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Interculture refers to the interaction between two or more groups who have different culture backgrounds. Intercultural understanding is not the understanding the object, but the understanding between the main body; not subjectivity, but the intersubjectivity. Intercultural understanding should see different culture equally, but it does not mean that every culture should be the same. On the contrary, it is accepted in the acknowledgement of difference between them. Intercultural understanding is the understanding between different cultures. Intercultural understanding is about the unification of cultural difference and identity.
1.2 Background of the study
Language is the carrier of culture. It is difficult to learn a language, especially the essence of language, if we put culture aside. It is also hard to improve practical communication skills with people from another culture. To the contrary, if in the knowledge of one’s culture, learning language is to be easy and you can get twice the result with half the effort.
Foreign scholars study more about the basic theory of culture and language. Such as, Thomas (1983), he classified intercultural pragmatic failures into two kinds, the language pragmatic failure and the social pragmatic failure. Language pragmatic failures include idioms expression error, appellation terms error, greetings error; Social pragmatic failures include differences between customs, values and errors caused by unique cultural factors.
And Chinese scholars study more about the influence and relations of different cultures on or to English teaching.
The previous scholar’s academic researches almost do not establish the relations between cultural differences and the reasons, between the cultural conflicts and the causes of conflicts. They do not establish a chain of causation among understanding cultural differences, solve cultural conflicts and English teaching. All these aspects are not very comprehensively and exhaustively studied in one article and the previous studies do not logically reflect these problems and the relations among them.
Intercultural phenomenon exists during one’s second language earning, which make the interactions between different cultures smooth and efficient. But most of the foreign language instructors have paid little attention to culture education from along time. Why so many language errors occur is that English teaching and some textbooks only emphasize the language form but not the social meaning of English language.
This paper endeavors to analyze the differences between Chinese and western cultures and their influence and importance on cultural education in English teaching. This paper also discusses the importance for college students to learn cultural differences between Chinese and western in English study.
2. The differences between Chinese and western cultures
2.1 Origins of Chinese Culture
Chinese and English culture systems are rooted in their respective cultures. To know about the similarities and differences better between the two culture systems, it’s necessary for us to compare the origins of the two cultures.
In the entire history of the world, China as a nation attaches greatest importance to moral education. As such, it has a world-wide repute as an ancient civilization and a nation of rites. Confucianism, as the traditional system of thought in China, was developed from the teachings of Confucius (551-479 B.C) and his disciples, and the principles concerned about good conduct, practical wisdom, and proper social relationships.
Confucius laid great stress on the cultivation of character, purity of heart and conduct. He exhorted the people to develop a good character first, which is a priceless jewel and which is the best of all virtues. The nature of man, according to Confucius, is fundamentally good inclined towards goodness. Perfection of goodness can be found in sages and saints. Every man should attempt to reach the ideal by leading a virtuous life, by possessing a very noble character, and by doing his duty unselfishly with sincerity and truthfulness. Confucius himself had a simple moral and political teaching: to love others; to honor one’s parents; to do what is right instead of what is of advantage; to practice “reciprocity”, to rule by moral example instead of by force and violence; and so forth. Confucianism generally stressed the virtues of truth, fullness, loyalty, learning, and moderation. Confucius’s social philosophy largely revolves around the concept of “仁”, which is best translated as “humaneness”, but can also mean “humanity”, or “virtue”, “compassion” or “loving others.” It’s a high moral quality. He regards devotion to parents and older siblings as the most basic form of promoting the interests of others before one’s own, and teaches that such altruism can be accomplished only by those who have learned self-discipline. Learning self-restraint involves studying and mastering “礼”, the ritual forms and rules of propriety through which one expresses that he himself is worthy of respect and admiration. A concern for propriety should inform everything that one says and that one does. It is without a doubt that harmony is the primordial values of Confucianism and of the Chinese culture. This principle also has along and meaningful history in China. Harmony is a guiding principle for the Chinese.