Cultural Differences in Everyday Life 英语毕业论文.docVIP

Cultural Differences in Everyday Life Abstract: Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication. Culture can be briefly defined as the totality of beliefs and practices in a society. Language is a part of culture and plays a decisive role in it. We exchange our ideas and emotions through languages in different cultures, thus we can communicate with people who own another culture. But because of the differences between cultures, we may cause some troubles when we exchange information. This paper investigates the cultural differences between different cultures in our everyday life. By some examples we will know the problems and the solutions to these problems. Key Words: cross-cultural communication; cultural differences; verbal communication; nonverbal communication I. Introduction Communication is commonly defined as the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, and information by speech, writing or signs . Cross-cultural communication is communication between different cultures. Carl Rogers states that real communication takes place when we listen with understanding. By analogy, we may equally say that communication collapses when we listen with misunderstanding. When globalization becomes a fact, the significance of cross-cultural communication is further highlighted. Failures in communication from different backgrounds of cultures will lead to cultural stereotypes and conflicts. Learning a foreign language well means more than merely mastering the pronunciation, grammar, words and idioms. It means learning also to see it, learning the ways in which their language reflects the ideas, customs, and behavior of their society, learning to understand their language of mind .Learning a language, in fact, is inseparable from learning its culture. For proper understandings in cross-cultural communication, some suggestive principles are provided as basic guidelines to this difficult work. 1. Successful communication occurs when the heare