探索中西文化差異

整理/張雪菲

Hello, my dear classmates from Xinyang Normal University! I believe you will always meet some foreign students when walking on the road in your daily class. You must be very curious about their country and cultural beliefs. Let Xiaobian introduce the differences between Chinese and western culture.

信陽師范學(xué)院的同學(xué)們，大家好！相信大家在日常上課時，走在路上，總會碰見一些外國留學(xué)生，大家一定很好奇他們的國家和文化信仰吧！下面讓小編為大家介紹一下中西文化的不同。

◎趣事篇

1. A foreigner met a beautiful girl in the elevator and said, “Good, you!”

一老外進電梯碰見一個漂亮的女孩，便打招呼：“你嗎好！”

The girl puzzled for a while,the foreigner saw it and thought the word order was wrong. Then she said, ”Ok , you?”

那女孩疑惑了一下，老外看出來了，便想著是語序出錯了，便又說：“好你嗎？”

The girl glared at him, and the foreigner quickly said, “Hello, mom!”

那女孩瞪了他一眼，老外又趕緊說：“媽你好！”

2. Peter ( American ) and Xiao Wang are chatting in the park. Suddenly, Xiao Wang was a little embarrassed.

皮特（美國人）和小王，在公園聊天。忽然，小王有些局促不安。

Peter asked, “What's wrong with you?” Xiao Wang said shyly, “I want to wash my hand.” Peter didn't understand.

皮特問：“你怎么了？”小王不好意思地說：“我要方便方便。”皮特不解。

He saw Xiao Wang walking to the public toilet. Only then did he know that “convenience” means going to the toilet.

只見小王向公共廁所走去，方知“方便”就是上廁所。

After a while, Peter asked Xiao Wang: “when will you come to America and I'll show you around?” Xiao Wang replied: “I want to go at your convenience.” Peter:……

過了一會兒，皮特問小王：“你什么時候來美國，我?guī)愕教幫嫱妫俊毙⊥醮鸬溃骸拔蚁朐谀惴奖愕臅r候去。”皮特:……

3. After visiting China, an American friend said to the translator, “China is amazing, especially in terms of writing. For example,?China won the United States? means China won the American team. ?The Chinese team defeated the American team?, which also means that the Chinese team won. In short, victory always belongs to you.”

有位美國朋友訪問了中國后，對翻譯說：“中國太奇妙了，尤其是文字方面。譬如:‘中國隊大勝美國隊’，是說中國隊勝了；而‘中國隊大敗美國隊’，又是說中國隊勝了。總之，勝利永遠屬于你們。”

4. A professor who pretends to be a master of China said to his students when he was teaching Chinese: “The Chinese call things ?things?, such as desks and chairs, televisions, etc., but living animals do not call things, for example, insects, birds, animals, people, etc. Therefore, neither you nor he are things, and naturally I am not a thing!”

一位自命為中國通的教授，向他的學(xué)生講授中文課時說：“中國人把物品稱為‘東西’，例如桌椅、電視機等等，但是有生命的動物就不稱東西，例如蟲、鳥、獸、人……等等，所以，你和他都不是東西，我自然也不是東西！”

◎手勢篇

OK手勢

·In China,it represents“0”or“3”;In Japan, North Korea and Myanmar, it means money;

在中國表示數(shù)字“0”或“3”；在日本、朝鮮、緬甸表示金錢；

· In Britain and America, it is generally used to solicit opinions from the other party or to reply to the other party′s request for opinions;

在英國和美國，一般用來征求對方意見或回答對方征求意見的回話；

·In Holland, it said that it was going smoothly;

在荷蘭表示順利進行；

·In Brazil, it is considered as an inducement to women or an insult to men.

在巴西則認(rèn)為是對女性的引誘或?qū)δ行缘奈耆琛?/span>

v手勢

·In occident, the V - shaped gesture is considered as a symbol of victory.

在歐美，v字形手勢被認(rèn)為是勝利的象征。

·In Greece, if your finger is turned away from you, it means insulting and belittling the other party.

在希臘，若手指背向自己，則表示侮辱和輕視對方之意。

豎起大拇指

·In our country, it is a great compliment.

在我國表示夸獎，了不起；

·In Britain, Australia and New Zealand, tourists often use it as a gesture of hitchhiking.

在英國、澳大利亞和新西蘭，旅游者常用它做搭車的手勢；

·If your thumb is tilted up sharply, it will be an insult.

如果將大拇指急劇向上翹起，就成為侮辱人的信號；

·In Greece, he said he would leave.

在希臘表示滾蛋；

·The Japanese use their thumb to indicate “the old man”, but use their little thumb to indicate“the lover”

日本人則用大拇指表示“老爺子”，用小拇指表示“情人”

◎禮儀篇

1. In daily life, Chinese people greet to each other mostly use: “Have you eaten?” “Where to go?” And so on, this reflects the intimacy between people; However, for western people, this will make the other party feel embarrassed or even disgusted. They will feel that it is only a kind of “questioning” and violates their privacy. They usually say “good morning” and “good evening” when greeting, while the English just say “nice weather today!”

 日常打招呼中國人大多使用：“吃了嗎？”“上哪呢？”等等，這體現(xiàn)了人與人之間的一種親切感；可是對西方人來說，這會使對方感到尷尬甚至厭惡，他們會覺得只是一種“盤問”，侵犯了他們的隱私。他們通常打招呼會說：“早上好”“晚上好”，英國人則會說：“今天天氣不錯啊！”。

2. In terms of appellation, only close people can “call their names” in Chinese, while the west is more extensive. They often call strangers “sir”,“madam”, and called young women “miss”, family members, regardless of their seniority, can generally call each other names or nicknames. But China can't, otherwise it will be considered impolite.

稱謂方面，在漢語中只有親密的人才可以“直呼其名”，而西方則更為廣泛。他們常以“先生”“夫人”稱呼陌生人，年輕女子稱“小姐”，家庭成員之間不分長幼尊卑，一般可互稱姓名或昵稱；而中國則不行，否則會被認(rèn)為不禮貌。

3. Farewell words: for example, when saying goodbye to a patient, the Chinese often say “drink more boiled water”, “wear more clothes” and “go to bed early” to show their care for the patient. However, westerners will never say this, because it will be considered as finger - pointing. They will say “take care of yourself” and “hope you recover soon” and so on.

告別語：比如，在和病人告別時，中國人常說“多喝點開水”、“多穿點衣服”、“早點休息”之類的話，表示對病人的的關(guān)懷；但西方人絕對不會這樣說，因為這樣會被認(rèn)為有指手畫腳之嫌，他們會說“多保重”“希望你早日康復(fù)”等等。

◎親情篇

The Chinese people have a strong family concept and pay attention to consanguinity and family ethics. Parents and children are always one family. Raising children in China is an investment behavior.

中國人的家庭觀念強，注重血緣關(guān)系、親情倫理，父母、子女始終是一家人。中國人養(yǎng)孩子是一種投資行為。

Americans are different, foreigners raising children is purely a consumer behavior. As soon as their children reach adulthood, they will leave the nest and fly away. Their parents will no longer support them. Their parents and children will manage their own financial affairs and do not form a boundary with each other.

美國人卻不同，老外養(yǎng)孩子純粹是一種消費行為。子女一到成年，就會離巢而飛，父母不再撫養(yǎng)他們，父母、子女各自理財，互不搭界。

“mother and son are precious” and “one person gains the moral and the whole family ascends to heaven” in China. While the children of foreigners can be millionaires, their parents are still poor.

中國人“母以子貴”，“一人得道，合家升天”；而外國人子女可以是百萬富翁，父母卻照舊窮困潦倒。

◎友情篇

In the western moral system, the individual and self are always the first. Under the impact of money worship and utilitarianism, western friendship is a synonym for mutual benefit and is covered with a thick layer of utilitarianism.

在西方的道德體系中，個人、自我永遠是第一位的。西方友情觀在拜金主義、功利主義的沖擊下，友情是互惠互利的代名詞，蒙著一層厚厚的功利主義色彩。

Ex.: People with rich wallets never need friends.

例：錢包豐厚的人從來不需要朋友。

Hunger knows no friends.

饑餓不識朋友。

In the Chinese cultural tradition, friendship is more important than personal interests, which is a generally accepted moral concept, “The scholar dies for his bosom friend.”Westerners cannot understand.

而中國文化傳統(tǒng)中，友情重于個人利益是公認(rèn)的道德觀，“士為知己者死”。西方人對此無法理解。

本期英語廣角就到這里啦，相信你們一定有了很多收獲，對外國友人也有了更深層次的了解，每個國家都有著自己獨特的文化魅力與信仰，我們不僅要讀懂他們，更要尊重他們，希望這些小知識能夠促進大家和外國友人和平相處，我們下期再見吧！