通过《走遍美国》浅析中美文化差异

论文总字数：33304字

摘 要

《走遍美国》是一套在全球35个国家同步使用的生活化美语教材，它能帮助我们较全面地了解美国文化，具有很强的学术价值和研究价值。中美文化的差异是多方面的，本文仅对《走遍美国》中涉及的时间、婚礼和独立性等几个典型方面所反映出的差异进行研究，从而对两国文化差异有进一步认识，并提高跨文化交际能力，减少误会与冲突。

此外在中美跨文化交流日益普遍的当下，对造成文中所提差异的根源进行探讨，能使我们更能体会和包容他国文化。本文从时间观、独立观、教育模式等等角度来探讨中美文化差异的渊源。最后，得出理解、学习、吸收并最终完善本国文化的结论。

关键词：《走遍美国》；中国；美国；文化差异

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 2

2.1 Family Album U.S.A. 3

2.2 Previous Studies 3

3. Analysis of Sino-US Culture Differences of Time in Family Album, U.S.A.....................................................................................................................4

3.1 Punctuality and Waiting 4

3.2 Working Time and Playtime 5

3.3 Reservation 6

4. Analysis of Sino-US Culture Differences of Wedding in Family Album, U.S.A. 7

4.1 Bride’s Attire 7

4.2 Wedding Etiquette 8

4.3 Wedding Banquet 9

5. Analysis of Sino-US Culture Differences of Independence in Family Album, U.S.A. 10

5.1 Economic Independence 10

5.2 Individual Independence 11

6. Conclusion 13

Works Cited 14

1. Introduction

Language is one element of social culture, and is the carrier of culture while culture is stored and transmitted through language. These two fields are closely related to each other. Sapir. E. points out that understanding cultural behavior was impossible unless its development through language was thoroughly trace (Sapir E., 1921: 23). Language is used in a certain cultural background, and the use of language is restricted by the culture. Different languages reflect the different national cultural differences. Due to the historical development, mode of thinking, living habits, values, etc, different cultural norms, namely so-called cultural differences are formed.

A person’s talking style, communication way, and even living habits are closely linked with the culture. Goodenough W.H. argues that without knowing its culture, a foreign language can not be comprehended and used correctly (Goodenough W.H., 1981:12). If two people live in two completely different cultures, even though they use the same language for communication, they will find that there are some differences in speaking styles and doing things. Thus successful cross-cultural communication is inseparable from the understanding of the cultural background knowledge reflected in language. That is to say, cross-cultural communication is the process that people use the language knowledge and social cultural knowledge to transmit information.

Social scientists tell us that every culture is unique. Even one has mastered each other’s language, the communication difficulties can also appear. People who are under different cultural background have different speech patterns or habits. In cross-cultural communication, people are always accustomed to thinking in their own way to others’ sentences, which might cause incorrect inferences or conflicts. We should know how they regard things, how they observe the world. In other words, we ought to understand their “soul of language”—culture. China and the United States, two ethnic groups belonging to east and west, one culture is eastern civilization and the other is western civilization. It goes without saying that the differences between them are great. Not understanding the cultural differences between China and the United States will greatly hinder cross-cultural communication.

Family Album, U.S.A. is a popular set of American English textbooks in the world, having sold millions of copies. It has strong academic value and research value. All the actors in the Family Album, U.S.A. are excellent professional performers. Their English pronunciation is clear and they have rich body language. It introduces a typical American family life story, and it not only makes us have the opportunity to appreciate the beautiful American spoken English but also opens a window to reflect the real American life, which help us understand the culture and customs in the United States more comprehensively, and make us know more about the cultural differences of China and America.

Nowadays, in the situation that communication between them becomes more common, it is beneficial to compare the cultural differences via the Family Album, U.S.A., for that will make us have a further understanding of cultural differences between the two countries and improve our ability of establishing successful cross-cultural communication. “The prosperity of a country is inseparable from the modest attitudes to learn from others’ strong points to improve our own culture.”(Jian Sun, 2006:2). Comparing the differences of culture between China and the United States can reveal the culture of our nation, absorb the essence of American culture properly, so as to complement each other and perfect our own culture.

This thesis takes Family Album, U.S.A. as a starting point to study some cultural differences between China and America. The research aspects include time, wedding and independence from part three to part five. Studies of time include punctuality and waiting, working time and playtime, and reservation. Studies of wedding consist of bride’s attire, wedding etiquette, and wedding banquet. Studies of independence cover economic independence, and individual independence. In structural arrangements of these three parts, this thesis respectively illustrates some examples from a few respects Family Album, U.S.A. at the first, then contrasts the differences, and at last presents the reasons.

2. Literature Review

2.1 Family Album U.S.A.

Family Album, U.S.A. is a series of books by George Lefferts that later became a television course teaching English on an example of American everyday life. It was published by Maxwell Macmillan International Publishing Group. The television series were directed by Jo Anne Sedwick and Merrill M. Mazuer and produced by Alvin Cooperman. The storyline narrates the Stewarts’ family life in New York. Richard Stewart is a professional photographer who decided to make a book of pictures about the USA, called “Family Album, U.S.A.” There are 26 episodes of Family Album, U.S.A.. Each episode consists of three acts and each television episode involves a central event, telling a story about the daily life of Stewarts, a typical American family in New York, such as applying a job, going on vacation, holding a wedding ceremony and so on. The circumstances in Family Album, U.S.A. are vivid, interesting and entertaining, and the oral is authentic with vivid contexts. Watching this play is a rare happy learning English trip.

Family Album, U.S.A. has sold millions of copies in China, and 35 countries around the world use it as English textbooks.

Family Album, U.S.A. represents the highest international production level. All the performers are excellent professionals. Their English pronunciation is clear. Body language is rich. Its effect is far beyond the general so-called “situational teaching”.

2.2 Previous studies

In 1992, Taiwan Ladder International Group Subsidiary Beijing Ladder Information Engineering Company, Ltd. introduced Family Album, U.S.A. to China, and published books and audio tape with the Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press jointly. The first edition was rearranged mainly by Zhou Qixun. The book was translated by Wang Weidong, etc. in 1993. It is greatly popular in China, and many scholars have studied it. In 1996, Reference for Family Album, U.S.A. written by Xia Zukui was published. In this book, he studies many puns, metaphors and the grammatical points in Family Album, U.S.A. These studies are pretty helpful for the English beginners. And in the same year, A Glossary of Formulaic Expressions of Family Album, U.S.A. came out. It offers us many practical expressions based on Family Album, U.S.A.. There are some other people also do research on Family Album, U.S.A..

But making a general survey of these studies, we may find they mainly focus on the language points, the roles for improving listening and oral and the communicative teaching method of Family Album, U.S.A. There are few studies on the cultural differences between China and America and their origins via Family Album, U.S.A. This thesis will do it.

This thesis studies the cultural differences from the aspects of time, wedding and independence, three typical and important aspects in Family Album, U.S.A.. And they also are of importance in our life. Knowing the differences of them can avoid some great problems in communicating.

3. Analysis of Sino-US Culture Differences of Time in Family Album, U.S.A.

3.1 Punctuality and waiting

There are some discrepancies between Chinese and Americans in regard of punctuality and waiting. For example, at a meeting of an American company, if one’s speech time is over the limited time, he or she will be considered as a person whose ability of generalization is poor, and his or her academic level is low, however, Chinese will consider the person is eloquent (Chen Chunqing, 2008:41）.

Americans treat time seriously, and punctuality is mandatory. In Episode 1, when Richard realized he may be late for the meeting with his wife, he rushed to leave immediately, even forgot to take his very important canvas bags. After meeting with his wife, he apologized to his wife constantly. At the same time, his wife, Marilyn stopped and asked Richard to tell her everything on the way home in order not to let the family wait them eating. In the United States, waiting is a waste of time, even a degrading behavior, so they try their best to avoid others awaiting them and for their own, they have no patience to wait for a long time either. American think people who are late must have a brief apology or explanation. For example, in Episode 1, Richard felt badly sorry for his being late and explained to his wife: “I’m really sorry. I left my bag of film on the ferry. I went back for it, but the ferry was gone.”（Zhou Qixun, 1993: 8） If one is not on time for an appointment and even has no explanation for it, he or she will be regarded as an irresponsible person. No wonder Hall thinks that time can talk, and even can be more important than spoken language at some times, because it is not as easy as oral language to be warped, and it can reveal people’s lies. (Edward T.Hall., 1959:1)

But the Chinese will face the problems above amicably. For one thing, waiting is China’s traditional virtue. And Chinese hold that waiting is the reflection of close interpersonal relationship. For another, Chinese value collectivism. We always regard ourselves as member of one collective and individual must put the collective interests at first. This kind of cultural value can be reflected on the concepts of time. In China, personal interests must obey collective interests. And collectivist culture emphasizes the importance of harmony among members. In a new environment, in order to get along well with others in the collective, we spend longer time being friendly and familiar with the people around us than Americans do. Under this circumstance, Chinese will more easily forgive one’s lateness than Americans. While American culture attaches great importance to the individual, Americans pay more attention to their own success rather than the interests of the collective. In term of time use, they do not need to spend too much time on the interpersonal harmony. They think that time is money, and they must treasure every second. Thus they value time and hate waiting.

3.2 Working time and playtime

In American daily life, they see working time and playtime as important resources and treat them carefully.

Americans believe that working time is very precious, so they invented a series of time saving devices, such as telephone which can help people communicate quickly, computers which can send files, planes which can deliver people to other countries rapidly and so on. Nowadays, more and more Americans hold meetings on the Internet screen, instead of talking about problems in a meeting room. This “remote meeting” not only can solve the problem of the domestic, but also can solve the problems between countries via satellite. Nonetheless, Chinese will see this way of communicating lack the milk of human kindness and is not beneficial to establish good interpersonal relationships.

Americans also build many fast food restaurants, and they eat convenient food (hamburgers, hot dogs, canned food…) to reduce the dining time. Chinese hold that food is the paramount necessity of the people. Chinese are more elegant than Americans, and they think eating fast food is unhealthy.

In Episode 25 “Country Music”, Susan and her family members drove to the lake for a camping trip. In the countryside, Susan was very excited. She fully enjoyed the beautiful scenery and pleasant weather. Susan is a hard-working person, but when she plays, she plays hard. Other Stewart family members also work hard and play hard. From above we can also see the American philosophy of time. They always want to maximize the value of time. So they work in earnest. Americans take work seriously. They complete their own duties as soon as possible. In judging a person, Americans first concern a person’s working attitude and working achievements in a limited time. They think if a person’s working achievements are higher, the value of the person also is higher. When having entertainment, Americans also enjoy to the fullest. Americans disdain deadbeats, but they do not exclude entertainment itself. They regard entertainment as a part of life. In their view, the entertainment is a kind of relaxation. Far from conflict with the work, entertainment is helpful to improve working efficiency. As a result, Americans have a “Work hard, play hard” attitude.

3.3 Reservation

In order to save their own time and do not waste other people’s time, Americans have the habit of reservation. From ordering a meal, ordering a room, seeing a doctor, visiting friends to getting a haircut, Americans make an appointment in advance.

Americans hold that inviting people to dinner, dating, or having a social activity should have prior notice. They believe this shows the hosts invite guests sincerely. Not inviting beforehand is often regarded as a slight. In the United States, if there is no urgent thing and no appointment in advance, it is disrespectful to knock on a friend’s door, and friends can take you away, because you disturb his time schedule. American timeliness is very strong, and the schedule is very compact. That is to say, before a visit, visitor and host must have an arrangement including the purpose, time place and so on. The arrangement is often carried out before a week. For example, when Marilyn and Richard are ready to go to a honeymoon, they call ahead to reserve a room of Watermill Inn. Through the reservation, the hotel is full, so they change to another hotel, which avoid the waste of time.

Chinese people generally do not make an appointment in advance, so when the guests come unexpectedly, the host does not mind too much.

In the traditional philosophical concepts of time, time is not only linear, but also cyclical. Circular time concept is that time is like a closed rolling and circulating ring. Linear time concept is that time includes past, present and future, and time does not repeat. In China’s traditional culture, the understanding of time mainly takes circular time concept, which has a close connection with the traditional farming culture. Ancient China is an agricultural society, and farmers’ living is based on agriculture. Farmers see people and nature as a mutual connection and interaction. Chinese learn to adapt to the environment on the situation, so they are more elastic than Americans thus they are glad to accept the unexpected visit. Corresponding with the Chinese farming culture, America has a highly developed industrial culture. This culture let Americans believe time is a linear process, time is irreversible, and will eventually disappear. Thus Americans have a strong sense of time “shortage”. They have faster pace of life, and make every effort to do everything on time, so they dislike that someone break their working plans.

4. Analysis of Sino-US Culture Differences of Wedding in Family Album, U.S.A.

4.1 Bride’s attire

Episode 19 of Family Album, U.S.A. introduces Harry and Susan’s wedding. Susan’s wedding dress was borrowed from Marilyn. And Susan wears a blue thing wristband which is worn by her mother when her mother got married, and she wears an old pearl necklace which is her grandmother’s. She also wears a new thing, a veil personally designed by Marilyn for her. In the United States, there is a regulation for a bride’s wearing, and that is the bride on the wedding day must wear something borrowed, something blue, something old, and something new.

This custom originated in the Victorian era. “Something borrowed” refers that the bride must borrow something used on wedding from one of her friends or family who has a happy marriage to bring good luck. It is often a handkerchief or small decorations. After the wedding, the borrowed thing must be returned to their owners in order to fulfill the word “borrow”. In American traditional customs, blue represents purity and fidelity. Wearing “something blue” can embody the purity and fidelity of the bride. Usually, the bride wears some blue decorations. A bride may wear or carry “something old” to represent her continued ties to her family and her old life. The bride usually chooses a wedding dress or a necklace of one of her family members as “something old”. “Something new” represents successes and hope in the bride’s new life and in her marriage. The bride’s wedding articles are full of newly purchased items, which can be used to represent this tradition. In America, the bride’s wedding dress can not be sold, but can be lent or thrown away. Otherwise the marriage will soon come to an end for the marriage is related to money.

In America, wedding dress is white and wearing a white wedding dress is considered to be pure. While the traditional Chinese wedding dress is red, red represents joy and happiness in China. On traditional Chinese wedding, the bride should wear a beautiful brocade cheongsam. Cheongsam is the clothing with Chinese characteristics. Besides, the couple must wear new clothes, which represents the beginning of a new life.

4.2 Wedding etiquette

In the etiquette of wedding, there are some differences between China and the United States.

In terms of atmospheres, the weddings of these two countries are very different. In our country, the atmosphere is noisier, then the wedding is more successful, and the new couple can get more blessings from more people. So on the wedding day, Chinese set off many firecrackers. While new couple in the United States believes that only in the quiet and peaceful environment can they get god’s blessing. Americans often hold their weddings in peaceful churches and the wedding march plays softly. The whole church is without any other voice. The wedding is completed in a very rigorous atmosphere.

Most people in the United States believe in Christianity, so in American new couple usually choose quiet church to hold their wedding, and usually the priest hosts the wedding to get the recognition and blessing of god. Most Chinese people are not religious but they have a strong sense of kindred, so Chinese do not choose church as wedding place, but they are willing to invite many guests to the jollity to show the relationship of intimacy.

On the wedding, American bride is supported with her father’s hand from one end of the red carpet to the other end where the bridegroom stands and father gives his daughter’s hands to the bridegroom, which represents that the bride’s family confides the bride to the groom formally. In China, the bridegroom who wants to marry the bride is not smooth as American bridegrooms. Often, bride’s family prevents the bridegroom taking the bride from her home by all manner of means. For example, bride’s family will not let the bridegroom come to the house deliberately, unless he gives a red envelope. After the bridegroom comes into the room, bride’s family will deliberately prevent the bridegroom from finding the bride’s shoes so that the bride can’t be out of the room. These rituals are to show that how the bride’s family is not willing to see the bride leaving, and at the same time, they also let the bridegroom cherish the bride.

According to Chinese customs, after three days of marriage, the bride and groom will be back to the bride’s home. This is a necessary courtesy in China. It is distinct from the traditional American wedding. In the United States, after the wedding, the newlyweds will go abroad for their honeymoon straight away.

4.3 Wedding banquet

At the end of the wedding, new couples in both countries will hold a certain scale wedding banquet. In Chinese wedding banquet, the new couple often proposes a toast to each table with guests, and they thank them for their coming and blessings by this way. In China, the guests often give the new couple cash. Unlike our wedding banquet, American wedding is quite free. It can be the buffet form or a party accompanied with music. In addition, they seldom give the new couple cash.

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