跨文化交际课件第四章语言与文化Language and culture.pptVIP

Language and Culture “Careful with fire,” is good advice, we know; “Careful with words,” is ten times doubly so. Will Carleton, The First Settler’s Story Warm UP Case 1 Shoes for Street Walking It is said that in Rome, in front of a shoe store, there was such a sign to attract English-speaking customers: Shoes for street walking. Come in and have a fit. The sign caught the attention of many English-speaking tourists, but not to look at the shoes displayed in the windows, but to read the sign and then break out into laughter. Case 2 Look Out! A foreign student in the U.S. was sitting by a window reading a book. She heard someone yelling “Look out!”, so she stuck her head out of the window. Just then a board hurtled down from above, narrowly missing her. She looked up, half in anger and half in fright. There was a man on the roof doing repairs. “Didn’t you hear me call ‘Look out’?” he demanded. “Yes, and that’s what I did,” she replied. Case 3 A Misunderstanding Caused by a Joke Roger was the Personnel Executive of a large American multinational firm. In 1996, Roger was working in Brazil to help promote their business. One evening, there was a party, attended by both his employees from the United States and many Brazilian business people. At the party, Roger bumped into Rosalita, a Brazilian woman he had known for some time. Roger generally had a very good impression of Rosalita and always felt at ease with her, so that he felt free to tell jokes and share personal thoughts, and talk about Brazil and Brazilian life without having the jitters of offending Rosalita. During the party, Rosalita said to Roger, “I’d like to introduce you to one of my good friends. She is a very capable woman and is presently thinking of working in a joint venture so she can provide a better living for her large family. She is very much interested in your company.” Hearing that, Roger smiled and replied, “OK, but I just hope I don’t get hustled.” unfortunately, Roger’