1、Cultural differences between western and Chinese,教育科学学院学前教育 曾丽芳20060503028,Cultural differences on politeness between western and Chinese,1.Greeting and Parting 2.Addressing 3.Compliments and Response. 4.Thanks and Responses 5Asking Personal Affairs,1.Greeting and Parting,Formulaic expressions often
2、 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, isnt it? ”How is everything going?“Have you eaten yet?” What are you going
3、 to do?” Where have you been?” etc. Westerners treat them as real question. While in Chinese, we always say “你吃了吗？”“你上哪里去？”“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
4、to deal with leave-takings. Firstly, in English society, during the closing phase of an encounter, from ”I” perspective,In Chinese society, during the closing phase of and encounter, usually, from a “you ”perspective.,Both western and Chinese people have two kinds of personal names-a surname and a g
5、iven name. But the order and the use of these names in the two languages are somewhat different. In Chinese, the surname comes first and then the given name.And people like add“小”before their family name. While westerners names are written and spoken with the given name first and the family name las
6、t.,2.Addressing,3.Compliments and Response,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 wil
7、l instead apologize for giving you “Nothing”. They will say“随便作几个菜，不好吃” In Chinese, “谢谢”is not frequently used between intimate friends and family members because it may imply a certain distance between the addresser and the addressee.,4. Thanks and Responses,Cultural differences exist between Chine
8、se 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.For westerners, each person is an equal individual, whether he is a family member of not. In Chinese, “谢谢”is no
9、t frequently used between intimate friends and family members because it may imply a certain distance between the addresser and the addressee.,5. Asking Personal Affairs,People from China do not regard it as asking personal affairs when they ask others name、year、marital status、wages、personal life、belief and political points. It is regard as concerns. While the westerns will think you invade their right of privacy.,Factors affect cultural differences,1.Cultural Background 2. Different values 3.Individualism and collectivism 4. Family and Nationalism,Thats all. Thank you!,
