Unit 14 Cultural Encounters

Susan Bassnett

Teaching Objectives

Students will be able to: 1. talk about the function and significance of

intercultural understanding between people all over the world;

2. discuss the essence of culture, the cause of cultural encounters, as well as the ways to resolve problems in cultural encounters;

3. recognize the transitions made in the development of the text.

Case Study

Peter is the general manager of an American company in China. Recently, Jun Chen, one of the Chinese managers made a mistake at work that caused some difficulties that required a lot of effort to fix. Jun Chen was very upset about what had happened, and came to Peter’s office to make a formal apology.

Case Study

Jun Chen went into Peter’s office after being told to, smiling before he spoke. “Peter, I’ve been feeling very upset about the trouble I’ve caused for the company. I’m here to apologize for my mistake. I’m terribly sorry about it and I want you to know that it will never happen again.” Jun Chen said, looking at Peter with the smile he had been wearing since he walked into the office.

Case Study

Peter found it hard to accept the apology. He looked at Jun Chen, asked, “are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m very sorry and I promise this won’t happen again,” Jun Chen said, with a smile even broader than before.

“I’m sorry I just can’t take your apology. You don’t look sorry at all!” Peter said angrily.

Case Study

Jun Chen’s face turned very red. He did not in the least expect Peter to take it negatively. He was desperate to make himself understood. “Peter, “ he managed to smile again, “trust me, no one can feel any more sorry than I do about it.”

Peter was almost furious by now, “If you’re that sorry, how can you still smile?”

Case Study

Is the communication between Jun Chen and Peter successful? What’s wrong with it?

What caused their communication problem?

Case Study

Chinese perspective: Smiling for the Chinese may not only means that someone is happy, but also that he /she is sorry. It is desirable for a Chinese to apologize with a smile, which indicates humbleness and embarrassment. Jun Chen probably was not even aware that he was smiling when he first went into the office to apologize, yet he did make an effort to smile when he saw Peter getting angry. For Jun Chen, the smile was an important part of the apology. As a result, he could not understand why Peter got angry when he gave a sincere apology.

Case Study

American perspective: Beyond thinking that Jun Chen was not really sorry for the mistake, Peter might actually take the smile as smirking, a sign of disrespect. A westerner in Jun Chen’s situation would probably keep his eyes lowered, especially during the time he was apologizing. When promising to correct the situation and to avoid making the same mistake, a westerner would expect the employee to look him in the eye and definitely not to smile. However, the mistaken perception of a smile made an awkward situation worse.

Lead-in questions

1. Do you have any experience of communication problems with your foreign teachers /friends?

2. Do you have any experience of culture shock?

3. What’s your understanding of culture and cultural conflicts?

Lead-in questions

4. What kind of people will be more likely to encounter cultural conflicts?

5. What’s the relationship between language and culture?

Definition of Culture

Culture is omnipresent. It does include the various aspects of life.

A learned set of all those historically created and commonly shared interpretations about beliefs, values, norms, and arts, etc., which exist at any given time as potential guides for the behavior of men.

Culture Shock

Culture shock refers to phenomena ranging from mild irritability to deep psychological panic and crisis. Culture shock is associated with feelings in the learner of estrangement, anger, hostility, indecision, frustration, unhappiness, sadness, loneliness, homesickness, and even physical illness. The person undergoing culture shock views his new world out of resentment, and alternates between being angry at others for not understanding him and being filled with self-pity.

Language & Culture

Language and culture coexist. We can never separate language and culture from each other. On the one hand, language is the main medium of culture. Without language, one could hardly imagine in what way culture information can be better transferred between different nations. On the other hand, culture is a broader system that completely includes language as a subsystem. Language and culture are intertwined, both exerting a significant influence on each other.

Language & Culture

The relationship between language and culture is not that of complete one-to-one correspondence. For example, English is the mother tongue in many countries like Australia, Canada, the US, the UK, etc., but all of these countries feature their particular culture respectively; while in Malaysia, English, Malay, Chinese, and some other ethnic languages are being used as official languages simultaneously in this one single oriental country. It can be concluded that there are several cultures within a certain language and also several languages within a certain culture.

Language & Culture

Different associative meaning of the same word: ‘ 龙’ has been given a greatly high status among

all animals and it enjoyed a rather good reputation in Chinese culture, while in English, ‘dragon’ is a kind of very fierce and vicious animal, having but derogatory sense.

‘ 喜鹊’ is looked upon as a bird which brings happiness and good news to Chinese people, however, ‘magpie’ turns out to be an omen of evil bird standing for misfortune or disaster in English. Such examples are too many to count.

Language & Culture

as strong as a horse 力大如牛； talk horse 吹牛； he is really a willing horse. 他真是头老黄牛。

Uncle vs. 叔叔、伯伯、舅舅…… Aunt vs. 阿姨、姑姑、婶婶、姨妈……

Language & Culture

Borrowed words 脱口秀（ talk show ） , 少女杀手（ lady-killer ） ,

甜心（ sweet heart ） , 雷达 (radar), 巴士 (bus), T恤衫 (T-shirt), 艾滋病 (AIDS), 尼龙（ nylon ），夹克（ jacket ） , 克隆（ clone ） , 坦克（ tank ） , 酷（ cool), 巧克力（ chocolate ） , etc.

kongfu( 功夫 ), qipao （旗袍） , fengshui （风水） , qigong （气功） , taiji （太极） , yinyang ( 阴阳 ) ， kotow( 磕头 ) ， Babaofan （八宝饭 )etc..

Cultural contact is the key to cultural development. And so is the way that enriches the two languages.

Language & Culture To shed crocodile’s tears 鳄鱼的眼泪，假惺惺。 Let the sleeping dog lie. 让睡觉的狗躺着吧，莫惹

是生非。 A dog in the monger 狗占马槽，损人不利己。 To lead a cat-and-dog life 过着猫和狗的生活，吵

吵闹闹。 Put the cart before the horse 把车放在马前面，本

末倒置。 All asses wag their ears. 驴子爱摆耳朵，傻瓜爱装

聪明。The added explanation helps fully convey the implied

meaning of the source language.

Language & Culture

Cultural vacuum means that differences in culture result in some situations in which a concept in one language is unknown or nonexistent in the receptor language and no lexical equivalence can be found existent to convey the concept. ( 鸳鸯 ; Lamb of god)

When there’re no words in another language for what you want to say, you make adjustments and try to approximate. (compromising)

Language & Culture

A multilingual salesperson can explain the advantages of a product in other languages, but a multicultural salesperson can motivate foreigners to buy it.

Most people are arrogantly monocultural without being aware of it. And even those who are aware of it can’t hide it.

Text Comprehension 1. Is this text a piece of argumentation, description

or explanation? 2. Can you find and expound the topic sentence of

the first paragraph? 3. Can you illustrate the relationship between

culture and language according to your understanding of the text?

4. Who will be the most helpful one to the process of world peace in the future?

5. What is the main idea of the last paragraph?

Text Comprehension

6. Please summarize the major information of the text.

Text Comprehension

We live in an age of easy access to the rest of the world. The great global communications revolution is linked to the expansion of English, which has now become the leading international language. However, the rise of English causes feelings of uneasiness for some of us, as the fundamental is the profound relationship between language and culture lying at the heart of society.

Text Comprehension Language gives us the means to shape our

views of the world, but often we find that what we can say in one language cannot be expressed at all in another. Anyhow, compromising facilitates us to adjust and approximate what we want to say. Doubtlessly, learning to negotiate cultural and linguistic differences becomes an essential skill in our hybrid world. World peace will result from intercultural understanding.

Text Comprehension

Decide the writer’s purpose of writing 1. To disclose the cause of the rise of English as a

global language. 2. To show the expansion of English resulting from

the global communications revolution. 3. To exhibit people’s uneasiness about the rise of

English as a global language. 4. To elucidate the need for international and inter

cultural understanding due to the global expansion of english.

Text Comprehension

True or false statements 1. Everyone can keep in contact with others by

sending text messages on mobile phones. 2. The reason why English has become the

leading international language is that most people in the world are native speakers of English.

3. The author holds the idea that the rise of English as a global language causes feelings of uneasiness.

4. Different cultures are groups of people who label the world differently.

Text Comprehension

True or false statements 5. Most English speakers are losing out, for t

hey are becoming ever more monolingual, and hence increasingly unaware of the differences between cultures that languages reveal.

6. The author implies that language translation could never be perfect.

Text Comprehension

True or false statements 7. Compromising in translating and interpreti

ng means making adjustments and trying to approximate.

8. Those who best help the world peace process may not be the ones with the latest technology, but those with the high skills to communicate in many differently languages.

Structural analysis of the text

The text can be divided into ? parts according to your understanding.

Structural analysis of the text

Part I (1-3;beginning part) Part II (4-7;main body) Part III (8;concluding part)

The thesis statement of the text

What is the thesis statement of the text? In which part of the text is the thesis stateme

nt implied?

The thesis statement of the text

Paragraph 3 points out the thesis statement – “Most fundamental is the profound relationship between language and culture that lies at the heart of society and one that we overlook at our peril.”

Structural analysis of the text

The first part illustrates that …, that …, and that …

The second part proves that …, and that …, and also explains and illustrates … In addition, the writer criticizes …

The third part briefly points out …

Detailed reading (part I)

1. What is the easy access to the rest of the world the author points out in the first paragraph?

2. What’s the implication of the last sentence in the first paragraph?

3. Exemplify and elucidate that English has become the leading international language.

Detailed reading (part I)

4. Why does the author say that for many people learning English is an essential stepping stone on the road to success?

5. What is the topic sentence of each paragraph in the first part?

Detailed reading (part I)

We live in an age of easy access to the rest of the world.

Detailed reading (part II)

1. What’s the function of languages the author points out in Paragraph 4?

2. What examples does the author provide to illustrate insurmountable linguistic problems in the process of translation?

3. What’s the function of the last sentence in paragraph 5?

4. Explain and illustrate what the word “compromising” mean?

Detailed reading (part II)

5. What’s the attitude some native English speakers bear toward other languages?

6. Why does the author say native speakers are losing out?

Detailed reading (part II)

Languages are so clearly culture-related.

Detailed reading (part II)

Translators negotiated the boundaries between languages and came up with a compromise.

Detailed reading (part III)

1. According to the author, what is the general function of intercultural understanding?

2. Who will be the most able to help the process of world peace in the future?

Detailed reading (part III)

Communicating in another language involves not only linguistic skills, but also the ability to think differently, to enter into another culture’s mentality and shape language accordingly.

Stylistic features of the text

1. How does the writer develop her main idea?

2. What typical writing skills does the author use in the text?

Stylistic features of the text

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