跨文化交际课程unit3.pptVIP

Intercultural Communication Lecture 3: verbal communication Review Code Language code Behaviour code Context High-context communication Low-context communication Case study: Dinner with Friends Janices question: what went wrong ? When Chinese have visitors, they are often extremely hospitable in offering food. If guests are invited for a meal, Chinese prepare a very large number of dishes, usually far more than can be eaten at the time. Conversely, Westerners tend to relate the meal size more accurately to the peoples appetites, both the quantity and variety of the meal are far less than in China. The Chinese host often constantly puts the best pieces of food on the visitors plate, which is an expression of hospitality. Westerners, on the other hand, usually leave the guest to help himself/herself and do not keep urging him/her to eat more. In China it is acceptable to leave unwanted food on the plate, whereas according to Western custom, it is impolite to do so. As a result, misunderstandings occur. If the Chinese are invited to dinner by a Westerner, they may feel the Westerner is ungenerous because of the small amount of food and because they are not constantly encouraged to eat more. They may remain hungry after dinner since the food is even not offered a second time after their polite initial decline. Whereas the Western visitors in a Chinese home often have a pile of food on their plate (including food they do not particularly want), which according to their culture they should finish eating. But the more they eat, the more thay are given. Warm-up cases Case 1 Twelve Cups of Tea When I first went to Hong Kong, I had no idea about Chinese tea-drinking and found myself caught in a very awkward situation. I visited a Chinese family and was immediately given a cup of tea. I was not thirsty and I did not particularly like that type of tea, but out of politeness I finished the cup. But the more I drank, the more I was given. I kept insist