Colors No two languages are ever sufficiently similar to be considered as reprinting the same social reality. The worlds in which different societies live are distinct worlds, not merely the same world with different labels attached. Red paper bag containing money as a gift VI. Case Study VII. Summary Why take Intercultural Communication? Culture Communication Intercultural Communication The Difference between Chinese and Western Cultures VIII. Exercises 1. Matching the terms with their definitions A. culture B. communication C. ethnocentrism D. intercultural communication E. business communication 1.( ) The belief that your own cultural background, including ways of analyzing problems, values, beliefs, language, and verbal and nonverbal communication, is superior. 2.( ) The total accumulation of beliefs, customs, values, behaviors, institutions and communication patterns that are shared, learned and passed down through the generations in an identifiable group of people. 3.( ) A process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior, or the exchange of thoughts, messages, or information, as by speech, signals, writing, or behavior. 4.( )The communication is within business and administration, aiming at a common objective and profits for both the individuals and organizations. 5.( ) The communication between people from different cultures when a member of one culture produces a message for consumption by a member of another culture. Exercises 2. Comprehension Check Decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F). __ 1. As a phenomenon, intercultural communication has existed for thousands of years. However, as a discipline, its history is only about fifty years. __2. Intercultural Communication as a discipline first started in Europe. __3. Culture is a static entity while communication is a dynamic process. __4. Culture can be seen as shared knowledge, what people need to know in order to act appropriately in a given culture. __5. Although cultural stereotype has its limitations (over-generalization), it still contributes to a person?s cultural cognition. __6. In intercultural communication, we should separate one?s individual character from cultural generalization. __7. Cultural mistakes are more serious than linguistic mistakes. The linguistic mistake means that someone is not fully expressing his or her idea while cultural mistakes can lead to serious misunderstanding and even ill-feeling between individuals. __8. All people of the same nationality will have the same culture. __9. Although two cultures may share the same ideas, their meaning and significance may not be the same.
__10. One?s actions are totally independent of his or her culture. Exercises 3. Cultural Puzzles Read the following situations and choose the appropriate answer(s). There may be more than one possible answer for each cultural puzzle. 1. What would you do if someone told you to use his or her first name, but you felt uncomfortable doing this? a. You could continue to use the person?s last name without explaining why. b. You could try to use the person?s first name even though you feel uncomfortable doing this. c. You could ask the person, “Is it OK if I use your last name?” 1. a) No. Ignoring other?s suggestion is impolite and offensive. B) Yes. When you try something new, it may be difficult at first. After a while, you will get accustomed to it. C) Yes. You could learn about other?s customs by asking for cultural explanations. 2. Situation: An American woman received a letter from a recently married Japanese friend. The Japanese woman wrote in her letter, “My husband is not very handsome. Your husband is much more handsome than mine.” The American woman was very surprised at what her friend wrote. 1) Why do you think the American was surprised? a) The American woman saw a picture of her friend?s husband and thought that he was very handsome. b) The American woman didn?t think her own husband was handsome. c) In the U.S., it is disrespectful to say that one?s husband is not handsome. 1) a) No. Even if this was true, she wouldn?t expect a wife to say this about her own husband. To her, the Japanese woman insulted her own husband. B) No. Even if this was true, she wouldn?t expect the Japanese woman to compare their husbands? appearance. C) Yes. If an American woman said this about her husband, people might think that they didn?t have a good relationship. 2) Why do you think the Japanese woman wrote, “My husband is not very handsome ”? a) The Japanese woman was trying to tell her American friend that she did not like her husband very much. b) It is uncommon in Japan to compliment one?s husband. c) The Japanese woman didn?t think her husband was handsome, but she liked his personality. 2) a) No. This would not be a Japanese way for a wife to say that she didn?t like her husband. B) Yes. In Japan, a person would be considered boastful and not modest enough if he or she complimented his or her family members in front of others. IX. Assignments Case Study —— To Be Direct or Not 2. Video Watching Gua Sha 《刮痧》 Case study In the United States, public criticism is one of a number of techniques that can be used quite effectively to change personnel?s behavior. In the world of Islam,
however, where the preservation of dignity and slef-respect is absolutely essential, public reprimand will be totally counterproductive(产生不良后果的 ). If Arabs feel that they have suffered a loss of personal dignity because they have been criticized in public, they take it as a dishonor to both themselves and their families. And when Sam insisted on using this “motivational” technique, the individual at whom the reprimand was directed was not only hurt for the open humiliation(丢脸;羞辱 ) but also loses the respect of fellow workers witnessing it. 教 学 后 记 *
*教学内容与过程设计的主要内容包括（供参考，编写教案时自行删除）： 一、根据教学大纲、教学目的以及教材特点选择教学内容；
二、根据教学内容及学生实际，选择有效的教学方法与手段，突出重点、突破难点； 三、课堂教学环节及各环节的大致时间安排。
*教案字数未做严格要求，一般而言，熟悉本课程教学内容的有经验的教师可写简案，简化内容，突出过程设计，新教师及新任本课程教学的教师原则上应写详案。 *“教学后记”是授课完毕之后，教师对授课准备情况、授课过程及授课效果的回顾与总结，因此，教师应及时手写补充完整本部分内容。
教案
时间第周，总第 2 次课 安排 章节 Unit1 Communication Across Culture 名称
教学Learn the communication Across culture 目的 教学重点The communication across culure 与 难点 Warm Up Questions 1. Why is it difficult to explain to a blind person what colors are? 2. Do you sometimes find it hard to make yourself properly understood by others? If you do, why do you think it is hard? It is very difficult for people to understand one another if they do not share the same experiences. Of course, we all share the experience of being human, but there are many experiences which we do not share and which are different for all of us. It is these different experiences that make up what is called ―culture‖ in the social sciences － the habits of everyday life, the cues to which people respond, the automatic reactions they have to whatever they see and hear. These often differ, and the differences may introduce misunderstandings where we seek understanding. Reading I Intercultural Communication：An Introduction Comprehension questions Is it still often the case that “everyone?s quick to blame the alien” in the contemporary world? This is still powerful in today?s social and political rhetoric. For instance, it is not uncommon in today?s society to hear people say that most, if not all, of the social and economic problems are caused by minorities and immigrants. 2. What?s the difference between today?s intercultural contact and that of any time in the past? Today?s intercultural encounters are far more numerous and of greater importance than in any time in history. 3. What have made intercultural contact a very common phenomenon in our life today? New technology, in the form of transportation and communication systems, has accelerated intercultural contact; innovative communication systems have encouraged and facilitated cultural interaction; globalization of the economy has brought people together; changes in immigration patterns have also contributed to intercultural encounter. 4. How do you understand the sentence “culture is everything and everywhere”? Culture supplies us with the answers to questions about what the world looks like 教 学 内 容 与 过 程 设 计
and how we live and communicate within that world. Culture teaches us how to behave in our life from the instant of birth. It is omnipresent. 5. What are the major elements that directly influence our perception and communication? The three major socio-cultural elements that directly influence perception and communication are cultural values, worldview (religion), and social organizations (family and state). 6. What does one?s family teach him or her while he or she grows up in it? The family teaches the child what the world looks like and his or her place in that world. 7. Why is it impossible to separate our use of language from our culture? Because language is not only a form of preserving culture but also a means of sharing culture. Language is an organized, generally agreed-upon, learned symbol system that is used to represent the experiences within a cultural community. 8. What are the nonverbal behaviors that people can attach meaning to? People can attach meaning to nonverbal behaviors such as gestures, postures, facial expressions, eye contact and gaze, touch, etc. 9. How can a free, culturally diverse society exist? A free, culturally diverse society can exist only if diversity is permitted to flourish without prejudice and discrimination, both of which harm all members of the society. Discovering Problems: Slim Is Beautiful? Questions for discussion Which do you think is the mark of beauty, thin or fat? Why is it often said that beauty is in the eye of beholder? Group Work First share with your group member whatever experiences you have had in communication events that can be considered as intercultural. Then work together to decide whether each of the following cases of communication is possibly intercultural or not and, if it is, to what extent it is intercultural. Try to place all the cases along a continuum of interculturalness, from the most intercultural to the least intercultural. Debate The class is to be divided into two groups and debate on the two different views mentioned in the following on intercultural communication. State your point of view clearly and support your argument with convincing and substantive evidence.