《跨文化交际》研究生教学课件.pptVIP

Case Studies Case 1 The Andersons includes the map and hotel information as a convenience for the out-of-towners. They believe that by doing so they are being considerate. But to the Sandoval family, hospitality meant more. From their point of view, the family of the bride should have welcomed the groom’s family into their home, no matter how crowded they might have been. To the Sandovals, sharing worldly possessions would have expressed family closeness; hotel recommendations represented coldness and distance, translating into rejection. After all, the Sandovals believe they have demonstrated their closeness by taking time off from work to drive five hundred miles to the ceremony. Case 2 Different cultures have different ways to show their hospitality. In this case, the Azerbaijani woman shows her hospitality towards the Americans by offering her bread. By rejecting the bread, the doctor rejects the woman and her culture. Azerbaijanis believe that if you share food, you expose your heart and soul to the other person and are forever linked in friendship. So by accepting the bread, the doctor’s companion accepts the villager’s hospitality, thus keeping her pride and dignity and building a bridge between the two cultures. As a matter of fact, in many cultures, rejecting another person’s food is frequently interpreted as an insult. To avoid this, people should learn something about the culture of those with whom they are interacting. Case 3 The color of flowers has different meanings for different cultures. Yellow in particular had negative connotations for many people, such as Iranians, Peruvians, and Mexicans. It would be safer not to give yellow flowers as a gift. In Iranian culture, yellow flowers represent the enemy, and giving someone yellow flowers means that you hate the person. It can even mean that you wish the person dead. It is just the color of flowers that makes Mrs. Golestani think that Anahid hates them. However, in American culture, the meaning to th