ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ BÌNH DIỆN LIÊN VĂN HÓA TRONG GIẢNG DẠY NGOẠI NGỮ CROSS – CULTURE COMMUNICATION FOR ELT BÀI TẬP CUỐI KÌ – FINAL ASSIGNMENT Giảng viên phụ trách: GS, T.S Nguyễn Quang Lớp: PG16 Học viên: Nguyễn Thị Vân Anh ( 2/8/1986) Đào Hồng Hạnh (03/04/1986) Lê Thị Ly(09/12/1990) Trần Thạch Thủy(20/07/1989) Phí Lương Vân(01/09/1988) Khóa học: 2013 – 2014 Hà Nội – 2013 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, we want to express our deep gratitude to my lecturer, Ph.D Nguyen Quang for his lectures during the class time, his great enthusiasm and useful pieces of advice if necessary. We also would like to thank our classmates and friends for their timely help and good cooperation during the period we did this assignment. We ourselves are responsible for what we represent in this paper. Culture shock is one of the most controversial issues arousing people’s attention all over the world, especially those wanting to live or study in foreign countries. It’s undeniable that anyone going to live in a new country will experience a degree of culture shock within a certain period of time after their arrival. Culture shock may be considered to come from mis – interpretation of cultural values, beliefs, behaviors, and norms of the new society. People use their own cultures as the standard for interpreting, judging and behaving in the new culture in an ineffective way. Individuals don’t know the systems of rewards and punishment associated with the verbal and nonverbal behaviors in the host culture. Thus, there is an occurrence of culture shock. From our point of view, cross – cultural learning plays a significant role before people go to the target country. Therefore, this paper aims at giving a short introduction to the target culture, specifically the American and illustrating some potential areas of culture shock in terms of verbal and nonverbal behavior students can experience on their two – month student – exchange programme in the United States. I. VERBAL COMMUNICATION According to Levine and Adelman (1993), verbal communication is “the spoken communication, including the use of words and intonation to convey meaning”. Verbal communication is defined as “the process of sharing meaning by means of intralinguistic factors or intralanguage” (Nguyen Quang, 2006). Moreover, verbal can be spoken or written language. As a result of differences in language, people in different cultures will think about, perceive, and behave toward the world differently. Let’s take a look at the differences between verbal behavior of American and this of Vietnamese which can be potential culture shock issues for students enrolling student- exchange programme. Firstly, there are a lot of things need to be considered in transferring from one language to other which can be divided into three types: linguistic transfer, communicative transfer and cross-cultural transfer. In linguistic transfer, the language can be absolute transferred or relative transferred. For instance, a simple sentence in English such as “There is a vase on the table” can be totally linguistic interpretted into Vietnamese equipvalent “Có một cái lọ hoa trên bàn”. Another sentence in English is only relatively transferred from “She’s got married for two years” to “Cô ấy đã kết hôn được 2 năm rồi”. One more example of relatively interpretation from English to Vietnamese is “She don’t want to talk to him anymore” which can be transferred to “cô ấy không muốn nói chuyện với anh ta nữa”. The second type is communicative transfer which is more complex and can cause culture shock for foreigners. For example, the English saying “search me” can be wrongly interpretted to “tra cứu tôi đi” and it can lead to misunderstanding. According to communicative purpose, the saying must be transferred to “hỏi tôi thì hỏi cái đầu gối ấy”. Another example is “if you ask me, she’s the type woman who never says no to any man”. If we interpret the sentence into “nếu bạn hỏi tôi, cô ấy là loại đàn bà không bao giờ nói không với đàn ông”, the meaning will be too complicated to understand. In term of communicative context, the suitable Vietnamese equipvalent can be “nếu anh hỏi thì tôi xin nói, cô ấy là loại dại trai”. The meaning can be correctly transferred and easier to understand. The last type and also the most important one in culture shock areas is cross-culture transfer. For instance, at 8.30 pm an English man talk to his wife “Honey, it’s time for tea”. If we interpret it into “Em yêu, đến giờ uống trà rồi”, it doesn’t suitable in Vietnamese culture and can lead to misunderstanding. That’s why we need to consider the culture of both two languages before translating to avoid miscommunication. “How are you?” is another example. In American, the question is a greeting sentence only, so if we transfer it to “bạn thế nào”, the meaning can be changed. Therefore, it can cause verbal behavior culture shock. In Vietnamese, we often use the question “chào bác, bác xơi cơm chưa ạ?” to say hello to older people, but if we transfer it into “do you have lunch?”, listener can understand it as a question about whether they eat their lunch or not. Secondly, politeness is a huge potential culture shock for Vietnamese student studying in America. According to Nguyen Quang (2006) politeness is “any communication act (verbal and/or nonverbal) that is intentionally and appropriately meant to make another person/ other people feel better or less bad.” If we use communication act intentionally to make another person feel better, it is called positive politeness. Positive politeness is also defined as “any communication act (verbal and/or nonverbal) that is intentionally and appropriately meant to show speaker’s concern to addressee, thus, enhancing the sense of solidarity between them”. (Nguyen Quang, 2006). The other type of politeness is negative politeness which is “any communicative act (verbal and/or nonverbal) that is intentionally and appropriately meant to show that the speaker does not want to impinge on the addressee’s privacy, thus, maintaining the sense of distance between them”. So in the forein country such as American, we should learn to be positive politeness and avoid negative politeness. Let’s discuss the strategies below. Firstly, positive politeness can be obtained through a lot of strategies. For example, noticing attend to the hearer’s interest, wants and needs like asking question such as: (Your friend must be thirsty) Do you want to have some orange juice?. Another strategy is exaggerate interest, approval, sympathy of the hearer. For instance, “you’re such a genius” or “oh, yeah, you’re perfectly right about it”. Thirdly, positive politeness can be shown through indensify interest to the hearer by using sentences like “what do you think I see? Everyone is still stay outside”. The strategies left are using groupidentity markers, avoiding disagreement,raising common groups, offering, promising, being optimistic, including both the speaker and hearer in the activity, giving or asking for reason, assuming or asserting reciprocity, giving gifts and so on. Secondly, negative politeness strategies can be being conventionally indirect, making questions, being persimistic, minimising the imposation, giving deference, apologising, impersonalizing speaker and hearer, nominalising, redressing other wants to hearer and so on. Specifically, we can use sentences such as “I wonder if you could possibly”, “I just want to ask you if I can borrow this paper”, “I’d be grateful if you would”. In summary, there are quite a lot of verbal behavior which can cause culture shock. Two main areas are transfering and showing politeness. The student need to be prepared about those issues to avoid culture shock when studying in America. II. NONVERBAL BEHAVIOR: Understanding nonverbal communication in the United States can help make social interactions more productive. Recognizing the American's need for personal space, direct eye contact and restraint from physical contact helps people reach their communication goals with less potential for confusion. (By Sherri Jens) We will look at nonverbal communication, a form of communication rather than using speech, in United State of America, including + Eye contact + Facial expressions, + Other body language, + Personal space, + Touching Eye Contact Latin cultures tend to rely more on eye contact in communication than do non-Latin cultures. In the U.S. and in Arabic cultures, direct eye contact is often seen as a sign of honesty, whereas in some Asian, Middle-Eastern and Native-American cultures, it's considered rude. In the United States, eye contact can indicate degree of attention or interest. It can be used to indicate attraction, to establish power, indicate emotion, and influence attitude. In most part of United States, direct eye contact could be considered as a positive trait. Children are encouraged to look the person addressing them in the eye. However, due to the diversity in the USA, that is not a universal truth. African-Americans tend to use more eye contact when they are speaking, but less when they are listening; Anglo-Americans tend to use more eye contact when listening, but less when speaking. It is noticed as a difference since in Asian culture such as in Vietnam, avoiding eye contact is a kind of way to show respect. Extended eye-contact in Vietnam culture may be taken as disrespectful or a challenge to authority. Facial Expressions All cultures seem to express with the same basic facial expressions the basic emotions of anger, grief, happiness and fear. But the acceptability of such expression varies from culture to culture. Many Asian cultures don't easily express anger or grief on their faces, while American culture permits open expressions of grief. Gestures Even a gesture as simple as pointing can lead to cross-cultural miscommunication. Among the most potent forms of non-verbal communications is gestural. There are too many differences in gestures to handle them in a meaningful way here. Some examples of gestures that may not translate include pointing. Pointing with a single finger is considered rude in many Asian cultures. Better there to indicate direction by gesturing with a whole hand. Even among those cultures that use a single finger to point, there is variation. In the US , people use the index finger to point. The gesture that Americans use to indicate everything is okay, is a very offensive gesture in many parts of the world. As for the Victory symbol of American, for example, when George Bush visited Australia, he flashed them a V-for victory/peace sign from his limo. The gesture is normally done with the palm facing out, but for most Americans, it does not matter. President Bush, unfortunately made the sign with the back of his hand facing towards the crowd. In Australia and in the UK , this is an equivalent of flipping someone the bird, or saying "Up yours." In America and in most parts of Europe, showing someone a closed fist with your thumb sticking in the air is a sign of approval. In many Asian or Islamic parts of the world, it is an insulting gesture. While in the USA, men greeting each other with a handshake is the norm, in other parts of the world they might greet each other with a kiss. There are cultures that consider two men walking hand-in-hand to standard behavior. In the United States, two men holding hands would indicate a romantic relationship Personal space Members of an individualistic society, Americans in the US prefer comparatively little touching and relatively large personal space. Because of increased personal space requirements, frequent and direct eye contact and apparent discomfort from touching, foreigners may sometimes view US citizens as cold, rude or uninterested. Fun Facts Most people in the US prefer to stand at an arm's length distance from others. While seeming friendly to Americans, the US hand gesture for "come here" is actually considered an insult in some cultures like Vietnam Touch In general, Americans touch in public more than Vietnamese do. Hugging or kissing as a gesture of greeting or leave-taking. Americans do not touch in public as much as people in some European and South American cultures do, however, they touch more than Vietnam people do, especially in a situation such as greeting or saying good-by to someone at an airport. In addition, almost all the touching for American was widespread. Meeting People There are many nonverbal ways Americans use to greeting people. The first way is to shake hands. In the US, people usually shake hands firmly, and shake hands with people of the opposite gender. In their view, how to shake hands is a measure of the character. Americans often shake hands when being introduced to someone. In more informal situations, it is common for people not to shake hands unless a long period of time has elapsed and the people feel comfortable with each other and their mutual friendship. However, in formal business situations people most often greet each other with a handshake every time they meet or say good-bye. As a gesture of friendliness, if a person offers his hand, the opposite person should shake it. It could be considered to be rude if one didn't. Many times men are the only ones who shake hands in a mixed group. It is customary for a man to shake a woman's hand only if she offers her hand first, though this is somewhat of an old-fashioned custom and today offering a hand to a woman is accepted, if not expected. The second way is to use eye – contact. They always look people in the eye when shaking hands or conversing. Lack of eye contact is interpreted as lack of honesty, reliability and cheviots in the U.S. Meanwhile, it is usual that the Vietnamese avoid eye contact with other people when speaking or being spoken to. Looking into somebody's eyes, especially when this person is of a higher status (in age, in social or family hierarchy) or of a different sex, usually means a challenge or an expression of deep passion. The proper respectful behavior is to avoid eye contact in talking who is not an equal or the same sex. III. Some solutions to deal with culture shock when you come to an English- speaking country ( USA) The Adjustment Process in a New Culture Understanding the cultural adjustment process is one of the useful way which can help people cope with the intense feelings that they may experience when beginning the life in the U.S. Each stage in the process is characterized by “symptoms” or outward signs typifying certain kinds of behavior as follows: 1. “Honeymoon” period: Initially, many people are fascinated and excited by everything new. The visitor is elated to be in a new culture. 2. “Culture Shock”: The individual is immersed in new problems: housing, transportation, shopping, and language. Mental fatigue results from continuous straining to comprehend the new language. 3. Initial Adjustment: Everyday activities such as housing and shopping are no longer major problems. Although the visitor may not yet be fluent in the language spoken, basic ideas and feelings in the second language can be expressed. 4. Mental Isolation: Individuals have been away from their family and friends for a long period of time and may feel lonely. Many still feel they cannot express themselves as well as they can in their native language. Frustration and sometimes a loss of self-confidence result. 5. Acceptance and Integration: A routine (e.g., work, business, or school) has been established. The visitor has accepted the habits, customs, foods, and characteristics of the people in the new culture. The visitor feels comfortable with friends, associates, and the language of the country. The following are some tips to help you deal with culture shock: • Go out: Don’t sit in your apartment or the library every day. Find some campus activities that sound interesting to you. By getting out and into social settings, you will begin to become more comfortable with new customs. • Get exercise: Exercise has been shown to reduce stress and fight depression. Take a walk downtown or join an intramural sports team. Find some fellow students who want to get active, and schedule a regular activity. • Make friends: Make an effort to become friends with both Americans and with other international students. The international students will be able to relate to your feelings and may be able to offer advice and support. American friends can answer general questions you have about life in the U.S. By making new friends, you will reduce feelings of loneliness and will begin to form bonds with your new surroundings. • Learn about the new culture: Resist the urge to judge behaviors or practices that are different from your own as being “bad” or “unintelligent”. Instead, try to learn the reason behind the behavior. While you may not agree with the practice, you will have a better understanding of how to respond when faced with it. • Seek assistance: If you find that you cannot seem to adjust to the new culture, make an appointment to speak with one of the staff in the Office of International Programs. If you find that you are very depressed, make an appointment with the Counseling Center. In both cases, your meeting will be completely confidential. • Be patient: Most people require several weeks or more to feel comfortable in a new culture. Give yourself time to adjust. Focus on the positive experiences, and try to view negative experiences as learning opportunities. [...]... (1973), Linguistic communication and Speech Acts, Massachsettes: the MIT Press 2 Cottril, M (1994), Face, Politeness and Directness, University of Canberra 3 Deena, R Levine and Mara, B Adelman(1993), Beyond Language 4 Nguyễn Quang (2004) Một số vấn đề giao tiếp nội văn hóa và giao văn hóa Nhà xuất bản Đại học quốc gia Hà Nội 5 Nguyễn Quang (2006) Giao tiếp phi ngôn từ qua các nền văn hóa Nhà xuất bản... nền văn hóa Nhà xuất bản khoa học xã hội 6 Nguyễn Quang (2007) Cách thức diễn đạt trong tiếng Anh – Ways of expressions in English Nhà xuất bản Từ điển Bách Khoa 7 Differences between American and Japanese culture http://voices.yahoo.com 8 Solution to avoid cultural shock: http://www.valpo.edu/international/handbook/info _culture. php . Đ I HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ N I TRƯ NG Đ I HỌC NGO I NG BÌNH DIỆN LIÊN VĂN HÓA TRONG GIA NG DA Y NGOA I NG ̃ CROSS – CULTURE COMMUNICATION FOR ELT B I TẬP CU I KÌ – FINAL ASSIGNMENT Gi ng viên phụ. promising, being optimistic, including both the speaker and hearer in the activity, giving or asking for reason, assuming or asserting reciprocity, giving gifts and so on. Secondly, negative. negative politeness strategies can be being conventionally indirect, making questions, being persimistic, minimising the imposation, giving deference, apologising, impersonalizing speaker and