Cultural Differences In China

Culture The word culture has many different meanings. For some it refers to an appreciation of good literature, music, art, and food. The role of cultural awareness is being aware of many cultural data which is devoted to one country. As we know, each country has its own culture, customs and traditions, stereotypes, gestures and like these. In some written papers, we can see the truth which the culture was waken up in the east and the western people learn the culture from the east, therefore we can believe that eastern countries are rich in great and ancient cultural history. All of us, as a stranger want to see the world and learn something for us, therefore if we want to know much more about that country’s culture, we should be aware of its …show more content…
The cultural difference will inevitably exhibited on the vocabulary, and the explanation of vocabulary will also reflect the national or cultural difference. Take colour as an example. In Chinese, white, denoting a colour, often associates with “pure, noble and moral goodness”, and the bride is dressed in white during the wedding in most western countries. In China the bride must wear red in the traditional wedding, definitely not white. Because Red means “happiness, good luck, flourishing and prosperous” in the future and people only wear white in funerals when one’s family member or relative is dead. White in China, is associated with “pale, weak and without vitality”. Thus, learning a language implies not only the knowledge of its grammar rules and the denotative meanings of words but it involves much more, such as the culture phenomena, the way of life, habits and customs, history and everything that is contained of culture. In a word, culture is a comprehensive composite with abundant implication, and each factor in it may be exhibited on words. Learning vocabulary, while paying attention to cultural factors, is vital and …show more content…
People need to read a lot to understand the cultural background knowledge of the target language; only in this way they can communicate successfully with the others. So in the training of oral English, teachers should emphasize the practical use of the language, and try to use the materials which come from the daily life. This can help people use proper sentences in proper context. Otherwise, even if one may have been well trained in the linguistic aspect of the language, he may make mistakes or have misunderstanding for the sake of lacking related cultural background knowledge. For this, the experience of a young interpreter is a case in point: There is a young interpreter whose pronunciation is standardized and natural. The first time he was appointed to accompany a foreign guest, he tried to do everything he could to show that he was enthusiastic, kind, considerate, and competent. He tried to be attentive as possible by saying “You come this way.” “You sit here.” “Don’t go too fast.” “Follow me.” “Don’t be late.” But the next day, he was shocked to know that the foreigner didn’t want to go with him, because the foreigner thought that the young interpreter was not polite. In the foreigner’s eyes, the interpreter is not helping him, but scolding him as scolding a child. There is no problem in the interpreter’s English, but the lack of the cultural background