英语期末

目录

Unit 1 ................................................................................................................................................ 3 CASE 1: Showing Concern .............................................................................................................. 3 CASE 2: First Offer .......................................................................................................................... 3 CASE 3: Land Cruiser Advertisement .............................................................................................. 3 Case Study: An elderly Chinese Farming in America ...................................................................... 4 Exercises ........................................................................................................................................... 5

1 Matching the terms with their definitions .............................................................................. 5 2 Comprehension Check ........................................................................................................... 5 3 Cultural Puzzles ..................................................................................................................... 6 Unit 2 ................................................................................................................................................ 8 Case 1 Twelve cups of tea ................................................................................................................ 8 Case 2 Have you had your lunch? / Where are you going? .............................................................. 8 Case 3 Li Hongzhang‘s embarrassment ............................................................................................ 8 Case 4 Different Attitudes Toward a Fly in a Beer ........................................................................... 9 Case 5 Borrow Money & Lend Money ............................................................................................ 9 Case Study: An International Classroom ........................................................................................ 10 Exercises ......................................................................................................................................... 11

1. Comprehension Check ........................................................................................................ 11 2. Culture Puzzles ................................................................................................................... 11 Unit 3 .............................................................................................................................................. 12 Case 1 Shoes for Street Walking..................................................................................................... 12 Case 2 A Misunderstanding Caused by a Joke ............................................................................... 12 Case 3 Look out .............................................................................................................................. 13 Case Study: Grandparents and Grandchildren ................................................................................ 13 Exercises ......................................................................................................................................... 14

1. Comprehension Check ........................................................................................................ 14 Unit 4 .............................................................................................................................................. 15 Case 1 An Invitation to Dinner ....................................................................................................... 15 Case 2 The Cancellation of the Dinner Party ................................................................................. 16 Case 3 Why Should They Do Like This? ....................................................................................... 16 Case 4 The Embarrassment Caused By ―No Etiquette‖ ................................................................. 17 Case Study: Managing Your Company Culturally.......................................................................... 17 Exercises ......................................................................................................................................... 18

1. Comprehension Check ........................................................................................................ 18 2. Expression Understanding .................................................................................................. 19 3. Cultural Puzzle ................................................................................................................... 19 Unit 5 .............................................................................................................................................. 20 Case 1 Personal Space .................................................................................................................... 20 Case 2 Left in the Cold ................................................................................................................... 20 Case Study: Much Ado About Touching ........................................................................................ 21 Exercises ......................................................................................................................................... 23

1. Comprehension Check ........................................................................................................ 23 Unit 6 .............................................................................................................................................. 24

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Case 1 I‘ve Not Considered Marriage Yet ...................................................................................... 24 Case 2 Can We Talk About Us? ...................................................................................................... 24 Case 3 Feeling Let-out.................................................................................................................... 25 Case Study: The Wrong Answer ..................................................................................................... 25 Exercises ......................................................................................................................................... 26

1. Decide whether the following statements are true or false. ................................................ 26 2. Cultural Puzzles .................................................................................................................. 27

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Unit 1

CASE 1: Showing Concern

In China:

Xiao Li (an interpreter): You must be very tired. You‘re old…

Catherine (an elderly American lady): Oh, I‘m NOT old, and I‘m NOT tired. Comment

What the interpreter said is quite courteous in China. It means, ―If you are tired, we can take a little rest, since you are getting on in years.‖ The interpreter gave the impression that he thought the elderly lady would collapse any minute if she doesn‘t rest immediately.

In the West, there is a value placed in being young that many people consciously, or subconsciously, are not willing to accept that they are growing old. Questions for discussion:

How should we express the concern? In the West:

A: How are you doing now? Would you like to rest? B: No, not a bit. Comment

The way of showing concern is different.

CASE 2: First Offer

A Canadian colleague and I traveled to Guilin with our admirable guide Heping Liu in very hot weather. Sightseeing is a thirsty business. We did not trust the water, and enjoyed excellent beer. We politely offered some to Heping but he refused. We said nothing and drank our beer, while poor Heping watched. On another day, Heping quickly accepted our offer of beer. Questions for discussion:

In your daily life, do you often accept first offer? If yes, in what situation? Comments:

Chinese customs show that Heping was being modest, polite and well-behaved and had every intention of accepting the beer at the second or third offer, impressing his charges with his modesty. But Heping did not understand North American rules, which firmly say that you do not push alcoholic beverages on anyone. A person may not drink for religious reasons; he may be a reformed alcoholic, or he may be allergic. Whatever the reason behind the rule, you do not insist on offering alcohol.

CASE 3: Land Cruiser Advertisement

Advertisements sometimes caused cultural conflicts between people from different nations.

A Land Cruiser is running along a rugged and steep mountain path in Kekexili, dragging with shackles behind it a heavy and clumsy truck looking like Dongfeng. The ad says: Nothing can prevent it from advancing (征途无限).

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Some Chinese get angry. They think that the truck behind is Dongfeng. Being dragged by the Land Cruiser implies that China is backward, which hurts the national dignity of the Chinese people.

The Toyota company in China published a public letter of apology: they apologized for publishing such advertisement, and decided to stop it immediately. It emphasized that they did not mean to hurt the Chinese. Their original intention was just for business. Nothing more.

Case Study: An elderly Chinese Farming in America

Introduction to the case

According to a recent report, in 2006 there were more than 39000 elderly Chinese living in New York State. Most of them went to America for the sake of their children, who had decided to settle in the United States after graduating from an American university

The scenario

Zhao Xinggui, 62 years old, had been a farmer in Shanxi. To relieve Zhao‘s loneliness after the death of his wife, his only son, who had settle in America for years, working as a librarian in an American university, asked his father to come to live with him.

When his son went to work, Zhao spent most of his time sitting in front of the TV. He often dreamed of his friends and neighbors in china, who often talked, drank tea and played mahjong togher during their leisure time. ―America is a good place, but it‘s too dull‖, he said.

What Zhao did not expect was that his farming life could continue in America. Like may university towns established in agricultural areas, the surrounding land was a major source of income for the university. All the teachers and students, after paying a nominal rent, were able to enjoy the pleasure of farming.

Different from most of the American families, who casually used their parcels of land to raise flowers, Chinese tenants grew vegetables. Zhao was one of those tenants and one of the most famous for his farming talents. May elderly Chinese came to ask him for advice, and they often conversed while selling their spare vegetables. That summer was the happiest time for Zhao.

Exercises

Exercise 1 listen for the first time and answer the following questions. 1. Why did Zhzo go to Ameirca? 2.Did Zhao enjoy his American life? Exercise 2

listen for the second time and fill in the blanks.

Exercise 3 explore interculturally

1. Why did Zhao say ―America is a good place, but it‘s too dull?‖what can we learn about Chinese culture?

2. Why did most Chinese families decide to grow vegetables instead of flowers on their land? What can we learn about Chinese culture?

3. Culture is often compared to the ―software‖ of people‘s minds. Cite the examples in this case to explain sentence.

Keys:

1. When his son went to work, Zhao was quite lonely and did not have any friends. This kind of life was quite different from

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his farming life in China, where there were always many friends and neighbors around, talking, drinking tea and playing mahjong together during the leisure time. Chinese culture is a group-oriented culture, in which people depend on each other heavily for a good life.

2. Chinese people are very practical and thrifty. For them, it is wasteful to use land only to raise flowers. Confucian teachings, which originated in the group-oriented cultures, are the guidelines that help shape this national temperament. 3. When Zhao was in America, he found that his loneliness was not relieved, and he missed his old friends a lot. That summer was the happiest time for him mainly because he was able to talk with other elderly Chinese again.

From this example, we can learn that culture governs people‘s mind and helps determine whether they are happy or not. Another example in this case is the choice of Chinese families to grow vegetables on their rented land.

Here we learn that culture governs people‘s behavior and provides guideline for what to do and what not to do

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. Keys

1. C. ethnocentrism 2. A. culture

3. B. communication

4. E. business communication 5. D. intercultural communication

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.

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Exercise 3 explore interculturally

1. What is the mode of communication favored by Asians? What cultural values underlie it? 2. What is the mode of communication favored by Westerners? What cultural values underlie it? Keys

1.Generally, Asian people are very courteous and indirect in their communication. Because they put great emphasis on group harmony, they are very tolerant, even when they are offended. These collectivistic values, shaped by Confucian teachings, were spread from China to many Asian countries.

2.Westerners are generally very direct and frank in their mode of communication. And they have a strong sense of protecting their own rights. Individualistic values are the underlying principles governing their behavior.

Exercises

1. Comprehension Check

Decide whether the floowing statements are true(T) or false (F)

____ 1. all cultures require and value politeness, but the ways in which politeness is achieved may vary significantly. ____2、Don‘t take offence-getting the form of address ‖wrong‖ is rarely intended to be offensive.

____ 3、Addressing forms like ―Miss Mary‖, ‖Brown‖ by the Chinese may be a form of cultural compromise. ____ 4.Ranks in the armed forces like Captain, Colonel can be used as titles. ____ 5.Westerners can understand what Uncle policeman or P.L.A. Uncle means. ____ 6.We can address Jason Douglas, who is a lawyer, as Lawyer Douglas. ____ 7.Chinese hospitality toward the westerners is always greatly appreciated.

____ 8.The Chinese way of showing concern is usually appreciated by the Westerners.

____ 9.‖Thank you for coming!‖ is a typical expression used by Western hosts when the guests just arrived.

____ 10.‖I‘m sorry to have wasted your time‖ or ―I‘m sorry to have taken up so much of your time‖ are usually appropriate for the business visit.

Keys

1-5 TTTTF 6-10FFFFT

2. Culture 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 you met a woman and you didn‘t know if she should be called ―Mrs.‖, ―Miss‖ or ―Ms‖? a) You could you ―Ms.‖

b) You could try not to use her name.

c) You could check the woman‘s left hand to see if she‘s married.

Keys

a) Yes. Since ―Ms‖ is used with either married or unmarried women, it can be used safely with both. You can ask the woman what she prefers to be called.

b) Yes, by avoiding using the person‘s name, you avoid using a special form of address such as Ms. It is to always necessary to use a person‘s name when speaking to that person.

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c) No. This is not always an accurate way of finding out whether a woman is married. When may wear a ring on her left hand and not be married, and vice versa. Even if the woman is married, when may prefer to be called Ms. 2. What would you do if you were introduced to someone and you didn‘t know whether or not to shake hands? a) You could keep your hands in your pockets in order to avoid shaking hands.

b) You could wait and see what the other person does and then you could do the same (shake or don‘t shake hands) c) You could be the first to give your hand.

Keys

a) No if the other person wants to shake hands with you , this would be rude

b) Yes, if the other person extends his or her hand, then shake it immediately. If he or she does not, then there is no need to shake hands

c) yes, it is not considered wrong to shake hands in introduction. Some women , particularly older ones, may not be accustomed to shaking hands in an introduction. Most however, will shake hands, if you extend your hand first. V. Assignments

1. Compare the American friendship with the Chinese friendship. 2. Video Watching

The Joy Luck Club《喜福会》

Unit 3

Case 1 Shoes for Street Walking

It is said that in Rome, in front of a shoe store, there was such a sign to attract English-speaking customers: Shoes for street walking. Come in and have a fit. The sign caught the attention of many English-speaking tourists, but not to look at the shoes displayed in the windows, but to read the sign and then break out into laughter.

The Italian shop owner did not realize that ―a street walker‖ means a prostitute, while ―to have a fit‖ does not mean to have a try, but to become suddenly and violently angry or upset. No wonder the amusement and laughter! (Deng Yanchang et al.,1989) Question :

Why did the Italian shop owner make such a blunder? Interpretation:

a street walker----- a prostitute

to have a fit-----to become suddenly and violently angry or upset

Case 2 A Misunderstanding Caused by a Joke

Roger was the Personnel Executive of a large American multinational firm. In 1996, Roger was working in Brazil to help promote their business. One evening, there was a party, attended by both his employees from the United States and many Brazilian business people. At the party, Roger bumped into Rosalita, a Brazilian woman he had known for some time.

Roger generally had a very good impression of Rosalita and always felt at ease with her, so that he felt free to tell jokes and share personal thoughts, and talk about Brazil and Brazilian life without having the jitters 神经过敏 of offending Rosalita.

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During the party, Rosalita said to Roger, ―I‘d like to introduce you to one of my good friends. She is a very capable woman and is presently thinking of working in a joint venture so she can provide a better living for her large family. She is very much interested in your company.‖

Hearing that, Roger smiled and replied, ―OK, but I just hope I don‘t get hustled.‖ Unfortunately, Roger‘s reply made Rosalita quite upset. Very soon she excused herself as politely as she could, and did not speak with Roger for the rest of the evening.

Question for discussion

Roger was confused by Rosalita‘s behavior. Could you give him an explanation? Comment:

Hustle---- to force sb to make a decision before they are ready or sure -----to work as a prostitute / romance or sex is hinted

Case 3 Look out

A foreign student in the U.S. was sitting by a window reading a book. She heard someone yelling ―Look out!‖ , so she stuck her head out of the window. Just then a board hurtled down from above, narrowly missing her. She looked up, half in anger and half in fright. There was a man on the roof doing repairs. ―Didn‘t you hear me call ?Look out‘?‖ he demanded. ―Yes, and that‘s what I did,‖ she replied. Questions for discussion

In this case, what does ―look out‖ mean? Could you give a similar case like this? Comment:

Look out---- to stick your head outside of sth. (window/door) to take a look ----to be careful, especially when there is danger

Case Study: Grandparents and Grandchildren

Introduction to the case

For most elderly Chinese living in the United States, one of their main responsibilities is to help take care of their grandchildren. Since most of their grandchildren were born and grew up in America, it‘s not an easy job for them.

The scenario

When Mr. Xin arrived in America, he was very happy to meet Mike, his ten-year-old grandson, who had been born in America. His son, who was educated according to the traditional ―beating‖ principle of China, warned Mr. Xin that according to the local law, physical punishment of children was forbidden. Mr. Xin always remembered this caution until one day. During the lunchtime, Mr. Xin couldn‘t control himself when Mike, who hated vegetables, picked out all the vegetables from his plate and threw them aside. Spanked by his grandfather for the first time, Mike didn‘t cry. He went to pick up the telephone and called the police. Mr. Xin thought mike was calling his mother, and was shocked when a police car arrived at the door fifteen minutes later.

Before her retirement, Xue Suling used to be a teacher of Chinese language in a primary school. When she was invited by her daughter to help take care of her grandson, she decided to teach him Chinese language and made a detailed plan on how to do it. What she didn‘t expect is that it was very difficult to carry out her plan, even though she was an experienced teacher. Born in the United States the six-year-old grandson already knew how to protect his time and his ―rights‖. After returning

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home from school each day, he refused to spend half an hour sitting in front of the desk to practice reading and writing Chinese. He kept asking his grandmother why the other children didn‘t have to learn it.

Things went better when Xue decided to learn English from her grandson. Every time she learned an English word, she taught him the equivalent Chinese word. In this way, both the them learned from each other.

Exercises

Exercise 1 listen for the first time and answer the following questions. 1. According to MR Xin‘s son, what is not allowed in the United States? 2. What did Mike do after being spanked by his grandfather? 3. What did Xue Suling do before her retirement? 4. Did she find it easy to carry out her plan? Exercise 2

listen for the second time and fill in the blanks.

Exercise 3 explore interculturally

1. Could you understand why Mike called the police? What can we learn about American culture and Chinese culture?

2. Why couldn‘t Xue Suling carry out her original plan of Chinese language teaching? What can we learn about American culture and Chinese culture?

Keys

1. In china, the beating principle used to be a very popular way for parents to discipline their children. ―Parents hit you for your own good. This is the general agreement among parents. In the traditional Si Shu (private school) in ancient societies, even teachers can give students corporal punishment. In the US, although parents are not forbidden to carry out mild physical punishment, parents are generally very careful about doing so . And American children are well aware of their rights. Calling the police is one way to help protect their rights, although it is rarely used

2. Learning Chinese requires a lot of practice in reading and writing. In China, primary school students generally spend plenty of time doing this kind of practice. Many of them, whether willing or unwilling to do it , are required by their parents to continue this practice when they come back from the school. In the US, children are taught to protect their time from the day they are born, although we can also hear some complaints that children‘s schedules are filled with activities their parents plan for them. From it we can know that individual rights are highly valued by Americans, something that is often observed in their individualistic American culture

Exercises

1. Comprehension Check

Decide whether the following statements are true(T) or false (F). True or False Statement

1. Sometimes the Chinese way of showing modesty may be considered as fishing for compliments. 2. The social functions of Chinese and English compliments are roughly the same.

3. In informal situations, a large number of compliments are used to make people feel comfortable. 4. The cultural assumption of compliments is the same between cultures.

5. Adjectives and verbs are often used to convey compliment message in English, while adjectives, adverbs and verbs are

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often used in Chinese.

6. English compliments often begin with the word ―you‖ while Chinese compliments often start with the word ―I‖. 7. Chinese people give more compliments in daily life than Americans. 8. Americans tend to be self-effacing in their compliment responses.

9. Compliments on other‘s belongings are sometimes an indirect way of request in American culture.

10. If a guest compliments something in another person‘s home, the Chinese host or hostess will probably give that thing to the guest. Keys

1-5 TTTFT 6-10 FFFFT

Unit 4

Case 1 An Invitation to Dinner

Background information

Communion(圣餐仪式, Roman Catholic Church)

All together recite or sing the \Lord's Prayer‖. The sign of peace is exchanged and then the \Lamb of God‖is sung or recited, while the priest breaks the host and places a piece in the main chalice; this is known as the rite of fraction and commingling.

Bart Rapson had brought his family to the Philippines on a job assignment for a multinational corporation. While not particularly religious themselves, having largely abandoned the practice of Catholicism except for token appearances at Christmas and Easter, they still felt that their children might benefit from belonging to a church. They explained to friends that the church can give children a sense of belonging and can provide some moral and ethical guidance.

Since the Philippines is largely Catholic, it was easy for Bart to place his 7-year-old daughter in a Sunday school class that would prepare her for her First Communion. As the day approached, Bart planned for an after-church party, inviting colleagues and their families from work. One Filipino colleague, Manuel, to whom Bart felt especially close, kept putting off an answer to Bart‘s invitation, saying neither ―yes‖ nor ―no‖. Finally, Bart said, ―My wife needs to know how many people to cook for.‖ Still not giving a yes or no answer, Manuel later called and said that he would be attending a different party that would be attended by other Filipinos. Maneul said that he would try to stop by sometime during Bart‘s party.

Bart was quite upset. He complained, ―If this is supposedly a Catholic country, why would they not place a value on this?‖ why would he turn down a once-in-a-lifetime gathering, my daughter‘s Communion, to go to a party with friends he admits to seeing all the time? After the party, Bart was merely cordial to Manuel– there were no longer indications of friendliness. Manuel was puzzled, and had no idea what the problem was.

The director of the organization, a sensitive person, picked up the cues and realized that there was a strained relationship. Questions for Discussion

1. If you were the director and chosen to mediate this situation, what would you do to ensure not to offend either party? 2. How would you explain Bart‘s behavior to Maneul? 3. How would you explain Maneul‘s behavior to Bart? Hints

Different attitudes towards

A. knowing how many people will attend the gathering. B. The first Communion

In brief, the misunderstanding in this case is mainly caused by ___________________ _______________.

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Keys : Maneul‘s ignorance of American customs

For Americans, knowing how many people will attend a gathering is one of the key priorities, as it helps the host to prepare properly.

For Filipinos, the number of guests is not very important , they usually prepare more food than enough and would not mind if there were leftovers In addition

In the Philippines, the First Communion is not as important as the party that follows.

Americans pay great attention to important social gathers especially when their children are involved.

For Bart, his 7-year-old daughter‘s First Communion is very important. Inviting his colleagues to attend the gather alongside his family members is very special

Case 2 The Cancellation of the Dinner Party

Called to a staff meeting by his principal, Stan Brown from New Zealand reviewed the materials on a mathematics curriculum development project that he wished to see incorporated into the high school at which he taught. Stan had been teaching in the Philippines for two years and was enjoying his stay at this international school in Manila. Jose, who had developed a close relationship with Stan, was also asked to the meeting. The Principal asked Stan to discuss his proposal, the content of which was already known to the others at the meeting.

Only slight modifications were necessary. It was agreed to take the next step toward possible implementation. Since this had taken less time than expected, the principal asked Jose to say a few words about the curriculum development project he was working on. Again, most of the people at the meeting knew of this project. While Jose gave his project outline, Stan asked some difficult questions that forced Jose to think on his feet and defend some of his earlier assumptions. After the meeting, Jose told Stan that he could not meet him for dinner as earlier planned. Stan was puzzled by Jose‘s cancellation. Question for discussion

Why did Jose cancel the dinner party? Hint:

Different attitudes towards friendship. How do Westerners view friendship?

How do people in the east view friendship? Comment:

1.In New Zealand, a friend can openly provide constructive criticism. If Stan did not make such suggestions to a friend in his country, the friend would be angry that Stan did not help him when he had the chance.

2.In Philippines, a person cannot be a friend and a critic at the same time , or at least not in public. Stan should find some other way (acceptable to the Filipinos) to voice his comments.

Case 3 Why Should They Do Like This?

A Filipino couple was vacationing in England. While they were strolling along one of the main streets of London with a British acquaintance, they met another Filipino who had been residing there for some time. He was a good friend from the past, whom they had not seen for several years. They greeted him warmly and effusively 热情洋溢地 and continued their conversation in a loud and animated fashion using their native language. After a while the British became noticeably agitated使不安, and turned his head away and sighed.

The Filipinos noticed the reaction, looked at each other, and then resumed their conversation but in a quieter tone. Discussion

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Why did the British become agitated? Comment:

1.The British people maintain their etiquette and social manners even when they are very excited. 2.The Filipino couple did not introduce their Filipino friend to him

3.The Filipinos were talking in their own native language. No doubt the British felt left out, which is unacceptable and rarely occurs on social occasions in Britain.

4.When immigrants meet in a foreign country, they tend to take no notice of their surroundings/people around, which is considered to be rude and requires attention.

Case 4 The Embarrassment Caused By “No Etiquette”

Background information

For the sake of business, Ellen was sent to study in Canada for two years. During her stay there, she encountered all sorts of inconveniences, especially the ―no etiquette‖ custom which almost drove me crazy. No stand-up when your leader comes in

When my boss came into my office for the first time, I stood up immediately to show my respect. The boss immediately misunderstood my behavior, thought I was going out, and said he would talk with me in a while. I was accustomed to respecting all those in authority.

For instance, at an academic conference, if some academic experts came in late, and unfortunately had to stand behind me, I would feel uncomfortable and offer my seat to him.

On one occasion, I offered my seat to the Head of the Department of Internal Medicine. He said ―Thanks‖ and sat down. During the conference, he kept turning around and looking at me, which made me feel ill at ease. When the conference was over, he came over and apologized to me, ― I thought you were leaving the conference. You don‘t have to offer me.‖ What suggestions can you give ―I‖ in the above cases?

Case Study: Managing Your Company Culturally

Introduction to the case

The following is a case about an American company‘s management in one of its Mexican branches. In this case, the issue of interpersonal relationship plays a crucial role in management. Listen to the case and try to discover the problem.

The scenario

In order to further expand its activities, USAHP, an American multinational company purchased a plant in Axcala, Mexico, from a Mexican group called PAMEX. At the moment this plant has over 500 employees and produces a million cases of products per month. The plant has state of the art technology with almost completely automatic production lines. The two companies have very different ways of conducting business.

For the managers and engineers remaining from the previous company, the culture change accompanying USAHP‘s acquisition of the Axcala plant was enormous, most of the employees felt, accurately, that their jobs were at risk because of the remarkable differences in philosophy between the two companies. PAMEX promoted, rewarded, and retained employees based on their loyalty to the firm and to their immediate supervisors and on interpersonal (usually family) connections.

In contrast, USAHP‘s policy is to hire technical experts to start as supervisors and then grow within the company, advancing to managerial positions. Similar differences were apparent in the reward systems of the two companies. Under PAMEX, managers‘ salaries were based on their friendships with the owner or the Board of Directors of the company. As a result

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their salaries were far larger than the USAHP salary structure allowed, given their training, performance and experience. However, one of USAHP‘s first steps raised questions about the fairness of the company‘s reward system. Employees in all cultures view fairness as an important aspect of worker-organization relationships and react negatively to actions that they perceive are unfair. However, the way in which ―fairness‖ is defined varies across cultures, focusing on in-group relationships in Mexico and on ―objective‖ assessments of credentials and performance in the US.

In sum, in the new plant rewards, promotions, and retention were based on objective measures of individual performance. Each of these changes was appropriate given the strategic model on the basis of which USAHP operated. But, for the PAMEX employees, they created uncertainty and ambiguity and directly threatened their job security. To make matters worse, they were imposed by outsiders, who in may ways had carelessly exaggerated their alien status.

In may ways, the Axcalan acquisition provides a textbook case of the kinds of problems that can occur when business operations cross cultural boundaries. In this case, the American firm attempts to introduce change to its newly-acquired Mexican operations, which inevitably engenders resistance.

Exercises

Exercise 1 listen for the first time and answer the following questions. 1. Why did many staff remaining from the pervious company have fears? 2. How had they been rewarded previously?

3. How were they rewarded after USAHP bought the company? Exercise 2

listen for the second time and fill in the blanks.

Exercise 3 explore interculturally

1. what can you learn about Mexican culture from the reward system of PAMEX?

From this case, we learn that the Mexican culture is reserved and group-oriented. It pays high attention to group harmony and personal relationship.

2. what can you learn about American culture from the reward system of USAHP? the American culture is more individualistic, result-oriented, and analytic.

3. how do you explain the phenomenon in this case, applying the theory of the relationship between humans? What cultural differences caused the resistance of the local staff in PAMEX after the acquisition?

because of the strong cultural differences between the American management and the Mexican staff, the change that the American management made was very different to accept for the Mexican staff: it was challenging, and it ignored the fundamental values in human relationship under Mexican circumstances.

Exercises

1. Comprehension Check

Decide whether the following statements are true or false.

1. verbal communication is more important than nonverbal communication. 2. ―dragon‖ means the same to the Westerners as ―龙‖ to the Chinese 3. the Chinese phrase ―知识分子‖ has the same meaning as ―intellectual‖ 4. a term in one language may not have a counter part in another language.

5. in referring to animals and birds, the Chinese practice is generally, but not always, to use ―公‖ Or ―母‖ to show whether a creature is male or female. This is the same with the English language.

6. the following sis English words: vice, associate, assistant, deputy, lieutenant and under can all mean ―副‖ in Chinese

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language

7. there are an many similarities as dissimilarities between English proverbs and Chinese proverbs. 8. violating a cultural taboo is as serious as violating a verbal taboo. 9. patterns of thought vary with culture.

10. particular thought patterns predominate in each culture, e.g. American culture is predominantly factual-inductive, Russian culture is predominantly axiomatic-deductive, and Arab cultures are predominantly intuitive-affective. KEYS

1-5 FFFTF 6-10 TTTTT

2. Expression Understanding

Justice has long arms 天网恢恢，疏而不漏 Diamond cut diamond 棋逢对手 Golden saying 金玉良言 Fat office 肥缺

You will cross the bridge when you get to it. 船到桥头自然直

Better be the head of a dog than the tail of a lion. 宁为鸡头，勿为牛尾 Drink like a fish 牛饮

Tread upon eggs 如履薄冰

3. Cultural Puzzle

What would you do if a stranger pronounced your name incorrectly? First, think about what you would do in your own language and culture, and then what you would do if you were talking in English with an American. a) You wouldn‘t say anything.

b) You would say, ―excuse me, but my name is ……‖

c) You would not say, ―excuse me‖ you would just say, ―it‘s ……‖

KEYS

a) No. sometimes it is better not to correct the person right away, especially if he or she is very busy. Also, if other people are present, the person may be embarrassed to find out he or she pronounced your name incorrectly. However, if the person pronounces your name incorrectly more than once, you should tell him or her.

b) Yes, if you want to be polite and formal, it is best to apologize first, and then say your name correctly. c) Yes, if the situation is informal, you can just say your name correctly without apologizing.

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Unit 5

Case 1 Personal Space

Mark had recently moved from Denmark to Sydney to work as a salesperson for a large Australian company. After three weeks, he was invited to join a local club. During the first few weeks at the club, Mark would either stand in the corner talking with someone or sit on a sofa listening to other people talk and chat. As time went by, he came to know most of the club members and seemed to enjoy talking with them.

One day, at an evening party one of the female members approached him. Mark immediately showed his interest by talking about the atmosphere of the party. At first, the conversation between them seemed to go quite smoothly, but as it progressed the lady seemed to step further and further away from Mark as he had been gradually moving closer to her. The lady obviously seemed uncomfortable.

As Mark was about to ask her questions regarding Australian social customs, another man standing nearby directed a glance toward the lady. She excused herself and went to talk with that man, leaving Mark standing alone and wondering why their conversation had come to such a sudden stop. Question

Why did that woman suddenly stop talking with Mark and turned to another man? Comments

Boy distance varies with different people, different circumstances and different cultures.

In Denmark, at a formal event, the intimate space is usually between 20 to 30 centimeters; while in Australia, such an occasion require a body distance of 40 to 50 centimeters.

Therefore, when a Dane talks with an Australian, the problem arises: the Dane is accustomed to a close distance while the Australian is comfortable with a great distance.

In this case, Mark, by trying to establish his normal intimate space, infringed on the Australian lady‘s space. Because of this, she felt somewhat threatened and lost her sense of comfort.

At that moment, the nearby man offered her the opportunity to excuse herself from Mark. If Mark had had some knowledge about the expected personal space for Australians, the encounter might have been totally different.

Case 2 Left in the Cold

Katherine came to Beijing in 1998 and found a job as an English teacher in a foreign language institute. Soon after her classes began she found that her students showed no interest in her teaching style. Quite a few of them avoided attending her class. She was feeling quite upset and discouraged so she decided to ask the Director, Prof. Wang for help. Prof. Wang reviewed his timetable and suggested they meet at ten o‘clock on Thursday morning.

When Thursday came, Katherine arrived at Prof. Wang‘s office at the exactly ten o‘clock finding him talking with another teacher in Chinese. Seeing that she had come, Prof. Wang smiled and gestured her to sit down. Katherine sat down and the professor excused himself and continued to talk with the other teacher. After five minutes, he finished his conversation, and apologized to Katherine, and began to focus his attention on her situation. Prof.

Wang showed great concern and asked her what the problem was. Just as she was discussing her problem, another Chinese teacher interrupted, with a form that required the Director‘s signature. The Director smiled, apologized to Katherine again, and turned to talk with the Chinese teacher in Chinese.

Katherine became impatient, and wondered why their discussion should be interrupted since she had made an appointment.

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