跨文化交际中的主要障碍及对策

1、跨文化交际中的主要障碍及对策摘 要：随着经济全球化的发展，中国与外界的交往日益频繁，跨文化交际问题受到了外语界乃至整个社会前所未有的重视。不同的民族有着不同的文化，不同的文化必然存在有文化的差异，因此可能会导致种种的交际失误。所以，研究跨文化交际中的障碍问题，以及如何有效地解决，清除这种障碍对于中国的外语教学和社会经济文化生活具有极为重要的现实意义。本文从跨文化交际的内涵和意义入手，分析和探讨了跨文化交际中存在的主要障碍，并通过对跨文化交际实例的分析，阐述了障碍产生的原因和消极影响，最后提出了如何克服这些障碍，实现有效的跨文化沟通的基本策略。通过掌握这些策略，可以逐步提高我们的跨文化意识，成功

2、地进行跨文化交际。关键词：跨文化交际；障碍；策略 contentsintroduction:11.intercultural communication11.1 communication11.1.1 definition of communication11.1.2 components of communication11.1.3 characteristics of communication.21.2 culture31.2.1 definition of culture31.2.2 components of culture31.2.3 characteristics of cult

3、ure31.3 intercultural communication41.3.1 definition of intercultural communication41.3.2 the development of intercultural communication51.3.3 the study of intercultural communication52. obstacles to intercultural communication62.1 assuming similarity7 2.1.1 definition of assuming similarity.7 2.1.2

4、 the performance of assuming similarity.7 2.1.3 the forming reason of assuming similarity82.2 stereotypes92.2.1 definition of stereotypes92.2.2 the performance of stereotypes92.2.3 the impact of stereotypes10 2.3 ethnocentrism.11 2.3.1 definition of ethnocentrism.11 2.3.2 the performance of ethnocen

5、trism.11 2.3.3 the impact of ethnocentrism.13 3. strategies for coping with the obstacles.14 3.1 knowing yourself14 3.1.1 know your culture. 14 3.1.2 know your personal attitudes.15 3.1.3 know your communication style15 3.2 knowing the cultural settings.16 3.2.1 timing.16 3.2.2 physical setting17 3.

6、2.3 customs17 3.3 developing empathy.18 3.3.1 definition of empathy.18 3.3.2 hindrances to empathy18 3.3.3 improving empathy.194. conclusion20 bibliography22quickly. (23) gao changhai night rescued compatriots in january 1943, the japanese control after su jiahu along the highway, to intensify guerr

7、illa "raids". one day, the japanese army from wuzhen area caught 53 "shina" is held in spring qiaotu farm中国最大的论文知识平台introductionwe are now in a world, which is sometimes referred to as a “global village”. with the rapid development of international trade, improved technologies of

8、 communication and the tendency of globalization，more and more exchanges are taking place internationally in almost every line, which may call for a better study on intercultural communication in order to help those intercultural activities result in better effects.i. intercultural communication1.1.

9、 communication1.1.1. definition of communicationit is difficult to find a single definition of human communication. being concerned with the intercultural dimensions of communication, we assent to the definition advanced by rubin and stewart:” human communication is the process through which individ

10、ualsin relationships, groups, organizations, and societiesrespond to and create messages to adapt to the environment and one another（rubin and stewart 1998）.” communicationour ability to share our ideas and feelingsis the basis of all human contacts. whether we live in a city in the usa, a village i

11、n india, a commune in israel, we all participate in the same activity when we communicate. the results and the methods might be different, but the process is the same. 1.1.2. components of communicationall communication contains six basic components. first is the source. a source is a sender of info

12、rmation. he or she could send a message with or without knowing his or her actions were communication.the second component is encoding, which describes the producing of a symbolic message. encoding is an internal activity in which verbal and nonverbal symbols are selected and arranged. it is the pro

13、cess of translating an already conceived idea into a message appropriate for transmission to a receiver.the third component, a message, is the production of encoding. the message is a set of verbal and nonverbal symbols that represents the feelings and ideas of the sender. it also includes symbolic

14、messages that the sender is totally unaware of having sent.channel is the fourth communication component. the channel provides that necessary connection between the communication participants. the primary channels are sound and sight. the degree to which an individual relies on one channel or anothe

15、r is often a product of culture.receiver is the fifth component. the receiver is the person or persons who come into contact with the message. receivers may be those for whom the sender intended or they may be others who, for whatever reasons, come into contact with the message.decoding is the sixth

16、 component. in the decoding process, the receiver interprets what he or she believes the source meant by the message transmitted. this operation is akin to the sources act of encoding since it is also an internal activityan activity often referred to as information processing.1.1.3. characteristics

17、of communicationcommunication is a dynamic process. it means that communication is an ongoing activity. it is like a motion picture, not a single snapshot. a single word or action does not stay frozen when we communicate; it is immediately replaced with yet another word or action. once a word or an

18、action is employed, it cannot be retracted. what is said cannot be unsaid. and what is done cannot be undone.communication is symbolic. humans are symbol-making creatures. we are able to generate, receive, store, and manipulate symbols. we employ symbols to share our internal states. our words and a

19、ctions are other sets of symbols through which we convey our messages, ideas and feelings to other people. communication has a consequence. this characteristic implies that when we receive a message, something happens to us. it also means that all of our messages, in one degree or another does somet

20、hing to someone else. we cannot send messages without influencing other people. this is not a philosophical or metaphysical theory but a biological fact. it is impossible not to respond to the sounds and actions of others. 1.2. culture1.2.1. definition of culturethere are more than one hundred defin

21、itions of the english word culture offered by researchers from different perspectives. samovar and porter evolved a definition from the perspective of intercultural communication:culture is the deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notion of t

22、ime, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving （samovar and porter 1991）.culture is mental programming, it tells us from early childhood what matters, what

23、to prefer, what to avoid, and what to do. it gives us assumptions about the ideal beyond what individuals may experience. it establishes codes for behavior and provides justification and legitimization for that behavior. 1.2.2. components of culturein spite of the lack of agreement on one definition

24、 on culture, most scholars, chinese and foreign, seem to agree that culture includes three major aspects. almaney and alwan submitted three categories of culture elements:cultures may be classified by three large categories of elements: artifacts (which include items ranging from arrowheads to hydro

25、gen bombs, magic charms to antibiotic, torches to electric lights, and chariots to jet planes); concepts (which include such beliefs or value systems as right or wrong, god and man, ethics, and the general meaning of life); and behaviors (which refer to the actual practice of concepts or beliefs) （r

26、ogers and steinfatt 1999）. there is an excellent example of how these three aspects might be reflected within a culture. whereas money is considered an artifact, the value placed upon it is a concept, but the actual spending and saving of money is behavior.1.2.3. characteristics of cultureculture is

27、 learned. culture is not something we are born with. from infancy on, members of a culture learn their patterns of behavior and ways of thinking until they have become internalized. people learn to think, act, feel and believe what their culture considers proper. for instance, humans need food. but

28、what to eat, when, where and how to eat is learned. thats why we use chopsticks while westerners prefer knife and fork, and why we like rice while americans prefer bread.culture is subject to change. cultures, once formed, are stable, but are at the same time changing with the development of human s

29、ociety. it seldom remains constant. it is not difficult at all for us to think of examples of how social and historical events bring changes in our culture. the founding of new china, the implementation of the policy of opening to the outside world and chinas wto entry, are all good examples.culture

30、 is interrelated. it means that culture is composed of interrelated facets. when you touch one place of a culture, everything else is affected. the outbreak of sars in spring 2003 in china is an illustrative example. it made its effects felt in medical systems, tourism, lifestyle, family life, gover

31、nment policies, environment protection and many others.culture is invisible. most of culture is hidden, like the part of the iceberg under water. culture exists in the subconscious mind of people. people not only learn the cultural behaviors below the level of consciousness but also perform them alm

32、ost habitually. therefore they arent aware of the fact that their actions are governed by their own culture, or cultural rules.1.3. intercultural communication1.3.1. definition of intercultural communicationin general terms, intercultural communication occurs when a member of one culture produces a

33、message for consumption by a member of another culture. the formal definition given by rogers and steinfatt is that intercultural communication is the exchange of information between individuals who are unalike culturally（rogers and steinfatt 1999）.this is a very broad definition, involving any type

34、 of cultural differences between communication participants. they may differ in nationality, region, race, religion, status, occupation, gender, age, and many others. however, my priority of this paper is given to communication across different national cultures.1.3.2. the development of intercultur

35、al communicationintercultural communication studies arose in the united states around the corner of the late 1950s. as an interdisciplinary subject, it has been significantly influenced by anthropology, linguistics, communication, psychology and other disciplines. in recent years, it has extended it

36、s study range from writing to thinking, from family to society, from myth to religion, from behaviors to values.in china, intercultural communication began to be seen as an independent discipline for study in the early 1980s. it was first introduced into china by some english teachers and has made r

37、emarkable progress over the years. the main reason for the university english teachers enthusiasm in the study of intercultural communication is the shift from traditional methodology to the communicative approach in efl in china in the late 1970s and early 1980s.as a matter of fact, intercultural c

38、ommunication is not a new thing, but something that has always taken place. a typical example is the famous “silk road” in chinese history through which peoples of asia, africa and europe interacted with each other. nowadays, we dont have to go abroad to interact with people of other cultures. even

39、at home, we can watch overseas movies, attract overseas tourists, and employ overseas teachers, and so on. intercultural communication has become more frequent, more abundant and, therefore, more significant than ever before.1.3.3. the study of intercultural communicationintercultural communication

40、is becoming an important part of our daily work and life. we will conduct more and more intercultural communication, the problem we are facing is how to do it, and how to do it well. a good knowledge of a foreign language, mainly englishthe most widely used language in the world today, is of course

41、indispensable. but only the language does not ensure successful intercultural communication. therefore, intercultural communication competence has become an important quality for successful individuals in todays china.in the process of studying intercultural communication, we can understand chinese

42、culture better from new perspectives and learn to be aware of many cultural differences of other countries. if we are better intercultural communicators, we might do things cross culture more confidently. if each of us can better understand others who are culturally different, it will be more produc

43、tive under circumstances concerned. if individuals can attain a higher degree of intercultural communication competence, they will presumably become better government officials, entrepreneurs, teachers and so forth when they are having intercultural communication activities. we study intercultural c

44、ommunication to communicate effectively with people from different cultures. through the study of intercultural communication we can gain insight into different cultures. meanwhile, it can broaden our horizons and open our minds to different perspectives and experiences. the study of intercultural c

45、ommunication can also awaken our cultural sensitivity and help the cultivation of an open attitude and the development of a healthy personality. ii.obstacles to intercultural communicationas we mentioned in part one, communication is the exchange of information. the understanding of the message, ver

46、bal or nonverbal, is largely based on the communication participants cultural background and varies accordingly for each person.however, due to different social backgrounds, social systems, ways of thinking, norms of behaviors and customs, people may have difficulties and obstacles in communicating

47、successfully with each other. identification of these problems will help us to avoid or to reduce obstacles in intercultural communication. here in this part some major obstacles to successful intercultural communication are to be discussed.there are many obstacles to intercultural communication ind

48、eed. from hu wenzhongs point of view, who is a famous scholar in intercultural communication, the following three seem to be the most outstanding ones. they are assuming similarity, stereotypes and ethnocentrism. we are going to discuss about them in the following writing.2.1 assuming similarity 2.1

49、.1. definition of assuming similaritythe assumption of similarity is one of the biggest barriers in intercultural communication. it refers to the assumption that people are more similar to you than they actually are or that another persons situation is more similar to your own situation than it in f

50、act is （alder 1996）. for instance, a chinese assumes his or her japanese colleagues are more like chinese than they actually are. based on this assumed similarity, people often act inappropriately and ineffectively in intercultural communication.when you assume similarity between cultures you can be

51、 caught unaware of important differences. when you have no information about a different culture, you might assume there are no differences so you behave as you would in your own culture. however, each culture is different and unique to some degree. 2.1.2. the performance of assuming similarityin th

52、e art of crossing cultures，craig storti (1990) thinks that in the process of intercultural communication, people generally experience several stages:1) expecting others the same as themselves2) facing gap between reality and expectation, thus resulting in cultural conflicts3) feeling anger and fear4

53、) deciding to turn backthe following is an example to illustrate it. li ying, a chinese student who went abroad for the first time was invited to attend a party by his american friends. he arrived on time, only to find that many people were late and dressed in a very casual way. at the party, there

54、was only some drink and simple food, but no decent dishes. few people there knew him, and he at last found mark, his friend, and began to talk with him. they talked about only ten minutes before mark said that he had to talk with another friend and left. li ying was very disappointed. then, the host

55、 introduced him to a couple of people and left too. two hours later, li ying left the party. when he was back at home, he was still hungry, so he had to cook some noodles himself. he decided not to take part in this kind of party again.this party was an unsuccessful intercultural communication for l

56、i ying. why did he fail? it has something to do with his original ideas. in his opinion, people should arrive on time at party and should wear formal clothes, the host should prepare a lot of food and make a good arrangement for him, and mark should talk with him all the time. li ying had a typical

57、chinese expectation for a western party. at a western party, the friends and the host, have their own things to do. li ying thought it was the same situation as in china and did not see the difference between chinese and american styles in social intercourses. the lack of intercultural communication awareness and experience resulted in the failure.2.1.3. the forming re