【導(dǎo)讀】munication.important.

　　

【正文】 er. We will lead to misunderstanding if we use the wrong form of address. For instance: An American woman over 50 was invited by her colleague to have a dinner. When the host’s four yearold daughter called the American woman “granny”, she was so unhappy that she felt that she was assaulted. This may own to the different culture background between Chinese and American. In China, children use “grandpa” “grandma” “granny” in order to sho w their respect to old man. But in Englishspeaking country, the word like “granny” may be connect with the word “unenergetic”, which means they have only a short time to live. No wonder that this American woman felt unease when the girl called her “granny ”. In English speaking country, you can use Mister, Mrs. or Miss before the name. If you really don’t know how to call someone, you may ask him: “What should I call you?” This can avoid many unnecessary misunderstanding. VI. Suggestions for Preventing and Eliminating Pragmatic Differences in EnglishChinese Communication As we have known from the previous section that there are potential problems in intercultural munication, especially between English and Chinese, can we do something to deal with them if ever they occur? The answer is definitely positive. The following three points are what we can do to prevent them from happening or to help us deal with them in real encounter. A. Cultural Awareness To be able to conduct effective intercultural munication, we need to know about other cultures. We also need to know about our own culture of which we often are unconscious, because we may think we have understood it, but we actually don’t. Knowing ourselves is necessary for developing cultural awareness required for effective intercultural munication, because what we bring to the munication event greatly influences the success or failure of that event. First and foremost, we should identify our attitude, prejudices, and opinions that we all carry and that bias the way the world appear to us. The following questions may help us know our culture and our own specific beliefs, values and behaviors. How has our own background influenced the way we express our request? How has it influenced the way we make apology to others? How has it influenced the way of greeting? How has it influenced the way of invitation? How has it influenced the way of farewell?... B. Respecting Differences and Appreciating Similarities It is true that cultures are different due to varieties of factors. But it doesn’t mean that there are no similarities. Quite the contrary, there are many things peoples in the world share。 otherwise intercultural munication would be impossible. For example, the way people in accepting others request is the same in China and western country. On the other hand, if we are to succeed in intercultural munication, we should pay enough attention to the enormous differences between our culture and the one we get into contact with. If we can appreciate similarities and respect differences existing in cultures, we are able to better asses the potential consequences of our acts and be more tolerant of those of others. C. Developing Empathy To improve intercultural munication we need to develop empathybe able to see things from the point of view of others or to see oneself in the fellow’s situation. It has been recognized as important to general munication petence and as a central characteristic of petence and effective intercultural munication. To improve empathy, first, we have to remind ourselves to pay attention to the spontaneous emotional expression where the interaction takes place. Then, as empathy is a reciprocal act, both parties have to be expressive so as to achieve understanding. Third, empathy can be enhanced through awareness of specific behaviors that members of a particular culture or coculture might find impertinent or insulting. Finally, we have to remember that empathy can be increased if you resist the tendency to interpret the other’s verbal and nonverbal actions from your culture’s orientation. V. Conclusion Politeness is the mon phenomenon of each nation and Politeness Principle is very useful in intercultural munication. In an intercultural munication, interlocutors should obey Politeness Principle according to different cultural backgrounds. Polite language and behavior are the offspring of tradition and deposition of culture. The connotation of Politeness Principle varies from culture to culture. Sometimes, they even conflict with each other. So what are counted as polite in one language may not be so in another. In other words, Politeness Principle is flexible in intercultural munication, when municate with each other, both sides should choose proper maxims. The parison of pragmatic differences of politeness between Chinese and English demonstrates that this politeness phenomenon is universal in all cultures, but its expressions and implications are different from culture to culture. So a good understanding of pragmatic differences in politeness can undoubtedly contribute to the avoidance of pragmatic failures in crosscultural exchange so as to attain the goal in munication. Besides, grammatical mistakes are easy to be fiven during intercultural munication, but improper language use may cause embarrassments and misunderstandings. Therefore, the parative study of Politeness Principle in Chinese and English cultures bees more important. Meanwhile, to be familiar with the different cultural backgrounds and to choose the right politeness maxims during munication are also very important and useful to intercultural munication.