跨文化交际上课内容unit

1、IHomework of Unit 1: What are stumbling blocks in intercultural communication? How to overcome these blocks? Unit Two Culture and CommunicationI. Warm UpPlease read the story on page 38, then answer the questions:1. Why was Tom considered a rude host by his visitors?2. How can you explain the fact t

2、hat Tom is misunderstood when he actually wants to be kind and friendly to the visitors?II. Reading1. Read the article of “What Is Culture”. What can you learn about culture from it? Please answer the questions followed?& Supplement: Maslows Hierarchy of Needs Theory (p41)What is culture?Origins

3、 of culture in English and Chinese(1) “Culture” is a loan word from Latin meaning “cultivating or tilling种田 the land”. It was originally associated with physical activities and production of food. Later, its meaning was extended to include mental, moral, aesthetic美学, educational and intellectual act

4、ivities. In contemporary English its original meaning is still retained保留.(2) “文化” is a native word本族词 in Chinese. “文” and “化” were used together in the Warring States战国. “人文” in “观乎人文，以化成天下” refers to the interwoven互相编织 relationships between the monarch君主 and his subjects, fathers and sons, husband

5、s and wives, brothers and friends, and “化” means “changing and/or cultivating”. When used together, “文” and “化” mean “以文教化”. They were combined into one word in Han Dynasty, with its meaning contrasted with “nature” on one hand and “primitiveness” 原始and “savage”未开化，野蛮 on the other hand. So “文化” was

6、originally associated with mental activities.1. DefinitionThe term “culture” does not correspond 一致perfectly with “文化”. For examples:他没有文化(He is illiterate.)“What really binds 捆绑men together is their culture- the ideas and the standards they have in common.” R. BenedictAccording to The Concise Oxfor

7、d Dictionary, culture is “the arts and other manifestations 表现of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively”. Defining Culture from the Anthropological Perspective人类学观点:w “Culture consists of patterns, explicit明确 and implicit含蓄, of and for behavior acquired and transmitted by symbols, cons

8、tituting 组成the distinctive有特色的 achievement of human groups, including their embodiments 体现in artifacts史前古器物; the essential core of culture consists of traditional ideas and especially their attached values”. -Kroeber and Kluckhohn Defining Culture from the Psychological Perspective w culture is &quo

9、t;the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one category 种类of people from another". -Geert HofstedeDefining Culture from the Sociological Perspectivew “Culture is defined as a pattern of learned, group-related perception including both verbal口头 and nonverbal lang

10、uage attitudes, values, belief system信念系统, disbelief systems, and behavior”. Defining Culture from the Intercultural Perspectivew “Culture is a system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviours and artifacts that are transmitted from generation to generation through learning.” -Bates and PlogThe

11、re are altogether no less than 250 definitions of culture by scholars from several different fields. Despite so, almost all scholars agree that culture has two senses: the broad sense 广义and the narrow sense.A. Culture in its broad sense Culture is the attribute特质 of man, or, whatever distinguishes m

12、an from the rest part of the world is culture. Based on this, Prof. Lin Dajin provides a Chinese counterpart副本 definition: 文化是人类区别于动物的综合特征. It may include the following components:Materials man has got to satisfy his needs, including science and technology, such as space shuttles航天飞机, airplanes, and

13、 cars;Social institutions社会制度 and organizations man has established, including socioeconomic社会经济学的 institutions体系, politico-legal institutions, and religious organizations宗教组织;Knowledge about nature and man himself and artistic development艺术发展, including various subjects such as mathematics数学 and ed

14、ucation, and artistic forms such as literature, painting, music and dance;Language and other communication systems such as gestures and facial expressions;Customs, habits and behavioral patterns;Value systems, world views, national traits名族性, aesthetic standards 审美标准and thinking patterns. Culture in

15、 this sense is also called “large C culture” or academic culture or culture with a big C(大写字母的文化). Its culture in general, culture of all nationalities and ethnic groups族群. But we know there are specific cultures such as Chinese, American and British. According to this sense, specific culture can be

16、 defined (by Prof. Lin Dajin) as the comprehensive features that distinguish one group (be it a nation, a race or any section of people) of people from another (一个民族区别于另一个民族的综合特征). Dominant culture and subculture亚文化群/co-culture共同培养w Culture is subdivided 被再分成into dominant culture, mainstream culture

17、, and subculture(s), which coexist 共存within each culture.w A subculture resembles似 a culture in that it usually encompasses 包含围绕a relatively large number of people and represents the accumulation积累 of generations of human striving努力奋斗. However, subcultures have some important differences: they exist

18、 within dominant cultures and are often based on economic or social class, ethnicity种族划分, race, or geographic region.Today the tendency is to say co-culture and sub-groups to avoid prejudice.B. Culture in its narrow sense It's called “small c culture” or anthropological culture or culture with a

19、 small c (小写字母的文化). It can be defined as life way of a population, Culture in this sense emphasizes what characterizes the way of life of a people, including components , , , and , with components , , and as the central part. Some scholars are interested in “large C culture” while others in “small c

20、 culture”, depending on the purpose of investigation. We shall focus on culture in its narrow sense.Cultural Identity文化身份 文化认同w Cultural identity refers to ones sense of belonging to a particular culture or ethnic group. People consciously 有意识地，自觉地identify themselves with a group that has a shared s

21、ystem of symbols and meanings as well as norms for conduct. 2. Properties 内容of culture(1) It is human specific.(2) It is a social phenomenon (contrast between society and nature). It is the embodiment体现of human knowledge, skill and cooperative labor. (3) It is a national phenomenon for each nature h

22、as its own culture.(4) It is a historical phenomenon. Each culture has some history and each generation contributes to it. But culture wont necessarily remain the same.(5) It is general and abstract. 2. Culture can be viewed as an iceberg. Nine-tenths of an iceberg is out of sight. The part of the c

23、ultural iceberg that is above the water is easy to be noticed. The other part that is hidden below the water and is outside of conscious awareness. It is sometimes called “deep culture”. But what are the things in a culture that can be said to be above or below the water within or out of our awarene

24、ss?The Structure of Culture3. Read the article on page 45-48:From this article, we can learn there are three characteristics of culture coherent, learned, the view of a group of people; and there are three things culture does culture ranks what is important (or cultures teach values or priorities),

25、culture furnishes attitudes, and culture dictates how to behave.4. Decide whether the following are examples of communications or not? Why?1)You complain to your instructor about your course credits through telephone.2) Two blind people exchange ideas in Braille盲文.3) A German businessman negotiates,

26、 through an interpreter口译, with his Chinese counterpart. 4) A farmer gives instructions to his ploughing 耕种cow.5) A programmer issues commands to a computer.6) Tom talks to himself while flourishing his toy gun.7) You send an e-mail message to an American friend.8) Jane lies in bed reading a novel.T

27、he Basics of Communication: Communication occurs if: 1. two or more people; 2. contact; 3. a shared language; 4. an exchange of information. 5. Read the article of “Elements of Communication”. What are the elements of communication? Context: four aspects (the physical setting, historical aspect, psy

28、chological aspect, culture aspect) Participants: three variables (relationship, gender, culture) Messages: meanings, symbols, encoding and decoding. Channels: the method used to deliver a message (sound, sight, smell, taste, touch, or any combination of these) Noise (干扰): a term used for factors tha

29、t interfere with the exchange of messages, including external noise, internal noise and semantic noise. Noise is inevitable. Feedback: the response of a receiver to a senders message Please answer the questions followed.& Supplement: What Is Communication?There are altogether 126 definitions of

30、communication. Among them the most accepted one defined by L. A. Samovar, et al.Definition:Ø “Communication may be defined as that which happens whenever someone responds to the behavior or the residue剩余 of the behavior of another person.”- L. A. Samovar, et alA few key points about this defini

31、tion: The behavior includes verbal behavior语言行为 and non-verbal behavior. For example, you meet an acquaintance in the street. You smile and nod to each other without uttering发出 a word. Then your behavior is non-verbal, and your communication is also non-verbal. So according to this, communication ca

32、n be divided into verbal communication and non-verbal communication. As to the meaning of “behavior residue", here is an example. You leave a note before you go out, and your roommate sees it when coming back and will make certain response. Then this note is your behavior residue. In this case,

33、 whether your roommate does something about or just ignores the note, as long as he receives the note, communication happens, but it is non-simultaneous非同时发生的. Therefore, communication can also be divided into simultaneous communication同时通信 and non-simultaneous communication. A behavior, whether int

34、entional故意的 or unintentional, conscious or unconscious, once is received, communication occurs. For example, when you are giving a speech, you may blush (unintentional) or repeat the same movement (unconscious), which gives your audience a message that you are nervous. Feedback is not a prerequisite

35、必要条件 of communication. So there may be one-way communication. Hu Wenzhong of Beijing Foreign Studies University once said translation is in fact a kind of (intercultural) communication, because when one is translating, one is in fact communicating interculturally with the writer of the original work

36、. In deed, written translation is in most cases one-way communication.2. Factors Affecting CommunicationEight specific ingredients of communication: the source (行为源): a person who has a need to communicate encoding (编码): an internal activity in which a source creates a message through the selection

37、of verbal and non-verbal symbols (行为源组织信息的内心活动). message (信息): the result of encoding, once spoken out and received, becomes a message. channel (渠道): the physical means by which the message is transmitted. the responder (反应者): the person who intercepts拦截 the message and as a consequence becomes link

38、ed to the source. decoding (译码): the internal activity of the receivers information processing. response (反应): what a receiver decides to do about the message. feedback (反馈): feedback and response are clearly related. Response becomes feedback when received by the source.Ø Of the eight ingredie

39、nts, the source and the responder, encoding and decoding, are the most important because they are related to persons.Some personal factors may affect communication effectiveness: sex age temperament气质 性格 (e.g. introverted and extroverted) occupation (e.g. businessman, officers, etc.) social status k

40、nowledge structure life experienceUncertain factors, varying at different time: intention: though disgusted, you nod or smile for politeness. mood: someone tells you that it is useless to live in this world. You might have different responses. status at that time: you, as a guest, cant ask the host

41、to help himself to some dish.Objective factors: time: you never say “Good morning” in the evening. place: occasion: you never say “节哀顺便” in a wedding ceremony.3. Communication Types based on symbols used: verbal and non-verbal based on media: direct and indirect based on feedback: two-way and one-wa

42、y based on numbers of the sources and responders: one/group-to-one and one/group-to-group based on set responder: directed and non-directed based on the sources intention: intentional and unintentional based on the responders activeness: active and passive based on time: simultaneous and non-simulta

43、neous 4. Characteristics of Communication (Essentials of Human Communication) p68-73 Communication is dynamic动态的. It is an on-going, ever-changing 千变万化activity. We are sure to be influenced by others message, whether gradually or radically彻底的 根本上的. Communication is symbolic: Symbols are central to the communication process because they represent the shared meanings that are communicated. A symbol is a word, action, or object that stands for or represents a