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1、 Unit 1Communication Across CulturesReading IIntercultural Communication：An IntroductionComprehension questions1. Is it still often the case that “everyones quick to blame the alien” in the contemporary world? This is still powerful in todays social and political rhetoric. For instance, it is not un
2、common intodays society to hear people say that most, if not all, of the social and economic problems are caused by minorities and immigrants.2. Whats the difference between todays intercultural contact and that of any time in the past? Todays intercultural encounters are far more numerous and of gr
3、eater importance than in any time in history.3. What have made intercultural contact a very common phenomenon in our life today? New technology, in the form of transportation and communication systems, has accelerated intercultural contact; innovative communication systems have encouraged and facili
4、tated cultural interaction; globalization of the economy has brought people together; changes in immigration patterns have also contributed to intercultural encounter.4. How do you understand the sentence “culture is everything and everywhere”? Culture supplies us with the answers to questions about
5、 what the world looks like and how we live and communicate within that world. Culture teaches us how to behave in our life from the instant of birth. It is omnipresent.5. What are the major elements that directly influence our perception and communication? The three major socio-cultural elements tha
6、t directly influence perception and communication are cultural values, worldview (religion), and social organizations (family and state).6. What does ones family teach him or her while he or she grows up in it? The family teaches the child what the world looks like and his or her place in that world
7、.7. Why is it impossible to separate our use of language from our culture? Because language is not only a form of preserving culture but also a means of sharing culture.Language is an organized, generally agreed-upon, learned symbol system that is used to representthe experiences within a cultural c
8、ommunity.8. What are the nonverbal behaviors that people can attach meaning to? People can attach meaning to nonverbal behaviors such as gestures, postures, facial expressions, eye contact and gaze, touch, etc.9. How can a free, culturally diverse society exist? A free, culturally diverse society ca
9、n exist only if diversity is permitted to flourish without prejudice and discrimination, both of which harm all members of the society.Reading IIThe Challenge of GlobalizationComprehension questions1. Why does the author say that our understanding of the world has changed? Many things, such as polit
10、ical changes and technological advances, have changed the worldvery rapidly. In the past most human beings were born, lived, and died within a limited geographicalarea, never encountering people of other cultural backgrounds. Such an existence, however, nolonger prevails in the world. Thus, all peop
11、le are faced with the challenge of understanding thischanged and still fast changing world in which we live.2. What a “global village” is like? As our world shrinks and its inhabitants become interdependent, people from remote culturesincreasingly come into contact on a daily basis. In a global vill
12、age, members of once isolatedgroups of people have to communicate with members of other cultural groups. Those people maylive thousands of miles away or right next door to each other.3. What is considered as the major driving force of the post-1945 globalization? Technology, particularly telecommuni
13、cations and computers are considered to be the major driving force.4. What does the author mean by saying that “the global may be more local than the local”? The increasing global mobility of people and the impact of new electronic media on humancommunications make the world seem smaller. We may com
14、municate more with people of othercountries than with our neighbors, and we may be more informed of the international events than ofthe local events. In this sense, “the globalmay be more local than the local”5. Why is it important for businesspeople to know diverse cultures in the world? Effective
15、communication may be the most important competitive advantage that firms have tomeet diverse customer needs on a global basis. Succeeding in the global market today requires theability to communicate sensitively with people from other cultures, a sensitivity that is based on anunderstanding of cross
16、-cultural differences.6. What are the serious problems that countries throughout the world are confronted with? Countries throughout the world are confronted with serious problems such as volatileinternational economy, shrinking resources, mounting environmental contamination, and epidemicsthat know
17、 no boundaries.7. What implications can we draw from the case of Michael Fay? This case shows that in a world of international interdependence, the ability to understand andcommunicate effectively with people from other cultures takes on extreme urgency. If we areunaware of the significant role cult
18、ure plays in communication, we may place the blame forcommunication failure on people of other cultures.8. What attitudes are favored by the author towards globalization? Globalization, for better or for worse, has changed the world greatly. Whether we like it or not,globalization is all but unstopp
19、able. It is already here to stay. It is both a fact and an opportunity. Thechallenges are not insurmountable. Solutions exist, and are waiting to be identified and implemented.From a globalistic point of view, there is hope and faith in humanity.Case StudyCase 1In this case, there seemed to be probl
20、ems in communicating with people of different cultures inspite of the efforts made to achieve understanding. We should know that in Egypt as in many cultures, the human relationship is valued so highlythat it is not expressed in an objective and impersonal way. While Americans certainly value humanr
21、elationships, they are more likely to speak of them in less personal, more objective terms. In thiscase, Richards mistake might be that he chose to praise the food itself rather than the total evening,for which the food was simply the setting or excuse. For his host and hostess it was as if he hadat
22、tended an art exhibit and complimented the artist by saying, What beautiful frames your picturesare in. In Japan the situation may be more complicated. Japanese people value order and harmonyamong persons in a group, and that the organization itselfbe it a family or a vast corporationismore valued t
23、han 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 defend himsel
24、f. Let the others assume that the errors were not intentional, but it is not rightto defend yourself, even when your unstated intent is to assist the group by warning others of similarmistakes. A simple apology and acceptance of the blame would have been appropriate. But for poorRichard to have mere
25、ly apologized would have seemed to him to be subservient, unmanly. When it comes to England, we expect fewer problems between Americans and Englishmenthan between Americans and almost any other group. In this case we might look beyond the gestureof taking sugar or cream to the values expressed in th
26、is gesture: for Americans, Help yourself; forthe English counterpart, Be my guest. American and English people equally enjoy entertaining andbeing entertained but they differ somewhat in the value of the distinction. Typically, the ideal guestat an American party is one who makes himself at home, ev
27、en to the point of answering the dooror fixing his own drink. For persons in many other societies, including at least this hypotheticalEnglish host, such guest behavior is presumptuous or rude.Case 2A common cultural misunderstanding in classes involves conflicts between what is said to bedirect com
28、munication 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 withAmerican culture in
29、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 inference, so as to b
30、e polite and respectful and avoid losing face through anyimproper verbal behavior. As is mentioned in the case, to many Koreans, numerous questions wouldshow a disrespect for the teacher, and would also reflect that the student has not studied hard enough.Case 3The conflict here is a difference in c
31、ultural values and beliefs. In the beginning, Mary didntrealize 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 sisterswould do in borrowing without asking every ti
32、me. Once Mary understood that there was a differentway of looking at this, she would become more accepting. However, she might still experience thesame frustration when this happened again. She had to find ways to cope with her own emotionalcultural reaction as well as her practical problem (the bat
33、teries 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 characterized by a rapid acce
34、ptance 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 her for dinner - not because
35、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 for a specialoccasion. Now,
36、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 oneyou will invite more formally to dinner. Americans are, in other words, guided very often by their own convenience. The
37、y tend to makefriends easily, and they dont feel it necessary to go to a great amount of trouble to see friends oftenwhen it becomes inconvenient to do so, and usually no one is hurt. But in similar circumstancespeople from many other cultures would be hurt very deeply.Unit 2Culture and Communicatio
38、nReading IWhat Is CultureComprehension questions1. Which of the definitions given above do you prefer? Why? Some may prefer a short definition, such as the one given by E. Sapir or R. Benedict, for it ishighly generalized and easy to remember. Some may prefer a longer one, such as Edward T. Hallsdef
39、inition of culture, because it provides us with a more comprehensive understanding of culture andpoints out the all-pervasive impact of culture on human life in different dimensions.2What have you learned from those definitions about culture? Many things can be learned from those definitions, for ea
40、ch definition, though not without itslimitations, tells us something very important about culture or certain aspect(s) of culture.3. Do you agree that our lower needs always have to be satisfied before we can try to satisfy thehigher needs? Even though this is generally the case, there will still be
41、 some exceptions. Sometimes peoplemight prefer to satisfy higher needs, for instance, esteem needs, before their lower needs, such ascertain physiological needs or safety needs are satisfied.4. What examples can you give about how people of different cultures achieve the same ends bytaking different
42、 roads? For example, everyone has to eat in order to live and this is universally true. However, to satisfythis basic need, people of various cultures may do it in very different ways: what to eat and how toeat it vary from culture to culture.5. What behaviors of ours are born with and what are lear
43、ned in the cultural environment? Instinctive behaviors are behaviors that we are born with and ways of doing things in daily life,such as ways of eating, drinking, dressing, finding shelter, making friends, marrying, and dealingwith death are learned in the cultural environment.6. What other cultura
44、l differences do you know in the way people do things in their everyday life? We can also find cultural differences in ways of bringing up children, treating the elderly,greeting each other, saving and spending money, and many other things people do in everyday life.7. In what ways are the Chinese e
45、ating habits different from those of the English-speaking countries? We Chinese may enjoy something that is not usually considered as edible by theEnglish-speaking people. Generally we prefer to have things hot and lay much emphasis on tastes.We tend to share things with each other when we are eatin
46、g with others.Reading IIElements of CommunicationComprehension questions1. What are the aspects of context mentioned above? One aspect of context is the physical setting, including location, time, light, temperature,distance between communicators, and any seating arrangements. A second aspect of con
47、text ishistorical. A third aspect of context is psychological. A fourth aspect of context is culture.2. In what ways would your posture, manner of speaking or attire change if you move from one physical setting to another, for example, from your home to a park, to a classroom, to a restaurant, to a
48、funeral house, etc? Ones posture, manner of speaking or attire change from being casual to formal gradually fromhome to a park, to a classroom, to a restaurant, to a funeral house, etc, according to differentformalness and seriousness of these situations.3. How do people acquire communication norms in their life? People acquire commu