【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 shall be in conformity with etiquette in order to make the society harmony. Influenced by the collective orientation culture, the Chinese people cooperate mutually and depend on one another. So “relation” is of importance in their view. People depend on “relation” when dealing with almost everything. 　　The United States belongs to the typical individualism culture. The individualism is the core of American culture. The United States’ individualism has close relationship with its faith. What the western Christianity emphasizes is the individual, so the Christian claim to sacrifice for the individual. In the doxy of the Christianity, everyone faces to the God individually and directly. The persistent pursuit of the individual soul and the struggle for new life is the core of Christianity’s doxy. In the United States, the individualism began to lie embedded in people’s mind after the European immigrants set foot on the continent of North America. Protestantism is the historical root of the individualism. After that, the American Revolution, the Westward Movement, the Industrial Revolution and many movements of migration strengthened this tradition of individualism. It can be said that the individualism is embodied in all aspects of American life. It is embodied in both the American history and the contemporary society of the United States. Verbal and nonverbal differences in . business negotiations Verbal differences　　The language of one nation has a close connection with the nation’s culture. In crosscultural munication, the languages for negotiating are restricted by the differences of different cultures. The United States is a typical lowcontext language country. In this culture, the majority of information is transmitted by clear and specific language. The . negotiators prefer to use clear, frank and direct ways to municate。 they try to speak clearly rather than ambiguous. In addition, Americans like to debate with others, they often speak in an opposed and drastic tone. These are the typical characteristics of the offspring of European immigrants.　　However, China is a nation with highcontext culture. In the highcontext culture, nonverbal munication and indirect ways are the important factors for people to transmit and understand the information. For example, they use nonverbal factors like posture, expression in one’s eyes, appearance, tone, location, distance and environment to municate. It is necessary to understand the implication of discourse when you talk with them. And Chinese people do not like to argue with others, they like to speak in an indirect way. They prefer to keep silence than say “NO” in order to show their respect for others when they do not agree with some terms. Chinese people are very patient when negotiating, which is called “oriental patience”. In their view, harmony is the precondition for cooperation. So they try to avoid frictions in negotiations and use courtesy and implicit dictions in pursuit of the permanent friendship and longterm cooperation.　　People usually use English in the international business negotiations. But it’s difficult for the negotiators to municate when their mother languages are not English. Under such circumstances, we should use simple, clear and specific English. We should not use Polysindo word, puns, slang and idioms which can easily cause misunderstandings. 　　The majority of the languages in the world can not translate verbatim. The figure of speech in different languages has many differences in munication. For example, “rain cats and dogs” means “rain heavily” but not “下狗下貓” in Chinese. The word “goat” does not have special meaning in Chinese, it only means “Shan yang”. But for Americans, “goat” also has the same meaning with “Lovelace”. So “goat clock” is considered as “Lovelace clock”. Nonverbal differences One of the important issues that influence the atmosphere in business negotiations is nonverbal munication. What may not be readily recognized is that nonverbal munication (also called “silent language” or “body language”) can interfere in crossculture interactions. Nonverbal munication includes the values regard to time, space, material possessions as well as body movements, eye contact, hand gestures, friendship and simple nods of agreement. We select one or more of these gestures which are right for the situation, just as we would construct a spoken message. The difference is that quite often the messages received and sent through nonverbal munication are unconsciously done.” In negotiations, we should carefully observe the body language in order to grasp the full message. For example, Chinese people generally keep silence to express that they have some views on this question or do not agree with this term in order to show their courtesy and respect. While Americans hold negative views of keeping silence, they consider that keeping silent means refuse to do something. So it’s difficult for them to accept this view. When Americans say “I’m sorry”, they often shrug their shoulder and spreads out their hands. It means “I don’t know”, “I can do nothing for it”, “This situation is hopeless” and so on. While Chinese people usually express the same meaning mentioned above by nodding their head or shaking their hands. I take staring at people for example, Chinese people will express curiosity or surprise, while the Americans think it is an impolite and embarrass behavior. 　　All cultures represent some certain gestures or actions. Ignorance of these nonverbal or implicit aspects of face to face interactions may create a negative atmosphere and thereby disturb the negotiation process.” Value differences in . business negotiations　　The differences in value is hidden more deeply than the verbal and nonverbal differences in international business negotiations, therefore it’s more difficult for us to overe. The differences in value include the differences of objectivity, equali