1、1 Barriers in Cross-cultural Business Communication Created Conflicting Face Perceptions Abstract: This thesis analyzes some barriers in cross-cultural business communications created by conflicting face perceptions. Differences in face perception are demonstrated in terms of face perception theory,
2、 face perception value, face perception politeness, face perception culture and face perception verbal behavior. Besides, this thesis tries to analyze the reasons for face perception in English and Chinese historically, geographically， economically, socially and religiously. By exploring the differe
3、nces of face perception and the cause of formation of the face perception, it lets us have a further understanding about some barriers in cross-cultural business communication created by conflicting face perceptions, which is helpful for us to communicate with foreign friends better. Key words: barr
4、iers, face perception, English, Chinese, differences, reasons 摘要： 本文通过由面子观冲突引起的跨文化商务交际中障碍，进一步地分析了中西方面子观的不同点。这些不同点主要体现在面子理论，面子观价 值，面子观礼貌，面子观文化 ,和面子观语言行为方面。除此之外，本文还从历史、地理、经济、社会和宗教这五方面简要分析了中西方面子观差异的原因 . 通过对面子观差异的探索以及形成原因的研究，让我们更加深刻地理解了由面子观冲突引起的跨文化商务交际中障碍，这有利于我们更好地与外国友人交流。 关键词： 障碍，面子观，西方，中国，差异，原因 Introd
5、uction The face of the concept was first introduced by Chinese anthropologist HuXianJin to the west. He believes that the face represents an important social reputation, which is achieved through success in life experience step by step, and is also accumulated through personal effort and wisdom. Ame
6、rican Erving Goffman (1960) holds that the face is the process that people effectively win the positive social value during the social interaction for themselves and is a personal self-expression. He also presented a “face job” theory. In this theory, the face is an image that you give in the eyes o
7、f others. Usually a person can maintain a consistent image, that is a fixed face. But it will change as the environment changes. In the field of social linguistics, scholars generally believe that the face is the common intention that the participants in communicative events give each other. Integra
8、ted the above concepts, we can find the definition of face is mainly two aspects. On the one hand, it is prestige, 2 value or social position and it stresses that the face is a kind of social respect or social value. On the other hand, face is the public self-image, or self-image others affirmed, an
9、d it is an image established in peoples eyes. This thesis includes three parts. The first part shows that the barriers in cross-cultural business communication The second part emerges the differences of face perception in Western and Chinese culture. And it wants to express the form of face percepti
10、on in English and Chinese through face perception, face perception politeness, face perception value, and face perception verbal behavior. The third part expresses the reasons for the differences of face perception in English and Chinese. And this part tries to analyze the roots of face perception b
11、y history, geography, economy, society and religion in English-speaking countries and China. 1. Barriers in cross-cultural business communication 1.1 Barriers in cross-cultural business communication created by face perception theory Face not only strengthens the social discipline of moral standards
12、 and it is a complete assurance to maintain individual moral, which is an internal discipline. So the face of Chinese is a kind of group orientation. If you want to achieve the face, you need communicate with others and you must rely on others. You can not separate yourself from others. Generally sp
13、eaking, Chinese peoples face comprises two main means: the first is the glory and reputation, the second is the self-respect and dignity, which is the Chinese people cost anything to safeguard during the communication (Zhang, 2010). A scholar holds that“ whether right or wrong, he can not make himse
14、lf in an embarrassing situation, he will maintain his own face at all costs” . However, in western communication, they would like to get others recognition and support. If they stand from the individuals personality, they will not like their rights are limited by group values. Let me put it another
15、way,they do not want to be imposed by others but they want to be given a choice space. “Therefore, the western people not only need protect others positive face but also take care of others negative face in the process of communication. Only doing like this, they can win their faces” (Fan, 2008). 1.
16、2 Barriers in cross-cultural business communication created by face perception value 3 Chinese value of face perception is a value of collectivism, so during the social communication the Chinese emphasizes the harmonious interpersonal relationship and the social nature of man, and they also emphasiz
17、es that the social groups constraints the individual not the freedom of individual. People take the group as the center, so the personal emotion, desire etc, which is not important in groups in the communication. In contrast, western culture is a self-centered culture, which is “a value emphasizes t
18、he independent personality and character and highly praises personal achievement and honor” (Zhang, 2010). So they attach great importance to the right of privacy. Under this guidance, when they communicate with others, personal preferences, lifestyle, attention, emotion, desire, and privacy are spe
19、cially respected and strikingly performed” (Zhu, 2009:779) 1.3 Barriers in cross-cultural business communication created by face perception politeness The privacy is the typical problem in face perception politeness. “Nevertheless, privacy in China is significantly less than the western cultures pri
20、vacy” (Li, 2014) and the considered concern in Chinese culture is probable an aggressive behavior in the western concept of privacy. Because of that the face perception politeness has an influence on cross-cultural business communication. For example, the Chinese people meet friends on the road, the
21、y will ask “where to go” but Western people will resent being asked such a question, they think it is impolite, and they feel that their privacy is violated. In china, you can ask others age, salary, marital status and other issues. But in western culture, these are regarded as the privacy. If you a
22、sk those questions likes these, you are considered as an impolite person. Therefore, when we communicate with the people from western countries, we must pay special attention to these problems, in order to avoid unnecessary misunderstanding. 1.4 Barriers in cross-cultural business communication crea
23、ted by face perception culture People live in different cultural background, they will have different face perception culture, which must affect their communication. For instance, the Chinese host often say to the guests after the dinner “you go slowly back home” to express respect for the guests, w
24、hich is to left the face for others. But in the west, it is considered as the behavior that influences the hearers negative face. 1.5 Barriers in cross-cultural business communication created by face perception 4 verbal behavior When the Chinese people have a speech or discuss the problems, even if
25、they have a reason, they always say “the person spoke just now reasonably.” and then they would put forward their different views. For the western people who come for a few days, they always think the Chinese is rather baffling, and they hold that Chinese talk insincerely and kick up a cloud of dust
26、. They do not know this behavior is order to give the face to the people who spoke just now and it creates a harmonious atmosphere. Secondly, they are different above the title. In the west, more formal name is used for important occasions. But on other occasions, even with the differences of age an
27、d professional title between people, they generally call them by their names straightly. Even in formal occasions, after the introduction, they will often take the initiative to say “call me. If you like” to get rid of the etiquette constraints. But Chinese people like to add a prefix such as Lao Li
28、, Xiao Wang, to more fully take care of others face. While the Western people taboo the word “old“, and they are unable to adapt to this form of address. 2. Differences in face perception between Chinese and Western culture 2.1 Differences in face perception theory between Chinese and Western cultur
29、e 2.1.1 Chinese theory of face perception In China, there is no system theory on the “face”, but since the ancient times, the face is an important and interesting words. We often hear about the “lose face” “give face” “no face”. The face here is not just to describe peoples appearance, but it repres
30、ents a concept that permeates the whole social lives. It usually refers to a good reputation the group gives respect to the individual. Chinese always want to look superior and creditable in front of others, if you can achieve this point you will have a face. However, if you can not, you will lose a
31、 face. 2.1.2 Western theory of face perception Brown and Levinsons face theory originates from English sociologist Erving Coffrons face theory (1967) and some British folk legends. Goffnon (1967) believes that the face connects with the feeling concepts of shame and embarrassment and so on. In daily
32、 life, we often hear win face, lose face and the left face etc. Brown illustrated the face theory on the basis of this system, and he further improved the theory in 1987. Brown and Levinson hold that “all the participants are rational people 5 having face”. Face is the rational people want to win th
33、eir personal images in the public. He divided the face into positive and negative face. 2.2 Differences in face perception value between Chinese and Western culture 2.2.1 Chinese value of face perception Two thousands years feudal history of China has a tradition of stressing agriculture and restrai
34、ning commerce. We can say that the Chinese civilization is based on the agricultural. Generations of farmers was tied to the survival of their work on the land. In addition to war and famine, the farmer is almost constant. Under this historical background “the value is based on the values of collect
35、ivism” (Zhao, 2007). 2.2.2 Western value of face perception From the history, the culture of ancient Greece is the source of western culture. One of its important features is the spirit of democracy, which makes the western culture with democracy and freedom in the beginning of the birth. When the c
36、apitalist relations of production is just to break through the shackles of feudalism, a large number of humanism emerged in the ideological field. They advocated “human nature” “human rights” making humanity and human rights in unknown height. With the establishment of capitalist relations of produc
37、tion and the continuous development and growth of the bourgeoisie, the bourgeoisie as the representative of the humanism gradually occupy the dominant position in the western culture. It stressed that the rights of the individual and the value and formed a individualism value which is the core conce
38、pt of personal freedom .Privacy is a value of Brown and Levisons face theory and a product of Western civilization. From what has been discussed above, we can see that the Western and Chinese face value is not the same. Western value takes the individual as the center, emphasizing the independent pe
39、rsonality and the character of social values. However, the face value of Chinese people based on the group and blood relationship, which directly reflects the ethical connotation. Its practical value does not belong to the individual, but depends on the corresponding social circle. 2.3 Differences i
40、n face perception politeness between Chinese and Western culture Take the dinner table etiquette for example, Western people greet guests to taste a certain food, they usually just a little advise, letting the guests themselves decide to eat or not to eat. After the guests are full, they do not to k
41、eep persuading them to eat any more. In their view, this is a polite behavior, which respects each others right to 6 the freedom of choice, because they dont like to impose their point of view on anybody. While in China, people treat the guests at the dinner, he will pour wine a cup and a cup for th
42、e guests and persuade the visitors to eat again and again. It is forbidden for the guests not eat or drink. Doing like this is order to show the hospitality of the host, at the same time it shows that the host want to establish a close relationship with the guests. It can create a harmonious atmosph
43、ere, the guests will enjoy the passion of host and think this type of behavior perform their own care to them. If “the holder treat them very passionately, they will not think they are offended anymore” (Li, 2014) . In addition, Western people pay much attention to personal independence, personal wa
44、y of life, behavior habit, good wishes. In their view, these are their privacy, they do not like to be interfered. 2.4 Differences in face perception culture between Chinese and Western culture According to the cultural characteristics of the western society, the concept of face is mainly from the i
45、ndividualism as the starting point. The positive face mainly emphasizes the equality and consistency and it reflects that the speaker needs to be associated with the hearer and they need pay attention to each other at the same time during the communication. While the negative face emphasizes individ
46、ual personality. That is to say, person has a certain degree of freedom of movement, but also he or she need to respect the rights and freedom of others. According to Joachim Matthes, the face perception in western culture does not have the widespread social structure. In Chinese cultural environmen
47、t, the depth and breadth of the face perception in Chinese are much larger than the western face perception. The structure of two sides is very opposite. This rules center of China is not individuals, but the society. This code itself has a kind of social structure, it can maintain social cohesion.
48、So they have differences in the terms of the culture. 2.5 Differences in face perception verbal behavior between Chinese and Western culture The face perception in verbal behavior also has a lot of differences. For instance, the Chinese people will tactfully implied criticism to others or express di
49、fferent opinions from other people, they will avoid criticizing or blaming people in public especially those older. When we must criticize the performance of somebody, we will use euphemistic words as far as possible. If the person is good at saving others face, they will be given more pay in china. However, the western people tend to talk straightly, if they want to refuse to others, they will say no. When they have different 7 opinions, they will speak frankly and sincerely. Because they dont think it will hurt the face of others. In Chinese culture, the Chinese polit
