跨文化交际中英汉禁忌语的对比研究(2)
3.1.1 Taboos on Death, Sickness and Birth 5
3.1.2 Taboos on Religion and God 6
3.2 Differences between English and Chinese Taboos 6
3.2.1 Taboos on Privacy 6
3.2.2 Taboos on Number 7
3.2.3 Taboos on Color 8
3.2.4 Taboos on Animal 9
4 Ways of Improving Intercultural Communication Competence 10
4.1 Having Appropriate Attitudes 10
4.2 Taking Some Useful Strategies 10
4.2.1 Use of Euphemism Strategy 10
4.2.2 Use of Question-Asking Strategy 11
4.2.3 Use of Self-Revealing Strategy 11
5 Conclusion 12
References 14
A Comparative Study of English and Chinese Taboos in Intercultural Communication
1 Introduction
1.1 General Description of This Study
With the advancement of globalization, the international communication has become more frequent and intensified. Globalization provides us with more opportunities to communicate with foreigners, but it also brings more challenges. The disparities of histories and customs lead to the misunderstandings and even cultural conflicts. Owing to the persity of cultures, it is difficult to communicate with people from different cultures on certain topics, including taboos. In intercultural communication, our words or expressions sometimes may offend others unintentionally, resulting from the differences of cultures. Language is not only the carrier of culture, but also a tool for people to communicate. Taboo is a common linguistic and cultural phenomenon, which exists in almost every culture. It is inevitable to mention taboos in cross-cultural communication if we are only acquainted with our own culture. As an important part of language, people are supposed to take taboos seriously. If knowing well about the taboos in different cultures, we will succeed in avoiding misunderstandings and cultural conflicts in the cross-cultural communication. What’s more, we will have a pleasant talking atmosphere. Therefore, it is vital to deal with taboos appropriately in intercultural communication.
This paper tends to analyze taboos in English and Chinese in a contrastive way. By this kind of comparison, we can have a better understanding of both the similarities and differences of English and Chinese taboos. It explores some reasons for differences between English and Chinese taboos and provides several useful strategies to deal with taboos in intercultural communication.