! But this is quite intruding in English culture. They think that privacy is quite sacred, they treasure their privacy and will get annoyed when bothered. So what are the "mine fields" in English? There are 8 don'ts here:

Don't ask about their age, it's a secret

Don't mention possession. People's salary or possession reflect their ability, social statues.

Don't be curious about their marriage.

Don't ask for their address.

Don't inquire their life experiences

Don't show interest in their belief. Political or religion belief is quite serious.

Don't be inquisitive about their whereabouts

Don't ask about meals.

Then some of you may doubt: so many don'ts, what should we talk about when meeting a foreigner? Well, talk about the weather, the traffic, sports , music, hobbies... you'll always be safe!

4.style:

1) We Chinese usually address someone with their job or official ranks like"萧校长"(Headmaster Xiao)、"罗军长"(Army Commander Luo)、"马经理"(Manager Ma)"杨老师"（ Teacher Yang）. That's not English custom. Just style them: Mr, Sir, or miss.

2) Do not use the sentence "What is your name? " , change it for " May I know your name" or " How can I call you?" That would be much polite and more English.

5. words and idioms：

1) "dear": it is used in many situations to an editor, a teacher, an officer, or anybody whom you want to show your respect or intimacy; while in western families, they often use " darling", "sweety" to show their love, although sometimes "dear" is also used.

2) "dog": "Dog" is a popular pet in western countries, people love dogs very much. You can see people walk their dogs in the streets. So , they have the saying " Love me, love my dog" (爱屋及乌)。 Things are not the same in China. People use "走狗" "狗仗人势" to indicate someone who is mean, despicable。That's really amazing, right?

3) "freeze": This word is quite commonly used in English meaning "stop" but not its origional meaning "to become solid because it is too cold"

4) idioms: Idioms are also quite common in English, especially in spoken English. If you don't know their meanings, you can't get yourself to understand what others are saying, or even misunderstand them. And here I will name only a few: "力大如牛" "as strong as a cow?(正确as strong as a horse)"； "凡人皆有得意时" "Every person has a happy day?.(正确 Every dog has its day.)"； "挥金如土" "to spend money like earth?(正确to spend money like water)"； as blind as a bat（鼠目寸光）译成"和蝙蝠一样的瞎"； to keep one's head above water（免遭灭顶之灾）译成"保持头在水面上"； all at sea（茫然 ，不知所措,迷惑）译成"都在海上"

To summarize, while learning a foreign language, it is necessary for people to know about its people, its value, its morality and its customs. Keep them in mind, be ware of the politeness principle, and be confident. Remember " I " is always capitalized, "I" is unique not only in English but also throughout the world, "I" is the most important, never use "鄙人"、"寡人"、"不才"、"愚兄" to call yourself, do not give foreigners the chance to think that you are pretending, which will make your conversation blunder, thus causing interculture failures. We hope this passage can be of some help to Chinese people who are learning or will pick up English.
关键字:欧美文化
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