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Abstract:In the 21-century, English has become an international language, and it plays an important role in the modern society. With the development of economy, in China, there are more and more activities such as on economy and trade, politics and diplomacy, education and academic exchanges with other foreign countries, these activities make China walk to the world and world to China, but many Chinese are confused that sometimes they are unhappy to communicate with Westerners. The cultural conflicts and misunderstanding appear, in traditional English teaching, much attention is paid to language knowledge such as vocabulary, phrases, grammatical rules and so on, whereas the cultural background of the language is ignored. As a result, students who have learned English for many years still don’t know the differences between Western culture and Chinese culture, so, in English teaching, teachers should put emphasis on intercultural communication, and cultivate students’ ability of communication.
Key words:cultural conflicts English teaching ability of communication
1. Introduction
Culture is an extremely huge and complex system, it covers every part of a people. Culture including arts, literature, music, education, religion, social custom, style of life, pattern of beliefs and so on. Language is a part of culture and play an important role ,it is a carrier of culture. Without language, culture would not be possible. On the other hand, language is influenced and shaped by culture and it reflects culture.
With the development of society and Chinese open-door policy, there are more and more activities such as on economy and trade, politics and diplomacy, education and academic exchanges with other foreign countries, especially, information technology, because of Internet, English , as an international language, is becoming more and more important in the modern time. “Internet Culture”has formed, and it involves intercultural communication. Intercultural communication refers to the communication between native speakers and non-native speakers; as well as among people in different languages and cultural backgrounds.
In communication, people always like using their own ways to understand others’ words, maybe it can make a wrong judgment so that misunderstanding and conflicts follow. There is current significance to English teaching, because language learning means not only to master the pronunciation, grammar, words, but also to learn the ways in which their language reflects the ideas, customs and behavior of their society. In English teaching, teachers should put special emphasis on students’ ability of communication, and cultivate the ability of communication in English so that students can learn and use language correctly in intercultural communication. Chinese students often make mistakes about both culture and communication because of lacking understanding of different cultures, so misunderstanding and conflicts appear. 2. The conflicts in communication
2.1 The conflicts on privacy.
2.1.1 Greetings
Every day, people usually meet their daily communication with friends, families, colleagues, and even strangers. But the ways of greeting among people are different in different countries, different cultures. In English-speaking countries, people greet each other simply, like the following：Good morning./ Good afternoon./ Good evening./ Hello./ Hi./ especially for English, talking about weather is very common when people greet each other, such as, It’s sunny, isn’t it?/ It is going to rain ,isn’t it? However, for Chinese, the way to greet people is different from them. Chinese often show their concern to others, so the following questions are mentioned, 吃饭了吗？你上哪儿呀？上班去啦、上学去啦？Having heard these questions, Western people would feel very unhappy or confused. Why? Because Chinese don’t understand western cultural background.
吃饭了吗? For Westerners, it is an invitation. 你上哪儿呀？After hearing this greeting, most Westerners would think, “It’s none of your business”,or it might make them feel their privacy being invaded, they would be unhappy about it. 上班去啦、上学去啦？For Westerners, it is meaningless and waste of time to ask such clearly seen questions. On these occasions, many Westerners just say “Hello/Hi”, or smile at people to greet.
2.1.2 Having conversations
It is very important to know their culture and custom to have a conversation with foreigners. Chinese should pay more attention to the appropriate topics which we talk about with Westerners so that we can communicate with each other happily, and learn much more from them. However, Chinese often don’t choose appropriate topics, therefore, they are refused by Westerners. Avoid personal questions about marriage, age, religion belief, race and ethnic income, politics, family and children and so on. To Chinese, it is very common to ask these questions, but to foreigners, these questions are about privacy and they don’t want others to involve into their personal affairs, because Western society emphasizes the individual, each person expects his own rights to be recognized, he respects others’ rights , too. They don’t like to ask about personal matters, it is their own business, which doesn’t need concern of others, so, the conversations can’t go on well, and Westerners feel embarrassed and unhappy.
2.2 The conflicts on traditional cultures
2.2.1 Expressing Thanks
“Thank you” is a beautiful sentence when communicating with others, it is used to express gratefulness for help, for an invitation , for praise etc. “Thank you” is used to strangers, friends and even family members, in Western countries, especially, in a family, parents often say “Thank you” to their children, but in China, in some situations, Chinese don’t think it necessary to express gratefulness, even someone takes others’ help or offers for granted. When someone say “Thank you”, Westerners always give replies to it to deliver the messages of politeness, the replies are the following ones：You’re welcome./ That’s all right./ Not at all./ It’s my pleasure./ It’s a pleasure. Don’t mention it. However, Chinese are courteous, some ways to express thanks may make Westerners embarrassed and unhappy, for example, after getting other’s help, Chinese often say：对不起，打扰你了∕对不起，耽误您的时间了。Hearing this, Westerners may consider that “if you know you are disturbing me, why are you still doing it?”This is the difference between western culture and Chinese culture, in these situations, it is better to say “Thank you for your help/ Thank you. I really appreciate your time.” 2.2.2 Modest
There is significant difference between Westerners and Chinese about praise and compliments. For Westerners, it is perfectly normal to express compliments and to accept compliments happily, for example, ---Oh, you speak English very well! ---Thank you! In Chinese traditional culture, modest is a virtue, when being praised, Chinese are always modest , even look down upon themselves, for instance, ---Oh, you speak English very well! ---Where, where, my English is bad, so, Westerners often doubt whether their judgment is wrong so that their intercultural communication ends in failure.
2.3 The conflicts on literature
In English studying, students often make serious mistakes in different cultures using the same word, such as words of animals, colors, plants. Misunderstanding or misusing these words will bring embarrassment and even great troubles. Some examples are following：
Dog
Both Westerners and Chinese take dog as loyalty, dependability, but in Chinese, dog are associated with unpleasantness, there are some name-calling and phrases which are not good about dog, 狗东西，走狗，狗改不了吃屎，狗眼看人低，狗仗人势.Even though in English, there are swear words,“Son of a bitch!”,“You dog!”, it does not change the dog’s status. For English-speaking people, dog is still man’s good company and best friends. Here are some good sayings about dog ：Love me, love my dog; a lucky dog; every dog has his day.
Dragon
Dragon is a kind of creature in the mythology, in China, dragon is regarded as the symbol of power, strength and auspiciousness, in ancient times, dragon was the traditional symbol of royalty, it stood for the king or emperor. Today, it is still an auspicious creature to the Chinese which brings good luck and happiness, there are many good sayings about dragon, such as 龙腾虎跃，龙凤呈祥，望子成龙，龙飞凤舞，耍龙灯，many boys are named dragon, because their parents hope they are happy and talented.
To Westerners, dragon is a symbol of evil, a fierce monster, with fire in its mouth and wings on its body, several stories is about struggling against the monster.
Color--- white
Many people like white, it means purity, innocence. But it is opposite in Western and Chinese culture, white dress is the traditional color for brides at Western weddings but a traditional color at funerals for Chinese. At Western funerals, people have black dress. Nowadays, being affected by Western culture, Chinese brides wear white dress at their wedding. According to above, we know that the difference between two cultures, if we don’t understand Western culture better, we can face many troubles in communicating with Westerners. 3. The approaches to improve the ability of intercultural communication in English teaching
We have talked about some cultural conflicts in intercultural communication, they affect our daily life directly or indirectly. Therefore it is necessary to improve the student’s ability of intercultural communication to change this situation.
3.1 Transforming the teaching concept of the teachers
The teacher acts an important role in English teaching. If the teacher only puts the emphasis on the teaching of grammar and vocabulary, the student can not learn to use language correctly in real situation and improve the ability of intercultural communication. So, the teacher must transfer their teaching concept, they should realize that cultivating students’ ability of communication is the final purpose in the modern English Teaching, and it is a duty for the teachers to deepen students’ consciousness of intercultural communication, so that students not only learn the knowledge of language but also learn about culture, social background, customs and style of life about foreign countries. At the same time, the teacher should strengthen their own study and improve their own cultural comprehensive quality, and only in this way can the teacher take hold of the quality and quantity of the English teaching of cultural knowledge.
3.2. Improving the present available teaching methods
In traditional English teaching, teachers put the emphasis on the teaching of grammar and vocabulary, and the training of intercultural communicative ability is neglected. To change this situation, we must improve the teaching methods, and pay special attention to the quality of the cultural teaching in the classroom. We should make full use of modernized teaching instruments to improve the students’ study activity, such as watching English movies or TV plays, even asking foreign teachers to teach in the school, encouraging students to talk with native speakers face to face, asking foreign teachers to tell students the embarrassment they meet when communicating with Chinese themselves.
3.3 The training of nonverbal communicative ability
Nonverbal communication is also a very important kind of communication. It refers to the course that people use non-language to communicate and understand the information on particular occasion. Nonverbal communication can have different connotations in various cultures because the different social traditions, customs, concepts on life and value. To communicate effectively in a foreign language, one should know also the gestures, body movements. It should be emphasized in intercultural communication. The connotation of the nonverbal culture in Chinese culture and Western culture is very different. For example, Chinese people believe “Silence is gold”. They think it contains much information in silence. Sometimes, they even think silence is better than saying any word. People in Western countries often feel uncomfortable about this, it’s rude to keep silence, and it may stop the conversation easily. When Westerners communicate with each other, listener will look at the speaker’s eyes, and they think listener are happy to talk with him and respect. But in Chinese people’s eyes, this is an impolite behavior. 3.4. Foreign festivals on the campus
Nowadays, being influenced by Western culture, many Chinese young people know about foreign festivals and celebrate like Westerners. Some festivals come into the campus, for example, Christmas Day, April Fool Day, especially, on Christmas Eve, a lot of students send “apples” which is packed beautifully to teachers , classmates and good friends. This activity is of great interest to young students. The celebration could take place in a class, a grade or the whole school. All kinds of activities can be held in festivals, such as performance of foreign songs, watching foreign films, attending lectures given by foreign experts and enjoying foreign food. By celebrating foreign festivals, learners will immerse themselves in the target cultural context. Teachers give introduction on the origin and the conventional activities of the festival. The activities can develop the students’ cultural awareness..
3.5 Asking the students to read more materials about western cultures
In the middle school, the time of English teaching is very limited, sometimes, it is impossible for teachers to teach students everything about culture, so, the students should learn to be independent to study knowledge of culture to improve the ability of intercultural communication. The teacher should ask the students to read more Western culture materials, newspapers, magazines and the commentary of current events, like English Weekly, The 21-Century, they are suitable for students. Only by reading can the students learn culture knowledge, increase culture quality, widen visual field and improve the intercultural communication ability.
4.Conclusion
Intercultural communication becomes more and more common in people’s daily life. People should learn some knowledge about the intercultural communication. Once people know the culture, they will feel comfortable in the communication. Studying the intercultural communication can avoid the conflicts in two different cultural backgrounds and solve the problems and troubles caused by misunderstanding, then they can understand each other better and better. In the practical English teaching, the basic purpose is to achieve intercultural communication, that is to communicate with people in different cultural background. Promoting the quality and efficiency of English teaching and improving students’ ability of application is not only urgent requirement in the development of economy, but an urgent task of English Teaching in the 21 century. To reach the goal, we must realize that teaching of intercultural communication is an important link in English teaching, all of the teachers should put emphasis on intercultural communication.
Key words:cultural conflicts English teaching ability of communication
1. Introduction
Culture is an extremely huge and complex system, it covers every part of a people. Culture including arts, literature, music, education, religion, social custom, style of life, pattern of beliefs and so on. Language is a part of culture and play an important role ,it is a carrier of culture. Without language, culture would not be possible. On the other hand, language is influenced and shaped by culture and it reflects culture.
With the development of society and Chinese open-door policy, there are more and more activities such as on economy and trade, politics and diplomacy, education and academic exchanges with other foreign countries, especially, information technology, because of Internet, English , as an international language, is becoming more and more important in the modern time. “Internet Culture”has formed, and it involves intercultural communication. Intercultural communication refers to the communication between native speakers and non-native speakers; as well as among people in different languages and cultural backgrounds.
In communication, people always like using their own ways to understand others’ words, maybe it can make a wrong judgment so that misunderstanding and conflicts follow. There is current significance to English teaching, because language learning means not only to master the pronunciation, grammar, words, but also to learn the ways in which their language reflects the ideas, customs and behavior of their society. In English teaching, teachers should put special emphasis on students’ ability of communication, and cultivate the ability of communication in English so that students can learn and use language correctly in intercultural communication. Chinese students often make mistakes about both culture and communication because of lacking understanding of different cultures, so misunderstanding and conflicts appear. 2. The conflicts in communication
2.1 The conflicts on privacy.
2.1.1 Greetings
Every day, people usually meet their daily communication with friends, families, colleagues, and even strangers. But the ways of greeting among people are different in different countries, different cultures. In English-speaking countries, people greet each other simply, like the following：Good morning./ Good afternoon./ Good evening./ Hello./ Hi./ especially for English, talking about weather is very common when people greet each other, such as, It’s sunny, isn’t it?/ It is going to rain ,isn’t it? However, for Chinese, the way to greet people is different from them. Chinese often show their concern to others, so the following questions are mentioned, 吃饭了吗？你上哪儿呀？上班去啦、上学去啦？Having heard these questions, Western people would feel very unhappy or confused. Why? Because Chinese don’t understand western cultural background.
吃饭了吗? For Westerners, it is an invitation. 你上哪儿呀？After hearing this greeting, most Westerners would think, “It’s none of your business”,or it might make them feel their privacy being invaded, they would be unhappy about it. 上班去啦、上学去啦？For Westerners, it is meaningless and waste of time to ask such clearly seen questions. On these occasions, many Westerners just say “Hello/Hi”, or smile at people to greet.
2.1.2 Having conversations
It is very important to know their culture and custom to have a conversation with foreigners. Chinese should pay more attention to the appropriate topics which we talk about with Westerners so that we can communicate with each other happily, and learn much more from them. However, Chinese often don’t choose appropriate topics, therefore, they are refused by Westerners. Avoid personal questions about marriage, age, religion belief, race and ethnic income, politics, family and children and so on. To Chinese, it is very common to ask these questions, but to foreigners, these questions are about privacy and they don’t want others to involve into their personal affairs, because Western society emphasizes the individual, each person expects his own rights to be recognized, he respects others’ rights , too. They don’t like to ask about personal matters, it is their own business, which doesn’t need concern of others, so, the conversations can’t go on well, and Westerners feel embarrassed and unhappy.
2.2 The conflicts on traditional cultures
2.2.1 Expressing Thanks
“Thank you” is a beautiful sentence when communicating with others, it is used to express gratefulness for help, for an invitation , for praise etc. “Thank you” is used to strangers, friends and even family members, in Western countries, especially, in a family, parents often say “Thank you” to their children, but in China, in some situations, Chinese don’t think it necessary to express gratefulness, even someone takes others’ help or offers for granted. When someone say “Thank you”, Westerners always give replies to it to deliver the messages of politeness, the replies are the following ones：You’re welcome./ That’s all right./ Not at all./ It’s my pleasure./ It’s a pleasure. Don’t mention it. However, Chinese are courteous, some ways to express thanks may make Westerners embarrassed and unhappy, for example, after getting other’s help, Chinese often say：对不起，打扰你了∕对不起，耽误您的时间了。Hearing this, Westerners may consider that “if you know you are disturbing me, why are you still doing it?”This is the difference between western culture and Chinese culture, in these situations, it is better to say “Thank you for your help/ Thank you. I really appreciate your time.” 2.2.2 Modest
There is significant difference between Westerners and Chinese about praise and compliments. For Westerners, it is perfectly normal to express compliments and to accept compliments happily, for example, ---Oh, you speak English very well! ---Thank you! In Chinese traditional culture, modest is a virtue, when being praised, Chinese are always modest , even look down upon themselves, for instance, ---Oh, you speak English very well! ---Where, where, my English is bad, so, Westerners often doubt whether their judgment is wrong so that their intercultural communication ends in failure.
2.3 The conflicts on literature
In English studying, students often make serious mistakes in different cultures using the same word, such as words of animals, colors, plants. Misunderstanding or misusing these words will bring embarrassment and even great troubles. Some examples are following：
Dog
Both Westerners and Chinese take dog as loyalty, dependability, but in Chinese, dog are associated with unpleasantness, there are some name-calling and phrases which are not good about dog, 狗东西，走狗，狗改不了吃屎，狗眼看人低，狗仗人势.Even though in English, there are swear words,“Son of a bitch!”,“You dog!”, it does not change the dog’s status. For English-speaking people, dog is still man’s good company and best friends. Here are some good sayings about dog ：Love me, love my dog; a lucky dog; every dog has his day.
Dragon
Dragon is a kind of creature in the mythology, in China, dragon is regarded as the symbol of power, strength and auspiciousness, in ancient times, dragon was the traditional symbol of royalty, it stood for the king or emperor. Today, it is still an auspicious creature to the Chinese which brings good luck and happiness, there are many good sayings about dragon, such as 龙腾虎跃，龙凤呈祥，望子成龙，龙飞凤舞，耍龙灯，many boys are named dragon, because their parents hope they are happy and talented.
To Westerners, dragon is a symbol of evil, a fierce monster, with fire in its mouth and wings on its body, several stories is about struggling against the monster.
Color--- white
Many people like white, it means purity, innocence. But it is opposite in Western and Chinese culture, white dress is the traditional color for brides at Western weddings but a traditional color at funerals for Chinese. At Western funerals, people have black dress. Nowadays, being affected by Western culture, Chinese brides wear white dress at their wedding. According to above, we know that the difference between two cultures, if we don’t understand Western culture better, we can face many troubles in communicating with Westerners. 3. The approaches to improve the ability of intercultural communication in English teaching
We have talked about some cultural conflicts in intercultural communication, they affect our daily life directly or indirectly. Therefore it is necessary to improve the student’s ability of intercultural communication to change this situation.
3.1 Transforming the teaching concept of the teachers
The teacher acts an important role in English teaching. If the teacher only puts the emphasis on the teaching of grammar and vocabulary, the student can not learn to use language correctly in real situation and improve the ability of intercultural communication. So, the teacher must transfer their teaching concept, they should realize that cultivating students’ ability of communication is the final purpose in the modern English Teaching, and it is a duty for the teachers to deepen students’ consciousness of intercultural communication, so that students not only learn the knowledge of language but also learn about culture, social background, customs and style of life about foreign countries. At the same time, the teacher should strengthen their own study and improve their own cultural comprehensive quality, and only in this way can the teacher take hold of the quality and quantity of the English teaching of cultural knowledge.
3.2. Improving the present available teaching methods
In traditional English teaching, teachers put the emphasis on the teaching of grammar and vocabulary, and the training of intercultural communicative ability is neglected. To change this situation, we must improve the teaching methods, and pay special attention to the quality of the cultural teaching in the classroom. We should make full use of modernized teaching instruments to improve the students’ study activity, such as watching English movies or TV plays, even asking foreign teachers to teach in the school, encouraging students to talk with native speakers face to face, asking foreign teachers to tell students the embarrassment they meet when communicating with Chinese themselves.
3.3 The training of nonverbal communicative ability
Nonverbal communication is also a very important kind of communication. It refers to the course that people use non-language to communicate and understand the information on particular occasion. Nonverbal communication can have different connotations in various cultures because the different social traditions, customs, concepts on life and value. To communicate effectively in a foreign language, one should know also the gestures, body movements. It should be emphasized in intercultural communication. The connotation of the nonverbal culture in Chinese culture and Western culture is very different. For example, Chinese people believe “Silence is gold”. They think it contains much information in silence. Sometimes, they even think silence is better than saying any word. People in Western countries often feel uncomfortable about this, it’s rude to keep silence, and it may stop the conversation easily. When Westerners communicate with each other, listener will look at the speaker’s eyes, and they think listener are happy to talk with him and respect. But in Chinese people’s eyes, this is an impolite behavior. 3.4. Foreign festivals on the campus
Nowadays, being influenced by Western culture, many Chinese young people know about foreign festivals and celebrate like Westerners. Some festivals come into the campus, for example, Christmas Day, April Fool Day, especially, on Christmas Eve, a lot of students send “apples” which is packed beautifully to teachers , classmates and good friends. This activity is of great interest to young students. The celebration could take place in a class, a grade or the whole school. All kinds of activities can be held in festivals, such as performance of foreign songs, watching foreign films, attending lectures given by foreign experts and enjoying foreign food. By celebrating foreign festivals, learners will immerse themselves in the target cultural context. Teachers give introduction on the origin and the conventional activities of the festival. The activities can develop the students’ cultural awareness..
3.5 Asking the students to read more materials about western cultures
In the middle school, the time of English teaching is very limited, sometimes, it is impossible for teachers to teach students everything about culture, so, the students should learn to be independent to study knowledge of culture to improve the ability of intercultural communication. The teacher should ask the students to read more Western culture materials, newspapers, magazines and the commentary of current events, like English Weekly, The 21-Century, they are suitable for students. Only by reading can the students learn culture knowledge, increase culture quality, widen visual field and improve the intercultural communication ability.
4.Conclusion
Intercultural communication becomes more and more common in people’s daily life. People should learn some knowledge about the intercultural communication. Once people know the culture, they will feel comfortable in the communication. Studying the intercultural communication can avoid the conflicts in two different cultural backgrounds and solve the problems and troubles caused by misunderstanding, then they can understand each other better and better. In the practical English teaching, the basic purpose is to achieve intercultural communication, that is to communicate with people in different cultural background. Promoting the quality and efficiency of English teaching and improving students’ ability of application is not only urgent requirement in the development of economy, but an urgent task of English Teaching in the 21 century. To reach the goal, we must realize that teaching of intercultural communication is an important link in English teaching, all of the teachers should put emphasis on intercultural communication.