跨文化交际

华中科技大学公选课

Session 1

Culture, Communication,

Intercultural Communication

Importance of Intercultural Communication

Why did you choose this course?Chances for IC are caused by globalization- Spurring development of transportation and

communication systems (shortened touring time, television networks, the internet, international film industry)

- Cultural migration between nations (multiculturalism)

- New economic arena (multinational corporations)- Ever-increasing world population (finite natural

resources, pollution, international conflicts)

Warming up

Make a list of images from your home culture and try to explain what they express about who the people of your culture are and what their relationship is to people from other cultures.

Which image do you prefer? Which do you think are the images that most truly express how people feel about themselves and the world?

Lecture Outline

definition

Intercultural communication

culture

characteristics

communication

functions

definition

elements

mode

characteristics

definition

forms

elements

right attitudes

1. What is culture?

More deeply: what the behavior and customs mean to the

people who are following

them

On the surface: customs and behavior

In a word: Culture is all about meanings

Hall: Culture is everything and everywhere

Sir Edward Tylor’s definition in 1871 (first use of this term):

“that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society”

Kroeber and Kluckhohn (1952)

---- Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions

(listing more than 300 definitions)

Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behavior acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievement of human groups, including their embodiment in artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional (i.e. historically derived and selected) ideas and especially their attached values; culture systems may, on the one hand, be considered as products of action, on the other as conditioning elements of further action.

Porter & Samovar

The deposit （沉淀物） of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving.

----Intercultural Communication: A Reader

Basic functions of culture

Culture makes all things easy.

- by providing meaning to events, objects and people --- making life less confusing

- by providing us with structure --- the skills and rules necessary to adapt to our world

1 Physiological needs

2 Safety

3 Belongingness

4 Esteem

5 Self-actualization

A culture can also be understood as a particular way to satisfy our human needs.

Let’s follow Abraham Maslow!

ADAPTIVE

LEARNEDtransmitted

INTEGRATED

symbolic

CULTURE IS…CULTURE IS…

The Characteristics of Culture

unconscious

Subject to change

1) Culture is learned

consciously or unconsciously:

(enculturation)

**through Proverbs, Folktales, Myths, and legends

**through Art

e.g. Beijing Opera

**through Mass Media

Behaviour Traditions Artefacts – buildings, clothes, art etc.

Beliefs Attitudes Perceptions Values

way of doing

things(10%)

way of thinking(90%)

2) Most part of culture is unconscious Culture as an iceberg

explicit

tacit

Can you tell which of the following are above the water and which are below?

What people eat What people wear What games children play How to use time How to introduce people How to participate in ceremonies Rules for gestures Rules for facial expressions and eye contact Etiquette Work speed What is right or wrong, beautiful or ugly, clean or dirty, good

or bad, etc. Car parking

Case Study

Richard, an engineer from the United States, was invited to take tea with one of his British colleagues while he was in England. This was a purely social, relaxed occasion. Tea was served along with sugar and cream. As he helped himself to some sugar and cream, he sensed he had done something wrong.

Can you tell what went wrong?“Help yourself” VS. “Be my guest”

Oct. 5, 2005 21st CenturyChanging Tastes“This July China Daily reported severe obesity affects 16 to 20 per cent China’s young urbanites.”“A major study released by Centre for Public Nutrition and Development last September found as income increases, energy intake increases. But a high percentage of that extra energy comes from fat. And grains and potatoes were eaten less.”

3) Culture is subject to change

4) Culture is transmitted from generation to generation5) Culture is based on symbols

6) Culture is integrated

7) Culture is adaptive (acculturation)

Linell Davis: five metaphors(to be more easily understood)

Culture is like an iceberg some is visible (history, literature, customs) most is invisible (feelings and attitudes) Culture is our software physical selves as the hardware, become human when

programmed with the software of culture Culture is like the water a fish swims in notice everything except the water Culture is the story we tell ourselves about ourselves people tell stories to tell who they are and stories also change to

adapt to changing circumstances Culture is the grammar of our behavior people learn their cultural grammar unconsciously and apply

them automatically in order to behave appropriately in any society

Mainstream culture, co-culture or subculture?

When we talk about culture, we mainly refer to mainstream culture.

Co-culture Vs subculture

2. What is Communication?

• It comes from the Latin word “communicare”, it means to give or to exchange. Now, the most common meaning of “communication” is to give or exchange information or ideas.

• Communication is our ability to share our ideas and feelings. (the basis of all human contact)

• Communication is a dynamic, systematic process in which meanings are created and reflected in human interaction with symbols. (J.T.Wood)

Elements of communication

Context Participants Messages (meanings, symbols, encoding and decoding) Channels Noise (external noise, internal noise, semantic noise) feedback

Linear Model of Communication

Sender ReceiverChannel (message)

encoding decoding

noise

Is this an effective model of communication?

Mode of Communication

Interactive Model of Communication

SenderReceiver

SenderReceiver

encoding decoding

noise

Feedback is essential to good communication

decoding encoding

message / channel

message / channel

Transactional Model of Communication

SenderReceiver

SenderReceiver

encoding decoding

noise

We continually influence each other through communication

decoding encoding

message / channel

message / channel

Fields of Experience

Relationship Dimensions

Characteristics of communication

1) Communication is dynamic Communication is an ongoing

activity. It is not fixed. A word or action does not stay frozen when you communicate; it is immediately replaced with yet another word or action.

Characteristics of communication

2) Communication is interactive A interactive view holds that communicators

are simultaneously sending and receiving messages at every instant that they are involved in conversations.

Characteristics of communication

3) Communication is irreversible

Communication is an irreversible process. We can never undo what has already been done. Although we may try to qualify, negate, or somehow reduce the effects of our message, once it has been sent and received, the message itself cannot be reversed.

Characteristics of communication

4) Communication is contextual.

All communication takes place within a setting or situation called a context. By context, we mean the place where people meet, the social purpose for being together, and the nature of the relationship. Thus the context includes the physical, social, and interpersonal settings.

6. Intercultural Communication

Samovar & Porter

Intercultural communication is communication between people whose cultural perceptions and symbol systems are distinct enough to alter the communication event.

intercultural communication refers to any communication between two members of any cultural communities.

Intercultural Communication Vs

Cross-cultural Communication

Cross-cultural communication

the similarities and differences in value orientations, affective dispositions, relationship management, communicative styles (psychological process)

Intercultural communication

the penetration by a member of one culture into another culture (practical significance)

International communication Interracial communication Interethnic communication Intracultural communication

Forms of Intercultural Communication

Discussion:Discuss the following cases of communication and decide to what extent they are intercultural.

Communication between A Chinese and an American, A Canadian and a South African, A male and a female A father and a son A person from Beijing and one from Tibet, A first-generation Chinese American and a third-

generation one, A student form Hong Kong and a teacher from Xi’an A software technician and a farmer, etc

任何人与人之间的交际都应该被视为跨文化交际。 －－ Singer

Samovar & Porter:西方人－亚洲人 最大分歧意大利人－沙特阿拉伯人美国人－希腊人美国人－德国人美国人－操法语加拿大人盎格鲁撒克逊血统的美国白人－拘留地的印第安人盎格鲁撒克逊血统的美国白人－美国黑人美国人－英国人美国人－操英语加拿大人美国城市居民－美国乡村居民天主教徒－浸礼教徒主张男性权力者－主张男女平等者异性恋者－同性恋者环境保护者－房地产开发商 最小分歧

What we focus on in this course is communication between cultures beyond country boundaries.

7.Elements of Intercultural Communication

Perceptions (beliefs, values, attitudes, world views, social organizations) Verbal processes (the ways in which cultures employ symbols to portray things and experiences) Nonverbal processes (share thoughts and feelings by way of bodily behavior, time and space) Contextual elements (business, education and health care, tourism and personal relationships)

What was wrong? Case Study

While visiting Egypt, Richard, an engineer from the United States, was invited to a spectacular dinner at the home of an Egyptian friend. As he was leaving their home, making effort to thank them for their dinner, he noticed their picture and made a compliment by saying “What beautiful frames your pictures are in!” However he sensed something wrong. His sincere compliment was obviously misunderstood.

What is the correct attitude?

The communicator cannot stop at knowing that the people he is working with have different customs, goals, and thought patterns from his own. … He must be able to work with them and within them, neither losing his own values in the confrontation nor protecting himself behind a wall of intellectual detachment.

(Adapted from L.M.Barna, “Stumbling Blocks in Intercultural Communication”, 1992)