Unit Two: Culture Shock

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Unit Two Culture Shock
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Objectives

• By the end of this unit, you should be able to
• ? understand cross-cultural differences in
  approaches to
• hospitality, modesty,   privacy, and
  politeness
• ? appreciate how differences in cultural
  values shape
• behavior
• ? identify and avoid taboo subjects in Western
  cultures
• ? avoid pitfalls in cross-cultural
  communication
• ? adjust more smoothly to a new cultural
  environment.

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Contents
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1.What is Culture Shock?

• ?Culture shock can be described
• as the feeling of confusion and
• disorientation that one experiences
• when faced with a large number
• of new and unfamiliar people and
• situations.
• (from College English, 2005,14th,10)
• ??????????????????????,???
• ??????????????,????????
• Robert Kohls(Survival Kit for Overseas Living)

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1.What is Culture Shock?

• ?Why?
• Smells, sounds, flavors, the very feeling of the
  air one is breathing
• the natives unfamiliar language and behavior
  contribute to it, too.
• ?People's response to culture shock
• vary greatly, from excitement and energetic
  action to withdrawal,
• depression, physical illness, and hostility.
• ?Keep in mind
• First, most people experience some degree of
  culture shock when
• they go to a new country. Second, culture shock
  passes with time.

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2. Individual and Collectivist Culture

• Individual Culture
• (liberalism)
• individuals tend to
• define themselves
• by the extent to
• which they are
• different from,
• rather than similar
• to other. People are
• encouraged to display
• self-confidence and
• assertiveness,
• disclosure of personal
• thoughts and feelings.

Collectivist culture (Confucianism) places
little value on individual identity and great
value on group identity. Going one's own way is
not valued uniformity and conformity are
stressed.
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2. Individual and Collectivist Culture
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2. Individual and Collectivist Culture
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4.Hospitality

• Hospitality means the cordial and generous
  reception of or
• disposition toward guests.???????????????
• Two different responses to different ways of
  hospitality
• An English guest Each time a new dish arrived
  his parents would lean
• over and load my plate with tasty morsels. As
  they had taken all the trouble to
• cook it I just had to polish it off. As soon as
  my plate was empty they would
• put more on. Of course, I felt duty-bound to ear
  that too.
• A Chinese guest Can you imagine how many dishes
  I had? One one a
• stew with meat and vegetables. The meat was over
  done and too hard to eat
• green vegetables were no longer green. They never
  put food on your plate but
• just ask you to help yourself. If you, as a
  guest, are shy or modest, waiting for
• the food to be put on your plate, you will remain
  half-starved.

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4.Hospitality

• Whats the problem?
• The Chinese student felt disappointed
• at British hospitality because she used
• the Chinese way of showing hospitality to judge
  the British one.
• If the story taking place in China, the westerner
  couldn't imagine
• that there should be sixteen dishes prepared for
  her. When she ate
• from the eight cold dishes, she couldn't eat
  anymore. It is
• because a Western meal normally severs one main
  course plus a
• starter and sweets or desserts. The fact is that
  different people in
• the world show their different hospitality in
• different ways.

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5. Politeness

• Politeness refers to
• the consideration for others,
• tact, and observance of
• accepted social usage.
• ???????????
• ???????????
• ???

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5. Politeness

• Some Chinese Students Views on Western
  Politeness
• Foreigners never pretend to be modest. They just
  tell others what
• they think. If a Chinese person is faced with
  the same situation,
• maybe he or she would say, I'm sorry. The
  restaurant is a little
• bit small and the dishes are just so-so, but I
  hope you'll enjoy
• yourself.
• When guests are to leave, the foreign hosts don't
  accompany
• guests to the gate upon leaving-taking. This
  happens because the
• foreigners are simply following their own
  cultural customs. If a
• Chinese host does like this, he will be
  considered a person with
• bad manners or no training and education.
• Therefore, there is a deep separation between
• Chinese conventions and foreigners.

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6. Privacy

• Privacy could be understood as the
• right of an individual to self-
• determination as to the degree to
• which the individual is willing to
• share with others information about
• himself .
• ???????????????
• ???????????????

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6. Privacy

• Some Chinese Students Views on Western privacy
• The westerners are not willing to let others
  know their income,
• age, marriage, and other privacy, especially to
  strangers. But as a
• Chinese student, even if we know their culture, I
  can't help doing
• things as our culture lets us do. The Western
  culture emphasizes
• individual independence. Parents always want
  their children to
• depend on themselves. The children are expected
  to depend on
• themselves. It has its historical and cultural
  reasons, Chinese
• parents love their children and will never let
  them in any danger.
• They want to keep an intimate relationship.

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7.Case studies

• Please analyze the case on Page 63 showing the
  different way of
• western politeness A westerner invited a Chinese
  girl to have
• lunch and take a tour around the British
  Parliament. In fact, the
• girl didn't have the lunch just because when the
  westerner asked
• her "Are you hungry? , the girl answered no.
  Then they didn't
• have lunch together. The second time, the girl
  was invited to a
• restaurant, when the host asked the same question
  Are you
• hungry? , she answered not really. The host
  ordered a light
• meal for her.

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7.Case studies

• .
• The mistake
• In the first situation, the westerner used his
  question as an
• invitation. The girl understood it only as a
  question. According
• to the Chinese tradition, the man should have
  invited her to
• lunch since their appointment was to have lunch
  first.
• In the second situation, the westerner used his
  question as a
• question rather than an invitation. According to
  the Chinese
• tradition, the man should have ordered plenty of
  food for the girl.
• Conclusion
• The same sentence concealed different intentions.
  People should
• try to make sense of what it really means.

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8.Homework

• Case analysis
• Shao Bin, a Chinese student studying in Britain,
  was once invited
• by her British classmate Brain to his house to
  cook a Chinese
• meal. Her two Chinese friends were also invited.
  They busied
• themselves in the kitchen, making dumping while
  Brain did
• something in the garden and his wife sat on the
  sofa reading.
• Shao Bin felt a little upset for she thought that
  both the host and
• the hostess should offer to help with the kitchen
  work.
• The meal was great and everyone enjoyed
  themselves. The
• couple kept complimenting them on their cooking
  skills and
• asked for the recipe. But then after the meal,
  the couple just put
• down their chopsticks and started minding their
  own business,
• leaving the Chinese guests to clear the table and
  do the dishes.
• Shao Bin felt absolutely confused or even angry.
  She concluded
• that .

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8.Homework

• The Key to the Question
• Guests to a Chinese family will never be allowed
  to do any
• housework. This is one of the ways the host and
  hostess show
• their hospitality. Even if the guests offer to
  cook a dish, the host
• or the hostess should stay around them and offer
  help whenever
• can. It is even harder to imagine that they would
  let their guests
• clear the table and do the dishes, though the
  guests should
• always volunteer help. Shao Bins meal at a
  British family sets a
• great contrast to her Chinese experience. This
  is why Shao Bin
• got angry. What she should do is to avoid a
  hasty conclusion.
• She should first observe the situation without
  judgment. And then
• analyze the situation using what she knows about
  the differences
• between Chinese and British culture.

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Thank you !