Language-and-culture-语言与文化

-LanguageandcultureOutlineLanguageandcultureCommunicationbreakdownAFlyinaBeerIfinthedinninghall,aflywasseeninaglassofbeer,AnEnglishman,“MayIhaveanother,please?”AFrenchman,pourthebeerout.ASpanishman,putthemoneyonthetableandleavewithoutaword.AFlyinaBeerAJapanese,summonthemanagerandcriticize,“Doyoudoallyourbusinesslikethis?”AnArab,givethebeertothewaiterandsay,“I’llbuyyouadrink.”AnAmerican,“Pleaseservetheflyandbeerseparately.Ifthecustomerlikesthefly,hecouldputitintohisbeerhimself.”CommentThecaseaboveshowsthatsocialinteractionsmayvarygreatlyowingtodifferentculturalbackgrounds.Inthiscase,people’sdifferentreactionsrevealnotonlytheirindividualpersonalitybutalsotheorientationoftheirnation’smainstreamculture,e.g.theEnglish’sseriousness,theFrench’sarrogance,theSpanish’sgenerosity,theJapanese’scriticalapproach,theArab’ssarcasmandtheAmerican’shumor.LiHongzhang’sEmbarrassmentLiHongzhang,oneofthetopofficialsintheQingDynasty,wasinvitedtovisittheUnitedStates.Hewaswarmlywelcomed.Oneday,LiwashostingabanquetfortheAmericanofficialsinapopularrestaurant.Asthebanquetstarted,accordingtotheChinesecustom,Listoodupandsaid,“Iamveryhappytohaveallofyouheretoday.Thoughthesedishesarecoarseandnotdeliciousandgoodenoughtoshowmyrespectforyou,Ihopeyouwillenjoythem…”(今天承蒙各位光临，不胜荣幸。我们略备粗馔，聊表寸心，没有什么可口的东西，不成敬意，请大家多多包涵……)Thenextday,theEnglishversionofhiswordswasshowninthelocalnewspaper.Tohisshock,therestaurantownerflewintorage.HethoughtitwasaninsulttohisrestaurantandinsistedthatLishouldshowhimtheevidenceofwhichdishwasnotwell-madeandwhichdishwasnotdelicious.Otherwise,Liintentionallydamagedthereputationoftherestaurant,andheshouldapologize.AllthefussmadeLiratherembarrassed.CommentWhatLisaidisjustsomeformulaicpoliteexpressioncommonintype;almostallChinesepeopleknowthisandcouldhearthatnearlyeverywhere.Asfarastheliterarymeaningisconcerned,Li’swordsareinappropriate,buttheydoconveythemeaningofrespect.Here,thelanguageformisdifferentfromitscontent,aphenomenononlyfoundintheEasternculture.However,thiscasehappenedinAmerica,andtheaudiencewasAmerican.CommentAmericaisacountrywithhighlyvaluedindividualismandtheyexpressthemselvesratherdirectly.TheycouldhardlyunderstandtheEasterner’sover-modesty,fortheytendtocomprehendwhattheyhearliterally,andaclashwasinevitable.IfLi’swordswerechangedinto:“Thecuisineofyourcountryisreallygreat.It’smygreathonortohaveachancetoentertainyouwiththem…(贵国的菜肴真是好极了，今天能有机会借花献佛，不胜荣幸之至……)”,theneveryonewouldhavebeenhappy.therelationshipbetweenlanguageandcultureLanguageisapartofculture.Languageistheprimarymeansforculturaltransmission.Somelinguisticdifferencesareduetoculturaldifferences.Variouscultureswillhavedifferentresponsestothesameword.Sapir-WhorfHypothesisOurlanguagehelpsmouldourwayofthinkingand,consequently,differentlanguagesmayprobablyexpressouruniquewaysofunderstandingtheworld.IdentifyingDifferenceColorAnimalsBlack“黑钱”、“黑社会”、“黑市”blackmoney,blackmarket,blacksocietywearblack,BlackFridayAblackdog一个忧伤或沮丧的人ablackfuture形容暗淡的前景。blackguard（流氓/恶棍），blackmark（污点），tolookblackatsomeone（怒目而视）white红白喜事白手empty-handedwhite-handed正直的、无辜的、廉洁的awhitewar指“不流血的战争”red红运、红榜、红军、红星、红色娘子军英语中的red既有褒义也有贬义。red可以表示信仰、博爱、献身、坚忍不拔，同时还含有暴力、流血、不贞洁等贬义。如gointored（出现赤字或发生亏损），seered（气得发疯、大发雷霆），red-letterday（纪念日、高兴的日子greengreenwithenvy（十分妒忌）greenhand（生手），asgreenasgrass（幼稚）inthegreen（血气方刚），agreenoldage（老当益壮）；keepthememorygreen（永远不忘）绿女红男,桃红柳绿,绿林好汉绿帽子yellowyellow可以表示“胆小、卑怯、卑鄙”ayellowlivered（胆小鬼），yellowpress（品味低俗的出版物）。在汉语中，“黄”是表示尊贵、吉祥的颜色黄色在英汉语中都有疾病与警告的联想yellowflag是船员们挂在海轮上表示有流行病的黄旗。blue在英语中blue的含义十分丰富，它能象征高贵、高远、深沉、严厉，如：blueblood（名门望族），blueribbon（最高荣誉的标志）象征忧郁、沮丧、情绪低落，如：feelblue（不高兴），ablueoutlook（悲观的人生观)象征庸俗下流，如：bluemovie（色情电影），bluerevolution（性解放运动），bluetalk（下流言论）有突然迅速的意思，如outoftheblue（晴天霹雳），bluestreak（一闪即逝的东西）。purple紫色在汉语中作为祥瑞、高贵的象征，被封建帝王和道教所采用“紫气”“紫禁宫”“紫袍玉带”“紫书”英语中的purple同样也跟帝王将相和宗教有关，象征高贵和荣誉raisesb.tothepurple（立某人为王或升某人为红衣主教），beborninthepurple（出身王室或显贵），marryinthepurple（嫁到显贵人家）Loveme,lovemydog.LuckydogLetthesleepingdoglie.Everydoghasitsday.Youcan’tteacholddognewtricks.Letthecatoutofthebag.Putthecatamongthepigeons.Whatiscommunication?Communicationisdefinedasabehavior-affectingprocessinwhichoneperson(asource)intentionallyencodesandtransmitsamessagethroughachanneltoanintendedaudience(receivers)inordertoinduceaparticularattitudeorbehavior.Communicationis“theessentialhumanconnection”.Itscharacteristics:Communicationisdynamic.Itisinteractive.Itisirreversible.Ittakesplaceinbothaphysicalandsocialcontext.ContextContextisthesituationinwhichlanguageoccurs:physicallocationrelationshipbetweenpeoplesharedknowledge(culture,memories,etc)reasonforcommunicationgesturesbehaviorDidyouhavetheexperienceofcommunicationbreakdown?How?Becauseofvocabulary?Becauseofmanner?Becauseofculturaldifference?Or?Englishisnolongeraforeignlanguage,butaninternational.Receptionist：“hello.”American：“hi.”Receptionist：“youhavewhatthing？”American：“canyouspeakenglish？”Receptionist：“ifinotspeakenglish，iamspeakingwhat？”American：“cananybodyelsespeakeng