(完整word版)跨文化交际视听说案例分析

1、Case 1Xiao LI and Xiao Wang were colleagues. Xiao LI gave a lot of help to Xiao Wang financially and socially. Recently Xiao LI would get married. But he forg ot inviting Xiao Wang attend his wedding. Later Xiao Wang got information ab out Xiao LI wedding and sent RMB 500 Yuan to Xiao LI.Question: W

2、hat cultural phenomenon can be reflected? Why?In Chinese culture influenced by Confucianism, if someone does a favor fo r you, you should return the favor to them. This is very common for Chinese people.In the philosophy of Confucianism Reciprocity are the base of relation ships. Gratitude and indeb

3、tedness are important parts of Chinese culture. If a person feels uneasy to be indebted of someone, payback is necessary to achi eve balance in the relationship.Case 2An English guest: Each time a new dish arrived his parents would lean ov er and load my plate with tasty morsels. As they had taken a

4、ll the trouble to c ook it I just had to polish it off. As soon as my plate was empty they would pu t more on. Of course, I felt duty-bound to eat that too.A Chinese guest: Can you imagine how many dishes I had? Only one -a stew with meat and vegetables. The meat was over done and too hard to e at;

5、green vegetables were no longer green. They never put food on your plate but just ask you to help yourself. If you, as a guest, are shy or modest, waiti ng for the food to be put on your plate, you will remain half-starved.Question: Are there any differences in hospitality between a Chinese and Engl

6、ish? What are the reasons?Yes. The Chinese student felt disappointed at British hospitality because s he used the Chinese way of showing hospitality to judge the British one. In th e story taking place in China, the westerner couldn't imagine that there shoul d be sixteen dishes prepared for her

7、. When she ate from the eight cold dishes ,she couldn't eat anymore. It is because a Western meal normally severs onemain course plus a starter and sweets or desserts. The fact is that different p eople in the world show their different hospitality in different ways.Case 3Li Lan had an American

8、friend Susan. They usually had lunch together an d Li Lan often asked Susan for advice on problems she faced adjusting to Am erican society. Susan gave Li Lan a lot of advice and helped her to improve he r English. Once Li Lan needed urgently a big sum of money to pay her tuition fee. Since she has

9、no other friends in the States, she turned to Susan for help and promised that she would return the money soon.To Li Lan ' great disappointment, this time Susandidn ' seem happy to lend the money to her. Though Li Lan returned the money as she promised, the y didn ' get along well from t

10、hen on.Question: Why did Li Lan feel unpleasant?Li Lan asked to borrow money from her American friend Susan, which is r arely part of Western friendship. Li Lan and Susan have different expectations of friendship.In the West, people prefer to be independent and equal rather than depe ndent, so they

11、don't feel comfortable in a relationship in which one person giv es more and the other person is dependent on what is given. Among friends t hey mostly provide emotional support to each other and spend time together, so they rarely borrow or lend money to each other. They would ask for a loan fr

12、om the bank rather than from their friends.While in China, people expect their friends to be loyal to each other, and t hey even take risks for their friends. So they would give not only emotional s upport to each other but also concrete help to each other, such as helping to f ind a job, solving a

13、problem, or even giving money to help one out over a lon g period of time. So when a friend is in need, the first person he or she wants to ask for help is naturally his/her friend.Case 4In 1997, a Danish woman from Copenhagen left her 14-month- old baby girl in a stroller outside a Manhattan restau

14、rant while she was inside. Other diners at the restaurant became concerned and called New York City P olice. The woman was charged with endangering a child and was jailed for tw o nights. Her child was placed in foster care. The woman and the Danish cons ulate explained that leaving children unatten

15、ded outside cafes is common in D enmark. Pictures were wired to the police showing numerous strollers parked outside cafes while parents were eating inside.Question: What cultural phenomenon can be reflected?This case reflects one of the barriers to the effective intercultural commun ication assumin

16、g similarity instead of difference. In American culture, it is illegal for p arents to leave their baby alone. Whereas it is commonplace for parents to le ave their baby alone in Danish culture.The Danish woman had assumed that Copenhagen is similar to New York, that what is commonly done in Copenha

17、g en is also commonly done in New York.Case 5Describing the differences of verbal communication Styles between Chine se people and American people. Take examples to explain it.The Chinese shout be loud when talking about everything. Direct eyecontact is rare when speaking person to person. Counting

18、on your fingers is di fferent. Instead of just holding out the number of fingers on two hands as in America, the Chinese have specific finger signs for numbers one to ten.To indicate yourself, Americans tend to use their thumb or forefinger and point at or touch their chest. Chinese people usually p

19、oint at their nose with t heir index finger to do so. Chinese people feel no compunction against staring at other people for long periods of time. Young people, both boys and girls u p to the age of 21, engages in all manner of roughhousing, often hitting each other. Women often walk arm and arm dow

20、n the s treets. Men and men hold hands or embrace shoulders as they walk outside. Nothing is wrong with that if they are friends.Xie Li and Tom have been working on a scientific experiment at a British u niversity for some months. It has not been totally successful. They are discus sing the situatio

21、n in the laboratory.Xie Li: I don' know where it went wrong!Tom: Don' feel so bad. Cheer up; you' velone your job.Xie Li: But our experiment has turned out to be a failure. Tom: Relax for a couple of days.I ' face the music.Xie Li: Tom, we are not playingchildren'games here. This

22、 is a scientificexperiment.Tom: I ' veever taken the experiment aschild 'play and I ' mplaying thegame.Xie Li: You say you ' relaying the game! It ' a rather important experime nt!Xie Li walks out of the laboratory angrily. Tom is puzzled.Question: What ' s the problem in thi

23、s case?Idiomatic phrases are often misinterpreted.In English,face the music means: face reality and take the consequence andplay the game means: abide competition rules. Here Xie Li misinterpreted two idiomatic phrases Tom used. F irst he thought that Tom didn ' take the failure of the experimen

24、t seriously an d wanted to escape from it, because he would“ facethe music " secondly, hemisinterpreted Tom' s "playing the game" as that he hadn ' done the experime nt seriously, which might lead to its failure.Case 7A young Chinese officer, together with his wife, was meetin

25、g an American consultant at an airport. After phatic communication, the consultant complimented him on his wife out of politeness,“ Your wife is beautiful!” The officer fedt sambarrassed aWhere! Where!"（哪里！哪里！）"Where! Where! ” the consultant was puzzledand had to say, “From head to foot.”Q

26、uestion: What went wrong in the case and Why?In this case, the words of the Chinese conveyed a message quite different from whatfishing for complimentswas inten ded. The Chinese officer would be suspected ofeven though the remarks might have been quite sincere because the consultant was like this ca

27、n leave a bad taste in the mouth.Because as far as the responses to praise and compliments is concerned, there are great difference between Chinese people and native English speakers. Native English speakers, especially Americans tend to verbalize their compliments and accept them, whereas the Chine

28、se tend to efface themselves to show modest. In contrast, native English speakers, in the same situation, will say Thank you or Thank you for saying so or Thanks a lot, etc. to acknowledge and accept the thanks as a kind of recognition of their individual efforts.almost forced to sayYour wife is bea

29、utiful from head to foot.Forced complimentCase 8A young Chinese woman in U.S was complimented by an American woman for the lovely dress she was wearing: "It's exquisite. The colors are so beautiful!" she was pleased but somewhat embarrassed. In typical Chinese fashion, she replied, &qu

30、ot;Oh, it's just an ordinary dress I bought in China."Question: What went wrong in the case and Why?Case 9A married couple are going to visit a friend. They have been driving around for some time looking for the street. B is angry because A refuses to stop and ask direction of someone.Quest

31、ion: What cultural phenomenon can be reflected?This case reflects the masculine emphasis on maintaining autonomy and not appearing weak or incompetent. Men are less likely than women to seek directions from others. Part of the reason for this may well lie in sensitivity of men to issues of status. F

32、rom the perspective to ask for information and help from others implies that the person asking is inferior. From a woman's point of view, however, sharing information is a way of cementing bonds.Case 10Dedrick and Melita have been dating for two years and are very serious. To celebrate their ann

33、iversary Melita wants to spend a quiet evening in her apartment where they can talk about the relationship and be alone with each other. When Dedrick arrives, he's planned to dine out and go to a concert. Melita feels hurt that he doesn't want to talk and spend the evening alone with her.Que

34、stion: could you explain the differences in communication between men and women?Case 11A Filipino couple was vacationing in England. While they were strolling along one of the main streets of London with a British acquaintance, they met another Filipino who had been residing there for some time. He was a good friend from the past, who has not seen for several years. They greeted each other warmly and continued their conversation in a loud and animated fashion using their native language. After a while the B