On the Culture Difference in English Teaching.doc

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1、On the Culture Difference in English Teaching 1. IntroductionWith the development of modernization, the world itself is becoming a “global village”. Opportunities for Chinese to contact with westerners are growing.Due to the differences in geography, development level, different countries and nation

2、alities possess different cultures, histories, customs and religion, misunderstandings often occur in English teaching. The same words or expressions may not mean the same thing to the people with different cultures. Because of cultural differences, a serious question may cause amusement or laughter

3、; a harmless statement may cause displeasure or anger. Because of cultural differences, jokes by a foreign speaker may be received with blank faces and stony silence. Yet the same stories in the speakers own country would leave audiences holding their sides with laughter.Professor Deng Yanchang once

4、 said “In fact, the learning of a language is inseparable from the learning of its culture.” However, after several years of English study, even college students still find it hard to communicate with English native speakers. Its not that they dont have the command of the language forms, but that th

5、ey lack the knowledge of the target culture. So English teachers should help students acknowledge the culture background in teaching. teaching should focus on culture study and learn the skills of communication. 2. Relationship between language and cultureWhat is the relationship between language an

6、d culture? What role does culture play with language? In any culture or region, language is much more than semantics, much more than what the written page or the spoken word can contain. This especially becomes clear when studying a foreign language and learning the ways of a particular culture. For

7、 example, the use of introductions, salutations, everyday sayings, etc. This area in particular gives more weight to culture then to the words themselves. Anyone studying a foreign language has to be bicultural as well as bilingual to speak the new language in a way that it is not disparaging to the

8、 culture and its origin. Language does not end at the meaning or the use of words associated to a culture words represent beliefs, history, and the culture of their origin and they must be used accordingly. As we all know, language is closely related to culture and can be said as a part of culture.

9、From a dynamic view, language and culture interact with each other and shape each other. Language is the carrier of culture which in turn is the content of language. We can dig out cultural features from language and explain language phenomena with culture. Idioms as a special form of language exist

10、 in both of them and carry a large amount of cultural information such as history, geography, religion, custom, nationality psychology, thought pattern and etc, and therefore are closely related to culture. They are the heritage of history and product of cultural evolvement. Consequently, we can kno

11、w much about culture through studying idioms and in turn get better understanding of idioms by learning the cultural background behind them.Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols, which is creative, double-structured and changeable. It is a means of verbal communication and distinguishes hu

12、man beings from animals.Culture, one of most widely accepted definition, is the total accumulation of beliefs, customs, values, behaviors, institutions and communication patterns that are shared, learned and passed down through the generations in an identifiable group of people.According to the defi

13、nitions above, language is a part of culture and plays a very important role in it. Some social scientists consider “Language is the keystone of culture. Without language, culture would not possible”. One the other hand, language is influenced and shaped by culture. It reflects cultures and is the s

14、ymbolic representation of a nation. It comprises their historical and cultural backgrounds as well as their approach to life and their ways of living and thinking. J.C. Catford once said, “Meaning is property of a language.” To a certain extent, “meaning” stands for culture. Different society has di

15、fferent culture, and it changes with the change of the society. As cultures are diverse, languages are diverse. Therefore, language should be taught in culture, or culture should be taken into consideration in English language teaching. 3. The realationship between English culture and English teachi

16、ng.The Chinese language is part of the Chinese culture and English is part of the English culture. There is no culture that has no language as its part. Language and culture are not separable.They are closely related,each influencing and shaping the other. Human knowledge and experience are describe

17、d and stored in language. Customs, habits and behavioral patterns can be described and analyzed in language. Social institutions, value systems, beliefs, world views can be described, analyzed and evaluated in language. In short, language can represent every aspect of culture. Language is the mirror

18、 of culture. The close relationship between language and culture is readily shown by the fact that culture is transmitted from one generation to the next through language for the coming generation to learn. While children learn their native language, they also learn their native culture and are even

19、tually accepted as members of their culture. Language learning and culture learning are not separable To teach a foreign language implies to teach the culture of English. English can never be taught in a cultural vacuum in English. Based on the research achievements home and abroad, people came to a

20、 common ground that foreign language teaching should focus on cultivating the students abilities of cross-cultural communication and their awareness of culture. In cross-cultural communication, people are required with not only the knowledge of phonetics, grammar, vocabulary, language , but also the

21、 understanding of English. If not, misunderstanding caused by cultural barriers may occur. So its important to taech cultural konwledge in English teaching. 4. Differences between Chinese and English culturesDue to the differences in geography, development level, different countries and nationalitie

22、s possess different cultures, histories, customs and religion, misunderstandings often occur in English teaching.With the development of modernization, the world itself is becoming a “global village”. Opportunities for Chinese to contact with westerners are growing, teaching should focus on culture

23、study and learn the skills of communication. Otherwise, there will be “culture shock” during the cross-cultural communication.The followings are the details of cultural differences.4.1 Cultural differences in daily conversation4.1.1 Greetings and FarewellsHaving been influenced by international gree

24、tings, Chinese intellectuals are accustomed to say “您好!” “您早!” “早上好!” “晚安!” With the more and more frequent communication, greetings have been diversified dramatically since the foundation of the Peoples Republic of China. You may greeting one of your acquaintances by asking, “上街买菜了?” even it is obv

25、ious that he is going out for shopping because he is carrying a basket; asking about whatever you see; by asking “上班啦?” if seeing somebody taking a handbag; by asking “旅游啦?” if seeing somebody taking luggage. Western people, however, will be amazed at your words, since you have seen that he is obvio

26、usly going out for shopping, for office or for travelling. Why do you still ask question like “Are you going out for shopping” and so on? And the ultimate comment is “What a stupid question! In China, people would said to a visitor from afar, “你一路辛苦了。” But if he is an English native speaker, Chinese

27、 usually put the sentence into English like this, “ I am afraid you must have had a tiring journey.” It will make him/her uncomfortable, for it does not meet the culture background of English speaking countries. The right expression is “Did you have a good trip?/ Did you enjoy your journey?” Or “How

28、 was the trip?”When Chinese meet, they often say “上哪里去？” which if translated literally, would be “Where are you going?”. The natural reaction of most English-speaking people would most likely to be “Its none of your business” to thins greeting. Another expression is “你吃了吗?” which is a common greetin

29、g around meal time. It means nothing more than “Hello” or “Hi”. But to westerners, it could indicate an invitation to a meal.When Chinese part, the hosts see the visitor to the door or gateway. It is customary for the guest to say to the hosts 请留步. The final words of the hosts are usually 慢走，走好，慢点儿开

30、. None of these should be interpreted directly. Stay here would sound strange; Go slowly, Walk slowly or Drive slowly would be equally so. Native speakers usually say Good-bye, Bye-bye.4.1.2Ways of addressingIt is easy for us to find that our Chinese addressing are much more complicated than that of

31、 westerners. For westerners, it is quite common for them to call each other by given name without worrying about the generation differences. But in China, we rarely come across those situations. So English teachers should inform his or her students of the right way of addressing in front of the fore

32、igners.In English, we have grandparents, grandfather, grandmother, while in Chinese, we have 祖父，爷爷，奶奶，外婆，外公.In English, we have uncle and aunt for those people who are the peers of our parents, while in Chinese, we have 伯伯，叔叔，舅舅等，姑妈，姨妈，婶子等.Furthermore, in English the lower generation like nephew and

33、 niece have no clear distinction of which part he or she belongs to, the same is true with the word cousinOur Chinese people attach great importance to family, and think that the blood is thicker than water. In order to show politeness, we should call those strangers in the way of addressing familie

34、s. For example, 大爷，大娘，大叔，大婶，大哥，大姐，等等。The Chinese language has many precise terms for describing family and other relationships. People in China address relatives or close neighbors as二哥，三姐，四婶，周大伯, which should not be carried over into English. English-speaking people address others by using the firs

35、t nameTom, Michael, Linda, Jane, etc.rather than calling the person Mr. Summers, Mrs. Howard or Miss Jones. This applies not only to people of roughly the same age, but also of different ages. It is not a sign of disrespect. It is command to hear a child calling a much older personJoe, Ben, May, Hel

36、en, etc.Another common Chinese form of address is the use of a persons title, office, or occupation, such as 黄局长，林经理，马校长. But English native speakers seldom address others in this way.4.1.3 Ways of praiseChinese people like to be modest about their own achievement, possessions and so on. This is con

37、sidered a sign of modesty, but it may seem dishonest to Westerners. Here is a example. A young Chinese lady in the USA was complimented for her beautiful dress, “Thats a lovely dress you have on.” She was quite happy but replied in negative way as most Chinese people do, “No, no, it just a very ordi

38、nary dress.” The American felt somewhat embarrassed. This implies that the Americans taste in clothing was questionable. Such situation may cause misunderstanding. Westerners may think it impolite. There is anther example, A foreigner at his Chinese friends wedding, he said, “Your wife is very beaut

39、iful.” But his friend replied, “No, no, she is ugly.” At hearing this, the foreigner felt angry and left. The Chinese wanted to show this modesty, but in such a situation, native speakers would like to say “Thank you”.4.2 Cultural differences in coloursPeople use different colours to express their d

40、ifferent moods. Some colours have similar connotations in both cultures, but some are different.In China, the color Red is often associated with celebrations and joyful days. This is the same in English. For example, Christmas and other special days are printed in red on calendars. These are called

41、red-letter days. In order to give a lavish welcome to distinguished guests, hosts will roll out the red carpet for them.White has different connotations. White in English represents purity and innocent. So westerners call the wedding day White day. And the bride is always in white wedding clothes. B

42、ut white in Chinese has another meaning. People in China have white at funerals.Black in both Chinese and English is associated with negative meanings: blacklist(黑名单), black market(黑市)，black money(黑钱)，a black sheep(害群之马) and a number of others.Blue has no special association with feelings in Chinese

43、. But in English it represents sadness. In a blue mood means a sad or depressed mood. Similar in meaning are a blue Monday, blue song, blue music.Blue is also associated with high social position or being aristocratic family. Hes a real blue blood means hes from a noble family.Green is often referre

44、d to envy by westerners. Green-eyed monster or just green-eyed both have the meaning jealous, envious. Sometimes green is also used to indicate lacking in experience or train, as in The new typist is green at her job.Yellow appears in English phrased as yellow journalism. But it is not 黄色期刊in Chines

45、e. It is a kind of journalism distorting the fact to create a sensational effect. Yellow Pages in American is a book with the telephone numbers arranged according to different categories.Other colors also have certain connotations. Teachers should help students understand the colorful words usages.4

46、.3 Cultural differences in social contact Anyone who learns a little English knows that the equivalent of Chinese words “谢谢” is “Thank you” in English, but its a big knowledge to make use of “Thank you” appropriately in different social circumstances. “Thank you” is widely-used in response to congra

47、tulations in English, while such polite formula as “过奖过奖”, “惭愧惭愧” are commonly applied in Chinese. In these cases of communication in English, if we respond literally saying “you flatter me”, or “I feel ashamed” instesd of saying“thank you”, it would rather be indecent. Take another example, a visit

48、ing scholar in the U.S. replies in accordance with Chinese customs by saying “No, no, its just a very ordinary dress” when somebody comments favorably on the dress she wears with “Thats a lovely dress you have on”. That leads to a pragmatic error. The hearer will believe that such a reply indicates she is unable to tell good from bad. (Deng Yanchang, 1981)4.4 Cultural differences between China and Western society represent differences of folk custom. A Chinese saying “Selling dog meat by hanging a sheep head” (挂羊头