Differences between Chinese and Western Cultures Papers and Documents

Cultural differences and language differences between China and the West

In China people's minds, "hot summer" and "hot summer" are always associated with hot summer. But in a sonnet by Shakespeare, there is such a poem, shall I compare them to a summer's day? /Thou art more lovely and more temperature. (Can I compare summer with you? /You are more lovely and beautiful than summer. )

The poet compares his lover to summer, which is lovely and warm. "Summer" brings so different associations to China and Britain. The reason lies in its different geographical location. China is located in the Asian continent, with a continental climate and distinct seasons. The most obvious feature of summer is the scorching sun and unbearable heat. Britain, on the other hand, is located in the northern temperate zone, with a maritime climate, and the summer is bright, mild and pleasant. Of course, there are many examples of this. For example, in Chinese, the "east wind" reminds people of warmth and warmth, while the west wind makes people have a biting taste. In the west, the opposite is true. The reason is the same, because the geographical location of the two places is different, which brings different feelings.

Second, productive labor

There are many words related to aquatic products and ships in English, such as fish in the air, an odd fish, and miss the boat. There are far fewer such words in Chinese. The reason is that the water around Britain, aquaculture and navigation play an important role in its economic life, so there are many such words. In China, only the coastal areas have fishermen netting, so there are relatively few such words.

There are many verbs in Chinese to express "carrying things with physical strength", such as "carrying, carrying, carrying, carrying, carrying, carrying, carrying, carrying", etc. Each word has something negative to it (for example, carrying soil, carrying water, carrying boxes), which is really meticulous. In English, there is only one carry to refer to this action. The reason why Chinese distinguishes this verb in detail is probably because China has been in an agricultural society for a long time and has a lot of physical labor.

In Chinese, we will encounter words such as "working like an ox" and "being as strong as an ox". In English, we should express the same meaning by saying "work like a horse, as strong as a horse, flog a willinghorse". Why do Chinese use "ox" and English use horse? The answer is that in China, cattle have always been used for farming, while in early England, horses were used for farming. Cattle and horses were divided into good helpers of the two countries in the production process, which won people's favor, and the words also had the above usage.

Third, customs

1. Appellations and appellations: When learning English, we find that there are far fewer appellations in English than in Chinese. For example, the word cousin in English corresponds to cousin, cousin, cousin and cousin in Chinese. As we can see, Chinese distinguishes the relationship between cousins very strictly, and it is necessary to tell both the gender and the size, unlike English, which is not a general word at all. This linguistic phenomenon is attributed to the feudal rule of China for two or three thousand years. This feudal society attached great importance to consanguinity, especially emphasized the differences between grades, and advocated the order of seniority and inferiority. Relatives are close, young and old, gender and so on are different, and rights and obligations are also different, so the appellation is strictly and carefully distinguished. There are few appellations in English, except for dad, mum, grandpa, aunt, uncle uncle, which are often used, and almost none of them are used. In Britain and the United States, people's address to each other is unreasonable, impolite and uncultured in China. For example, children don't call their grandparents grandpa and grandma by their first names, but this practice is appropriate, kind and consistent with common burial. Young people call them old people, and only add Mr, Mrs or Miss before their surnames. These practices reflect the idea that westerners pursue equality for all. In their eyes, appellation itself means inequality.

2. Courtesy and modesty: Like appellation, courtesy and modesty in English are far less than those in Chinese. In English, no matter how old or high the other person is, you is you and I is I, so there is no need to use many honorifics such as "you, director, engineer" as in Chinese. One of the reasons for this phenomenon in Chinese is the patriarchal clan system in China feudal society. It requires people to use honorifics when talking to their elders or superiors, or even peers, otherwise they will think that the words are inappropriate and rude, or even arrogant; When talking about yourself, you should use modest words. If you don't use them, you will also be considered impolite. Another reason is that China people, influenced by thousands of years of traditional ideas, do not want to highlight themselves, and always think that "modesty" is a virtue. There are two reasons why there are fewer such words in English:

First, westerners like to pursue equality; second, they have long respected personal values, are willing to express themselves, and emphasize the cultivation of personal self-confidence. Dominated by the above ideas, the reactions of Chinese and westerners to praise and congratulations are obviously different. China people will say a kind of modest words after listening to such words, while westerners will say "Thank you" without hesitation. I once read such a joke in the newspaper. At a dance, an American praised a China lady and said, "You look very beautiful today." The China lady quickly said modestly, "Where (where), where (where)." The American felt very strange, and then she had to say, "everywhere."

According to the habit of westerners, when they praise others, they always hope that others will reply by thanking them or accepting them readily, otherwise they will misunderstand that the other person has doubts about their own judgment. The East, on the other hand, is modest and cautious, and even if it is very happy, it will not accept or accept the praise of the other side.

Another example is the titles of documents or papers published in academic journals. In addition to explaining the content of the article, the titles of Chinese articles often have words expressing modesty. For example, "On …", "On …", "On …" and so on, while the titles of English articles are often straightforward without any modification, such as Science and Linguistics.

3. Personal privacy: For most westerners, How old are you? How much do you make? Are you married? Topics such as age, income, marital status, religious beliefs, family situation, etc. belong to the category of personal privacy, and it is forbidden for others to ask. The topic that westerners greet most frequently is the weather condition or forecast. Such as "It's fine, isn't it? “、 “It’s raining hard, isn’t it? ”、 “Your dress is do nice!” Wait a minute. They never ask questions about other people's privacy in front of people they meet for the first time or don't know very well to show their respect for each other. Greetings in Chinese sometimes show concern for each other.

For example, "You don't look well today. Are you sick?" "Long time no see, you have gained weight again." "You've lost weight again. Pay attention to your health." If westerners hear you say "You are fat" or "You are so thin". Even if we are familiar with each other, we will feel embarrassed and difficult to answer because it is impolite. When people in China meet for three minutes, within half an hour, they can clearly understand each other's family and personal situation. This is the different cultural backgrounds of both sides at work. Westerners pay special attention to personal privacy. They think that personal affairs need not be known to others, let alone let others interfere. However, China people have lived in a village for thousands of years. They are close to each other and have much contact with each other, so it is hard not to be known or interfered in their personal life or private affairs. In addition, China people are United, friendly, caring and helping each other, and think that personal affairs are family and even collective affairs. Therefore, they are willing to know the ups and downs of others, and others are willing to tell them frankly. Of course, now in some developed or coastal cities, people are beginning to accept the views of westerners, and their speeches do not casually involve each other's privacy.

Four Religious Beliefs

The number of religious words in Chinese and English is huge and spectacular. For example, "God", "Yin and Yang" and "Bodhisattva". Language is a direct reflection of thoughts, and two different religious words are a true portrayal of the different religious concepts of the two nationalities. Before the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Confucianism and Taoism were dominant in China, and religious words in Chinese were mostly related to this, such as "Tai Chi" and "Tao". Their spirits, such as respecting fate, filial piety and resignation, can also be seen in daily language. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, a large number of Buddhism was introduced, followed by a large number of Buddhist words, and its idea of reincarnation was accepted and digested by Confucianism and Taoism. In this way, Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism occupy an absolute dominant position in China. In Britain, Christianity is the main religion. This religion was introduced to England in 597. After a long time, a large number of words related to this have been merged into English. There are not only words that infiltrated into English from Latin in the old English period, such as angel and monk, but also words borrowed from French in the middle ages, such as religion and dean, and a large number of words borrowed from other loanwords in the modern English period. As a result, there are far more words related to religion in English than in other languages.

V. Historical allusions

Allusions are an important part of every nation's daily conversation, and people often unconsciously use allusions derived from their own national cultural heritage. For example, China people will say, "It's really an afterthought" and "It turned out to be an empty plan!" Westerners will say That all Greek to me. (I don't know anything about it. He's a Shylock (he is a miser). When it comes to using allusions, most foreigners who don't know much about each other's culture are quite puzzled. Obviously, this is because of the different cultural heritages of different ethnic groups. China people's allusions mostly come from ancient Four Great Classical Novels such as A Dream of Red Mansions, folk legends and myths, and traditional sports and entertainment projects in China, such as chess and drama. The first two examples are from China Chess and Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The allusions of westerners are mostly from many other characters or names in Shakespeare's plays and later British and American literature, Greek and Roman myths, characters and events in the Bible, and traditional sports, such as American baseball and rugby. The last two English examples come from Shakespeare's plays.

VI. Way of thinking

English pays attention to the use of various concrete connecting means to achieve the completeness of grammatical forms. These sentences are well-organized and orderly, and their syntactic functions are obvious at a glance. For example, if winter comes, can spring be far behind? If winter comes, can spring be far behind? As soon as you see if, the logical relationship between the two sentences will be clear at a glance. In Chinese, however, connectives are rarely used, and sentences look loose and chaotic, and concepts, judgments and reasoning are not strict, and the logical relationship between sentences is not easy to see from the outside. For example, "Fight if you fight, and leave if you can't win. What are you afraid of?" There is no connection between several sentences, as if a large number of verbs are jumbled together. The relationship between sentences is not visible at all, but the meaning of sentences connects them. This is what people call hypotaxis in English and parataxis in Chinese. These differences reflect the different ways of thinking between English and Chinese. The British nation attaches importance to rationality and logical thinking. The Han nationality attaches importance to understanding and dialectical thinking.

VII. Individualistic values

In western culture, the concept related to "self" can be said to be deeply rooted and ubiquitous. There are many self-centered words in English, such as "self-absorption", "self-appreciation", "self-cultivation", "self-image" and so on. Therefore, individualism prevails in western society, which emphasizes individual freedom and freedom from external constraints. Chinese culture emphasizes that collective interests are higher than individual interests, and the words "country first, collective later, individual later, benefit the people first, and then benefit oneself" can be seen everywhere. Through simple words, we can understand two completely different cultures.

By understanding the differences between Chinese and Western cultures through language comparison, people will have a deeper understanding of both cultures, which in turn will help us master the two languages. When learning English, we should know its cultural background and social customs and habits, and compare it with our mother tongue at any time, so that we can consciously realize the roots of nonstandard language and the ways to avoid it, and then enhance our awareness of using standardized language.