发布时间 : 星期二 文章Intercultural communication skills更新完毕开始阅读
become ―stereotypes‖ generalization that is too broad.
A generalization like ―British people are formal‖ becomes a stereotype if we believe that all British people are always formal, or even that most British people are formal most of the time.
It is quite natural to have stereotypes about foreigners and their cultures, and stereotypes can be the first step toward learning more about another people or culture. However, stereotypes can also be dangerous. One problem with stereotypes is that they are not very accurate. Some stereotypes may have a basis in fact , but they are too broad and shallow , and they give us the mistaken idea that a people’s culture can be summed up easily in a few short , simple statements .c This simply isn’t true . A culture is not like a simple painting in which everything is black or white shades of color. Instead, a culture is a richly detailed painting with many lines and different shades of color. Some of the colors and shapes in the painting are more dominant than others , and these give the painting its distinctive character , but there are also many less dominant colors and shapes in the painting which should 29
更广阔。
如果我们相信所有的英国人都总是很刻板或者大多数英国人大多数时候很刻板，那么泛化“英国人很刻板”就成了刻板印象了。
对外国人及其文化持有刻板印象很自然，刻板印象能成为更多的了解他人和他文化的第一步。但是，刻板印象也会很危险。刻板印象的一个问题是它们不准确。某些刻板印象可能是以事实为基础，但太宽泛太浅显了，给了我们错误的观点就是一个人的文化可以用简短的几句话概括。这显然不对。文化不像一幅简单的黑白画。相反，文化是一幅有很多线条，不同颜色，丰富细节的画。画中某些颜色和形状占了主要部分，它们给了这幅画明显的特征，但画中还有很多不是太明显的颜色的形状，它们不能被忽略。
not be ignored .
Stereotypes are also dangerous 刻板印象很危险也因为它可能because they may trick us into believing that knowing a few stereotypes is the same thing as understanding another culture. For example, once a Chinese student learns that ―British are formal‖ he may be tempted to think that he really understands British people. Even worse, he may be tempted to think that he doesn’t need to learn more about British culture.
The problem is that a stereotype like ―British are formal‖ only represents a shallow level of understanding. At most, this is only the first step toward understanding how British people view formality, and it needs to be followed by many other steps.
In order to really understand another culture, you need to learn much more than a few stereotypes. To become an effective intercultural communicator, you not only understand some of the basic general features of other cultures, but also what the limits of those generalizations are.
Perhaps most important ,you should not be satisfied with just knowing a few
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欺骗我们让我们相信，知道了某几个刻板印象就等于理解了某一文化。比如，曾有一中国学生听说“英国人很刻板”，他可能被引诱去想他真的理解英国人。甚至更糟糕的是，他可能被引诱去想，他不需要再了解英国文化了。
问题在于刻板印象“英国人很刻板”只代表了一个很浅的理解。至少，这只是理解英国人如何看待礼节的第一步，其后还得有很多步。
为了真正理解另一文化，你得了解更多，而不仅仅是几个刻板印象。要成为一个合格的跨文化交际者，你不仅需要理解其他文化最基本的特点，也得了解那些泛化的界限。
也许最重要的是，你不应该只满足于知道其他文化的几个简单的泛
simple generalizations about other 化，而应该不断地学。
cultures ,and should always keep trying to learn more.
Letter to Fran: Who Pays?
Dear Fran,
At my university I met an American exchange student named Marie who has recently come to China to study, and we have talked several times. Yesterday afternoon I ran into her, and after we talked for a while she suggested that we go get dinner. So we went to a little restaurant nearby and we each had a bowl of noodles. After we finished she asked me how much her bowl of noodles cost. I felt that since she was new in China I should treat her to dinner, so I just gave the waiter money for both of our dinners. When Marie realized what I have done, he seemed surprised and not very happy, and said she wanted to pay for her own dinner .She said that we should ―go Dutch‖. I kept refusing to take her money, and finally she gave in, but she didn’t seem very happy about it. I found the experience
a
little
awkward
and unpleasant –I didn’t have the good feeling that I have when I treat my Chinese
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给弗朗的信：谁付钱？
亲爱的弗朗：
我在学校遇到一位美国交换生，她叫玛丽，她刚到中国来学习，我们交流过几次。昨天下午我偶遇到了她，交流一会儿后，她提议我们去吃饭。我们去了学校附近的小店，每人吃了一碗面。吃完后，她问我她的面多少钱。我觉得她刚到中国，我应该请她的，因此，我付了两碗面的钱。当玛丽意识到我的所为时，她好像很惊讶，很不高兴，她说她想自己付自己的面钱。她说我们应该AA制。我坚持不要她的钱，终于她认输了，但是很不高兴。我觉得这事有点怪，我也有点不高兴-我没有请我中国朋友吃饭的高兴的感觉。
friends to a meal.
Why do Americans always pay for their own meals? I have a friend who is majoring in English, and she said that Americans pay for themselves because their renqingwen bijjiao dan. (I don’t know exactly how to translate this into English - it means something kike
Americans don’t emphasize relationships between people as much as Chinese do.) Do you think this is true?
Sincerely,
Linda
Fran’s Response: Who Pays?
Dear Linda,
I think there is at least some truth to your friend’s explanation. One reason Americans often pay for their own meals is that this keeps them from being obligated to other people , and I suppose this could to seen as evidence that Americans are often more distant in their social relationships than Chinese are . While Chinese tend to value the obligations that bind people together, in general Americans place more emphasis on
self-reliance and independence.
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为什么美国人老自己付自己的饭钱？我学英语的朋友说美国人自己付自己的饭钱因为他们的人情味淡。（我不知道如何确切地把这句话翻译成英语，好像美国人不像中国人那样强调人与人之间的关系。）你觉得这正确吗？
诚上 琳达
弗朗的回信：谁付钱？
亲爱的琳达：
我觉得你朋友的解释至少有某些道理。美国人经常自己付自己的饭钱因为这让他们免去了回请他人的义务，我想这也可以看成在社会关系中美国人比中国人疏远的证据。但中国人倾向于把回请朋友的义务看成是连接彼此的纽带，而大体上美国人更强调自我依靠和独立。但是，这当然不是美国人经常自己付自己饭钱的唯一原因。让我从美国人的视角来看待这一习俗。