主要讲文化背景对英语学习的影响,值得我们学习这一方面的知识
, his answer was ―Fine, thank you‖, but not ―Not very well, I‘m afraid ‖, or other similar answers.
During oral communication, speakers need standard pronunciation and intonation, as well as the suitable use of language for the occasion. There are numerous examples that we could cite of expressions that are correct according to grammatical rules, but unsuitable for the occasion.
Once, after a student gave a lecture, he asked a foreign visitor for his advice. He said like this, ―I am desirous of exploring your feeling on the lecture‖—which caused the foreign visitor‘s surprise. He said: ―You English is too beautiful to be true.‖ But the student refused to accept the comment. He said the sentence was extracted from the book. The visitor explained that phrases like ―desirous of exploring your feelings‖ were not fit for spoken language, which should be replaced by ―I‘d like to hear your views on the lecture‖ or ―May I have your views on the lecture?‖
A person comforted a bereaved young wife, ―I‘m terribly sorry to hear that your husband has just died, but don‘t let it upset you too much. You‘re an attractive young woman. I‘m sure you‘ll find someone else soon.‖ Although the words accord with grammatical rules, they cannot be applied in communication, and at the same time, they betray the social customs.
As peoples are diverse, customs are diverse. It is only natural then that with differences in customs, differences often arise in using of language. For example, when someone praise your English is very good, American and Chinese replies to compliments are different. According to Chinese customs, they generally murmur some reply about not being worthy of the praise, while according to American customs, they tend to accept the compliment with the pleasure. The reply like ―No, I don‘t speak good English‖—Americans think which seems to criticize the other side, is impolite.
Reading English articles requires a certain language basis, but the competence of reading comprehension is not entirely related to one‘s language level. Knowledge of cultural background is also important. Reading is a process affected by integration of one‘s language knowledge, cultural background knowledge and other professional knowledge, and a process of continuous guesses and corrections according to available language material, cultural background and logical reasoning. Generally speaking, Chinese people study Chinese without the difficulties aroused by cultural background. Chinese proverbs like ―只许州官放火，不许百姓点灯‖, ―平时不烧香,临时抱佛脚‖, ―差之毫厘,失之千里‖ will not influence our understanding of article. The connotation of such new words as ―改革开放‖ ―大腕‖ ―追星族‖ are easily understood, too. However, when we read English articles, differences between Chinese and western cultures often bring us many difficulties.
Following, effect of cultural background on reading will be discussed, with some common terms or expressions in reading material, which is often not understood by Chinese learners unfamiliar with western culture, as illustration.
Many allusions drawn from history, religion, literature etc., often appear in English w