On Different Perception of Time in Crosscultural Communication

1、on different perception of time in cross-cultural communicationcontrast: following chinas entry to the world trade organization, the nation further opens up to the outside world. as a significant area of nonverbal communication, the concept of time does contribute a lot to the understanding of cultu

2、re differences. while different cultural backgrounds conceived different concept of time and behaviors. in a certain degree, peoples behavior patterns were restricted and dominated by time concept, which often brings difficulties and obstacles in cross-cultural communication. this paper will focus o

3、n analyzing the different time concept in chinese and western communication and its reflection in reality, in order to enhance the mutual understanding between people in communication with different cultural backgrounds of time perception. whats more, by which we could avoid communication mistakes a

4、nd cultural difficulties and obstacles.key words：monochromic (m-time) polychromic (p-time) cultural backgrounds different perception of time cross-cultural communication摘要: 中国入世后加快了对外开放的步伐，作为跨文化交际中非语言交际的一个重要方面，时间学有助于我们对文化差异的理解，有助于进行有效的国际交流。而不同的文化孕育了不同的时间观念和行为。人们的时间行为不知不觉地受到时间观念的制约和支配。由于中西方文化差异，其时间的观

5、念和态度也存在着很大差异。文化背景不同所形成的时间观也不同, 时间观制约着人们的行为模式, 常常给跨文化交际带来困难和障碍. 本文将对中西方交际中时间观差异及其在现实中的表现进行分析, 以期增强不同文化背景的人们在交际时对时间观差异的相互理解 ,避免交际失误.关键词 : 单向时间制 多向时间制 文化背景 时间观差异 跨文化交际.introductionas we all know, with the global economic integration and the accelerating of our countrys advancement of modernization, the

6、re will be more cooperation and interaction in any fields between china and other countries. it has become very common and inevitable for ordinary people to communicate cross-culturally. however, because of different cultures, when people from different countries interact with each other, the confli

7、ct between them is not difficult to witness; especially there are lots of complaint about their counterparts manners and methods of doing things. so it becomes more and more important for us to understand the concept of western time, respect the western cultural-values, in order to enhance the inter

8、cultural consciousness, and reduce the misconceptions and conflicts of cross-cultural communication.literature review2.1 the definition of the time conceptthe concept of time is the scientific cognition or philosophic cognition of people to time. the concept of time in science fields from isaac newt

9、ons classical physics. while in chinese peoples eyes, time is a kind of objective existence. the concept of time is humans understanding, conclude and describe the result of the nature. in china, its original meaning refers to the replace of the four seasons or the recycle of the sun in a position o

10、f the zodiac, but in american, what is time? is it a thing to be saved or spent or wasted, like money? or is it something we have no control over, like the weather? is time the same all over the world? thats an easy question, you say. wherever you go, a minute is 60 seconds, an hour is 60 minutes, a

11、 day is 24 hours, and so forth. well, maybe. but in america, time is more than that. americans see time as a valuable resource. perhaps thats why they are fond of the expression, time is money. 2.2 the analysis of current studies of time at home and abroadin western, many famous scholars have done r

12、esearches to explore the characteristics of westerners perceptions and use of time from the perceptive of the systems of time and informal time. (edward thall , 1983)made a comparison of behaviors in different cultures on the basis of his theory about the two systems of time, that cultures organize

13、time either monochromic (m-time) or polychromic (p-time) (hall,1959).he found m-time people take time commitments seriously, if possible; m-time people adhere to plans, whereas p-time people stress the relationship between each other(hall,1990).(samovar, potter, 2000)made a comparison of values on p

14、unctuality and efficiency in a different cultures and stated westerners and orientals treat punctuality and efficiency in a different way. westerners treat the two factors as the most important things in their social interactions, while orientals put them in a position where they can be ignored to a

15、 certain extent. in the cities, native english speakers act according to schedules. their time is planned to a quarter of an hour and every activity will be filled in the timetables from one month to one year in advance. promptness is important in formal social interactions. people keep appointments

16、; otherwise, he will be viewed as unreliable and irresponsible. tardiness to business meeting is forbidden and the unpunctual are fined as a punishment (levine and adelman, 1982). people follow the deadlines rigidly as well. social etiquette also determines appropriate times for visits and even phon

17、es calls in the english- speaking countries. for example, you cant telephone after 10 oclock if nothing serious or urgent happens. if you drop in a friends house without making an appointment, the host may refuse to receive you.in china, some scholars also have done researches about the cultural dif

18、ferences between chinese and westerners from the perspective of informal time and the systems of time too. for example, (hu wenzhong, 1990) stated that people are likely to make plans for activities in the cities of china through the observation of the popular use of timetable. his graduates did a r

19、esearch, in which they found university students are punctual for class and activities. they also discovered the chinese are punctual in social interactions, but they prefer to decide how much time to spend according to the proceeding of the social interactions. for example, when setting a date, the

20、y only mention the time to meet, without setting the time limit for it. this pet phrase “i wont leave until you come,” when making an appointment, shows that people can pay for time (jia yuxin, 1997). people consider it quite normal to break the deadline as well (jia yuxin, 1997), so it is said that

21、 chinese people are the masters of time, whereas the americans are the slaves of time. that is to say, the chinese people tend to use time more free at will and flexibly in comparison with the westerners. as to the pace of life, an american found in china it is slower than the pace of the english-sp

22、eaking countries. in the 1980s, a time when china began to open itself to the western countries, conversely, the chinese people in english speaking countries felt pressed and hurried, thus exhausted and annoyed (bi jiwan, 1991). hall thought westerners belong to m-time people (hall, 1959), china bel

23、ongs to asia, and do the chinese belong to p-time people? (hu wenzhong, 1990) proposed that the chinese belong to m-time people basically? but other professors hold different ideas, they just listed the characteristics of the chinese in the use of time, and also didnt make a clear difference of the

24、time concept between chinese and westerners, for it is difficult to make conclusions about chinese system of time. however, all scholars agree that there are cultural differences in the perceptions and use of time between chinese and westerners.since differences in language, social behaviors, attitu

25、de toward time and the like can cause many of social contacts to be frustrating or even unsuccessful(samovar, 2000), what is the main manifestation in different perception of time? how and why do chinese intercultural communications feel in formal social interactions when faced with foreigners with

26、different perceptions and behavior? do they show manifestations like frustration or anxiety? what can language teachers do in fll and flt to improve language students cultural competence then? this paper will going to analysis and solver these questions.comparison of conception of time between chine

27、se and western culture as we all known, every corn has two sides. the difference and similarity of the value of chinese and american coexists, opposes and blends. 3.1 the similarities existing in chinese and western culturealthough there is a big difference of the time concept between chinese and am

28、erican, there also a lot of similarities in the meanings of using time between chinese and westerners. we all think that time is limited; it will never come back if you waste it easily, while american people take time more serious than chinese people. we can see it from the following sayings: never

29、put off till tomorrow what you can do today(今日事今日毕)lost time is never found again(岁月一去不复返)time and tide wait for no man(时光如逝水，岁月不待人)make hay while the sun shines(抓紧时机)tomorrow never comes(切莫依赖明天). there also the same saying in ancient chinese, such as the saying “an inch of time an inch of gold, gol

30、d-inch inch time.”, and “those gone with the wind will never return” and such kinds of the similar idioms. in contrast, chinese people were much free and flexible in using time, while americans are largely subject to time. in a certain sense, chinese is the master of time, but americans are the slav

31、es of time. now i will analysis the difference between the main parts between chinese and western.3.2 the differences between western and chinese culturedifferent cultural backgrounds conceived different concept of time and behaviors. in a certain degree, peoples behavior patterns were restricted an

32、d dominated by time concept; while chinese belong to chinese nation belong to the annular time conscious. in this kind of culture consciousness, time is usually regarded as a cycle and repeatable thing, which belong to m-time system. while the united states and other western countries are usually ta

33、king up mono-chronic time system.3.2.1 the difference in addressaddress forms had a close relation with social and cultural, under thedifferent cultural backgrounds, people had a big different comprehension to address. if you didnt take it seriously, it will lead to misunderstandings, whats worse; y

34、ou will fail the communication directly.you will often hear the british and american children call their parents or students name directly, maybe it is unimaginable and mysterious, and you even think that they have no idea about etiquette and scarcely show any respect to old people, because chinese

35、people are so particular about address. in daily life, chinese people often use “old man”, “old woman”, “old grandma”, “old grandpa”, or even “laoli” and such addresses to show respect to the addressers. in our chinese peoples memory “old” means “mature”, “experience” and “wisdom ” . only in this wa

36、y could we show at least respect and amity to old people, which reflect the chinese fellows good fashion of respect the old people, and also contain a past time orientation. because chinese belong to the “past time orientation”, and the chinese nation have a long history for five thousand years, so

37、people in china attach great importance to history and tradition. although contemporary chinese people also pay attention to look forward, “past” also take an important role in peoples deep heart.on the other hand, people hold a different attitude on the predecessors. for example, here is the case o

38、f the bus, if you said to a chinese old man: “you are old, please take my seat,” you will receive the old mans sincere thanks. however, if you said these words to a westerner, you may enrage that old man; this is because the clear difference in the attitude to the word “old”. so you must use some eu

39、phemism, such as “senior” ,“aged”, “veteran”，“citizen”, ”golden ager”, “elder”, etc. in western countries, “old” means “useless”, “hopeless”, so you cant just call someone “you are old”. at the same time, this also reflects the americans “future-oriented” conception of time indirectly. they think th

40、at past thing are just the past, they never treat past thing as a good thing; samovar and porter ever pointed out “compared to the most people in the world, americans care more about the future, but that doesnt mean they never recall the past, and scarcely consider now.3.2.2. the difference in time

41、schedulewesterners whom belong to the one-way time system treated time as one linealroad, and could be divided into several parts. so they abide by the agenda strictly even do anything. it is because they are already accustomed to do one thing in a unit of time, so they pay great attention to plan c

42、arefully. those people who cannot finish the stipulated things in deadline are often considered to be impractical person, and should be contempt. in commercial activity, americans abide by the deadline strictly which both parties agreed, and write it into the contract, by using the means of legal la

43、ws to urge both sides to keep that deadline. even in social activities is no exception. when americans held a family party, they will send out this kind of invitation: open house: 3:00 - 5:00 pm. sunday. which was considered to be understandable in chinese peoples eyes, because it run counter to a s

44、erious breach of the traditional chinese hospitality, people who tend to using the poly-chronic time system, like chinese, are more focus on time and opportunity, even every action of each step is often based on the surrounding environment, so their schedule is not too rigidly, but more flexible. in

45、 social activity, they scarcely make advanced plan; there is no need to make an appointment in visiting relatives at anytime. it is extremely rare in western countries as the saying there is companion come from afar, you will happy”.punctuality is another important feature of mono-chromic time syste

46、m. in the united states, american lifestyles show how much people respect the time of others. when people plan an event, they often set the time days or weeks in advance. once the time is fixed, it takes almost an emergency to change it. if people want to come to your house for a friendly visit, the

47、y will usually call first to make sure it is convenient. only very close friends will just drop by unannounced. also, people hesitate to call others late at night for fear they might be in bed. the time may vary, but most folks think twice about calling after 10:00 p.m. when you take a party, if you

48、 are late for five minutes, you must apologize for your late, if you late for 30 minutes, it was considered as a seriously disrespect. but in china, five minutes late is only a small thing; we even usually think that vip should be late. to many chinese people, their daily wok is not according to the

49、 schedule, we like to do many things at a time. in our country, we often meet someone without reservation. we also often hear such dialogues “if you are convenient, i want to drop by!”, “of course, anytime is ok!”, but this kind of hospitality will be misunderstood as just to be a polite lip service

50、 for people who arranged their agenda seriously, because it is not convenient for others arrangements without exact time reservation. it is also an embodiment of two countries different time conception: chinese, the circle time system; western: one-way time system. western cultures mono-chronic time

51、 orientation determines people used to doing only one thing in a time, and they emphasize on wholehearted, and doing two things at the same time is considered to be immoral. to the contrary, chineses p-time system allows people to do many things at one time as they like. you may usually notice that

52、many shop assistants were casting accounts to customers at one side, and introducing the merchandise at the other side, and even chatting with acquaintances beside them.3.2.3 the differences in life rhythmas the ancient greek philosopher heraclitus saying “people cant step in the same river twice”,

53、which profoundly embody the western peoples traditional time concept. time in western culture is considered to be a unidirectional movement; which is never going to stop. it is the very feature of time that forces westerners have a strong sense of time urgency, which has encouraged them to accelerat

54、e the pace of life. one study ever indicated that even peoples walking pace also reflect the cultural concept of time. british and american people walk much fast than chinese and indonesia. because the united nation is a young, self-confident, puerility, and rich nation which is like a radically omn

55、ipotent and rowdy young man. they are born to move, and unwilling lonely. like an energetic young people, they never stop doing this or that; it seems that they have a lot of energy which is never be used up. people in cities are always like to rush to some place; people who lived in country are doi

56、ng the nonstop fowl-run, barn between dairy farms. the company secretary are never stopping sending files to their bosses, and they usually hold files across the street with another hands answering the phone, you will see that scenery in many american movies. when you hang around the street, you wil

57、l see many people behind you are eager to step to get your super meteor ahead; when you go to a restaurant, you will scarcely find a rare bake partner, laughing and joking or communicating. in addition, america is a market economy highly developed country; the law of the survival of the fittest is i

58、ts operation rule, no advance means going back, no success means defeating. in order to survive and get succeed, americans must fight and struggle, while an important parts of fighting and struggling is a fight against others time, make oneself always at a speed to get a good position, therefore, th

59、e fast rhythm of americans was forced by their lifestyle and the tense social competition. because they already accustomed to this kind of life, so they are not bored to it, thats why their life pace is so hurry and that is also why there are a lot of fast-food restaurants, instant coffee, microwave ovens, and so on, all these sorts of convenient conditions helps people to finish everything quickly. we also sense the fast pace of life from the