I. Culture and Intercultural Communication
Culture:
? Culture may be defined as what a society does and thinks. (Sapir, 1921)
? Culture refers to the total way of life of particular groups of people. It includes everything
that a group of people thinks, says, does, and makes. (R. Kohls, 1979)
? Culture is a learned set of shared interpretations about beliefs, values, and norms, which
affect the behavior of a relatively large group of people.文化是习得的一套关于信仰、价值观、规范的公认的解释，这些信仰、价值观、规范对相当大人类群体的行为产生影响。
The Characteristics of Culture:
1. Culture is not innate; it is learned;
2. Culture is transmissible from person to person, group to group, and generation to
generation;
3. Culture is a dynamic system that changes continuously over time;
4. Culture is selective; (every culture represents a limited choice of behavior patterns) 5. Culture is composed of interrelated facets;
6. Culture is ethnocentric (centeredness on one’s own group).
The American sociolinguist D. Hymes pointed out that people with communicative competence should know when, where and what to speak to whom and how.
Models of communication
Theoretically, the model of communication is always described in the following way:
Communication is exchanging information in the form of messages, symbols, thoughts, signs and opinions.
The Ingredients of Culture
? Language; ? Religion;
? Values and attitudes; ? Education;
? ? ? ? Social organization;
Technology and material culture; Politics; Law
Intercultural Communication (IC)
? In its most general sense, IC refers to those occasions when a member of one
culture produces a message for consumption by a member of another culture. (p70, Samovar & Porter)
? More precisely, IC refers to communication between people whose culture
perceptions and symbol systems are distinct enough to alter the communication event. (p70, Samovar & Porter)跨文化交际: 指拥有不同文化认知和符号体系的人们之间进行的交际。
胡文仲：具有不同文化背景的人从事交际的过程就是跨文化交际。
Time orientation: (Hall, 1976): 美国人类学家霍尔（Edward Hall）在《超越文化》（Beyond Culture）一书中首次区分了两种不同的时间观念,即“单向计时制”（monochronic time）和“多向计时制”（polychronic time). 1. Monochronic Time (M-Time)
It schedules one event at a time. In these cultures time is perceived as a linear structure just like a ribbon stretching from the past into the future. e.g. American People 1.1 单向计时制重视日程安排、阶段时间和准时;
1.2 认为“时间是线性的、可分割的，就像一条道路或带子向前伸展到未来，向后延伸到过去”。
1.3 认为同时做两件事几乎有点不道德;
1.4 持有这种时间取向的英美人士把时间看成具体实在（tangible）的东西, 可以节省（save）、花费（spend）、赚得（earn）、浪费（waste）、失去（lose）、弥补（make up）、计量(measure）、 甚至当成商品一样买卖（buy, sell）和拥有（have）。
美国人特别强调把时间分割成不同的时段来安排活动,强调守时, 严格按照日程一次做一件事情（do one thing at a time）. 2. Polychronic Time (P-Time)
2.1 P-time schedules several activities at the same time. It is flexible and more humanistic. 2.2 People from P-time system emphasize the involvement of people more than schedules. They do not see appointments as ironclad commitments and often break them. e.g. Chinese, Latin American, Arab and most Asian cultures Negative impacts in IC:
1. Ethnocentrism
2. Anxiety and Uncertainty 3. Stereotypes 4. Prejudice
5. Discrimination & Racism
1. Ethnocentrism
If people believe that their culture is the only true culture, they will discriminate against people
who manifest cultural norms that fail to correspond to their values and behaviors. 2. Anxiety and Uncertainty
2.1 Anxiety refers to the feeling of being uneasy, tense, worried, or apprehensive about what might happy.
2.2 Uncertainty refers to our inability to predict or explain others’ behavior, feelings, attitudes, behavior, or values.
Our ability to communicate effectively is based, at least in part, on our ability to manage our anxiety and uncertainty.
Anxiety and Uncertainty Management (AUM)Theory (Gudykunst, 1995)：
AUM management theory suggests that effective interpersonal and intergroup communication is a function of how individuals manage the anxiety and uncertainty they experience when communicating
with others. 3. Stereotypes
3.1 Stereotypes are a form of generalization about some group of people, or a means of
organizing images into fixed and simple categories that are used to stand for the entire collection of people. (Walter Lippmann)
3.2 Human beings have a psychological need to categorize and classify. 4. Prejudice
It refers to negative attitudes towards other people that are based on faulty and inflexible stereotypes. It is an unfair, biased, or intolerant attitude towards another group of people. ( Lusting & Koester) 5. Discrimination
It refers to the behavioral manifestations of the prejudice, it can be thought of as prejudice “in action”. ( Lusting & Koester) Racism
The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others.
Ethnocentrism:
If people believe that their culture is the only true culture, they will discriminate against people who manifest cultural norms that fail to correspond to their values and behaviors.
Individualism and Collectivism
Individualism-collectivism is the major dimension of cultural variability used to explain cross-cultural differences and similarities in communication across culture.
Individualistic Culture (liberalism):
individuals tend to define themselves by the extent to which they are different from, rather than similar to others. People are encouraged to display self- confidence and assertiveness, disclosure of personal thoughts and feelings.
中英文-珍贵-跨文化交际学概论课件资料
