Collectivism and Individualism of Cross-cultural Communication
Abstract
With the implement of opening up policy and the increasingly deepening and
the expansion of the communication, more and more people are supposed to keep in
touch with people from different cultural background.Cross-cultural communication
strategy has aroused more and more people's attention.Through the analysis of the
case,we could understand the culture of China and the United States respectively
belong to the category of individualism and collectivism.Thus ,we take measures to
develop intercultural communication strategies for a further research.People from
different culture will inevitably fail to communicate .It is the key to the success of
cross-cultural communication to overcome these barriers and effectively the
promotion of international cultural, political, and economic communication .
Key words
collectivist culture、social skills 、useless old、sensitive words、interoperability
摘要:随着我国对外开放,交流的日益深入和扩展,越来越多的人需要经常
视。通过对案例的分析,了解中美文化分别属于个人主义和集体主义范畴,从而
对不同文化间如何发挥跨文化交际策略进行认真深入的研究。来自不同文化本经
的人们走到一起,交际必然会出现故障,及时有效的克服这些交际障碍是跨文化
交际取得成功的关键。这对促进国际间的文化、政治、经济交流有着及其重要的
意义。
中美文化差异关键词:集体主义文化、社交技巧、老而无用、,敏感词、互操作性
Case :No Help for Old People
My landlady ,an American lady,who was over 70 and we got along v ery well. Once when we were ascending the stairs together , I stretched o ut my hands to give her some help.
She said, “ I can do it. Thank you.” I thought she was just being polite, so I escorted her to the top floor. Her face showed that she could do nothin g about my over-kindness. Soon after, I saw her going up the stairs alone, I forgot my previous lesson and practiced “ Lei Feng” once again. This tim e, half-jokingly and half-serious ly, she asked me, “Young man, do you thi nk I am old and useless? When I have to move myself on a wheelchair, I ‟ll ask you for help.” I stood there, blushed and puzzled.
Analysis
American culture ,a kind of individualism culture, always emphasizes the independence between the members in a group.So it is also rarely to be seen that borrowing and lendin
g money from the relatives and friends .Most parents require their children to move out when they have reached an adult age,and it is also the same reason that most children don't want to live with their parents after they grown up.Pocket money also needs to be earned by children themself, even if their parents have more than one child to raise,they still leave plenty of time for their own social circles, private life and so on.
The moral concept of Chinese is the "human relations (according to feudal ethics)", and "treat each other with all sincerity and share weal and woe", "solidarity" is the fundamental spirit of morality.This is mainly embodied in the Chinese society of moral life .In addition, China's society pay attention to that kind of interdependent relationship between people.For a long time, China has been emphasizing the thought of "harmony" and “grand unification”.
In western countries, due to the influence of the thought of "natural rights", they regard not infringing upon the rights of others as guidelines.As long as you don't infringe upon the interests of others, even if you run amok, it cannot be called moral loss. In this case ,t
here is no more moral things to restrain you.In addition, affected by the national popular extreme individualism, they attach great importance to personal rights、interests and freedom, and take the opportunity to show their own uniqueness as much as possible .
To complete the task independently should be highly appreciated.
As a kind of collectivist culture, Chinese culture emphasizes the interdependence with each member in groups.Helping each other is appreciated by Chinese culture.This culture takes a harmony for the primary purpose (refer to the importance of the concept of Yin and Yang to reconcile for thousands of years in China.)Parents to the child's commitment is understandable.(refer to the college entrance examination immigration) .
This culture highly emphasize the importance of social skills.
In addition, the United States is oriented by the culture in the future, the representative of the future is the young man, so this kind of cultural background is often sensitive to the word "old". People who have such cultural education care about the future rather than foc
us on history .China is oriented by the culture in the past, representative of the past is the old people."Old" in China does not belong to sensitive word, old even represents “knowledge, wisdom, and authority." For example, “t eacher” is the embodiment of the values.
This is the reason why it is not polite to take the initiative to help others just because they look older in the United States.Taking the initiative to help means " useless old"when the other don’t have obvious tendency in need of help .That is so-called“ imposing yourself on others .In China, it is immoral for young people not to help the elder.
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