On the Culture Difference in English Teaching 英语专业论文.doc

On the Culture Difference in English Teaching 1. Introduction With the development of modernization, the world itself is becoming a “global village”. Opportunities for Chinese to contact with westerners are growing.Due to the differences in geography, development level, different countries and nationalities possess different cultures, histories, customs and religion, misunderstandings often occur in English teaching. The same words or expressions may not mean the same thing to the people with different cultures. Because of cultural differences, a serious question may cause amusement or laughter; a harmless statement may cause displeasure or anger. Because of cultural differences, jokes by a foreign speaker may be received with blank faces and stony silence. Yet the same stories in the speaker’s own country would leave audiences holding their sides with laughter. Professor Deng Yanchang once said “…In fact, the learning of a language is inseparable from the learning of its culture.” However, after several years of English study, even college students still find it hard to communicate with English native speakers. It’s not that they don’t have the command of the language forms, but that they lack the knowledge of the target culture. So English teachers should help students acknowledge the culture background in teaching. teaching should focus on culture study and learn the skills of communication. 2. Relationship between language and culture What is the relationship between language and culture? What role does culture play with language? In any culture or region, language is much more than semantics, much more than what the written page or the spoken word can contain. This especially becomes clear when studying a foreign language and learning the ways of a particular culture. For example, the use of introductions, salutations, everyday sayings, etc. This area in particular gives more weight to culture then to the words themselves. Anyone studying a foreign langua