跨文化交际下的商务谈判中的禁忌

论文总字数：34294字

摘 要

随着经济全球化的发展，与外国企业进行商务合作是促进经济中国经济发展必不可少的环节，因此商务谈判发挥着重要的角色。因为中外文化之间存在着差异，他们在谈判的语言，习惯，礼仪等方面存在着不同，从而导致商务谈判中禁忌的产生，本文主要从有声语言，无声语言，文化的影响，经济的发展状况方面进行分析，论述中国与西方国家之间商务谈判中的禁忌。并运用高低语境理论从跨文化角度分析了产生这些区别的原因，旨在帮助谈判者了解中西商务谈判中的不同之处，最终促进商务谈判的顺利进行。

关键词：国际商务谈判；跨文化交际；禁忌；利益冲突

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature review 1

3. A Comparison of Taboos in China and Western Business Negotiation from the Perspective of Cross-Culture 3

3.1 The use of verbal language in international business negotiation 5

3.2 The performance of silence in international business negotiation 6

3.3 The nonverbal language in international business negotiation 7

4. Analysis of the Influence of Cultural Differences in International Business Negotiation 9

4.1 The analysis of the causes of cultural differences 10

4.2 The different aspects’ of influence on International Business Negotiation 11

5. Conclusion 12

Works Cited 14

1. Introduction

With the influence of economic globalization, the rapid economic development of all countries in the world and cross-cultural economic development have become an unavoidable trend. Under this situation, in order to better promote the development of the domestic economy, more and more international business negotiations are being faced by various enterprises and units in China. However, due to the differences between cultures in different countries, there are many differences in language, etiquette, skills and other aspects in business negotiations. In order to maximize the benefits for both parties in business negotiations, negotiators must understand the taboo of business negotiation between different countries. Understanding and mastering the knowledge and skills of cross-cultural communication in multicultural background can reduce or eliminate misunderstandings, frictions and conflicts caused by cultural differences. It also help to reduce the appearance of the conflicts and embarrassment.

From the perspective of intercultural communication, the thesis analyzes the kinds of business taboos, the causes of appearance of taboos, and the different factors that affect the business negotiations. By understanding the taboo and overcome them in business negotiations can help people reduce or avoid the misunderstandings, then promoting the smooth progress of international business negotiations.

2. Literature review

Due to the differences in different countries’ culture, people use different ways to communicate with others. Some people express themselves directly while some other countries’ people express vaguely, which is affected by the context. The American anthropologist Edward T.Hall thought that human’s communication, including language communication is influenced by the context. He published a book Beyond Culture, in which he put forward culture possess the contextuality and divided the context into high context and low context.（Edward T.Hall, Beyond Culture,1976)

Intercultural communication refers to the communication between native speakers and non-native speakers. It also refers to communication between people with different language and cultural backgrounds. With the era of intercultural communication increasing frequently, various intercultural communication theories have emerged. They not only effectively guide people to communicate, disseminate new ideas, and greatly promote cultural exchanges. Chinese scholars Liu Chenchen thinks that understanding the characteristics of the expression of high and low contextual cultural information can help people to eliminate misunderstandings and obstacles that arise in cross-cultural communication. In the process of cross-cultural communication, if you want to eliminate the misunderstandings and you should figure out the people you are communicating with which context cultures he or she comes from. When dealing with people in different context cultures, be sure to understand the difference in between the two sides and adjust your expectations. Developing the sensitivity to cultural differences and learning to think problems in other’s situation promote the flexibility to handle cultural differences and achieve success in cross-cultural communication. (Liu Chenchen. "Intercultural High and Low Contexts" Course Education Research,4（2017）：2095-3089)

The high context culture means the creation of communication information mainly depends on the place of language communication, that is, the creation of communication information is not relying on the communicative language itself but mainly depends on the communicative context, like Chinese culture, Japanese culture, African culture, and Latin culture all belong to the high context culture.

The low context culture means the creation of communication information that mainly depends on the communication language itself, that is, the creation of communication information is not dependent on the communicative context, but the language used by communication, such as American culture, Canadian culture and most European cultures are of low context culture.

In the terms of the way of expression, high context culture mainly relies on the context to transmit information. Ahead of communication, the two parties have an early set of information, such as common customs and values. Low context culture mainly depends on information coding to convey information. In communication, it focuses on the logic of language expression while its dependence on context is very low. Therefore, people in low context culture regard the circuitous expression as a disrespect for communication itself. People in low context culture like expressing their ideas and opinions frankly and they are not good at speculating on others’ thoughts. But people in high context prefer to tactfully convey their obscure expressions when they communicate with others. They usually take more consideration of their feelings in order to avoid embarrassment.

From the responsibility in communication, the communication information in the high context culture is largely involved in the context and less depends on the language encoding information. Therefore, the speaker"s responsibility is less in communication. It is not necessary to express his views in a complete and detailed way, and the listener can understand his words. But for the listener, because the speaker"s expression is obscure and euphemism, he needs to conjecture and analyze the internal and external information of the language according to the context of communication. As a result, the responsibility of listener is more than that in low context culture, he must have stronger ability in logic and reasoning, so as to understand the speaker"s intentions. In a low context culture, the communication information needs to be expressed by accurate and detailed coding information, so the speaker takes more responsibility for the smooth communication. They need a strong expression ability to express their views in the language information. Otherwise, the listener will not understand or misunderstand the speaker"s true intentions. Therefore, in the low context culture, the speaker decides whether the communication can be carried out smoothly.

3. A Comparison of Taboos in China and Western Business Negotiation from the Perspective of Cross-Culture

Taboo refers to behaviors or ideas that are prohibited in a particular culture or in everyday life. If certain articles or vocabularies are prohibited, they are called taboos. Therefore, business taboo means that some behaviors, ideas and thought are forbidden in the business activities, or the behaviors, ideas and thought that can arouse misunderstandings and embarrassment.

China is high context culture which means China’s linguistic expression is indirect, euphemistic, and the meaning of each sentence is not as simple as the surface. This require the listener to guess what the profound meaning is. In business negotiations, if Chinese people think that prices are unreasonable, their products are not ideal, or their desire for cooperation is small, they will euphemistically say their thought or they will say something else to avoid embarrassment. Because of this, the Chinese people hold the view that speaking straightforwardly is impolite and do not give others face.

America has low context culture so it’s linguistic expression is straightforward. In business negotiations, if Americans think that the price is not reasonable, the product is not ideal, or the desire for cooperation is small, they will speak directly without bending around. Therefore, Americans are very unhappy about the procrastination and unclear expression.

For example, in 2011, two US customers came to Wisdom Technology Company Ltd. to visit factories and exhibition halls. During the visit to the factory, one of the U.S. customers saw a poster with a wrong letter: “There is a wrong word on the post." At this time, the Chinese side was very unsatisfied and felt that the US customers did not give their face. A salesman said: "It should be changed, but the time is hurry, so we come to receive you first." After visiting the exhibition hall, at the stage of talking about the price, the American customers directly asked if they make a certain order whether the Chinese party can give 10% discount. In terms of the profits, the Chinese party were unhappy to accept their requirement. In order to not destroying the friendly cooperation, the Chinese party hesitated and stated a bunch of factors which affects the prices but didn’t give the final decision directly. The negotiations lasted for half an hour and one of the American customer was anxious: “If you don"t give the lowest price, we will go to other factories.” Finally, the negotiation ended in failure.

From this case, we can see that due to different countries have different context culture, if you can’t take this point into consideration when negotiate you may lose the chance to cooperate with others. Suppose the party you will negotiate with has low context culture, but you don’t consider this element in the process of negotiation, which would be the business taboo. In order to achieve the success in the negotiation, we should pay attention to the different context culture to avoid offending the business taboo.

3.1 The use of verbal language in international business negotiation

If we view the culture as a tree, then the language is the root of the tree. If one understands the culture of a country and fails to master the language of that country, then what he knows is meaningless like a dead tree with no life. Therefore, a strong awareness of the language and culture must run through the entire negotiation process. American enterprise management scientist Harry Simon once said: "successful people are all excellent linguistic expressers.” Language is a tool for humans to communicate ideas and exchange feelings. After joining the WTO, China"s activities in international trade are increasingly frequent and the business negotiations are becoming more important in foreign trade. The essential of business negotiations is the process that the negotiators use language to communicate and expect to achieve a win-win situation. In sum, language plays a role as a bridge in business negotiation. Whether the negotiators can use the negotiating language well determine the success or failure of negotiation.

China and western countries have different habits of address in business negotiation, so if we use the improper address will lead to unhappiness. For example, Americans generally do not call someone with titles and positions. "I am very glad to meet you, Mr. Vice President." This sentence is very common in Chinese company but it rare in American company. When address others, Americans seldom use the full name and they prefer to call directly. For Americans, the direct address indicates the close relationship between the two parties, so they do not like to use sir, lady and lady and like to call each other"s name. In China, when you negotiation with a company, if you address the manager’s name directly, which would be the business taboo for Chinese people. The manager think this behavior is rude and you don’t respect him or her, so the negotiation would be unsuccessful in the end.

The ways of praise and compliment in China and Western countries are different. In China, people usually use “谢谢你” to express gratitude to others, but most Chinese people don"t know that westerners also use "Thank you" to politely answer any kind of praise or congratulations. For example, during a journey, a foreign tourist said to the tour guide: “Your English is fluent.” According to Chinese habits, the tour guide replied: “No, my English is still worse.” Such an answer in China is very common. China is a country with high context culture so Chinese people are more subtle, and they view modesty as a traditional virtue. But for Westerners, such answers are incomprehensible and unacceptable. They will not think you are humble but think you do not believe their judgment. They may also regard you as an arrogant or hypocritical person, because when others praise them, they always say "Thank you." This term implies the endorsement of the other party"s point of view and affirms the other party’s sincere praise. Therefore, there is no need to pretend to be modest when dealing with Westerners.

3.2 The performance of silence in international business negotiation

Americans are independent and they claim personality, so they do not like silence in business negotiations. They think silence is a manifestation of lacking opinion and knowledge. Besides, the silence makes them uneasy and embarrassed because it gives them the feeling that the other party make a lie or want to reject them.

Chinese people advocates listening more and speaking less and thinking a lot before doing things. They think that talking a lot will destroy the harmony or arouse the conflict and they regard the silence as one of the way of persuasion. Therefore, in business negotiations, the Chinese people think that speaking a lot will due to something lost.

In China a saying goes that silence is gold, although this sentence is a truth in some occasions but in business negotiation silence is indeed a kind of taboo. Because the negotiation involves in the two parties" products, prices, contracts and other aspects, if all the people remain silent, it is not called for negotiations. In the Sino-U.S. business negotiations US side usually talks a lot and China side only responds with a smile, neither refuting the other’s point of view nor making its own point of view. The Chinese side feels strange about that Americans always say many times for one point, which usually cause disagreement between the two sides. Although listening is a kind of politeness, the behavior of people not respond others represents disrespect. Therefore, in business negotiations we must actively express our own views, which not only save time but also improve efficiency.

3.3 The nonverbal language in international business negotiation

Non-verbal behavior is a method of communication with non-verbal language. In addition to linguistic behavior, it is the way that the communicators use the body and the instincts to transmit information and express their thought. The search of the psychology have shown that in face-to-face interpersonal communication, more than half of the information exchange is achieved through non-verbal communication. Therefore, understanding non-verbal behaviors can help us acquire more useful social information, especially in cross-cultural business negotiations.

Body language was first proposed by the American psychologist Ray Birdwhistell, who believed that the movements of various parts of the muscles and organs can express and exchange information, emotions, and attitudes. The body language includes Social distance, eyes, gestures, body postures, facial expressions and other aspects. Spatial distance is a basic component of body language and it is of great significance in business negotiation. The distance between the two parties not only reflects the relationship and psychological state of the two parties, but also reflects their national and cultural characteristics.

According to the study of American anthropologist E.T.Hall, the spatial distance of interpersonal communication can be roughly divided into four types. The first type is the public distance, which is generally 360-750cm. It is the distance between the speaker and the listener when the report is made. The second is the social distance, which is generally 120-360cm. It is a formal occasion for dealing with non-personal affairs and it usually maintains the distance during work and social gatherings. The third refers to the personal distance, during which both parties can shake hands. It’s distance usually is 45-120cm. The fourth kind is close distance, this is the smallest distance between people in the interpersonal communication, generally less than 45cm. (Song Liu and Li Haihong.“Analysis of Chinese and Western Cultural Difference in International Business Etiquette.”Science and Technology. 26(2015):1009-6426.)

In business negotiation activities, in order to get a deep understanding of whether the negotiation process is going well, it is necessary to pay attention to reasonable distance and observe the expression of the other person"s face, changes in the head and legs. The following are some aspects of the non-verbal language.

Eyesight It plays an important role in business negotiation. In business negotiations, both parties can have eye contact, but Chinese people dislike being stared by others for a long time. Because the long time staring will make the Chinese people feel uncomfortable. However, The Americans pay more attention to the eyesight. If they are stared by others in the negotiation, they think the other party is interested in what they say. When the other person"s eyes are evasive, they will feel the negotiators lack sincerity. Therefore, in business negotiations, Americans dislike dodging eyes.

The performance of smile Chinese people like to use smiles to express their own mistakes and sincerity, but if a stranger smiles at Chinese people they will feel uncomfortable. Americans are used to smiling at strangers because they think it is a kind of courtesy. But they can’t accept that someone smile when they make mistakes, which is an irresponsible and insincere performance for them. In business negotiations, a smile can make the negotiation’s atmosphere more harmonious and relaxed. But smiles need to be divided into occasions, such as serious and thorny issues, they must put up a smile.

The view of money Americans have a very strong sense of time and they always do things on time. For Americans, time is money. If you use their time inadvertently, it means you have stolen their dollars, and they have a saying that comes from the middle "Not stealing time". The most annoying thing for Americans is that the negotiators are late and do not keep their promises, which is very weak for Chinese in this area. From the perspective of time, Americans are very specific and very punctual. They think punctuality is a respect for each other. On the contrary, the Chinese are patient and the attitude to time is not as strong as Americans. In business negotiations, time is money. The earlier the negotiation is finished, the sooner you can gain benefits. Therefore, when you negotiate with the Americans, you must observe punctuality carefully.

The view of law The Chinese attach great importance to relations, this phenomenon appears not only in the course of conducting business activities but also on the issue of cooperation with others. So the legal awareness of Chinese people is very weak. For Americans, if a contract cannot be fulfilled then compensation and penalties should be paid in strict accordance to contract. There will no room for re-negotiation. Therefore, they believe that the most appropriate solution is to rely on the law and contract. The legal consciousness of Americans is deep-rooted and everything can be appealed to the law. They do not believe in human relationships and they are mindful of relating the work to their private affairs. They think people should distinguish work and friendship clearly.

Gesture In terms of gestures, the Chinese and Americans have similar taboos. Erecting the middle finger indicates contempt, "V" indicates victory, "WC" indicates going to the bathroom and so on. However, the palm-down gesture is a taboo for Americans, because they think the gesture means calling a dog.

In cross-cultural business negotiation, language is important, but if the negotiation separates from the collaboration of non-verbal behavior, the content that expressed by language will be poor and isolated, which will hinder the smooth development of communication. It can be seen that recognizing and using nonverbal correctly and effectively will help the negotiators to see each other’s true feelings in cross-cultural business activities. And it also helps to reduce or avoid unnecessary conflicts caused by cultural differences and promote the activities proceed smoothly.

4. Analysis of the Influence of Cultural Differences in International Business Negotiation

International business negotiation is a kind of ubiquitous foreign economic activity to solve the inevitable conflict of interest between commercial organizations in different countries so as to realize common interests. International business negotiations view the economic interests as the main purpose of negotiations and make prices as the core of negotiations. Secondly, international business negotiation has a wider scope. Due to the unpredictable changes in international market conditions so the competition is fierce and negotiations must be done to achieve mutual understanding. Therefore, it is necessary to extensively understand the different countries and regions. Because the business relations between negotiators are also economic relations and they often involve political and diplomatic relations between countries and regions, foreign policy, and foreign Legal and regulatory system.

4.1 The analysis of the causes of cultural differences

People from different regions and different nationalities often use different languages, have different lifestyles and living preferences and habits. For example, in Western countries, people place great importance on Christmas just like Chinese people view the Spring Festival as the important day. If the period of the negotiation approach the Christmas, negotiators must pay attention to this detail. Before the advent of Christmas, the negotiators should avoid prolonged negotiations so as to give the western party more enjoyable time with their families for a happy New Year. This detail can facilitate the conclusion of transactions to some degree. For a long time, different nationalities have formed their own unique personalities and their habits in terms of food and clothing, living and etiquette. For example, the Huns in Chinese are distempered and characterized by typical nomads. However, our Han people are relatively gentle and their farming characteristics are obvious. These differences will affect the process of business negotiations and the results of the transactions in international business negotiations. There is also a very important point in religion. The world currently has three major religions those are Christianity, Islam and Buddhism. Different countries and different regions of the world have their own specific religious beliefs, so they have different cultural tendencies and precepts, which greatly affect the way that people understand things and do things. Therefore, in business negotiations, we must respect each other’s religious beliefs.

Different levels of economic development are due to differences in economic resources. For example, in some western developed countries, due to the high level of economic development so people’s level of education is high and their lives are relatively affluent. They may be more concerned with the quality of everyday life, at the same time, their awareness of safety will be stronger than that of other countries. Value concepts like the attitude to treat things, the concept of wealth, attitudes to life, and attitudes toward risk are not the same. In the course of international business negotiations, cultural differences caused by differences in economic levels and values are actually hidden in great depth so the difficulties in the actual negotiations are even more difficult to overcome. For example, the western countries generally pay more attention to the realization of personal value. Therefore, they will place great emphasis on distinguishing the parties from the issues involved in the negotiations. Taking China as an example, we are accustomed to emphasizing the nepotism. When we negotiate we habitually emphasize that individuals must obey the whole and require collective concepts to be strong. The superior and subordinate relations is very obvious for Chinese negotiation. However, in Western countries all negotiators are considered to be equal in the status of business negotiations and ach representative is very important. Therefore, in business negotiations, they often disregard the superior-subordinate relationship and they can express their opinions more bluntly.

4.2 The different aspects’ of influence on International Business Negotiation

As we all know, language is a bridge for communication between any country or region and any ethnic group. Therefore, the first thing to consider in conducting international business negotiations is to use what language to communicate. For example, a brand of battery names "白象" if it is translated directly into English "White Elephant" in addition to the name of the animal and there are other two distinctly different meanings, which are understood as meaningless to the owner or something that may be useful to others. Another meaning is something that will not be reused. Therefore, such a simple translation will give undoubted understanding of the negotiated name of the product and bring about unnecessary ambiguity. However, the translation language problem is still relatively easy to solve. Because you can hire a higher qualified translator or talk in a common third language to avoid the above ambiguity mentioned.

In the course of international business negotiations, the negotiator"s thinking has played an important role at all times. Because of the influence of various cultural differences, the negotiators have different ways of thinking in the international business negotiations. The Americans generally do things from the concrete facts. The British are accustomed to using logical means to derive from one concept to another and China is accustomed to considering the objects of the whole situation. Therefore, if encountering a tough task during the international business negotiation process, the Anglo-American people often break the big problem into a series small ones to solve. However, China"s handling methods are different. They must firstly grasp the overall direction and then analyze each detail. The Americans are typical vertical negotiators and they always embody a strong sense of status and superiority, which puts pressure on the negotiating opponents.

In the international business negotiation, the negotiating style of the negotiators has a deep cultural imprint. In general, Japan and South Korea is typically represent the Oriental-style negotiation style. In the international business negotiation, they put great importance of the status of the judges. At the same time, the Koreans are more persistent in the international business negotiations. They are generally strong in personality and not easily make concessions. What most Americans have shown in international business negotiations is that the United States is the most developed and democratic country in the world. Therefore, they believe that their views always represent the truth.

5. Conclusion

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