跨文化交际中的语言失误(英语专业毕业论文-跨文化交际方向)

The Social Pragmatic Failures in Cross-cultural Communication 1 Introduction

Recently, there is a wave of globalization due to factors including mass access to internet, globalization of industry, and expansion of educational exchanges and so on. New technologies, growth of the world’s population, and shift in the global economic area have all contributed to the increasein cross-cultural communication. Therefore, cross-cultural communication has become indispensable today.

Language used by human beings is the most basic tool for communication, which plays a crucial role in the process of human historical development. We use words to persuade, to exchange ideas, to express views, to seek information, and to express feelings. We made cultural choices when we are using human language to communicate with other people. Culture shapes our ideas and plays a crucial role on influencing our way of using language. At the same time, language can also be considered as a window to the culture. They are closely connected with each other and can never be separated. Therefore, we should not only learn linguistic skills well but also know much knowledge about foreign cultures if we want to conquer a foreign language and become an effective communicator.

But the fact i s that many people didn’t pay much attention to the cultural backgrounds and used words to communicate with others in an inappropriate way and inappropriate occasion. In this way, the social pragmatic failures often occur during the cross-cultural communication.

Because of the fierce conflicts between the popularity of cross-cultural communication and the frequently happening communication barriers, the

factors affecting communication are drawing much more attention from the researchers. In the past two decades, there has been an increasing interest in the study of pragmatic failures in cross-cultural communication. Cross-cultural social pragmatic failures have been an important area of pragmatics and cross-cultural communication studies. The social pragmatic failures are mainly caused by cultural differences and lack of awareness about this issue. Hence, we have to figure out some solutions to deal with it, such as strengthen cultural awareness, avoid negative stereotype and cultivate cross-cultural communication competence. Only in this way can we achieve a satisfied result from the intercultural communication

2 Theoretical Backgrounds

In order to have a comprehensive understanding of social pragmatic failures during the inter-cultural communication, we’d better learn some background information about culture. The knowledge about definition of culture, cross-cultural communication, and the social pragmatic failures and the relationship between language and culture are ought to be familiar to us..

2.1 Definition of Culture

The word “culture” is a large and evasive concept, very complex and difficult to define. There are hundreds of definitions for culture. Here I present only two concepts which Ifavor most. The one is “A culture is a collection of beliefs, habits, living patterns, and behaviors which are held more or less in common by people who occupy particular geographic areas.” (D.Brown, 40)T he other is explained in a more detailed way:“culture is man’s medium; there is not one aspect of human life that is not touched and altered by culture. This means personality, how people express themselves (including shows of emotion), the way they think, how they move, how problems are solved, how their cities are

planned and laid out, how transportation systems function and are organized, as well as how economic and government systems are put together and function.”（Edward T. Hall, 40）

2.2 Definition of Cross-cultural Communication

As is known to all, the cross-cultural communication has become increasingly important for humans. The need for cross-cultural communication is as old as humankind. We’ve discussed the definition of culture. Now, it is necessary to know something about the concepts of cross-cultural communication, which is the fist step to have a deeper understanding of social pragmatic failures. The cross-cultural communication (also frequently referred to as inter-cultural communication, which is also used in a different sense, though) is a field of study that looks at how people from different cultural backgrounds communicate, in similar or different ways among themselves, and how they endeavor to communicate across cultures.

2.3 Relationship Between Language and Culture

Language and culture are closely connected with each other and it is impossible to separate out use of language from our culture. As is known to all, language has been acting as a very important role in the process of human historical development. Just as the American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson’s simple sentence “language is the archives of history”. His declaration makes us realize that one of the major characteristics identifying us as humans is our ability to use language---to make sounds and marks serve as substitutes for things and feelings.

In the past, people usually regarded language as simply a neutral medium, which did not influence the way people experienced the world. It was merely a vehicle by which ideas were presented, rather than a shaper of very substance of those ideas. This view had been denied by later linguists. The new point is that language and culture are closely linked with each other. Language is the

reflection of culture and culture is a reflection of language.

Culture influences language by way of symbols and rules as well as our perceptions of the universe. Each time we select words, form sentences, and send a message, either oral or written, we also make cultural choices. If we select language without being aware of the cultural implications, we may be at best not communicate well and at worst send the wrong message. At the same time, language is the most symbolic reflection of culture. Members of the culture have created the language to carry out all their cultural practices, to identify and organize all their cultural products, and to name the underlying cultural perspectives in all the various communities that comprise their culture. The words of language, its expressions, structures, sounds and scripts reflect the culture, just as the cultural products and practices reflect the language. Language, therefore,is perceived as window to the culture. In a word, it is impossible to separate language and culture apart.

Hence, in our process of intercultural communication not only the linguistic usage of certain language should be emphasized but also how to use the language in the right time as well as the right occasion. If we failed to do this, communication barriers must occur, and social pragmatic failures are the most typical ones among those communication barriers.

2.4Cross-cultural Social Pragmatic Failures

T he term “pragmatic failure” was first used by British linguist Jenny Thomas in her paper “cross-cultural pragmatic failure”(1983), published in applied linguistics. It is to define the inability to understand what is meant by what said.Thomas divided pragmatic failure into two types, pragmatic-linguistic failure and social-pragmatic failure. Pragmatic-linguistic failure refers to the inability in interpreting the linguistic meaning by mistaken beliefs about pragmatic force of utterance. And social pragmatic failure refers to the expressive inappropriateness resulted from the misunderstanding or the

ignorance of social or cultural differences. It falls into two main aspects: failure in culture and failure in social norms.

Pragmatic-linguistic failure can be regarded as the part of the grammar and easy to overcome. Social pragmatic failure, however, involves the speakers’ knowledge of the language and system of belief which makes it more difficult to deal with. Pragmatic- linguistic failures may only make others think that you are “speaking badly”, but social pragmatic failure may probably leave others the impression of “behaving badly” and cause great embarrassment and misunderstandings during inter-cultural communication. Therefore, we’d better try our best to avoid the social pragmatic failures and interact with people from different cultures as actively as possible. Only in this way can we achieve an effective communication result.

3 Typical Analyses

Because of the negative transfer of native culture to target culture, social pragmatic failures have become one of main factors lead to the communication barriers. Here I list six aspects of reflecting social pragmatic failures and the compares are presented between china and western countries.

3.1 Form of Address

Every country has its own way to address people. In the process of cross-cultural communication, we have to be cautious enough to choose the right form of addressaccording to other people’s culture.

Case (1) (A Chinese student greets his foreign teacher)

Student: “Hello, Teacher Hedges.”

Analyses: In china, it’s quite natural for students to call their teachers by combing the title of the profession and the first name. But in western countries, especially in American, “teacher” is just a profess ion but not a form of address.

The right way to greet teachers is to add Mr/Mrs/Miss in front of one’s family name, or call their name straightforwardly.

Case (2) (A child in china met an American in a park and tried to speak to him courteously)

A: Uncle, how do you do?

B: P lease call me John; I’m not your uncle.

Analyses: In China, children often call the elder people uncle or aunt for the sake of showing their great respect to them. But in western countries, the appellation of “uncle” can only be us ed by relatives. If they heard unfamiliar people call them “uncle” or “aunt”, they may feel embarrassed or uncomfortable.

3.2 Value Orientation

One of the main factors causing social pragmatic failures is considered as the different belief orientations. And the differences reflected in people’s usage of language during the cross-cultural communication. That’s the reason why different people have different responses towards compliment and gratitude.

3.2.1 Compliment Response

Case(3)(A Chinese visiting scholar to American is praised by her American friend)

American friend: T hat’s a lovely dress you have on.

Chinese scholar: N o, no, it’s just a very ordinary dress.

Analyses: In traditional Chinese culture, being modest and prudent has been highly appreciated. People tend to depreciate themselves and put a higher value on other people. But in western countries, it’s quite natural for people to praise others, and it’s just a way of greeting. The different attitudes towards compliment response may certainly cause social pragmatic failures or communication barriers.

3.2.2 Gratitude Response

Case (4) (After a Chinese host accompanied a foreign businessman) Foreign businessman: Thank you for accompanying me.

Chinese host: D on’t mention it.I t’s my duty to do s o.

Analyses: Here, what the second speaker says makes the foreigner feel embarrassed, because he misunderstands the meaning of “duty”----what one must do either because of one’s job or because one thinks it right. Instead, the Chinese host should say, “It’s a pleasure!”

3.3 Politeness

Being polite is one of the main signals of human civilization. Different cultures have different ways of showing politeness to others. In china, people pay much attention to behaviors and tend to express courtesy in an indirect way. But for westerners, they are likely to use language to express their politeness orally in a very direct way. They are often saying “Hello”, “Nice to meet you”, “You are so pretty” or“You are so cute” to strangers even without thinking about it. Chinese people would feel confused about their words and think that they are so flippant. In the contrary, westerners would consider Chinese people as conservative and stubborn. Imagine that, if an American young boy saw a beautiful girl in the street, and he said loudly to the girl, “you are so pretty today!” The girl must be quite uncomfortable and feel bashful. This is one of the most typical instances about social pragmatic failures.

3.4 Privacy

Case (5) many foreigners who came to china for the first time often feel uncomfortable about some questions asked by Chinese people, such as “Where are you going?”, “A re you married?”, “H ave you had your dinner?”.

Analyses: People must live and interact together to survive. In dong so, they must develop a way of relating that strikes a balance between showing concern for themselves and concern for others. Hofstede has put forth the individualism-collectivism dimension. Unlike those western countries which

tend to hold the individual orientation, Chinese people prefer a collectivist orientation. Thus, privacy in china has not been placed in a position as high as in western cultures. Westerners have a much stronger sense of privacy than Chinese people do. That’s why some foreigners feel quite uncomfortable and embarr assed about those “intruded” questions. Actually, Chinese people who ask those questions didn’t mean to offend them. It’s only a way of showing care and affection to the foreign friends. Therefore, we’d better choose some public topicswhen we communicate and interact with people from different cultures, such as “weather”,“sports”,or “news”. It would certainly do a great help to our success of intercultural communication.

3.5 Taboos

Every culture has its own taboos; different cultures have totally different taboos.

Case (6), A Chinese student Xiaozhang saw an old American lady carry a large bag, and said to her, “C an I help you, old lady?” Then the old lady looked at him angrily, said nothing and went away.

Analyses: In Chinese traditional culture, old people had been given great respectby younger generations. Because we maintain that old people usually have a rich experience and can always give us many constructive suggests when we want to achieve some progress. Hence, we are apt to call people “L aozhang”,“L aoshifu”, and “D ajie” to show our respect to those people. The word “old” was greatly appreciated and widely accepted in china. But in western countries, the word “old” is a taboo for them; they usually avoid this word by using some euphemisms. For instance, people are more likely to use the term “senior citizen” rather than “old people” when they refer to someone with an old age. So we should try to avoid those cultural taboos and respect other’s cultures. In this way, we would keep our communication going smoothly and some embarrassing situations can be avoided effectively.

4The Causes of Social Pragmatic Failures

There are many reasons of the social pragmatic failures. This problem can be analyzed from different view angles. Because of its diversity and complexity, here, only three of the most brief and easily understood causes are listed below.

4.1 Attitude Towards the Relationships of Humans to Nature

China is a country which holds a view that man should be harmonious with nature and seek for peacefulness. We believe that nature would treat us well if we treat nature well, so the relationship between humans and nature is respect and fear. Since our culture teaches integration with nature, harmony and balance, we are likely to seek harmony and balance in social relationship as well. What’s more, the substance of Confucianism in china is peace. Confucianism advocates that people should be modest and keep a balanced relationship with the outside world.

On the contrary, westerners, especially Americans see a clear separation between man and nature and man is clearly held to be in charge. Thus, they usually have an insatiable drive to subdue, dominate, and control their natural environment. Because of this, they think they are separate from others and can use scientific methods to control people and events. That’s the reason why westerners are so progressive and pay much attention to self-development and place privacy on a very high level. Therefore, the social pragmatic failures can be aroused easily in cross-cultural communication.

4.2 Sense of Time

The majority of Chinese people hold the belief of both future and past orientation. Our cultural memories are rich and deep, people usually look back to a period when they want to make changes for the sake of absorbing the past experience. In china, old people had been greatly respected by youngsters. In traditional Chinese family, important decisions have to be agreed by the oldest people in the family. But in western countries, old people don’t enjoy a status as

high as Chinese old people do. Most westerners are dominated by a belief in progress. They are future oriented, and they have an optimistic faith in the future. They tend to equate “change” with “improvement” and consider a rapid rate of change as normal. So it is not uncommon to find out that westerners usually have a negative feeling towards old people. They are trying to avoid referring to the word “old” in their daily conversation. That’s why there are a large number of euphemisms in the English vocabulary. If we don’t much attention to this particular phenomenon, the social pragmatic failures can certainly not be avoided and solved.

4.3 Different Social Relationships

Chinese people’s behavior reflects the group pattern of social relationshi ps. In the group pattern of social relationships members of groups may be relatively equal. Each person’s social identity comes from their group memberships. People feel dependent on the group, safe within it, proud and competitive with other groups. The groups need time to find out what each member is thinking and feeling. Once the group has made the decision, the whole group rather than one person is responsible for it. But in western countries, people pay great attention to the importance of the individual and the equality of all people. Stress on the individual begins at a very age when the American child is encouraged to be autonomous. It is an accepted rule that children should make decisions themselves, develop their own opinions, solve their own problems, and have their own possessions. Friendly, informal, outgoing, and extroverted are their characteristics. They are so independent from other people that they pay great emphasis on privacy. They hope they can have their own personal space and not to be invaded by others.Hence, the different social relationships can also be regarded one of the most important reasons of causing social pragmatic failures during the cross-cultural communication.

5The Ways to Deal With Social Pragmatic Failures

As is known to all, the cross-cultural communication has become an inevitable trend in today’s society. In order to solve the problems of social pragmatic failures which are the main causes of communication barriers and have an effective cross-cultural communication, we should adopt many different kinds of methods and try to solve this problem effectively.

5.1 Raising Awareness

First of all, raise our awareness about this issue.Many people don’t know the fact that different people from different backgrounds may have quite different values. Some people just assume that other people must think and behave in the same way as they do. Many barriers occur frequently during the process of cross-cultural communication because of this improvident view. Therefore, we should bear in mind the reality of cultural difference if we want to understand other people better who come from different cultural backgrounds. This is the very first step for us to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings during our interaction with people from different cultures.

5.2 Changing the Viewing Angle

Secondly, another strategy you can use is to practice seeing your culture the way others who are not a part of it see it. Foreign observers are usually far from objective, but they often notice things that you have never noticed.They were able to see things that the natives took for granted. When we try to look upon things from their point of view, we probably come across a lot of new ideas and seize some effective ways to solve the problem of social pragmatic failures. That’s the reason why some of the most insightful writers about the American character and American culture have been Europeans.

5.3 Making Practice

Finally, doing practice is the best way to know other country’s culture and

help us avoid social pragmatic failures during the communication.For instance, we’d better read more English novels, listen to English songs, or watch English movies as often as we can. The final goal of these practices are to help us form a way of English thinking and to have a deeper understanding of foreign cultures, which is an essential factor to influence the success of inter-cultural communication. Besides, grasping or even creating every possible chance to communicate with foreigners. Only after much practice can the problem of social pragmatic failures be raised and solved successfully.

6Conclusion

The final goal of the study about the social pragmatic failures is to achieve a Cross-cultural communication competence. Therefore, we have to learn to approach our own culture more analytically and to be cautious when we are interpreting other cultures. But today, what children had been imparted by teachers is mainly linguistic usage of a foreign language and the knowledge of culture had been overlooked. In order to conquer a foreign language, we should put great emphasis on both language learning and cultural learning. Only in this way can we achieve an effective result in cross-cultural communication and meet the demands of economic globalization.

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