In the process of China's feudal social history of more than two thousand years, Confucianism has always occupied a deep-rooted dominant position and had a profound and long-lasting impact on China society. China people have always regarded the thought of self-deprecation as the classic of life, which is the Confucian "golden mean" as the basic criterion of behavior. "Zhong" is the ideal realm pursued by Confucianism. In life, we should take the Confucian ideological and moral concepts of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and faithfulness as everyone's behavior guide, treat people and things, consider gentleness, kindness, courtesy, frugality and compromise in our manners and speeches, be proud of modesty, be humble-oriented, and oppose excessive self-expression. Therefore, China culture embodies the cultural characteristics of groups, which are not allowed to put individual values above group interests.
the formation of values in western countries can be traced back to the Renaissance at least. The guiding ideology of the Renaissance is humanism, that is, to advocate the individual as the center, to advocate the supremacy of individualism, and to strive to develop and express themselves. The value of the concept of "modesty" in western culture is negligible. People worship "the strong" and "the hero" in life. The strong who are capable and talented are reused, and the weak who lack self-confidence can only fall behind or be ruthlessly eliminated. Therefore, western culture embodies the characteristics of individual culture, which advocates individual value over group interests.
because of this, there are differences between Chinese and western cultures in the color of praise and criticism of some words. For example, the word ambition itself has two meanings: praise and criticism. China people use its derogatory meaning to mean "ambitious", while Britain and the United States take its positive meaning to mean "ambitious". The word Aggressive is often used in China to describe someone as "aggressive" and "aggressive", while Americans use it to describe someone as "enterprising and enterprising".
China's group culture attaches great importance to the relationship between family and friends and regards it as the cell that constitutes society; In western countries, they advocate independence, self-reliance and self-reliance. In China, people attach importance to the traditional monarch, father and son, ranking according to seniority, and the hierarchy is strict. In Britain and the United States, the elders and the younger generation have equal status, regardless of the boundaries between the old and the young, and often get along with friends. The traditional concept of China people has always advocated "four generations under one roof" and "family reunion". Since ancient times, there has been a good saying that "parents are here, don't travel far"; In Britain and America, it is inconceivable that 18-year-old children still live at home and rely on their parents. They must live independently by their own hands. Similarly, even if older parents lose their ability to take care of themselves, they will generally not drag their children down. They often have to live in nursing homes and be taken care of by society.
different cultures bring different values. Like lod, China people have always had the tradition of "respecting the elderly". "Lao" expresses the concept of respect in Chinese, such as ancestor, grandfather, old gentleman and so on. "Lao Zhang" and "Lao Wang" show respect and affection, and "Zhang Lao" and "Wang Lao" are even more respectful. China people are often very proud of their age. When talking with others, the older you are, the older your qualifications are, and the more you will be respected by others. Ginger is still old and spicy. In our view, the elderly are not only the embodiment of wisdom, but also the symbol of prestige. However, few people in western countries are willing to rely on their seniority and call themselves "old". In their view, "old" is synonymous with "useless" and is linked with the meaning of "out of fashion" and "old and useless" British and American people don't like people to say that they are old, and they won't rely on the old to sell them. In western culture, they regard age as an extremely important personal privacy. Especially for women, it is even more taboo for others to ask their age. Even if they are willing to talk about their age, they have to be guessed by others. At this time, their real purpose is to expect others to compliment them on how young they look. Another example is that the British and Americans are taboo about the word fat, and people say that fat will be frustrating, unpleasant and disgusting. When it comes to fatmeat, it will probably be considered as worthless waste that should be thrown away. China people say "chubby" and "chubby" when they see children, which shows their love for children. They say that fat means "fat" to adult men and "plump" to adult women, which means praise and compliment. In daily life and work, we often hear people say that something is a "fat meat" or a "fat job", which implies a rare thing or a desirable position. China people not only don't hate fat, but also praise it.
the same thing, different cultural backgrounds, different views. People in China despise dogs, so there are some sayings such as "running dogs", "lackeys", "shameless dogs", "dogs are desperate to jump over the wall", "dogs look down on people" and so on. In western countries, people appreciate the bravery and loyalty of dogs, and praise them frequently, and compare people to dogs. Such as aluckdog, loveme,love my dog, and Every dog has his day. Sickas a dog is used to describe people as "very ill" "Tired" is dog—tired. On the contrary, China people love cats very much, and "greedy cats" are used to describe people's greed, which is often intimate, while in western culture, "cats" are used to describe "women who harbor evil intentions".
Cultural differences between China and the West are not only manifested in differences in values and customs, but also related to differences in living environment, religious beliefs and historical allusions.
1. Living environment:
The emergence of Chinese is closely related to people's work and life. Britain is an island country, and the navigation industry once led the world in history; The Han people live and multiply in the Asian continent, and people's lives cannot be separated from the land. It is a metaphor for spending money wastefully. English is spend money like lvater, while Chinese is "spending money like water". There are many idioms about boats and water in English, but there are no identical idioms in Chinese, such as to rest on one's oars, to keep one's head above water, all at sea and so on.
In the cultural atmosphere of Chinese, "east wind" means "spring wind", and summer is often associated with intense heat. "The sun is burning like fire" and "the sun is burning like fire" are words that are often used to describe summer. However, Britain is located in the western hemisphere, the northern temperate zone, with a maritime climate, but it is the west wind that reports the news of spring. The famous British poet Shelley's "ode to the west wind" is the eulogy of spring. Summer in Britain is a warm and pleasant season, which is often associated with loveliness, gentleness and beauty. Shakespeare compared his lover to summer in one of his sonnets, shall I compare them to a summer's day? /think art more lovingly and more temperature.
2. Religious belief
Buddhism has been introduced to China for more than a thousand years. People believe that there is a "Buddha Lord" who controls everything in the world, and there are many languages related to this, such as "borrowing flowers to offer Buddha", "not burning incense in leisure, and cramming for Buddha's feet temporarily". In many western countries, especially in Britain and America, people believe in Christianity, which is related to the curse of "God helps those who help themselves" and "Go to hell".
3. Historical allusions
There are a lot of historical allusions in English and Chinese. These idioms are simple in structure and far-reaching, and often cannot be understood and translated literally. Such as "learning from the East", "falling into Sun Shan" and "Ye Gong Hao Long" and so on. Achilles'heel (the only cause of weakness), meet one's waterloo (failure), Penelope's web (never finished work), a pandora's box. (pandoras box-the root of disaster, trouble and disaster), etc.
Due to various reasons, there are so many cultural differences between China and the West, and cultural differences are obstacles to cross-cultural communication. The process of modernization has accelerated the circulation of spiritual and material products, bringing all ethnic groups into a "global village", and cross-cultural communication has become an indispensable part of every ethnic group's life. If an enterprise wants its products to sell well in the international market, it needs not only superb economic and technical means, but also a deep understanding of the culture of the target country, so that the product can meet the psychological needs of the people in the target country in terms of packaging design and practicality. For example, in China, "dragon" is our spiritual totem, a symbol of good fortune and power, and China people are also proud of being the descendants of the dragon. However, in the eyes of westerners, there is no such special feeling for "Dragon", and even "Dragon" is understood as a terrible monster that bares its teeth and claws. If an entrepreneur doesn't know much about this, he will push the products printed with "dragon" pattern to the international market. Can this product stimulate westerners' desire to buy? Whether it can create high benefits for enterprises. Therefore, overcoming the communication barriers caused by cultural differences has become a problem faced by the whole world. As an English teacher in middle school, we should pay attention to the teaching of language ability, especially to develop students' communicative competence in daily teaching, and treat the role of cultural differences in language as an important issue in English teaching.
The cultural differences between China and the West have interfered with students' English learning in middle school mainly in the following aspects:
1. Address forms
Chinese kinship terms tend to be widely used, which are often used among non-relatives: young people call their elders "uncles" and "aunts"; Call peers "Big Brother" and "Big Sister". But in English, kinship terms are not widely used for social interaction. If we call our elders whose mother tongue is English "Uncle Smith" and "Auntie Brown", they will feel uncomfortable. In English culture, such kinship terms are used only when they are closely related, without surnames, but only with first names, such as "Uncle Tom".
Another example is that students know that teacher means "teacher", and accordingly they call "Miss Wang" "Teacher Wang". In fact, teacher in English is just a profession; Chinese has a tradition of respecting teachers, and "teacher" is not only a profession, but also a kind of respect for people. Because of this cultural difference, students have a simple understanding: Teacher Wang = Teacher Wang. In addition, the "Secretary Tang" and "Nurse Zhang" customarily referred to in Chinese are called Secretary Tang, Nurse Zhang, which sounds incredible to people in English-speaking countries. In English, people are generally addressed by Mr., Miss,Mrs and so on.
2. Thanks and thanks
Generally speaking, we in China seldom use "thank you" among family members. If you use it, it will sound strange, or there will be a distance between them. In English-speaking countries, "Thank you." is used in almost all occasions, among all people, even between parents and children, brothers and sisters. Send a bottle of drink and prepare a delicious meal, the other party will say "Thank you." On public occasions, no matter what others help you, you should say "Thank you .." This is the minimum etiquette.
when someone asks if they want something to eat or drink (would you like something to eat/drink? ), we are usually used to being polite and answering: "No, don't bother" and so on. According to the custom of English-speaking countries, if you want it, you don't have to refuse and say "Yes,please." If you don't want it, just say "No,thanks.". This also fully reflects the different styles of China people who are subtle and English-speaking people who are frank and frank.
3. Praise
In English-speaking countries, praise is also often used as an introduction to conversation. The content of praise mainly includes personal appearance, appearance, newly bought things, personal belongings, personal excellent work in a certain aspect, etc. Usually when praising other people's appearance, they only praise the result of her hard dressing, not her natural beauty. Therefore, many people praise other people's hairstyles, but few praise other people's beautiful hair. The most common answer to others' compliments is: Thank you. For example, a: your skill looks nice.
b: thank you.
4 Privacy
When China people meet for the first time, they ask about their age, marriage and income, expressing their concern, while English-speaking countries are disgusted with it, thinking that these all involve personal privacy. For example, in JEFC Book 1 Lesson 16, there is such a dialogue: "How old are you,Mrs Read?" “Ah,it’s a secret! "why does Mrs Read refuse to tell her age? Because people in English-speaking countries want to look energetic and youthful in each other's eyes, and keep their actual age secret, especially women. Another example is China people's concern, "Where are you going?" "What are you doing?" In English, it becomes an interrogation to spy on others' privacy and monitor others' words, which is unpopular.
5. Greeting
People in China are used to asking, "Have you eaten?" If you say this to people in English-speaking countries, they think you want to invite them to dinner. People in English-speaking countries usually talk about weather, health, transportation, sports and hobbies.
6. Festivals
The cultural differences between China and English-speaking countries are also evident in festivals. In addition to the festivals in China and English-speaking countries (for example, New Year's Day), both sides also have their own unique festivals. China has The Spring Festival, The Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Day, etc. English-speaking countries have Valentine's Day, Easter, April fool's Day, Thanks Giving Day and Christmas Day.