non verbal communication

Chapter 4

Culture and Non-verbal
Verbal Communication

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Match

Match the following pictures with the correct gesture expressions

saluting

nodding

bowing

fist bumping

raising her eyebrows

• saluting

• nodding

• bowing

• fist bumping

• raising her eyebrows

Multiple Choice

What do the signals in this picture show?

• Comfort

• discomfort

Multiple Choice

What do the signals in this picture show?

• comfort

• discomfort

Multiple Choice

What do the signals in this picture show?

• comfort

• discomfort

Multiple Choice

What do the signals in this picture show?

• comfort

• discomfort

Section 2
1.

The Relationship between

Language and Culture

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Language

� Language is a set of codes and symbols,

along with the rules for combining them
together.

� Different groups of people speak and write

different languages, and have different
codes, symbols and roles to facilitate their
communication.

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Language and Culture

�Language helps in communication with
people from different backgrounds.

Language

Culture
●Cultural literacy is necessary in order to

understand the language being used.

Language

Culture

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1.1 Language as a reflection of the

environment

Camel

English

• “falling snow”

“fallen snow”

• “flaky snow”
• “crusty snow”

“snow packed into
ice”

English

• Dromedary
• Bactrian

Arabic

• More than 400 words

Snow

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1.2 Language as a reflection of values

Women’s subordination


Follow the man you marry, be he a fool or a crook.

——嫁鸡随鸡，嫁狗随狗

The husband sings, the wife accompanies.

——夫唱妇随

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Chinese kinshipTerms

English

Chinese

哥哥

弟弟

Grandmother

Brother

外祖母

祖母

1.3 Language Affects People’s Way of

Thinking

Language shapes people’s thinking, beliefs, and

attitudes, and it determines the way people see the

world and thus their culture.

——Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

Language Determinism

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Cultural Impact on Verbal

Communication

Phonemic Level

Lexical Level

Syntactical Level

Discourse Level

Discourse

Level

Phonemic Level

Syntactical Level

Lexical Level

Discourse Level

Pragmatics

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2. Culture-loaded Words

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Culture-loaded Words

� At lexical evel

Sender

Receiver

Symbol

✔

Meanings of words are not in words themselves

but in the minds of the sender and the receiver.

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Animal Words

Numbers

✔

Some

words

have

the

same

denotational

and

connotational meanings in the two languages.

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Same denotational and
connotational meanings

像狐狸一样狡猾

Fox/狐狸

和平鸽

Dove/鸽子

Same denotational but different

connotational meanings

✔

There are many words with the same denotational

meaning but different connotational meanings.

Owl
A symbol of wisdom

•As wise as an owl

猫头鹰

A symbol of bad luck

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Different denotational and
connotational meanings

✔

Both denotational and connotational meanings are

different in many other words.

Dragon

A fire-spitting mythical animal, signifying fierceness

•He is a bit of a dragon here.

long
(龙)

A symbol of the emperor in feudal China

•Descendants of the dragon (龙的传人)

Chinese
Dragon

Dragon

Loong

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Dropdown

as busy as a​ ​

Select answer

Match

Match the metaphorical idioms with an appropriate animal.

as blind as a

as stubborn as a

as foolish as a

as meek as a

as slippery as an

• as blind as a

• as stubborn as a

• as foolish as a

• as meek as a

• as slippery as an

3. Cultural Rules of Speaking

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pragmatic rules

✔

Pragmatics is the study of the effect of language on human

language.

✔

Speech behavior must be in conformity with rules of speaking.

✔

The use of rules of speaking from one’s own native speech

community when interacting with members of the host speech

community or simply when speaking in a second language is

known as pragmatic transfer.

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3.2 Greeting and Leave-taking

English

•Comment

on

weather

Chinese

•去哪儿呀？
•吃过了吗？

✔

Greeting is realized differently in various languages.

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Greeting and Leave-taking

✔

The guest has to decide how long it is appropriate to stay,

and having decided to leave, needs to know what to say.

Chinese

West

•I’m leaving now.

•I’m sorry to have
taken up so much
of your time.

•Find reasons to
leave related to
themselves rather
than to their hosts.

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3.3 Conversation Topics

Country

Appropriate topics

Topics to avoid

Australia

Professions, cars, skiing, music

Money, religion, divorce/separation

Germany
Travel abroad, International
politics, hobbies, soccer

World War II, 

questions about personal life

Great Britain

History, architecture, gardening
Politics, money/prices,
Falklands War

France
Music, books, sports, 

the theatre

Prices of items, person’s work, 

income, age

Mexico
Family, 

social concerns

Politics, debt, inflation problems, 

border violations

Japan

History, culture, art

World War II

Appropriate and Inappropriate Topics of Conversation in Selected Countries

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3.4 Offer and Thanks

✔

Offer-makings are different between English and Chinese.

English

Interrogative sentences

China

Command

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Offer and Thanks

✔

How to respond thanks is also associated with cultural

norms.

China
To say what have been done is one’s duty
shows one is modest and courteous.

English
The modesty and courtesy are not linked with
moral obligation.

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3.5 Invitation and Response

✔

Chinese people prefer indirect strategies.

✔

English speakers would not necessarily see

the need for indirectness

A person needs face as a
tree needs bark.

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3.6 Compliment and response

American
English

Chinese

✔

The frequency of “I like/love you” is much greater.

✔

“you”

and

“your”

appear

in

most

of

the

compliments.

✔

Overuse of “I” is perceived as a sign of arrogance

or the intention of showing off.

Compliment

Response

American
English

Chinese

✔

Accept compliments as a kind of recognition of

their individual efforts.

✔

Efface themselves

✔

王婆卖瓜，自卖自夸

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3.7 Apologies and response

Chinese
The person with less power apologizes to the
person with more power.

English

An apology is necessary whenever inconvenience
or offence is made with little consideration of the
status or social power of the people concerned.

给您添麻烦了

让您破费了

占用您宝贵时

间了

Gratitude is expressed directly in English, and indirectly in
Chinese for the purpose of considerations for others.

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4. Verbal styles

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Explicit / Implicit Communication

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Low context/ Implicit Communication

Association of speaking with negative

consequences:

一言既出，驷马难追;
祸从口出;
言多必失;
Inadequacy of spoken words :
言不尽意;
言外之意;
只可意会，不可言传;

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5 key aspects of Chinese verbal style

� Hanxu or implicit communication （含蓄）

� ting hua or listening centeredness （听话）

� ke qi or politeness （客气）

� zi ji ren or a focus on insiders （自己人）

� mian zi or face-directed communication

strategies （面子）

� -----Ge Gao and Stella Ting-Toomey (1998)

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8 Chinese and North Americans clash in

everyday interactions:

� 1. What is not said vs. What is said

� 2. The use of We vs. I

� 3. Polite vs. Impolite talk

� 4. Indirect vs. Direct talk

� 5. Hesitant vs. Assertive speech

� 6. Self-effacing vs. Self-enhancing talk

� 7. Private vs. Public personal questions

� 8. Reticent vs. Expressive speech

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Section 3 Exercises

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Exercises

� Apply Your Knowledge

� Case 1: Conversations between Neighbors

� Case 2: Are You Mad at Me?

� Practice Your Knowledge

� 2. interview

� 3. survey

� Expand Your Knowledge

� Books：《如何与老外交流》

� Website

� video： story about David and Isabel Crook

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案例分析

Benjamin被分配与来自中国的国际学生Wang一起合住一个房间，进入大学后相处得很好。Wang是一个随和和热心肠的人，除了他似乎过于专注于学习并总是在不经允许的情况下借用Benjamin的东西。有一天，当Benjamin在做论文时找不到他的尺子，所以他问正在读书的Wang：“抱歉打扰你学习的时候，我能借用你的尺子一会吗？”Wang说：“当然可以。”他递给了尺子，然后继续阅读。Benjamin说：“谢谢，非常感谢。”几分钟后，Benjamin需要上网搜索一些论文的背景信息，当他发现自己的笔记本电脑留在家里时，他再次找他的室友说：“再次打扰你，但你知道我把笔记本电脑留在家里了，我真的需要上网搜索一下。如果我使用你的笔记本电脑可以吗？”Wang站起来，从抽屉里拿出他的笔记本电脑说：“随便用吧”，然后继续阅读，Benjamin向他道谢。过了一会儿，Benjamin说：“我一定让你烦死了，但你有胶带吗？我保证明天给你买一卷。”Wang递给了他一卷胶带，说：“想用多少用多少，我不需要，我感激不尽。”Benjamin嘟囔着道谢后又回到了他的论文。当他注意到Wang在看着他时，他感到惊讶，完全不知道听到他的中国室友以悲伤的口气问他：“你生我的气吗？”

Open Ended

1. 1. Benjamin和他的中国室友Wang相处得如何？

2. 2. 为什么Wang会问“你生我的气吗？”

3. 3. Benjamin为什么感到惊讶和困惑？

4. 4. 这两位室友之间发生了基于文化的误解是什么？