A Contrastive Study of Politeness in English and Chinese Culture 英语专业毕业论文.docVIP

A Contrastive Study of Politeness in English and Chinese Culture Abstract: Different languages and cultures of a country have different kinds of expression of polite. A deep understanding of the differences between Chinese and English politeness principle and its origin, which is helpful for cross-cultural communication and improving the ability to cross-cultural communicate. In this paper, it is begin with the different culture background of polite; discusses the origin of politeness; analyzes the reasons for these differences, and summarizes the differences in English and Chinese culture. Learning the different usages of English and Chinese polite is aims at pointing out that people can put the politeness into right usage only if people understand correctly about the usage of the politeness principle in different cultures; only in this way, we can avoid some mistakes, misunderstanding or even conflicts; thus, we can promote the cross-cultural communication going effectively and to be in the best condition. Key words: polite, different culture, use, communication 1. Introduction Probably, in subconscious mind, everyone may have strong desire for other peoples respect and admiration. As a result, politeness appeared. As one of the basic criterions of communicative activities, politeness is a tool to maintain harmonious interpersonal relationship and it is an important symbol of human civilization. Due to the cultural differences, different nationalities have different understandings of politeness, and the polite principles they followed are greatly different, too. These factors, such as language courtesy, value orientation and mode of thinking are closely linked. It is necessary for people to know clearly about the differences of politeness principles in cross-cultural communication. If we understand the differences between English and Chinese culture and get the understanding of the target language culture. Then we are able to avoid pragmatic failure caused by th