资源描述
目录
Unit 1 3
CASE 1: Showing Concern 3
CASE 2: First Offer 3
CASE 3: Land Cruiser Advertisement 4
Case Study: An elderly Chinese Farming in America 4
Exercises 5
1 Matching the terms with their definitions 5
2 Comprehension Check 6
3 Cultural Puzzles 7
Unit 2 9
Case 1 Twelve cups of tea 9
Case 2 Have you had your lunch? / Where are you going? 9
Case 3 Li Hongzhang’s embarrassment 10
Case 4 Different Attitudes Toward a Fly in a Beer 10
Case 5 Borrow Money & Lend Money 11
Case Study: An International Classroom 11
Exercises 13
1. Comprehension Check 13
2. Culture Puzzles 13
Unit 3 14
Case 1 Shoes for Street Walking 14
Case 2 A Misunderstanding Caused by a Joke 14
Case 3 Look out 15
Case Study: Grandparents and Grandchildren 15
Exercises 17
1. Comprehension Check 17
Unit 4 17
Case 1 An Invitation to Dinner 17
Case 2 The Cancellation of the Dinner Party 19
Case 3 Why Should They Do Like This? 19
Case 4 The Embarrassment Caused By “No Etiquette” 20
Case Study: Managing Your Company Culturally 20
Exercises 22
1. Comprehension Check 22
2. Expression Understanding 22
3. Cultural Puzzle 23
Unit 5 23
Case 1 Personal Space 23
Case 2 Left in the Cold 24
Case Study: Much Ado About Touching 25
Exercises 27
1. Comprehension Check 27
Unit 6 28
Case 1 I’ve Not Considered Marriage Yet 28
Case 2 Can We Talk About Us? 28
Case 3 Feeling Let-out 29
Case Study: The Wrong Answer 29
Exercises 31
1. Decide whether the following statements are true or false. 31
2. Cultural Puzzles 31
Unit 1
CASE 1: Showing Concern
In China:
Xiao Li (an interpreter): You must be very tired. You’re old…
Catherine (an elderly American lady): Oh, I’m NOT old, and I’m NOT tired.
Comment
What the interpreter said is quite courteous in China. It means, “If you are tired, we can take a little rest, since you are getting on in years.” The interpreter gave the impression that he thought the elderly lady would collapse any minute if she doesn’t rest immediately.
In the West, there is a value placed in being young that many people consciously, or subconsciously, are not willing to accept that they are growing old.
Questions for discussion:
How should we express the concern?
In the West:
A: How are you doing now? Would you like to rest?
B: No, not a bit.
Comment
The way of showing concern is different.
CASE 2: First Offer
A Canadian colleague and I traveled to Guilin with our admirable guide Heping Liu in very hot weather. Sightseeing is a thirsty business. We did not trust the water, and enjoyed excellent beer. We politely offered some to Heping but he refused. We said nothing and drank our beer, while poor Heping watched. On another day, Heping quickly accepted our offer of beer.
Questions for discussion:
In your daily life, do you often accept first offer? If yes, in what situation?
Comments:
Chinese customs show that Heping was being modest, polite and well-behaved and had every intention of accepting the beer at the second or third offer, impressing his charges with his modesty. But Heping did not understand North American rules, which firmly say that you do not push alcoholic beverages on anyone. A person may not drink for religious reasons; he may be a reformed alcoholic, or he may be allergic. Whatever the reason behind the rule, you do not insist on offering alcohol.
CASE 3: Land Cruiser Advertisement
Advertisements sometimes caused cultural conflicts between people from different nations.
A Land Cruiser is running along a rugged and steep mountain path in Kekexili, dragging with shackles behind it a heavy and clumsy truck looking like Dongfeng. The ad says: Nothing can prevent it from advancing (征途无限).
Some Chinese get angry. They think that the truck behind is Dongfeng. Being dragged by the Land Cruiser implies that China is backward, which hurts the national dignity of the Chinese people.
The Toyota company in China published a public letter of apology: they apologized for publishing such advertisement, and decided to stop it immediately. It emphasized that they did not mean to hurt the Chinese. Their original intention was just for business. Nothing more.
Case Study: An elderly Chinese Farming in America
Introduction to the case
According to a recent report, in 2006 there were more than 39000 elderly Chinese living in New York State. Most of them went to America for the sake of their children, who had decided to settle in the United States after graduating from an American university
The scenario
Zhao Xinggui, 62 years old, had been a farmer in Shanxi. To relieve Zhao’s loneliness after the death of his wife, his only son, who had settle in America for years, working as a librarian in an American university, asked his father to come to live with him.
When his son went to work, Zhao spent most of his time sitting in front of the TV. He often dreamed of his friends and neighbors in china, who often talked, drank tea and played mahjong togher during their leisure time. “America is a good place, but it’s too dull”, he said.
What Zhao did not expect was that his farming life could continue in America. Like may university towns established in agricultural areas, the surrounding land was a major source of income for the university. All the teachers and students, after paying a nominal rent, were able to enjoy the pleasure of farming.
Different from most of the American families, who casually used their parcels of land to raise flowers, Chinese tenants grew vegetables. Zhao was one of those tenants and one of the most famous for his farming talents. May elderly Chinese came to ask him for advice, and they often conversed while selling their spare vegetables. That summer was the happiest time for Zhao.
Exercises
Exercise 1 listen for the first time and answer the following questions.
1. Why did Zhzo go to Ameirca?
2.Did Zhao enjoy his American life?
Exercise 2
listen for the second time and fill in the blanks.
Exercise 3 explore interculturally
1. Why did Zhao say “America is a good place, but it’s too dull?”what can we learn about Chinese culture?
2. Why did most Chinese families decide to grow vegetables instead of flowers on their land? What can we learn about Chinese culture?
3. Culture is often compared to the “software” of people’s minds. Cite the examples in this case to explain sentence.
Keys:
1. When his son went to work, Zhao was quite lonely and did not have any friends. This kind of life was quite different from his farming life in China, where there were always many friends and neighbors around, talking, drinking tea and playing mahjong together during the leisure time. Chinese culture is a group-oriented culture, in which people depend on each other heavily for a good life.
2. Chinese people are very practical and thrifty. For them, it is wasteful to use land only to raise flowers. Confucian teachings, which originated in the group-oriented cultures, are the guidelines that help shape this national temperament.
3. When Zhao was in America, he found that his loneliness was not relieved, and he missed his old friends a lot. That summer was the happiest time for him mainly because he was able to talk with other elderly Chinese again.
From this example, we can learn that culture governs people’s mind and helps determine whether they are happy or not.
Another example in this case is the choice of Chinese families to grow vegetables on their rented land.
Here we learn that culture governs people’s behavior and provides guideline for what to do and what not to do
Exercises
1 Matching the terms with their definitions
A. culture B. communication C. ethnocentrism D. intercultural communication
E. business communication
1.( ) The belief that your own cultural background, including ways of analyzing problems, values, beliefs, language, and verbal and nonverbal communication, is superior.
2.( ) The total accumulation of beliefs, customs, values, behaviors, institutions and communication patterns that are shared, learned and passed down through the generations in an identifiable group of people.
3.( ) A process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior, or the exchange of thoughts, messages, or information, as by speech, signals, writing, or behavior.
4.( )The communication is within business and administration, aiming at a common objective and profits for both the individuals and organizations.
5.( ) The communication between people from different cultures when a member of one culture produces a message for consumption by a member of another culture.
Keys
1. C. ethnocentrism
2. A. culture
3. B. communication
4. E. business communication
5. D. intercultural communication
2 Comprehension Check
Decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F).
__ 1. As a phenomenon, intercultural communication has existed for thousands of years. However, as a discipline, its history is only about fifty years.
__2. Intercultural Communication as a discipline first started in Europe.
__3. Culture is a static entity while communication is a dynamic process.
__4. Culture can be seen as shared knowledge, what people need to know in order to act appropriately in a given culture.
__5. Although cultural stereotype has its limitations (over-generalization), it still contributes to a person’s cultural cognition.
__6. In intercultural communication, we should separate one’s individual character from cultural generalization.
__7. Cultural mistakes are more serious than linguistic mistakes. The linguistic mistake means that someone is not fully expressing his or her idea while cultural mistakes can lead to serious misunderstanding and even ill-feeling between individuals.
__8. All people of the same nationality will have the same culture.
__9. Although two cultures may share the same ideas, their meaning and significance may not be the same.
__10. One’s actions are totally independent of his or her culture.
KEYS
1-5 TFFTT 6-10 TTFTF
3 Cultural Puzzles
Read the following situations and choose the appropriate answer(s). There may be more than one possible answer for each cultural puzzle.
1. What would you do if someone told you to use his or her first name, but you felt uncomfortable doing this?
a. You could continue to use the person’s last name without explaining why.
b. You could try to use the person’s first name even though you feel uncomfortable doing this.
c. You could ask the person, “Is it OK if I use your last name?”
£
KEYS
a) No. Ignoring other’s suggestion is impolite and offensive.
b) Yes. When you try something new, it may be difficult at first. After a while, you will get accustomed to it.
c) Yes. You could learn about other’s customs by asking for cultural explanations.
2. Situation: An American woman received a letter from a recently married Japanese friend. The Japanese woman wrote in her letter, “My husband is not very handsome. Your husband is much more handsome than mine.” The American woman was very surprised at what her friend wrote.
1) Why do you think the American was surprised?
a) The American woman saw a picture of her friend’s husband and thought that he was very handsome.
b) The American woman didn’t think her own husband was handsome.
c) In the U.S., it is disrespectful to say that one’s husband is not handsome.
KEYS
a) No. Even if this was true, she wouldn’t expect a wife to say this about her own husband. To her, the Japanese woman insulted her own husband.
b) No. Even if this was true, she wouldn’t expect the Japanese woman to compare their husbands’ appearance.
c) Yes. If an American woman said this about her husband, people might think that they didn’t have a good relationship.
2) Why do you think the Japanese woman wrote, “My husband is not very handsome ”?
a) The Japanese woman was trying to tell her American friend that she did not like her husband very much.
b) It is uncommon in Japan to compliment one’s husband.
c) The Japanese woman didn’t think her husband was handsome, but she liked his personality.
KEYS
a) No. This would not be a Japanese way for a wife to say that she didn’t like her husband.
b) It is uncommon in Japan to compliment one’s husband.
c) The Japanese woman didn’t think her husband was handsome, but she liked his personality.
In Japan, a person would be considered boastful and not modest enough if he or she complimented his or her family members in front of others.
IX. Assignments
1. Case Study —— To Be Direct or Not
2. Video Watching Gua Sha 《刮痧》
3. Questions for reflection:
Asking yourself: Am I an ethnocentrist or just the opposite? How to be a successful intercultural communicators?
What is the relationship between the technological development and the intercultural communication?
Role Play
Volunteers needed
4. Read the following case and analyze why Sam didn’t perform his work successfully together with his Saudi Arabian laborers.
£ To Be Direct or Not
Sam Lucas, a construction supervisor for an international engineering firm, had the reputation of being tough but fair-minded. He was a very forceful, obstinate individual who always spoke his mind. He never hesitated to criticize any worker whom he felt was performing poorly. Even though during his six years with the company Sam had never worked outside of the United States, he was chosen to supervise construction on a new hotel project in Jidda, Saudi Arabia, primarily because of his outstanding work record. On this project, Sam supervised the work of about a dozen Americans and nearly 100 Saudi Arabian laborers.
It was not long before Sam realized that the Saudi Arabian laborers, to his way of thinking, were nowhere as reliable as the workers he had supervised in the United States. He was becoming increasingly annoyed at the seeming lack of competence of the local workforce. Following the leadership style that helped him in such good stead at home, he would rebuke any worker who was not doing his job properly, and he would make certain that he did it publicly so that it would serve as a lesson to all the other workers. He was convinced that he was doing the right thing and was being fair, for after all, he rebuked both Americans and Saudi Arabians alike. He was troubled, however, by the fact that the problems seemed to be growing worse and more numerous.
In the United States, public criticism is one of a number of techniques that can be used quite effectively to change personnel’s behavior. In the world of Islam, however, where the preservation of dignity and slef-respect is absolutely essential, public reprimand will be totally counterproductive(产生不良后果的 ). If Arabs feel that they have suffered a loss of personal dignity because they have been criticized in public, they take it as a dishonor to both themselves and their families. An
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