新编跨文化交际CaseStudyWord格式文档下载.docx

1、more valued than the characteristics of any particular member. In contrast, Americans stressindividuality as a value and are apt to assert individual differences when they seem justifiably inconflict with the goals or values of the group. In this case: Richards mistake was in making greatefforts to

2、defend himself. Let the others assume that the errors were not intentional, but it is not right to defend yourself, even when your unstated intent is to assist the group by warning others of similar mistakes. A simple apology and acceptance of the blame would have been appropriate. But for poor Rich

3、ard to have merely apologized would have seemed to him to be subservient, unmanly. When it comes to England, we expect fewer problems between Americans and Englishme than between Americans and almost any other group. In this case we might look beyond the gesture of taking sugar or cream to the value

4、s expressed in this gesture: for Americans, Help yourself; fo the English counterpart, Be my guest. American and English people equally enjoy entertaining and being entertained but they differ somewhat in the value of the distinction. Typically, the ideal guest at an American party is one who makes

5、himself at home, even to the point of answering the door or fixing his own drink. For persons in many other societies, including at least this hypothetical English host, such guest behavior is presumptuous or rude.Case 2A common cultural misunderstanding in classes involves conflicts between what is

6、 said to bedirect communication style and indirect communication style. In American culture, people tend tosay what is on their minds and to mean what they say. Therefore, students in class are expected toask questions when they need clarification. Mexican culture shares this preference of style wit

7、hAmerican culture in some situations, and thats why the students from Mexico readily adopted thetechniques of asking questions in class. However, Korean people generally prefer indirectcommunication style, and therefore they tend to not say what is on their minds and to rely more onimplications and

8、inference, so as to be polite and respectful and avoid losing face through anyimproper verbal behavior. As is mentioned in the case, to many Koreans, numerous questions would show a disrespect for the teacher, and would also reflect that the student has not studied hard enough.Case 3The conflict her

9、e is a difference in cultural values and beliefs. In the beginning, Mary didnt realize that her Dominican sister saw her as a member of the family, literally. In the Dominican view, family possessions are shared by everyone of the family. Luz was acting as most Dominican sister would do in borrowing

10、 without asking every time. Once Mary understood that there was a different way of looking at this, she would become more accepting. However, she might still experience the same frustration when this happened again. She had to find ways to cope with her own emotional cultural reaction as well as her

11、 practical problem （the batteries running out）.Case 4It might be simply a question of different rhythms. Americans have one rhythm in their personaland family relations, in their friendliness and their charities. People from other cultures havedifferent rhythms. The American rhythm is fast. It is ch

12、aracterized by a rapid acceptance of others.However, it is seldom that Americans engage themselves entirely in a friendship. Their friendshipsare warm, but casual, and specialized. For example, you have a neighbor who drops by in themorning for coffee. You see her frequently, but you never invite he

13、r for dinner - not because youdont think she could handle a fork and a knife, but because you have seen her that morning.Therefore, you reserve your more formal invitation to dinner for someone who lives in a moredistant part of the city and whom you would not see unless you extended an invitation f

14、or a specialoccasion. Now, if the first friend moves away and the second one moves nearby, you are likely toreverse this - see the second friend in the mornings for informal coffee meetings, and the first one you will invite more formally to dinner.Americans are, in other words, guided very often by

15、 their own convenience. They tend to makefriends easily, and they dont feel it necessary to go to a great amount of trouble to see friends often when it becomes inconvenient to do so, and usually no one is hurt. But in similar circumstances people from many other cultures would be hurt very deeply.C

16、ase 5In China, it is often not polite to accept a first offer and Heping was being modest, polite andwell-behaved and had every intention of accepting the beer at the second or third offer. But he hadnot figured on North American rules which firmly say that you do not push alcoholic beverages onanyo

17、ne. A person may not drink for religious reasons, he may be a reformed alcoholic, or he may be allergic. Whatever the reason behind the rule, you do not insist in offering alcohol. So unconscious and so strong are their cultural rules that the Americans equally politely never made a second offer of

18、beer to Heping who probably thought North Americans most uncouth.However, what we have to remember is that cultures are seldom a strict either-or in every instance for all people and there are always individual differences. Probably this young Chinese nurse was very different from Heping or, unlike

19、Heping, she may have known something about the American cultural rules and was just trying to behave like an American when she was in an American family.Case 6When a speaker says something to a hearer, there are at least three kinds of meanings involved:utterance meaning, speakers meaning and hearer

20、s meaning. In the dialogue, when Litz said How long is she going to stay she meant to say that if she knew how long her mother-in-law was going to stay in Finland, she would be able to make proper arrangements for her, such as taking her out to do some sightseeing. However, her mother-in-law overhea

21、rd the conversation, and took Litzs question to mean Litz does not want me to stay for long. From the Chinese point of view, it seems to be inappropriate for Litz to ask such a question just two days after her mother-in-laws arrival. If she feels she has to ask the question, it would be better to as

22、k some time later and she should not let her mother-in-law hear it.Case 7Keiko insists on giving valuable gifts to her college friends, because in countries like Japan,exchanging gifts is a strongly rooted social tradition. Should you receive a gift, and dont have oneto offer in return, you will pro

23、bably create a crisis. If not as serious as a crisis, one who doesnt offer a gift in return may be considered rude or impolite. Therefore, in Japan, gifts are a symbolic way to show appreciation, respect, gratitude and further relationship. Keiko obviously has taken those used items from Mary, Ed an

24、d Marion as gifts, for she probably doesnt know that Americans frequently donate their used household items to church or to the community. Mary, Ed and Marion would never consider those used household items given to Keiko as gifts. No wonder they felt very uncomfortable when they received valuable g

25、ifts in return.Case 8As the Chinese girl Amy fell in love with an American boy at that time, it seems that she preferred to celebrate Christmas in the American way, for she wanted very much to appear the same as other American girl. She did not like to see her boyfriend feel disappointed at the shab

26、by Chinese Christmas. Thats why she cried when she found out her parents had invited the minister s family over for the Christmas Eve dinner. She thought the menu for the Christmas meal created by her mother a strange one because there were no roast turkey and sweet potatoes but only Chinese food. H

27、ow could she notice then the foods chosen by her mother were all her favoritesFrom this case, we can find a lot of differences between the Chinese and Western cultures inwhat is appropriate food for a banquet, what are good table manners, and how one should behave to be hospitable. However, one shou

28、ld never feel shameful just because ones culture is different from others. As Amys mother told her, you must be proud to be different, and your only shame is to have shame.CaseTo many Chinese, Mr. Qian and Mr. Zhao are really good friends, for they have helped each other from time to time. Since Mr.

29、 Zhao lent Mr. Qian a large sum of money to help his business get over the difficulty, Mr. Qian was greatly indebted to Mr. Zhao. In Chinese culture, friendship means a willingness to be indebted and to repay the debt more than owed. However, many Americans, like Jackson, would say that Mr. Zhao was asking too much, for what they value more are individual achievement and independence rather than relationship with one another, and they do not like to put themselves in others debt, especially in those matte