新编跨文化交际--案例分析答案.doc

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Unit 1
Communication Across Cultures

Case 1 (Page 23)
This case took place in 3 cultures. There seemed to be problems in communicating
with people of different cultures in spite of the efforts to achieve understnading.
1）In Egypt as in many cultures, the human relationship is valued so highly that it is not expressed in an objective and impersonal way. While Americans certainly value human relationships, they are more likely to speak of them in less personal, more objective terms. In this case, Richard’s mistake might be that he choseto praise the food itself rather than the total evening, for which the food was simply the setting or excuse. For his host or hostess it was as if he had attended an art exhibit and complimented the artist by saying, “What beautiful frames your pictures are in!”
2）In Japan the situation may be more complicated. Japanese people value order and harmony among a group, and that the group is valued more than any particular member. In contrast, Americans stress individuality and are apt to assert individual differences when they seem justifiably to be in conflict with the goals or values of the group. In this case, Richard’s mistake was making great efforts to defend himself even if the error is notintentiona. A simple apology and acceptance of the blame would have been appropriate
3) When it comes to England, w expect fewer problems between Americans and Englishmen than between Americans and almost any other group. In this case we might look beyond the gesture of taking sugar or cream to the valuess expressed in this gesture: for Americans, “Help yourself”; for the English counterpart, “Be my guest.” American and English people equally enjoy entertaining and being entertained, but they differ in the value of the distinction. Typically, the ideal guest at an American party is obe who “makeshimself at home”. For the English host, such guest behavior is presumptuous or rude.

Case 2 (Page 24)
A common cultural misunderstanding in classes involvs conflicts between what is said to be direct communication style and indirect communication style. In American culture, people tend to say what is on their minds and mean what they say. Therefore, students in class are expected to ask questions when they need clarification. Mexican culture shares this preference of style with American culture in some situations, and that’s why the students from Mexico readily adopted the techniques of asking questions in class.
However, Korean people generally prefer indirect communication style, and therefore they tend not to say what is on their minds and to rely more on implications and inference, so as to be polite and repectful and avoid losing face through any improper verbal behavior. As is mentioned in the case, to many Koreans, numerous questions would show a disrespect for the teacher, and would also reflect that the student has not studied hard enough.

Case 3 (Page 24)
The conflict here is a difference in cultural values and beliefs. In the beginning, Mary didn’t realize that her Dominican sister saw her as a member of the family, literally. In the Dominican view, family possessions are shared by everyone of the family. Luz was acting as most Dominican sisters woould do in borrowing without asking every time. Once Mary understood that there was a different way of looking at this, she would become more accepting. However, she might still experience frustration when this happened again. She had to find ways to cope with her own emotional cultural reaction as well as her practical problem (the batteries running out).

Case 4 (Page 25)
It might be simply a question of different rhythms. Americans have one rhythm in their personal and family relations, in their friendliness and their charities. People from other cultures have different rhythms. The American rhythm is fast. It is characterized by a rapid acceptance of others. However, it is seldom that Americans engage themselves entirely in a friendship. Their friendship are warm, but casual and specialized. For example, you have a neighbor who drops by in the morning for coffee. You see her frequently, but you never invite her for dinner--not because you don’t think she could handle a fork and a knife, but because you have seen her that morning.
Therefore, you reserve your more formal invitation to dinner for someone who lives in a more distant part of the city and whom you would not see unless you extended an invitation for a special occasion. Now, if the first friend moves away and the second one moves nearby, you are likely to reserve this------see the second friend in the mornings for informal coffee meetings, and invite the first one more formally to dinner.
Americans are, in other words, guided very often by their own convenience. They tend to make friends rapidly, and they don’t feel like it necessary to go to a great amount of trouble to see friends often when it becomes inconvenient to do so, and usually no one is hurt. But in similar circumstances, people from many other cultures would be hurt very deeply

Unit 2
Culture and Communication
The analysis of this case: (Page 38)
The least three things among the following Tom did that were regarded to be impolite:
b. Tom opens the gift as soon as he is presented with it.
d. Tom does not make a second offer of drinks when they refuse the first.
e Tom talks about the cost of living in the U.S.A.
f. Tom does not ask them to stay longer when they say they must be leaving.
g. Tom does not go out to see them off.
Case 5 (Page 60)
Analysis: The Chinese guide should refuse the first offer because he is obeying the Chinese rules for communication. We Chinese are modest, polite and well-behaved. Maybe the guide is waiting for a second or third offer of beer, but he doesn’t know the reasons behind the rule in American culture 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, you do
not insist on offering alcohol. So they politely never made a second offer of beer to the guide.

Case 6 (Page 61)
When a speaker says something to a hearer,there are at least three kinds of meanings involved: utterance meaning, the speaker’s meaning and the hearer’s meaning. In the dialogue, when Litz asked how long her mother-in-law was going to stay, she meant that if she knew how long she was going to saty in Finland, she would be able to make proper arrangements for her, such as taking her out to some sightseeing. However, her mother-in-law took Litz’s question to mean “Litz does not want me to saty for long”. From the Chinese point of view, it seems inappropriate for Litz to ask such a question just two days after her mother-in-law’s arrival. If she has to ask the question, it would be better to ask some time later and she should not let her mother-in-law hear it.

Case 7 (Page 62)
Analysis:
Keiko insists on giving valuable gifts to her college friends, because in countries like Japan, exchanging gifts is a strongly rooted social tradition. Should you receive a gift, and don’t have one to offer in return, you will probably create a crisis. If not as serious as a crisis, one who doesn’t offer a gift in return may be considered rude or impolite. Therefore, in Japan, gifts are a symbolic way to show the care, respect, gratitude and further friendship. Keiko’s college friends would rather round up some of the necessary items and they are willing to have her use them. They really expected nothing from her. For in America, people donate their used household items to church or to the community. They would never consider these old items as gifts to Keiko. So Keiko’s valuable gifts have made her American friends feel uncomfortable

Case 8 (Page 62)
When the Chinese girl Amy fell in love with an American boy at that time, it seems that she preferred to celebrate Chritmas in the American way, for she wanted very much to appear the same as other American girls. She did not like to see her boyfriend disappointed at the “shabby” Chinese Christmas. That’s why she cried when she found out her parents had invited the minister’s family over for the Christmas Eve dinner. She thought the menu for the Chritmas meal created by her mother a strange one because there were no roast turkey and sweet potatoes but only Chinese food. How could she notice then the food chosen by her mother were all her favorites?
From this case, we can find a lot of differences between the Chinese and Western cultures in what is appropriate food for a banquet, what are good table manners, and how one should behave to be hospitable. However, one should never feel shame just because one’s culture is different from others’. As Amy’s mother told her, you must be proud to be different, and your only shame is to have shame.

Unit 3
Cultural Diversity
Case 7 (Page 76)
l Between friends there is inevitably a kind of equality of give-and-take. But in different cultures, people view this differently. In Chinese culture, friendships develop slowly because they are built to last. We Chinese prefer the saying “A friend indeed is a friend in need.” And we never refuse the asking for help from a friend. We never forget the timely help by a friend when we are on the rocks. But In American culture, they view this in a different way. Once helped, they offer their help only once. That’s why Jackson said that Mr. Zhao was asking too much. In their view, friendships are based on common interests.
1 Different Lands, Different Friendships (P 77)
l French Friendships
l German Friendships
l English Friendships
l Chinese Friendships (见补充材料）
l American Friendships (见补充材料）
补充案例 （American Friendship）
Two mothers, Carmen and Judy, are talking to each other at a park while their children are playing together in the sand.
Caemen: Hi, Judy.
Judy: Hi, Carmen. How are you?
Carmen: Fine. I’m glad to see that our children like to play together.
Judy: Yeah, me too. I remember just a month ago they weren’t sharing their toys.
Carmen: Now it looks like they’re enjoying each other.
Judy: Finally! Maybe we could get together at each other’s houses sometime. I’m sure the kids would enjoy that.
Carmen: Sure. That’d be nice.
Judy: Well, let’s do it soon.
Carmen: O.K.
(Judy and Carmen continue to talk while their children play.)
Case Analysis
Judy and Carmen are not real friends. They don’t want to get together, really. They once met each other a month ago. Americans sometimes make general invitation like “Let’s get together sometimes.” Often this is just a way to be friendly. It is not always a real invitation. If they’d like to set a specific (exact) time, that means a real offer.
2 Family Structure (P83)
l Chinese Family
l Filipinos Family
l Vietnamese Family
l Japanese Family (See Case 9 and Case 10)
l Latin American Family

Case 9 (Page 96)
Traditional Japanese respect their elders and feel a deep sense of duty toward them. The elders in traditional Japanese families are typically overpowered. So the grandfather seemed to be an absolute authority for the young chairman. In Japanese culture challenging or disagreeing with eilder’s opinions would be deemed as being disrespectful. That is why the young chairman said
nothing but just nodded and agreed with his grandfather. And it results in the Japanese company’s withdrawal from the negotiations concerning a relationship with Phil’s company a week later.

Case 10 (Page 97)
In Japan, a company is very much like a big family, in which the manager will take care of the employees and the employees are expected to cevote themselves to the development of the
company and, if it is necessary, to sacrifice their own interests for the interests of the company. But to the French, a company is just a loosely-knit social organization wherein individuals are
supposed to take care of themselves and their families. And the family is the number one priority, which is unlike the Japanese model “not involving females and the right to decide by
dominant male”.

Case 11 (Page 97)
In most cultures, an apology is needed when an offence or violation of social norms has taken place. To many Westerners, Japanese apologize more frequently and an apology in Japanese does not necessarily mean that the person is acknowledging a fault. To many Japanese, Westeners may seem to be rude just because they do not apologize as often as the Japanese would do. In this case, the atitude of the Australian student’s parents is shocking the Japanese but will be acceptable in an English-speaking society, for the student is already an adult and can be responsible for her own deeds.

Case 12 (Page 98)
In this case, it seems that the Chinese expectation were not fulfilled. First, having two people sharing host responsibilities could be confusing to the Chinese.Second, in China, it is a tradition for the host to offer a welcome toast at the beginning of the meal. By not doing so, the
Canadian might be thought rude. The abrupt departure of the Chinese from the banquet was probably an indication that they were not pleased with the way they were treated. The Canadians’ lack of understanding of the Chinese culture would be a problem in their dealing
with the visiting delegation.

Unit 4
Language and Culture

Case 13
This example vividly illustrates that failures in intercultural translation may probably lead to
very serious consequence, or even disasters to human beings. Definitely, translation is not such a
simple process as rendering a word, a sentence or a text literally, but rather a far more complex one
than most people assumed.
For example, once a Chinese cosmetic manufacturer wanted to promote their products into the
international market. The slogan of the advertisement was: ―sweet as Jade‖, since in Chinese ―jade‖
was always employed to compliment woman‘s beauty; but unfortunately, it was not an appropriate
word to describe the beauty of a lady in Western cultures. In English, ―jade‖ in its use of referring a
woman had the connotations such as vulgar, rude, immoral, or skittish. Undoubtedly, the sales in
European countries were not satisfying.
The seeming equivalents between languages may have very different connotations in different
cultures, thus the translator should be cautious in the process of doing the translation so as to avoid
misunderstandings.

Case 14
“杨” refers to Yang Kaihui w h o w a s Mao Zedong‘s deceased wife and ―柳‖ refers to Liu
zhixun who was Li shuyi‘s deceased husband. They can be translated in different ways, but it
seems to be very difficult, if not impossible, to achieve equivalence in translating from Chinese into
English.
Adopting the literal translation strategy, version 1 appears to be faithful to the original but may