ReferenceLanguage is the principal means whereby we conduct our lives and belongs to a typical symbol that records and expresses different cultures. History, worldview, beliefs, values, religions, and social organization may all be reflected through different languages and linguistic varieties in a culture. Language is a reflection of culture. So the linguistic differences are due to the relative cultural differences and influences. Negation is a universal linguistic phenomenon for almost all the languages in the world. Different languages have different ways to express negation. Negation is defined as “the absence or opposite of some positive thing or quality” in the World Book Dictionary and in Chinese “否定” is defined as “否定事物的存在或事物的真实性；表示否认的，反面的”. Follow ing it will describe the cultural influences on the form and use of negation in English and Chinese. And then the importance of culture will be emphasized in language use.1. Cultural Influences on the Form of NegationCulture has great influence upon language. In English and Chinese, negation is also influenced by two cultures and especially on the form of negation. Chinese culture belongs to HC culture and English culture belongs to LC culture. In 1976 Edward T. Hall defined the two terms—HC and LC as the following: “A high context (HC) communication or message” is the one in which most of the information is already in the person, while very little is in the coded, explicitly transmitted part of the message. LC is just the opposite. So because English culture belongs to LC culture and Chinese culture belongs to HC culture, English is hypotactic and Chinese is paratactic, English is more diverse than Chinese in negative words. For example, English negative words like not, no, never, hardly, seldom, few, nor, none, etc. and the forms in 3.3. In contrast to English, the common negative words in Chinese are不(adv.), 没（有）(adv./v.) and别(adv.). And English is more complex than Chinese in negative structures. English language is alphabetic, so the English-speaking people like abstract thinking, which causes expressing themselves with complex structures. Chinese characters are pictographic and ideographic, and the Chinese-speaking peopleare good at thinking in terms of image. As to the negative structure, English negation is more complicated than Chinese negation.2. Cultural Influences on the Use of NegationLanguage is the carrier of culture. Culture has great influence on language not only in terms of form but also in terms of use. Therefore, there are cultural influences on the use of negation in English and Chinese.(1) In Western countries, English-speaking people use the affirmative way to expressa negative response, and the negative way to confirm a negative statement. For example,a: A: He isn’t from China, is he?B: Yes, he is.b. A: He isn’t from China, is he?B: No, he isn’t.In English, the response to the negative statement is in accordance with the corresponding statement. If the statement is positive, yes is used and if the statement is negative, no is used. But in Chinese, people will use the affirmative way to confirm a negative statement, and the negative way to deny a negative statement. The answer depends on people’s attitudes towards the question itself. That’s to say, if you agree to the ideas and you say “yes”; if not then you say “no”. The Chinese relative responses to the former example are:a. A: 他不来自于中国，是不是？B: 不，他来自中国。

b. A: 他不来自于中国，是不是？B: 是的，他不来自中国。

So because different customs and thinking modes existed in English and Chinese, people will use different even opposite answers to express their meanings of yes or no on the use of negation.(2) In Western countries, people often have the thought of equality. They like to treat others as equals and prefer to be treated in the same manner. They pay enough attention on equality that has been the public principle. If using some public toolssuch as advertisements, newspapers, etc. to give a warning, they often use a positive way and speak in a smooth and soft manner. For example, the English-speaking people often use the sentence “Keep off the grass” to remind the passers-by not to walk on the grass.Chinese people often tend to be self-centered, and Chinese people will adopt a strong-worded statement, usually use a negative way and express something directly and rigidly. Foe example, in order to describe the warning that reminds the passers-by not to walk on the grass, Chinese will directly use 勿踏草坪(Don’t walk on the grass) to warn people. People’s ways of speaking and thinking patterns are different are due to their different cultural background. Therefore, the use of languages also has greatly influenced by the culture and has many differences.(3) Individualism is the principle and thought of people in Western countries. English-speaking people are open, frank and honest. They are direct in speech and they use yes or no to express their individual opinions directly. The Chinese people tend to be situation-oriented. They may seem passive and ask a lot of questions or probe for information. In actuality, they are relating each event to the situation and trying to view it totally (Samovar, 1995:231). So Chinese people will use yes for no and no for yes to avoid hurting. The use of indirectness helps to prevent the embarrassment of rejection by the other people or disagreement among partners, leaving the relationship and the face of each party intact. So the use of language is deeply affected by the cultural influence.Language is a set of symbols and the rules for combining those symbols that are used and understood by a large community of people. Language is part of the culture. There is no one aspect of human life that is not touched and altered by culture. The origin of linguistic differences is the cultural differences. Culture reflects and affects language. So the differences on the form and use of negation between English and Chinese are due to different cultural backgrounds.3. The Importance of CultureCulture is everywhere. All the experience, education, language and so on created byhumankind are regarded as culture, whatever it is comprehensive ones like world-outlook, space-time outlook, philosophy, and value etc. or it is concrete ones like basic necessities of life, marriage and funeral. All these social life style, behavior, hierarchy, norm and moral and so on all belong to culture. Culture has material culture and nonmaterial culture. Material culture refers to tangible items such as cars, watches, television sets, and horses. Nonmaterial culture contains intangible elements such as values, norms, beliefs, emotions, attitudes, aspirations, laws and symbols. Culture is the deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, actions, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and artifacts acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving. Shapiro once said the discovery of culture, the awareness that it shapes and molds our behavior, our values and even our ideas, the recognition that it contains some element of the arbitrary, can be a startling or an illuminating experience. Culture is learned: from infancy, people need to learn their patterns of behavior and ways of thinking in their cultures. Different cultures will produce and create different rules, beliefs and behaviors. At the same time, cultures are dynamic systems that do not exist in a vacuum, so they are subject to change. Culture is changing and it’s important to know and study culture to avoid making mistakes in people’s life.What’s more important is that culture is based on symbols, especially based on language. The emergence of language was the giant step that made possible the remarkable and intricate system we call culture. An anthropologist said that human culture without language is unthinkable. Language thus enables people to communicate what they would do if such-and-such happened, to organize their experiences into abstract categories, and to express thoughts never spoken before (Bates and Plog). Because language is a reflection of culture and language is affected by culture, so the importance of culture should be noticed and emphasized. Culture functions as an integrated whole and is systemic. All in all, culture needs to be paid much more attention to and culture is important.Negation is a universal linguistic phenomenon for almost all the languages in theworld and is important as well as frequent in everyday social interactions. When people are trying to recognize the form of negation and even to use it in English or in Chinese, please do not forget to pay special attention to the cultural differences and influences between each other, because any language is a reflection of culture. Only can you realize the importance of cultural influences, people will improve their way of using language properly and correctly.(Eugene A. Nida, Language and Culture: Contexts and Beyond )。