A Brief Analysis Etiquette Difference of Western and Chinese Culture英語專業(yè)畢業(yè)論文
學(xué)生畢業(yè)設(shè)計(jì)(論文)題 目 : A Brief Analysis Etiquette Diffrence of Western and Chinese Culture 姓 名 : 班級、學(xué)號 : 系 (部) : 經(jīng)濟(jì)管理系 專 業(yè) : 商務(wù)英語 指導(dǎo)教師 : 開題時(shí)間 : 完成時(shí)間 : 18目 錄畢業(yè)設(shè)計(jì)任務(wù)書1畢業(yè)設(shè)計(jì)成績評定表2答辯申請書3-4正文5-22答辯委員會表決意見23答辯過程記錄表24課 題 A Brief Analysis Etiquette Diffrence of Western and Chinese Culture一、 課題(論文)提綱0 引言1 中國文化和西方文化存在很多的差異 1.1 問候和聚會1.2 稱呼1.3 道歉和回復(fù)1.4 邀請和告別2 不同的文化特征會導(dǎo)致文化的差異 2.1 文化背景2.2 不同的價(jià)值和觀點(diǎn)2.3 不同的信仰2.4 個(gè)人主義和集體主義2.5 西方的家庭倡導(dǎo)平等2.6 民族主義3 結(jié)語二、內(nèi)容摘要中國有5000年的文明,無愧于“禮儀之邦”之稱,我們?yōu)樽嫦鹊某删透械阶院赖耐瑫r(shí)不能忽略西方文化的進(jìn)步,在日新月異的現(xiàn)代社會,我們更要學(xué)習(xí)其他國家的優(yōu)秀文化,在本文中我們將對禮儀,背景,信仰進(jìn)行討論。無論是中國文化還是西方文化,隨著時(shí)代進(jìn)步,我們都該取其精華棄其糟粕,從而推進(jìn)文化的高度。三、 參考文獻(xiàn)1 克拉姆契. 語言與文化M. 上海外語教育出版社, 20002 Ma Zhanxiang. The Interaction between the Cooperate Principle and the Politeness Principle in PragmaticsJ. Journal of Inner Mongolia College of Education (Philosophy & Social Science), Dec. 2000, 43 許力生. 跨文化交流入門M. 浙江大學(xué)出版社, 2004:48-504 German, Kathleen. Principles of Speech CommunicationM. Addison-Wesley Education Publishers Inc, 1998:56-595 曲晶. 中西禮貌概念對比J. 東北師范大學(xué)報(bào)(哲學(xué)社會科學(xué)版), 2005( 6):100A Brief Analysis Etiquette Difference of Western and Chinese Culture Abstract: China has 5000 years excellent civilization, and it is not over state of ceremonies. We are proud of our ancestors achievement, but we cant ignore the improvement of the western culture.In our modern socienty, everything is changing, so it is obvious that we must draw lessons from others culture. In this thesis, we will disscuss about greeting and parting, addressing, apologies and responses, invitation and saying Good-Bye between Chinese and western. No matter the Chinese culture or the western culture, they are all the quintessence of wisdom. When we pass on ancestors knowledge to our generations, we must draw attention to improving new ideas. we can advance the elevation of civilization. Key Words: etiquette; Cultural background; beliefs0 . IntroductionWith the development of the society,the times need improved. Different culture is one of the main piont .so ,we should pay more attention to different culture.With China entried the WTO and held the Olympic Games in 2008, the relationship between China and Western in politics, economy, culture will become more and more close. It is undoubtedly that the etiquette will play an important role in this process. To the definition of etiquette, China and Western have a different understanding. As Chinese thinks that the etiquette is the common behavior standards that all the members must obey, and its purpose is to keep the normal living order of the society. In ancient China, a famous philosopher thinks that etiquette is a principal to deal with the relationship between man and supernatural beings, man and ghosts, man and men. There are also many words about etiquette in English. For example, courtesy which means courteous behavior, good manners;protocol which means system of rules governing formal occasion, e .g, meetings,between governments, diplomats, etc. And these words are all from the same French word etiquette. Of course, more spread and more profound cultural comment of the western etiquette is from the Classical Period, i.e., old Athens and Roma culture. Today, etiquette become the reflection and manifestation of one countrys politics, economy, culture in peoples social contact. And it include the principal and moral that people should obey in daily life. Etiquette formed in the process of the deposition of culture and social contact. So every nation have their own etiquette standard which created with the spirit of this their nation. Because of this formed the cultural difference between different nations. As languages is the carrier of the human culture. This difference must reflect in the language of different nations. So in the following, we will take china, British and America as the representation of Western, to look at some cultural difference in etiquette, and then analyze the reasons. Furthermore, we will discuss how to learn western culture. Cultural differences on politeness between western and Chinese can be found in many aspects of daily communication, including greeting and parting, addressing, apologies and responses , invitation and saying Good-Bye.1 . Chinese culture and western culture have many difference1.1 Greeting and PartingWhen 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, isnt 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 “Have you eaten”“Where are you going ?”“What are you going to do?”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” perspective, reasons for terminating the encounter are presented in mitigatory comments. Typical comments are associated with expressions of apology,such as “I” am afraid I must be off, I have to relieve the baby-sitter” etc.Western people believe that to be willing to visit and converse with someone isto have respect for him.; to terminate the visiting is not of ones own free will, but because of some other arrangements, therefore they always try to make their leaving sound reluctant by finding some reasons and apologize for it to make the leaving acceptable for both parties. English speakers often signal several times before leaving. “Well, its been nice to see you again. I do enjoy our talk and the lovely dinner, but I must be going soon”. Thank you very much for asking me over. I hope well be able to get together again before long” 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 mitigatory expressions. Such expressions include“I will not disturb you.”“You must be tired,have a rest.”, 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 prepare for it. While moving to the door, Chinese employ expressions of apology like“Im sorry for disturbing you.”“Im sorry for wasting your time.”It should be noted that these expressions employed by Chinese guests to show concern for their hosts can only be appropriate for business visits in the English environment.1.2 AddressingIt is also appropriate to ask how they prefer to be addressed. Children should always address adults in the formal fashion, using their title and last name. Another difference is about the form of addressing. From the viewpoint of sociolinguistics, forms of addressing can serve as an indication of the relationship of power and solidarity in the society. In calling their superiors or elders, the Chinese are accustomed to the nonreciprocal or asymmetrical addressing, in other words. They use “title +surname” to address their superior or elders rather than call them surnames, while the superior or elders call the addressers their names. The Chinese tend 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. With Miss Mary, the use of the given name indicates friendliness, but the addition of the title indicates the respect they feel they ought to show. And with Smith, the lack of a title indicates friendliness, but the use of the surname prevents if sounding too intimate. However, both addressing used by the Chinese sound very strange and uncomfortable to the westerner.1.3 Apologies and ResponsesIf wrong things are done, there must be apologies .As to how to offer apologies,both western and Chinese people may “I am sorry.”,”I apologize for”. Etc. But Chinese would like to apologize for the crowded state of their dwellings and for small numbers of dishes, although the room is big enough and there are many dishes. Chinese stay these to express self-depreciation only out of courtesy, not having other implication. But the westerners would wonder, since the room is so large and there are so many dishes, why do they say so. May be they do notwelcome our visit, they dont like us to eat more. When Chinese contact with westerners, if they do not know these differences, if will lead to misunderstanding. The ways to respond to apologies are different, too.A: Oh, Im sorry. I forget it.B1: It doesnt matter.B2: Thats all right.B2 is westerners. B1 is a Chinese person. “It doesnt matter” is a translation of “It doesnt matter.”from Chinese, which is a common pattern in Chinese to respond to apologies. If a Chinese uses this to respond to apologies, westerners will think that he is a sharp person, who simply cannot forgive a very little wrong thing.1.4 Invitation and Saying Good-ByeIn the culture of British and America, it is very important to consult a time before you invite somebody to attend a banquet or take part in social activities.Esp. in America, invite somebody means you are borrow times of others. So they respect time very much. While in China, people are prefer to an uninvited guest.And otherwise, You will be thought unfriendly if you cannot receive an uninvited guest very well.Different cultural factors may result in cultural differences, and consequently,the acknowledgment of the factors that affect the cultural differences will facilitate the understanding of such differences, part of which will vie discuss in he followings. Since it is impossible to cover all of the factors in this thesis, the factors discussed here are some important ones.2 . Factors affect cultural differences2.1 Cultural BackgroundOne of the cultural different reasons between China and western is cultural background. In Spring and Autumn and Warring s periods of China emerged Confucianism, Taoism and other ideologies .As different ideologies developed and combated each other, the basic framework of Chinese civilization was established. And then Confucianism became the foundation stone of Chinese philosophy system. Confucianisms central doctrine is that of the virtue of Ren. What is Ren? Ren is translated variously as goodness, benevolence, humanity and human-heartedness. In short, Ren means affection and love. For more than 2 thousand years it has molded and shaped the civilization of China and exerted a profound influence upon almost one fourth of human race. Just as DR. Sun-Yat-Sen said:” Therefore the old morals of loyalty and piety, affection, and love, faithfulness and righteousness, are superior to those of the foreign countries Let alone that peace and harmony. These high standards of morals are our national spirit. "Different from China, Christianity plays an important role in western. The English speaking countries are generally considered as Christian countries where many people believe in Christianity. Christianity is the region based on the life and teaching of Jesus Christ. He is the founder of Christianity. According to the doctrine of Christianity, the Trinity is the union of the three forms of God, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ the son of the God, and the holy book of Christianity is the Bible, which consists of the Old Testament and the New Testament. However, the power of the church cannot compare with the past time, it still influence many aspects of people s daily life. For example, there are a few important festivals in the western is concern with Jesus Christ. Christmas day is a festival in celebration of the birth of the Jesus Christ on Dec.25.Virgin Birth refers to the birth of Christ, which Christians believe to have been caused by God rather than by ordinary sexual union. 2.2 Different values Another cultural different reasons between China and western is different valueThe concept of Chinese values is often consciously or unconsciously placed in opposition with Western values. Therefore, it is necessary to determine how people define Western values. Some have stated that the modern Western value system originated in Victorian England, and describe it as social norms and behaviors common in European people during that time. The core of Western values is individualism. David Hitchcock described Western values from a Chinese perspective. He said that, from the Chinese viewpoint, Western values have three levels: 1) physical level science, technology, business, public administration, and modern capitalist economics; 2) conceptual level equal opportunity, the role of law; and time management; and 3) core values open debate, equality, balance of power; free speech, and democracy. The core of the Chinese value has some relationship with the Confucianism. The ethnic principle of Confucianism is its discovery of the ultimate in the moral character of human relationships in which Confucius offered the solution for the ills and evils of his days. That is the well-known Five Relationships: ruler-minister, father-son, husband-wife, elder-younger brother and friend-friend. This was explained as“There should be affection between father and son , righteous sense of duty between ruler and minister, division offunction between man and wife, stratification between old and young, and good faith between friends.”During the more than two thousand years of the feudal period, the ruling class arrange every thing by this relationships, and then formed a class society. In this kind of society, a minister owes loyalty to his ruler, and a child filial respect to his parent. The result is the humanity is neglected and people have no equality.2.3 Different beliiefsDifferent from China, in the Renaissance period of England, people began to emphasize the dignity of human beings and the importance of the present life, they voiced their beliefs that man did not only have the right to enjoy the beauty of their life, but also have the ability to perfect themselves and perform wonders.This is the rudiment of Humanism. People became respect the humanity from then on. And then develop into the ideas of what we always said freedom, democracy. Today, take Americans for instance; the top personal values were self-reliance, hard work, and a tie between achieving success in life, personal achievement, and helping others. Hard work, respect for learning, honesty, and self-reliance were most valued among Chinese people. In terms of social values, the top six for Americans were freedom of expression, personal freedom, rights of the individual,open debate; thinking for oneself, and official accountability. The top six social values for Asian people were maintenance of an orderly society, harmony, accountability of public officials, openness to new ideas, freedom of expression, and respect for authority. This study finds that unlike Americans, East Asians are generally more respectful of authority and prize an orderly society, however in concurrence with the West, Asians honor new ideas, official accountability, and free expression.2.4 Individualism and CollectivismIndividualism refers to the doctrine that the rights of the individual are the most important ones in a society. Most westerners believe that each person has his own separate identity and personality, which should be recognized and reinforced. Therefore, one cannot comprehensive western and its people without understanding individualism. Only with the cognition of individualism can we understand how westerners conceptualize family, friendships, and privacy. The core of individualism is the pursuit of personal and achievements. It is highly valued, earnestly believes and well appreciated as a fundamental social virtue. In Christianity traditions, individuals are important not only to each other, but also to the society and God. Individualism has been handed down from their ancestors. Therefore, to westerners, individualism is not selfishness but rather virtue. They emphasize individualism so much that they believe that there must be something wrong with someone who fails to demonstrate individualism. That likes the sentence“God helps those who help themselves.”However to Chinese people , the word“individualism”is related to the derogatory meaning as egoism, with represents selfishness in quality and looseness in discipline. In traditional Chinese beliefs, esp. in Confucianism, collectivism is appreciated. It emphasizes cooperation among group members and individual success is due to the collective effort of the staff in a unit, an organization or a community. The sacrifice of individual interest for that of the collective is a noble quality eulogized so much by Chinese people that being modest and thoughtful of others are highly praised.2.5 Western families advocate equalityThe husband and the wife usually have an equality voice in decision-making, and on certain matters, the children, too, have a vote. Family members are regarded as friend and they should treated equality in daily life. In the western, most old people do not live with their children or relatives. If they have enough money they will buy house or apartments in places where other old people live .If they do not healthy and strong enough to live alone, they would rather live in nursing houses for old people than be taken by their children. Therefore they want to stay young because youth stands for hope and energy, which can help them make some positive changes in life. Moreover, they do not like to grow old because they will not gain honor, respect or attention as old people. Case are different in China, where most Chinese family members tend to live together and the young are supposed to show respect and obedience to old people. Generally, old people receive honor, privilege and satisfaction since people believe that an old person is a wise man full of experience. The typical example is that the oldest person is the most respected not only in the family but also in the neighborhood. Just as Confucianism shows in Five Relations, the young should filial love, obedience and duty to the old in a family, esp. in the relationship between children and parents. For example, the Chinese who have