1. Is it still often the case that “everyone’s quick to blame the alien” in the contemporary world?
This is still powerful in today‘s social and political rhetoric. For instance, it is not uncommon in today‘s society to hear people say that most, if not all, of the social and economic problems are caused by minorities and immigrants.
2. What’s the difference between today’s intercultural contact and that of any time in the past?
Today‘s intercultural encounters are far more numerous and of greater importance than in any time in history.
3. What have made intercultural contact a very common phenomenon in our life today?
New technology, in the form of transportation and communication systems,
has
accelerated
intercultural
contact;
innovative
communication systems have encouraged and facilitated cultural interaction; globalization of the economy has brought people together; changes in immigration patterns have also contributed to intercultural encounter.
4. How do you understand the sentence “culture is everything and everywhere”?
Culture supplies us with the answers to questions about what the world looks like and how we live and communicate within that world. Culture
teaches us how to behave in our life from the instant of birth. It is omnipresent.
5. What are the major elements that directly influence our perception and communication?
The three major socio-cultural elements that directly influence perception and communication are cultural values, worldview (religion), and social organizations (family and state).
6. What does one’s family teach him or her while he or she grows up in it?
The family teaches the child what the world looks like and his or her place in that world.
7. Why is it impossible to separate our use of language from our culture?
Because language is not only a form of preserving culture but also a means of sharing culture. Language is an organized, generally agreed-upon, learned symbol system that is used to represent the experiences within a cultural community.
8. What are the nonverbal behaviors that people can attach meaning to?
People can attach meaning to nonverbal behaviors such as gestures, postures, facial expressions, eye contact and gaze, touch, etc. 9. How can a free, culturally diverse society exist?
A free, culturally diverse society can exist only if diversity is permitted to flourish without prejudice and discrimination, both of which harm all members of the society.
1. Which of the definitions given above do you prefer? Why?
Some may prefer a short definition, such as the one given by E. Sapir or R. Benedict, for it is highly generalized and easy to remember. Some may prefer a longer one, such as Edward T. Hall‘s definition of culture, because it provides us with a more comprehensive understanding of culture and points out the all-pervasive impact of culture on human life in different dimensions.
2.What have you learned from those definitions about culture? Many things can be learned from those definitions, for each definition, though not without its limitations, tells us something very important about culture or certain aspect(s) of culture.
3. Do you agree that our lower needs always have to be satisfied before we can try to satisfy the higher needs?
Even though this is generally the case, there will still be some exceptions. Sometimes people might prefer to satisfy higher needs, for instance, esteem needs, before their lower needs, such as certain physiological needs or safety needs, are satisfied.
4. What examples can you give about how people of different cultures achieve the same ends by taking different roads?
For example, everyone has to eat in order to live and this is universally true. However, to satisfy this basic need, people of various cultures may do it in very different ways: what to eat and how to eat it vary from culture to culture.
5. What behaviors of ours are born with and what are learned in the cultural environment?
Instinctive behaviors are behaviors that we are born with and ways of doing things in daily life, such as ways of eating, drinking, dressing, finding shelter, making friends, marrying, and dealing with death are learned in the cultural environment.
6. What other cultural differences do you know in the way people do things in their everyday life?
We can also find cultural differences in ways of bringing up children, treating the elderly, greeting each other, saving and spending money, and many other things people do in everyday life.
7. In what ways are the Chinese eating habits different from those of the English-speaking countries?
We Chinese may enjoy something that is not usually considered as edible by the English-speaking people. Generally we prefer to have things hot and lay much emphasis on tastes. We tend to share things with each other when we are eating with others.
1. Why is it comparatively easy to make friends in the United States?
Because few Americans stay put for a lifetime. With each move, forming new friendship becomes a necessity and part of their new life.
2.Do people from different countries usually have different expectations about what constitutes friendship and how it comes into being?
Yes. The difficulty when strangers from two countries meet is their different expectations about what constitutes friendship and how it comes into being.
3. How is friendship in America different from friendship in West Europe?
In West Europe, friendship is quite sharply distinguished from other, more casual relationships, is usually more particularized and carries a heavier burden of commitment, while in America the word ―friend can be applied to a wide range of relationship and a friendship may be superficial, casual, situational or deep and enduring.
4. In what country does friendship have much to do with one’s family? And in what country does it not?
In Germany, friendship has much to do with one‘s family as friends are usually brought into the family, while in France it doesn‘t as, for instance, two men may have been friends for a long time without knowing each other‘s personal life.
5. What is friendship like when it is compartmentalized?
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