Culture Differences in Vocabulary and the English Language Teaching1

1、culture differences in vocabulary and the english language teaching词汇和英语语言教学中的文化差异culture differences in vocabulary and the english language teachingcontentsabstract.1key words.2i. what is culture? 2ii. the relations of language, vocabulary and culture32.1 the relations between them42.2 attentions t

2、o some points in learning words4iii. output and input of the english intercultural teaching8iv. the use of different culture in english teaching 94.1 understanding of several principles104.2 developing learners cultural capacity114.3 the way in the implements of english culture and education12v.conc

3、lusion14reference 15culture differences in vocabulary and the english language teaching摘要: 当今英语已成为一门国际性语言，而我们在学习英语过程中经常遇到英语国家文化和我国的文化差异现象，所以提高写生对文化差异认识，运用文化差异帮助我们学习，这是我这篇文章主要阐述的问题。语言是文化的载体，文化是语言的底座，语言和它赖以生存的文化之间有着极为密切的关系。英语教学的文化基础一直被认为与英语国家的文化而密切地关联。然而，英语已成为一门国际性语言。因此，这一传统观点受到挑战。英语语言教学者应根据本国的特点情况决定选

4、择合适的语言信息、文化内容与教学方法，并通过对文化差异的了解和对文化的学习，使学习者不但能够了解到别国的文化，而且能运用英语传播本国的文化，最终达到能不受文化差异的影响，顺利地与外国人交流的目的。关键字:文化差异;词汇和语言;词汇、语言和文化的关系;文化差异的应用abstract: the world has become an international nature language now, but we frequently run into the appearance of english nation civilization and our country civilizati

5、on difference in learning english course. raise the knowledge to civilization difference of student, using civilization difference help we to learn. this is this piece of essay which chiefly expounds question. carrier of language civilization, the civilization is the basic language. language has clo

6、sely relationship with civilization. it is interrelated closely that the civilization foundation of language teaching is thought with the civilization of english nation continuously. however, english has become the international nature language, this traditional viewpoint suffers challenging, englis

7、h language teaches scholar should be to deciding to select suitable language information, teaching methodology according to the home characteristic circumstances. and study by way of the understanding with to civilization difference. not only learners can understand the civilization to the other cou

8、ntry, but also can transfer home civilization to other countries in english. finally, learners communicate with foreigners smoothly without influence of civilization difference.key words: cultural difference; vocabulary; the relation of vocabulary, language and culture; the use of culture difference

9、the world has become an international nature language now, but we frequently run into the appearance of english nation civilization and our country civilization difference in learning english course. raise the knowledge to civilization difference of student, using civilization difference help we to

10、learn. this is this piece of essay which chiefly expounds question. carrier of language civilization, the civilization is the basic language. language has closely relationship with civilization. it is interrelated closely that the civilization foundation of language teaching is thought with the civi

11、lization of english nation continuously. however, english has become the international nature language, this traditional viewpoint suffers challenging, english language teaches scholar should be to deciding to select suitable language information, teaching methodology according to the home character

12、istic circumstances. and study by way of the understanding with to civilization difference. not only learners can understand the civilization to the other country, but also can transfer home civilization to other countries in english. finally, learners communicate with foreigners smoothly without in

13、fluence of civilization difference.i. what is culture?human beings draw close to one another by their common nature, but geography situation, habits and customs keep them apart. people have common nature, but people have different cultural background. there also exist culture differences in vocabula

14、ry and the english teaching in process of english learning. at this time, teacher should teach the student culture about english language, or student will make a mistake when they use it.we all have learnt this word “culture”, but what does it really mean? it may mean many many things. for example,

15、sometimes we say that people who are able to read and write or who know about art, music, literature and other things are cultured. the word has different meaning to different people. as a matter of fact, culture is really a large and extensive concept; it is difficult to define it. it is said there

16、 have been at least over 150 definitions of culture, but none of them is able to tell us everything about culture. the definitions below are just some of the well-known ones.culture may be defined as what a society does and thinks. (sapir, 1921)what really binds men together is their culturethe idea

17、s and the standards they have in common. (r.benedict, 1935)culture is mans medium; there is not one aspect of human life that is not touched and altered by culture. this means personality, how people express themselves, including shows of emotion, the way they think, how they think, how problems are

18、 solved, how their cities are planned and laid out, how transportation systems function and are organized, as well as how economic and government systems are put together and function. (edward t.hall, 1959)a culture is a collection of beliefs; habits, living patterns, and behaviors, which are held m

19、ore or less in common by, people who occupy particular geographic areas. (d.brown, 1978)culture refers to the total way of life of particular group of people. it includes everything that a group of people thinks, says does, and makes. (r.kohls, 1979)the culture of every society is unique, containing

20、 combinations of norms and values that are found nowhere else. (i. robertson, 1981)to sum up, the word culture has extensive meaning. in narrow sense, it means culture, music, art and so on, but in broad sense, it is a society science language, according to the cultures definition which sociologist

21、and anthropologist have given, culture means a society which has distinctive belief, habit, institution, objective and technology.ii. the relations of language, vocabulary and culturelanguage and vocabulary are all a part of culture, and have an important effect on culture. but, what is language? la

22、nguage is a conventional human vocal communication system. the language is following its corresponding culture to produce and develop in terms of history. as everyone knows, the origin of the language is closely linked with the human origin. from the point of the realistic one, depend on the underst

23、anding of a kind of language that lives in the understanding of culture to this kind of language to a great extent. through description the above, we can see clearly, the language has national characteristics. languages, and culture are so close, only understanding culture are can not fully understa

24、nd his language.vocabulary also means word; it is a unit of expression that has universal intuitive recognition by native speakers, whether it is expressed in spoken or written form. if without language, it is also without culture, and language is also impacted by culture, and reflects culture. so,

25、we can say that language reflects the characteristic of a nation; it not only includes history and cultural background of this nation, but also contains the view of life, live style and thinking pattern.if we want to understand vocabulary, i think we should learn the development of the english vocab

26、ulary.in the study of words, it is of paramount importance to know something about the origin and growth of the vocabulary. as we know, a languages vocabulary develops with the development of the language, which in its turn grows in connection to other languages. the english language is not the lang

27、uage of the early inhabitants of the british related to other languages? a synchronic overview of the indo-european language family will answer these questions. modern english is derived from a collection of germanic dialects, sometimes called teutonic dialects, which were first brought to the briti

28、sh islands in the fourth and fifth centuries. why is it known as english now? what is the size of the vocabulary of the first settlers? how has it developed into what is now a huge modern vocabulary? what influence do other languages have on english? this chapter will give a brief answer to all thes

29、e questions.2.1the relations between them without language, it has also no culture, and language is also impacted by culture, and reflects culture. so, we can say that language reflects the characteristic of a nation; it not only includes history and cultural background of this nation, but also cont

30、ains the view of life, live style and thinking pattern.vocabulary is the basic units of sentences. in some peoples opinion, language learning, for example english, we learn every words, phrases and short sentences well, master its pronunciation, spelling and meaning. meanwhile, master some basic gra

31、mmar, and know how to connect words, phrases and short sentences. then we think we have learned english very well, however, if we dont know the culture background knowledge about english at all, we cannot use it in a real communicative environment. for example, (1) what does green with envy mean in

32、english? when people feel envy, will his face really turn green? (2) we say paul was in blue mood, what is the mood of paul? happy, exciting, sad or others? in these two sentences, green means very much envy; blue means depressed and melancholy, this is cultural difference.2.2 attentions to some poi

33、nts in learning the languagewhen we learn english vocabularies or teach the english language, we can find many cultural differences in them, but most learners are short of culture knowledge, so they often make the mistake. in resent years, culture teaching as well as foreign language teaching has go

34、t more attention than ever before, for more and more foreign language teachers are aware that second language learning is often second culture learning and culture competence is an integral part of sentences.when we learn foreign language, we must pay attention to some points. first, we have to unde

35、rstand surface meaning and implication. with regard to the student who learns foreign language, they not only master surface meaning of the words, but also realize implication of the words. if you dont understand vocabularys implication, you will make serious mistake, sometimes misunderstand a good

36、word to a bad word, and cause unhappy to one side of talker or both sides; sometimes misunderstand taunt to praise, and laughed at by others. take word “peasant” for example, it means “农民”in chinese，but it does not means “农民”in foreigners eyes. it expresses different meaning in english. “peasant” in

37、 english is derogatory term. in america traditional dictionary, “peasant” means country folk, farmer, and the person who have bad education. but in chinese, “农民”means the person who does farm work. second, the cultural differentiation in daily talk. in china, when people meet each other, most of the

38、m will say, “where are you going?” it is very common in china. and chinese people consider it is naturally. but if you say it to a foreigner, perhaps he feels unhappy, and his response may be: its none of your business! and, after the chinese generally greet you mutually , hello, after early morning

39、 after this, in one day even if meeting again, they no longer duplicate greets. but english people, in the similar situation are extremely commonly duplicates greeting. they are more than ten kinds of regards in the expressions of english language, from hi, hello to longer more concrete sentence, fo

40、r example: how are you keeping? is everything ok with you?third, thanks and compliments. when expression manner and commendation, it has extremely obviously difference between eastern and west cultural. compared to the chinese culture, the western culture often tends to the exaggeration manner and t

41、he commendation expression. although obtained help is not worthy of mentioning, even they have not obtained the help which needs at all, the westerners often can appear extremely grateful, saying its really very kind of you. youve done an excellent job. sometimes hearing you say several english, and

42、 then they can praise you saying, your english is perfect. you may not too be pleased with yourself.also has in very many situations, our chinese thought it is not unnecessary to express of gratitude, but the westerner must say the thanks actually. please read the following: customer:good. ill take

43、them. how much? shop assistant: 75pence, sir. will there be anything else?in addition, compared with chinese, westerners incline to accept others thanks and praise. for instance: a: youre a great photographer. some of those pictures are so marvelous that they could be in magazines: thanks. im glad y

44、ou like them.while the chinese when they hear the commendation, often appear extremely awkward, then to commendation, they express rejection. such as, when some people commend you your english really speaks well or you completion of work is really splendid, you often say no, but it not so good , the

45、 modest expression. as for the westerner it appears not honest, some even laying, they think you thought his commendation is twisting to fact, therefore, it is possible to create misunderstanding.forth, privacy and taboo. the person from different cultures has a lot of common fields in personal secr

46、ets and taboo, but there are still a lot of differences in chinese and western culture in this respect. for example, in western culture, the information relating to personal life and activity is personal secrets; to the questions in this respect you should be very prudent. generally we cant inquire

47、the question such as their age (especially ladys age), family background, salary income, etc. in communication, dont ask seminaries: how old are you? how much do you earn every year? and so on.fifth, western festivals. talking about the western culture, we have no alternative but to refer to western

48、 festivals, because in any kind of culture the festival all is the important constituent. in the western culture festivals have multitudinously contain massive cultural information which they are having the more and more tremendous influence to the chinese culture. these festivals mainly include: ch

49、ristmas day, easter day, thanksgiving day, april fool s day, mothers day, valentine s day and so on. christmas day, which mostly is familiar with us, has the biggest influence to the chinese culture. whenever it is december 25 approaches, and activities are becoming. moreover, the valentine day more

50、 and more influence to the chinese culture. every year on february 14 eve, chocolate and rose are everywhere, also the price is rising, many people, specially the young, are taking the opportunity to reveal the admire, and express love, we cant help signing its cultural tremendous strength by its sc

51、enery.sixth, cultural custom difference between china and western countriesthey are massive differences, here only selects several aspects to make a simple displaying. for examples,(1) numbers. when the chinese people think “eight” is the lucky number, westerners are loathing and tabooing to“13”for

52、the religious reason.(2) tip. in western culture, although either the non- encouragement or non- must, is shown to special or satisfaction service. payment of 10% to 15% tip is the ordinary action approximately, but this procedure still was not common in the chinese culture. (3) accepts the gift. th

53、e chinese accept others gift after declining; often wait to open or examination gift after guests depart. but westerner then does not decline the gift, and often open the gift, facing the guests and again said some affection and the thanks and so on. these two kinds of cultures have the huge differe

54、nces. (4) the diet difference between china and western countries mainly is, the chinese are fastidious ostentation and cooking, relatively the westerner pay attention to succince, and the affective tone.seventh, the difference of political status in address. however in england or in china, peoples

55、political position and status are different. people who have different position and status deal with each other in different way in daily life. it cause communication problem between them.england and china have different address. for example, in china, people call 王院长刘军长马经理(姓+头衔/职务)，but in england,

56、people call principle wang, army commander liu and manager ma(头衔/职务+姓，王院长刘军长马经理).from this example, we can see, difference country has difference culture, so has the different address. when we use foreign language, we should pay attention to the cultural difference.eighth, the difference of other so

57、cial contact etiquette. take “please” for an example. but it is not very suitable to use this word in some places. when you want other people to go first, we do not say please, generally speaking, we say “after you”. but people who learn english first often say, “you go first”, this is wrong. when w

58、e invite somebody to have dinner, we often use help yourself (to sth), not use please.ninth, the sexual distinction in english and chinese. when we distinguish the sex of animals in english and chinese, the words are often different. in chinese, we often use male and female. but in english, it has its name alone. now, let us look these words below.goose(鹅) gander goose goslinghorse(马) stallion mare foalcattle(牛) bull cow calfdog(狗) dog bitch puppysheep(羊) ram ewe