【Translation】1、纵观历史，我们可以清楚地看到，人们由于彼此所处地域、意识形态、容貌服饰和行为举止上存在的差异，而长久无法互相理解、无法和睦相处。

在这种情况下，跨文化交际作为一个特定的研究领域得以形成和发展。

值得注意的是，人类文明在发展过程中所遭受的许多挫折，既是个人的，又是全球性的；人类历史进程总是充满了个人间的直接冲突和民族间的误解——从骂骂咧咧到孤立主义直至到武装冲突，大大小小争端不绝。

很显然，文化间以及亚文化间的交往比以前多了，这迫切要求我们共同努力，去理解有着不同信仰和文化背景的人们，并与之和睦相处。

通过加深认识和理解，我们能够与生活方式、价值观念不同的人们和平共处；这不但有益于我们周遭环境的安定，也是维护世界和平的决定性因素。

2、文化有时候被称为我们的心智程序，我们“头脑的软件”。

但是，我们可以进一步引申这个用电脑所做的类比，把文化看作是支持运行的操作环境。

文化就像电脑使用的DOS 或者Unix 或者“视窗”（Windows）等操作系统一样，使我们能在各种各样的实际应用中处理信息。

用“视窗”这个比喻来描述文化似乎也很有吸引力。

文化就是我们心灵的视窗，透过它我们审视生活的方方面面。

一个社会中不同个体的视窗是不大一样的，但都有着一些重要的共同特征。

文化就好像是鱼畅游于其中的水一般，人们想当然地把文化看成是客观存在的事实，因而很少去研究它。

文化存在于我们所呼吸的空气之中，文化对于我们了解我们自身之为何物是必不可少的，就正如生命离不开空气一样。

文化是特定群体的共有财产，而不单是个体的特征。

社会按照文化设定的程序运作，这种程序来自于相似的生活体验以及对这种生活体验之含义的相似阐释。

如果文化是一种心智程序，那么它也是现实的心灵地图。

从我们很小的时候开始，文化就告诉我们应该看重什么、偏好什么、规避什么和做些什么，文化还告诉我们事物应该是什么样。

文化为我们提供超越个体经验可能的理想典范，帮助我们决定应该优先考虑的人或事。

文化为我们建立起行为准则，并视遵守这些准则的行为为正当、合法。

3、虽然，我们每个人都有各自一套独特的价值观，但在每一文化里，总有弥漫于整个文化之中的普遍的价值观。

这些被称作文化价值观,文化价值观通常是规范性的，它使文化的成员知道什么是好的和坏的、什么是正确的和错误的、什么是真的和假的、什么是积极的和消极的，等等。

文化价值规定了什么是值得为之献身的，什么是值得维护的，什么会危及人们及其社会制度，什么是学习的恰当内容，什么是可讽刺嘲笑的，什么是形成群体团结的途径。

文化价值观也指明了文化中的什么行为是举足轻重的，哪些是应当尽力避免的。

价值观是人们在做出抉择和解决争端时作为依据的一种习得的规则体系。

跨文化交际的参与者所具有的价值观是十分重要的，因为价值观产生出决定何为正当或不正当社会行为的标准。

换言之，价值观有助于人们决定他们的行为方式，以符合他们的价值系统所期望的行为准则。

由于文化价值系统之间存在差异，我们可以预见，在相似的情境中，跨文化交际的参与者会表现出并期待着不同的行为。

4、我们说语言总是模糊的，指的是我们所说所写的东西总不能完全表达我们的意图。

我们通过说话和写作所传达的意思不仅仅由词语和句子本身决定，听众和读者的理解也起到了一定的作用。

换言之，是交际双方共同创造了语言所表达的意思。

语言的模糊性是与生俱来的。

为了沟通，我们必须自己推断出对方的意思，除此之外别无他法。

在理解别人说话时，我们必须推测这些话的意思。

这些推测主要基于以下两个来源：（1）他们所使用的语言；（2）我们的世界知识。

这种知识包括能够预知在某种特定语境下人们通常会说些什么。

语言是模糊的。

这意味着无论是读或写，我们永远无法完全地领会他人的意思。

换言之，语言永远无法完全地表达我们的意思。

然而，这对跨文化交际意味着什么呢？首先必须明白，如果交际参与者拥有更多共同的预期和世界知识，交际便会有比较好的效果。

共同的背景、历史和经历使得人们之间的交际较为容易，因为任何一方对另一方用意的推测都基于共同的经验和知识。

来自同一个村子、同一个家庭的两个人当然要比来自地球不同半球不同城市的两个人少犯交际上的错误，至少不会在推测对方用意上闹笑话。

5、由于在性别、年龄、种族或文化群体、教育、国家或城市的地域、收入或职业群体、个人经历等各方面的差异，人们分属不同的语言群体，这些差异使我们很难完全领会另一个群体成员所表达的意思。

在当今世界的跨文化交际中，人们之间的差异是相当大的。

人们每天要与来自世界各地不同文化背景、不同群体的人交往，成功交际的关键在于尽可能地共享对话语意义的推定。

当我们与迥然不同的人打交道时，我们往往不知道该怎样推导出他们的语句意义。

因此，在交际过程中，就很难依靠共享的知识和背景来有把握地诠释他人表达的意义。

就是来自相同文化、甚至相同家庭中的男性和女性也会经常误解对方的意思，原因是男性和女性对交际目的有不同的预期。

为了让女人高兴，男人要送她一件她真正想要的礼物。

他问女人想要什么礼物——哪怕是上天摘星星。

糟糕的是，女人最想要的却是男人可以凭直觉就知道她想要的是什么。

至少在北美社会中，男性和女性对于表达的看法往往不同：前者倾向于直接明了，后者则倾向于间接委婉。

女性觉得不用直接问就知道她想要什么是很重要的。

男性则觉得，如果女性能爽快地告诉他怎样做才能让她高兴就再好不过了。

6、非言语交际被认为是不直接依靠语言使用的任何交际方式。

然而，一般来说，很难知道言语交际方式与非言语交际方式的区分到底在哪儿。

有些非言语交际方式，例如点头，总是伴随着言语，而且是语言使用时言语系统的一部分。

另一方面，像舞蹈和音乐等交际形式常常是没有任何言语成分的。

我们在这里想做的只是要引起大家对一个事实的注意，即人类交往的许多方面都依赖于那些不能轻易转换为言语、但却对我们相互理解至关重要的交际形式。

当然, 我们不能不强调口语和书面语交际的重要性，然而我们也必须意识到许多交际的发生并不使用语言。

一个人出席会议时的穿着会可能是暗示其他与会者，他或她打算如何参与会议。

事实上，我们能运用我们行为或表现的任何方面来和他人进行交际。

7、今天有许多人总想在很短的时间内做很多的事，这种时间观念可以称作“时间强迫”行为综合症，就是不断地试图超越人类能力所限去完成更多的事情。

直到不久以前，时间强迫” 还一直被认为是美国人、尤其是出生于从经济大萧条时期直到第二次世界大战结束这个阶段一代美国男性的重要特征。

很明显, 这种“时间强迫”的观念现在已不再仅仅是这一代美国男性的文化特征，它已成为亚洲“工薪阶层”的一个特点，并作为商务国际化的一个方面而迅速传遍整个世界。

这种时间观念最重要的影响之一就是：在某个交际情境中，节奏较快的交际参与者几乎总会对较慢的参与者做某种消极的评价。

那些共享“时间强迫”观念的人通常会觉得其他行动比他们慢的人是保守的、不合作的、阻止变化的、反对进步的。

隐藏在“时间强迫”观念之后的是那种未来永远好于过去的理念，而这一理念是牢固地建立在对进步的信仰基础之上的。

8、如果接受这样的信念，认为以往的存在状况影响着我们对现实的看法，并且接受相应的原则，认为每个人都有着相似的但又不完全一样的个人经历，那么，随之就得到这样的结论：另一个人对宇宙的描述不一定会和我们对宇宙的描述完全一样。

然而，我们大多数人似乎仍认为我们自己感知事物的方法是唯一正确的。

我们常常忽略感知的差异，并且断定，如果一个人不知道巴比罗•毕加索是有史以来最伟大的艺术家，他简直就不懂艺术。

实际上，他很可能有着不同的经历，对他来说，什么是伟大的艺术跟我们对于艺术的感知或许并不一致。

在我们的日常活动中，感知差异常常出现在不同的群体之间。

不同年代的人、不同少数民族、不同职业和不同文化有着相冲突的价值观念和目标，这些都影响着他们对于现实的感知和解释。

我们的文化是导致感知不一致的主要因素。

文化影响着我们对于现实看法的形成。

因此，它在跨文化交际中起着一种主导作用。

我们的文化以各种方式告诉我们，怎样去判断别人，使用什么标准去做判断。

这样评价的危险在于它们常常是不真实的，武断的并导致误解的。

相信并在行为中表现出仿佛只有我们和我们的文化才发现了最真实而且是唯一的标准，对世界持这样的看法是极其天真幼稚的。

9、身处异域文化的人们总会面临着这样一个问题，即为了适应当地人的信仰、价值观、准则和社会规范，到底需要在多大程度上改变自己的行为举止呢？在交往中谁有责任把文化差异考虑在内？是应该让来访者、新来的人或旅居者调整自己的行为以适应当地文化，还是让当地人改变交流方式，从而为初来乍到的人们提供便利？人们必须多大程度地改变自己文化的信仰、价值观、准则和社会行为来以适应主导文化的模式呢？俗话说“入乡随俗”，很明显，这让改变的重任落在了新来者的身上。

话虽很有道理，但并不能适用于所有情况。

在大多数情况下，顺应当地文化期望的行为表现出对异文化和习俗的尊重。

这样的顺应能够使新来者真正地与当地人进行交流和互动。

尊重不同文化中语言和非语言代码的差异意味着跨文化交际者有责任合理地、尽可能多地学习这些交际代码。

当然，如何才算合理的、尽可能多的，那要视具体情况而定。

有的时候，新来者全面地采用当地的文化规则可能会被视为无礼的行为，使属于当地文化群体的人们感到不安。

10、理想的减少交际失误的办法是同交际的其他参与者共享知识。

这就是为什么同一文化群体的成员之间最容易交际的原因。

这也解释了为什么在社交上人们总是同与自己很接近的人聚在一起。

当你不必费力就能理解所发生的事情或者让别人明白你的意图时，交际将变得更为轻松顺畅。

遗憾的是，在大多数情况下，这样的联系在交际中时常是不可能存在的。

我们甚至可以进一步说，那不仅是不可能的，而且也是不受欢迎的。

今天, 交际发生的情境常常是不同文化群体成员之间在交际。

由于跨文化交际是在不同文化群体成员之间进行的，因此，既然我们之间不共享知识、假设、价值观念和话语形式，我们必须预料到相互理解时将会发生问题。

我们必须注意这些问题，根据我们之间的差异预计哪儿会出现问题，接着调整我们的交际使之尽可能有效。

和其他群体共享知识并不等同于要加入那个群体并成为其成员。

有些群体对吸纳新成员相当排斥。

在提高跨文化交际能力时，我们应该记住, 无论我们多么地了解并欣赏另一种文化，都不太可能成为这种文化的成员。

关键是要尽可能地了解其他文化，以便理解和掌握相互之间的差异和共性。

【Case Study】Case 1In this case, there seemed to beproblems in communicating withpeople of different cultures in spiteof the efforts made to achieveunderstanding. We should know thatin Egypt as in many cultures, thehuman relationship is valued sohighly that it is not expressed in anobjective and impersonal way. WhileAmericans certainly value humanrelationships, they are more likely tospeak of them in less personal, moreobjective terms. In this case,Richard‘s mistake might be that hechose to praise the food itself ratherthan the total evening, for which thefood was simply the setting or excuse.For his host and hostess it was as ifhe had attended an art exhibit andcomplimented the artist bysaying, ―What beautiful framesyour pictures are in.‖In Japan thesituation may be more complicated.Japanese people value order andharmony among persons in a group,and that the organization itself－beit a family or a vast corporation－ismore valued than the characteristicsof any particular member. Incontrast, Americans stressindividuality as a value and are aptto assert individual differences whenthey seem justifiably in conflict withthe goals or values of the group. Inthis case: Richard‘s mistake was inmaking great efforts to defendhimself. Let the others assume thatthe errors were not intentional, but itis not right to defend yourself, evenwhen your unstated intent is to assistthe group by warning others ofsimilar mistakes. A simple apologyand acceptance of the blame wouldhave been appropriate. But for poorRichard to have merely apologizedwould have seemed to him to besubservient, unmanly. When itcomes to England, we expect fewerproblems between Americans andEnglishmen than between Americansand almost any other group. In thiscase we might look beyond thegesture of taking sugar or cream tothe values expressed in this gesture:for Americans, ―Help yourself‖; forthe English counterpart, ―Be myguest.‖ American and English peopleequally enjoy entertaining and beingentertained but they differ somewhatin the value of the distinction.Typically, the ideal guest at anAmerican party is one who ―makeshimself at home,‖ even to the point ofanswering the door or fixing his owndrink. For persons in many othersocieties, including at least thishypothetical English host, such guestbehavior is presumptuous or rude.Case 2A common culturalmisunderstanding in classes involvesconflicts between what is said to bedirect communication style andindirect communication style. InAmerican culture, people tend to say what is on their minds and to mean what they say. Therefore, students in class are expectd to ask questions when they need clarification. Mexican culture shares this preference of style with American culture in some situations, and that‘s why the students from Mexico readily adopted the techniques of asking questions in class. However, Korean people generally prefer indirect communication style, and therefore they tend to not say what is on their minds and to rely more on implications and inference, so as to be polite and respectful and avoid losing face through any improper verbal behavior. As is mentioned in the case, to many Koreans, numerous questions would show a disrespect for the teacher, and would also reflect that the student has not studied hard enough.Case 3The conflict here is a difference in cultural values and beliefs. In the beginning, Mary didn‘t realize that her Dominican sister saw her as a member of the family, literally. In the Dominican view, family possessions are shared by everyone of the family. Luz was acting as most Dominican sisters would do in borrowing without asking every time. Once Mary understood that there was a different way of looking at this, she would become more accepting. However, she might still experience the same frustration when this happened again. She had to find ways to cope with her own emotional cultural reaction as well as her practical problem (the batteries running out).Case 4It might be simply a question of different rhythms. Americans have one rhythm in their personal and family relations, in their friendliness and their charities. People from other cultures have different rhythms. The American rhythm is fast. It is characterized by a rapid acceptance of others. However, it is seldom that Americans engage themselves entirely in a friendship. Their friendships are warm, but casual, and specialized. For example, you have a neighbor who drops by in the morning for coffee. Y ou see her frequently, but you never invite her for dinner --- not because you don‘t think she could handle a fork and a knife, but because you have seen her that morning. Therefore, you reserve your more formal invitation to dinner for someone who lives in a more distant part of the city and whom you would not see unless you extended an invitation for a special occasion. Now, if the first friend moves away and the second one moves nearby, you are likely to reverse this --- see the second friend in the mornings for informal coffee meetings, and the first one you will invite more formally to dinner. Americans are, in other words, guided very often by their own convenience. They tend to make friends easily, and they don‘t feel it necessary to go to a great amount of trouble to see friends often when it becomes inconvenient to do so, and usually no one is hurt. But in similar circumstances people from many other cultures would be hurt very deeply.Case 5In China, it is often not polite to accept a first offer and Heping was being modest, polite and well-behaved and had every intention of accepting the beer at the second or third offer. But he had not figured on North American rules which firmly say that you do not push alcoholic beverages on anyone.A person may not drink for religious reasons, he may be a reformed alcoholic, or he may be allergic. Whatever the reason behind the rule, you do not insist in offering alcohol. So unconscious and so strong are their cultural rules that the Americans equally politely never made a second offer of beer to Heping who probably thought NorthAmericans most uncouth. However,what we have to remember is thatcultures are seldom a strict either-orin every instance for all people andthere are always individualdifferences. Probably this youngChinese nurse was very differentfrom Heping or, unlike Heping, shemay have known something aboutthe American cultural rules and wasjust trying to behave like anAmerican when she was in anAmerican family.Case 6When a speaker says something to ahearer, there are at least three kindsof meanings involved: utterancemeaning, speaker‘s meaning andhearer‘s meaning. In the dialogue,when Litz said How long is shegoing to stay?‘ she meant to say thatif she knew how long hermother-in-law was going to stay inFinland, she would be able to makeproper arrangements for her, such astaking her out to do some sightseeing.However, her mother-in-lawoverheard the conversation, andtook Litz‘s question to mean ―Litzdoes not want me to stay for long‖.From the Chinese point of view, itseems to be inappropriate for Litz toask such a question just two daysafter her mother-in-law‘s arrival. Ifshe feels she has to ask the question,it would be better to ask some timelater and she should not let hermother-in-law hear it.Case 7Keiko insists on giving valuable giftsto her college friends, because incountries like Japan, exchanginggifts is a strongly rooted socialtradition. Should you receive a gift,and don‘t have one to offer in return,you will probably create a crisis. Ifnot as serious as a crisis, one whodoesn‘t offer a gift in return may beconsidered rude or impolite.Therefore, in Japan, gifts are asymbolic way to show appreciation,respect, gratitude and furtherrelationship. Keiko obviously hastaken those used items from Mary,Ed and Marion as gifts, for sheprobably doesn‘t kno w thatAmericans frequently donate theirused household items to church or tothe community. Mary, Ed andMarion would never consider thoseused household items given to Keikoas gifts. No wonder they felt veryuncomfortable when they receivedvaluable gifts in return.Case 8As the Chinese girl Amy fell in lovewith an American boy at that time, itseems that she preferred to celebrateChristmas in the American way, forshe wanted very much to appear thesame as other American girl. She didnot like to see her boyfriend feeldisappointed at the ―shabby‖Chinese Christmas. That‘s why shecried when she found out herparents had invited the minister ‘sfamily over for the Christmas Evedinner. She thought the menu for theChristmas meal created by hermother a strange one because therewere no roast turkey and sweetpotatoes but only Chinese food. Howcould she notice then the foodschosen by her mother were all herfavorites? From this case, we canfind a lot of differences between theChinese and Western cultures inwhat is appropriate food for abanquet, what are good tablemanners, and how one shouldbehave to be hospitable. However,one should never feel shameful justbecause one‘s culture is differentfrom others‘. As Amy‘s mother toldher, you must be proud to bedifferent, and your only shame is tohave shame.Case 9Hierarchy is significant in theJapanese culture. This structure isreflected everywhere in Japanese life,at home, school, community,organizations, and traditionalinstitutions such as martial arts orflower arrangements. In this case,the young chairman must have hadhis own ideas about how to managethe company; however, whenencountered with his grandfather‘sdissenting opinions, he dared not totake a stand against him. This maymanifest the rigid hierarchicalstructure in the Japanese society. Inthe Japanese society, how hierarchyis formed depends mainly onseniority, company, the grandfatherobviously overpowered theinexperienced young chairman. Inother words, the grandfather seemedto be an absolute authority for theyoung chairman. In Japaneseculture, challenging or disagreeingwith elders‘ opinions would bedeemed as being disrespectful and isoften condemned. People in lowerpositions are expected to be loyaland obedient to authority. That‘swhy the young chairman didn‘t sayanything but just nodded and agreedwith his grandfather. But Philseemed to know little about theJapanese culture in this aspect. Inmany Western cultures, particularlyAmerican culture, seniority seldommatters very much in such situations,and young people are usuallyencouraged to challenge authorityand voice their own opinions.Unfortunately, his outspoken protestcould easily offend the grandfatherand he might be regarded as a rudeand ill-bred person by otherJapanese.Case 10In Japan, a company is often verymuch like a big family, in which themanger(s) will take good care of theemployees and the employees areexpected to devote themselves to thedevelopment of the company and, ifit is necessary, to sacrifice their ownindividual interests for the interestsof the company, from which, in thelong run, the employees will benefitgreatly. But for the French, acompany is just a loosely- knit socialorganization wherein individuals aresupposed to take care of themselvesand their families. Moreover, theway the French make decisions inthe family might also be differentfrom the typical Japanese one, whichmay not often involve females andthe power to decide usually lies withthe dominating male. As there aresuch cultural differences between theJapanese and the French, Mr.Legrand‘s decision made Mr.Tanaka feel dumbfounded.Case 11Incidents such as these can point topossible cultural differences inso-called ―polite‖ behavior, and atthe same time highlight the tendencyfor people to react emotionally tounexpected behavior. People in mostcultures would probably agree thatan apology is needed when anoffence or violation of social normshas taken place. However, there maybe differing opinions as to when weshould apologize (what situationscall for an apology) and how weshould apologize. To manyWesterners, Japanese apologizemore frequently and an apology inJapanese does not necessarily meanthat the person is acknowledging afault. To many Japanese, Westernersmay seem to be rude just becausethey do not apologize as often as theJapanese would do. In this case, forinstance, the attitude of theAustralian student‘s parents isshocking to the Japanese but will beacceptable in an English-speakingsociety, for the student is already anadult and can be responsible for herown deeds.Case 12In this case, it seems that the Chineseexpectations were not fulfilled. First,having two people sharing hostresponsibilities could be somewhatconfusing to the hierarchicallyminded Chinese. Second, becauseage is often viewed as an indicationof seniority, the Chinese might haveconsidered the youth of theirCanadian hosts as slight to their ownstatus. Third, in China, it istraditional for the host to offer awelcome toast at the beginning of themeal, which is the reciprocated bythe guests; by not doing so, theCanadian might be thought rude.The abrupt departure of the Chinesefollowing the banquet was probablyan indication that they were notpleased with the way they weretreated. The Canadians‘ lack ofunderstanding of the Chinese cultureand the Chinese ways ofcommunication clearly cost them intheir business dealings with thevisiting delegation.Case 13This example vividly illustrates thatfailures in intercultural translationmay probably lead to very seriousconsequence, or even disasters tohuman beings. Definitely, translationis not such a simple process asrendering a word, a sentence or atext literally, but rather a far morecomplex one than most peopleassumed. For example, once aChinese cosmetic manufacturerwanted to promote their productsinto the international market. Theslogan of the advertisementwas: ―sweet as Jade‖, since inChinese ―jade‖was alwaysemployed to complim ent woman‘sbeauty; but unfortunately, it was notan appropriate word to describe thebeauty of a lady in Western cultures.In English, ―jade‖ in its use ofreferring a woman had theconnotations such as vulgar, rude,immoral, or skittish. Undoubtedly,the sales in European countries werenot satisfying. The seemingequivalents between languages mayhave very different connotations indifferent cultures, thus the translatorshould be cautious in the process ofdoing the translation so as to avoidmisunderstandings.Case 14―杨‖ refers to Y ang Kaihui who wasMao Zedong’s deceased wife and ―柳‖ refers to Liu Zhixun who was LiShuyi‘s deceased husband. They canbe translated in different ways, but itseems to be very difficult, if notimpossible, to achieve equivalence intranslating from Chinese intoEnglish. Adopting the literaltranslation strategy, version 1appears to be faithful to the originalbut may easily confuse the readers inthe target language. Version 2employs the liberal translationstrategy with an attempt to conveythe original meaning as precisely aspossible. However, the originalpoetic flavor is lost as the rhetoricdevice — pun — is not reproduced.Case 15The translation seems to be faithfulto the original, but it may not bereally good for the purpose ofintercultural communication.Foreign readers of the translationmay find it strange andinappropriate. The following is whata friendly American journalist hascommented on the translation: Myfirst reaction was unfortunatelylaughter because it is so full ofmistakes. It omits some necessaryinformation about the Dragon-BoatFestival, including its historicalorigins and when it actually takesplace. These things are important…The copy seems to try to ―snow‖ thereader with fanciful, overblownassertions about how terrific it all is,but in unintentionally hilariouslanguage that leaves the readerlaughing out uninformed… Thebrochure also suffers from lack ofbackground material, thetaking-if-for-granted that the readeralready is familiar with manyaspects of Chinese history andculture… It doesn‘t tell you where togo, how to get there, when things areopen and closed, how much they cost,and so forth. All these are thingspeople visiting an area want to know.Why is it that many Chinese travelguides read basically the same, nomatter what region is being writtenabout, and are so packed withindiscriminate hyperbole? Lessexaggeration would actually be moreconvincing.Case 16Comparing the two English versions,we can see that in Y ang‘s version more culturally-loaded meanings are conveyed from the original while Hawkes‘ s version may be easier for English speaking readers to comprehend. Look at some of the differences between the two versions of this extract:贾母老祖宗凤辣子The Lady Dowager / Grandmother Jia Old Ancestress / Granny dear Fiery Phoenix / Peppercorn Feng二舅母王氏Lady Wang, her second uncle‘s wife / her Uncle Zheng‘s wife, Lady Wang学名叫做王熙凤Wang Xi-feng the school-room name His-feng / the somewhat boyish-sounding name of黛玉忙赔笑见礼，以“嫂”呼之Tai-yu lost no time in greeting her with a smile as ―cousin.‖/Dai-yu accordingly smiled and curt-eyed, greeting her by her correct name as she did so.竟不象老祖宗的外孙女儿She doesn‘t take after her father, son-in-law of our Old Ancestress /She doesn‘t take after your side of the family, Ganny. 怨不得老祖宗天天嘴里心里放不下No wonder our Old Ancestress couldn‘t put you out of her mind and was for ever talking and thinking about you. / I don‘t blame you for having gone on so about her during the past few days 现吃什么药？What medicine are you taking? / Not translated And there are some culturally-loaded expressions in the text that seem to defy translation:琏二嫂子内侄女以“嫂”呼之外孙女儿嫡亲的孙女儿妹妹By comparing different translations of the same text, we can achieve a better understanding of cultural gaps and differences and then learn to employ proper strategies to bridge those gaps in translating across languages for intercultural communication.Case 17When these two men separate, they may leave each other with very different impressions. Mr Richardson is very pleased to have made the acquaintance of Mr Chu and feels they have gotten off to a very good start. They have established their relationship on a first-name basis and Mr Chu‘s smile seemed to indicate that he will be friendly and easy to do business with. Mr Richardson is particularly pleased that he had treated Mr Chu with respect for his Chinese background by calling him Hon-fai rather than using the western name, David, which seemed to him an unnecessary imposition of western culture. In contrast, Mr Chu feels quite uncomfortable with Mr Richardson. He feels it will be difficult to work with him, and that Mr Richardson might be rather insensitive to cultural differences. He is particularly bothered that, instead of calling him David or Mr Chu, Mr Richardson used his given name, Hon-fai, the name rarely used by anyone, in fact. It was this embarrassment which caused him to smile. He would feel more comfortable if they called each other Mr Chu and Mr Richardson. Nevertheless, when he was away at school in North America he learned that Americans feel uncomfortable calling people Mr for any extended period of time. His solution was to adopt a western name. He chose David for use in such situations.Case 18Even if the American knew Urdu, the language spoken in Pakistan, he would also have to understand the culture of communication in that country to respond appropriately. In this case, he had to say ―No‖ at least three times. In some countries, for instance, the Ukraine, it may happen that a guest is pressed as many as seven or eight times to take more food, whereas in the UK it would be unusual to do so more than twice. For a Ukrainian, to do it the British way would suggest the person is not actually generous. Indeed, British recipients of such hospitality sometimes feel that their host is behaving impolitely by forcing them into a bind, since they run out of polite refusal strategies long before the Ukrainian host has exhaustedhis/her repertoire of polite insistencestrategies.Case 19Talk ing about what‘s wrong is noteasy for people in any culture, butpeople in high-context countries likeChina put high priority on keepingharmony, preventing anyone fromlosing face, and nurturing therelationship. It seems that Ron Kellyhad to learn a different way ofsending message when he was inChina. At home in Canada he wouldhave gone directly to the point. Butin China, going directly to theproblem with someone may suggestthat he or she has failed to live up tohis or her responsibility and thehonor of his or her organization is inquestion. In high-context cultureslike China, such a message is seriousand damaging. In low-contextcultures, however, the tendency isjust to ―spit it out,‖ to get it intowords and worry about the resultlater. Senders of unwelcomemessages use objective facts,assuming, as with persuasion, thatfacts are neutral, instrumental, andimpersonal. Indirectness is often theway members of high-contextcultures choose to communicateabout a problem.Case 20It seems that the letters of requestwritten in English as well as inChinese by Chinese people are likelyto preface the request with extendedface-work. To Chinese people, thenormal and polite way to form arequest requires providing reasonsthat are usually placed before therequests. Of course, this is just theinverse of English conventions inwhich requests are fronted withoutmuch face-work. In the view of theEnglish-speaking people, the openinglines of Chinese requests and someother speech acts do not usuallyprovide a thesis or topic statementwhich will orient the listener to theoverall direction of thecommunication. Worst of all, thelack of precision and the failure toaddress the point directly may leadto suspicions that the Chinesespeakers are beating around thebush. To them, the presence of aclear and concise statement of whatis to be talked about will make thespeech more precise, more dramatic,and more eloquent. However, theChinese learning and using Englishin communication may find itdifficult to come to terms with thecommon English tendency to beginwith a topic statement. In theChinese culture, stating one‘srequest or main point at thebeginning would make the personseem immodest, pushy, andinconsiderate for wanting things. Ifyour speech gives others theimpression that you are demandingsomething, you would lose face foracting aggressively and notconsidering the others. Thus you‘dbe hurting people by claimingsomething for yourself. In such asituation, it is usually considered asmart strategy if you carefullydelineate the justifications that willnaturally lead to your request orargument. Therefore, instead ofstating their proposition somewherein the beginning and thenproceeding to build their case,Chinese people often first establish ashared context with which to judgetheir requests or arguments. Onlyafter carefully prefacing them withan avalanche of relevant details, as ifto nullify any opposition, will theypresent the requests or arguments.Case 21Sometimes our best intentions canlead to breakdowns in cross-culturalcommunication. For example, one ofthe very common manners oftouching --- handshaking --- mayresult in conflict when performedwith no consideration of culturaldifferences. Among middle-classNorth American men, it is customaryto shake hands as a gesture offriendship. When wanting tocommunicate extra friendliness, amale in the United States may, whileshaking hands, grasp with his lefthand his friend‘s right arm.However, to people of MiddleEastern countries, the left hand isprofane and touching someone withit is highly offensive. Therefore, inVernon‘s eyes, Kenneth was actuallyan extremely offensive message tohim.Case 22In Puerto Rican culture, as in someother Latin American and Easterncultures, it is not right for a child tokeep an eye-contact with an adultwho is accusing him or her, while inthe United States, failing of meetingother person‘s eye accusing him orher would be taken as a sign ofguiltiness. As the principal knewlittle about this cultural difference inusing eye-contact, he decided thatthe girl must be guilty. Generallyspeaking, avoiding eye-contact withthe other(s) is often considered as aninsult in some cultures, but maysignify respect for authority andobedience in other cultures.Case 23Just like smile, laughing does notalways serve the same function indifferent cultures. Interestingly, forus Chinese, laughing often has aspecial function on some tense socialoccasions. People may laugh torelease the tension orembarrassment, to express theirconcern about you, their intention toput you at ease or to help you comeout of the embarrassment. In thiscase, the people there were actuallywishing to laugh with the Americanrather than laugh at her. Theirlaughing seemed to convey a numberof messages: don‘t take it soseriously; laugh it off, it‘s nothing;such things can happen to any of us,etc. Unfortunately the American wasunaware of this. She thought theywere laughing at her, which madeher feel more badly and angry, for inher culture laughing on such anoccasion would be interpreted as aninsulting response, humiliating andnegative.Case 24It is obvious that there exists somedifference between the British andGermans in their use of touch. Thelack of touch that seems to benatural in Britain may be consideredstrange by Germans. What isrequired (in this case, shaking handswith each other) in one countrycould be taken as unnecessary inanother. The appropriateness ofcontact between people varies fromcountry to country. Figures from astudy offer some interesting insightinto this matter. Pairs of individualssitting and chatting in college shopsin different countries were observedfor at least one hour each. Thenumber of times that either onetouched the other in that one hourwas recorded, as follows: in London,0; in Florida, 2; in Paris, 10; inPuerto Rico, 180. These figuresindicate that touch is used verydifferently in different cultures.Case 25For people from the Americanculture and western Europeancultures, one‘s time should bescheduled into segments orcompartments which are to be keptdiscrete from one another. Theyprefer to do one thing at a time.They will be annoyed when theyhave made an appointment withsomebody, only to find a lot of otherthings going on at the same time.They don‘t like to interrupt othersand be interrupted by other whilethey are doing something. Incontrast, people from many othercultures including the Chineseculture are more likely to operatewith several people, ideas, or matterssimultaneously. They are more easilydistracted and subject tointerruptions, which they would notusually mind very much. Themiscommunication betweenKatherine and the director can beascribed to their lack of knowledgeabout each other‘s way of using time.In this case, to the Chinese directoras well as many other Chinese people,it is natural to handle the otherthings which needed to be dealt withimmediately. He may have thoughtthat, in this way, he utilized the timebest. But to Katherine and mostWesterners, it‘s quite different. Theytend to do things strictly accordingto their schedule and appointmentswith others, which is their concept ofusing time best.Case 26Jack felt his privacy violated whenhe saw Magid standing at the door.It was absolutely a big surprise‘ forJack---a surprise deviated from thegiver‘s real intention, and jackimmediately showed his emotion as aconditioned reflex ,which wrote onthe look ,saying ― I am completelynot happy to s ee you ‖. A few secondslater, he smiled and said,‖ Hi, Magid,come on in.‖ This obvious change onhis face was certainly noticed byMagid. Then, during the wholeafternoon, they had coffee andchatted. It seemed they had a nicetime together. However, it turned outthat they both felt a littleuncomfortable. I guess. Jack, out ofpoliteness, had to pretend he wasvery happy to see Magid, but fromthe bottom of his heart, he was sodispleased with this dear old friendfor not having phoned to say he wascoming that he might have expressedhis unhappiness from time to timethrough nonverbal messages, such asfacial expressions, hand movementsand body postures. These messagesmight contradict his words. Magidcould more or less perceive thissubtle awkwardness that he might beperplexed about. Here‘s one thing Idon‘t understand. As Magid wasaware of the embarrassmentbetween Jack and him, why did hechoose to stay such a long time atJack‘s instead of leaving earlier ?Next time, Magid should call hisfriend first to make sure it‘s a righttime to pay a visit when he wants tosee Jack.Case 27We Chinese people usually attachgreat importance to taking good careof our guests. We often go out of ourway to make a guest feel comfortable,and our kindness often knows nobound when it comes to a foreignvisitor. But westerners includingNorth Americans are trained tospend time alone and to do things forthemselves from the time they arestill very young. Therefore, they mayfeel uncomfortable when they arealways surrounded by peopleattempting to be kind to them.Hospitality itself may be somethinguniversal, but the form and amountof hospitality differ greatlyfrom culture to culture.Case 28The most striking feature of theJapanese house was lack of privacy;the lack of individual, inviolablespace. In winter, when the fusumawere kept closed, any sound above awhisper was clearly audible on theother side, and of course in summerthey were usually removedaltogether. It is impossible to liveunder such conditions for very longwithout a common householdidentity emerging which naturallytakes precedence over individualwishes. Although it has become astandard practice in modern Japanfor children to have their own rooms,many middle-aged and nearly allolder Japanese still live in this way.They regard themselves as ―oneflesh‖, their property as common toall; the uchi (household, home) isconstituted according to a principleof indivisibility. The system ofmoveable screen means that therooms could be used by all the familyand for all purposes: walls are builtround the uchi, not inside it.Case 29From their experiences of sendingsome young people to be educated atthe colleges run by the white people,the Indians concluded that it was nogood doing so, for those young。