Cross-cultural Pragmatic Failure in Communication
Abstract: With the advancement of globalization, the interaction between different cultures has been increasingly strengthened. This has brought both better understanding and new problems. If we do not understand the sociocultural context or the communicative context, we cannot understand the meaning of language. Cultivating one's own communicative competence is the ultimate goal of foreign language learning. However, due to cultural differences and other reasons, English learners often make pragmatic failures in cross-cultural communication, and ultimately lead to failure of communication. This article first introduced the definition of cross-cultural communication. Then analyzed the differences in Chinese and English expressions in terms of privacy, taboos, compliments, praises, identity, status and context. It also analyzed the causes of these cultural differences. In order to help English learners avoid pragmatic mistakes in cross-cultural communication and improve their English language communication skills.
Key Words：English, Cross-Cultural Communication, Pragmatic Failure, Reason
跨文化交际中的语用失误探因
摘要：随着全球化进程的推进，不同文化之间的相互作用日益加强，这既带来了更好的理解，也带来了新的问题。如果不理解社会文化语境或交际语境，我们就无法理解语言的意义。培养自身的语言交际能力是外语学习的最终目的。但由于文化差异等原因，英语学习者在进行跨文化交际时常会出现语用失误，导致最终交际的失败。本文首先介绍了跨文化交际的定义，接下来从隐私、禁忌、恭维、赞扬、身份、地位和场合等方面分析了中英文表达的差异，并分析了导致这些文化差异的原因。从而帮助英语学习者避免跨文化交际中的语用失误，以提高其英语语言交际能力。
关键词：英语，跨文化交际，语用失误，原因
Contents
1.Introduction 1
2. Literature Review of the Study 2
2.1 Major Studies Abroad 2
2.2 Major Studies at Home 2
3. Cross-cultural Communication 3
3.1 Definition of Cross-cultural Communication 3
3.2 Cross-cultural Communication and Language 4
4. Cross-cultural Pragmatic Failure in Communication 5
4.1 Privacy and Taboos 5
4.2 Compliment and Praise 6
4.3 Identity, Status and Context 7
5. The Causes of Cross-cultural Pragmatic Failure in Communication 8
5.1 Differences in Cultural Values and Customs 8
5.2 Personal Factors of Communicators Lead to Pragmatic Failure 9
5.3 Lack of Language Knowledge and Vocabulary Lead to Pragmatic Failure 10
6. Conclusion 11
References 12
Cross-cultural Pragmatic Failure in Communication
1.Introduction
Pragmatic failure is a common phenomenon in cross-cultural communication. Studying pragmatic failures has practical significance for cross-cultural communication and English teaching. On the one hand, it can help people of different cultural backgrounds to better understand each other and realize that the words that they think are appropriate can be considered as abnormal speech acts in different cultural atmospheres, find faults in communication and know what to do. Remedial measures to adjust their speech behavior norms to avoid communication conflicts. On the other hand, it makes us realize that the correctness of language form is not enough to achieve the purpose of cross-cultural communication.
Cross-cultural pragmatics has been emphasixed with the increasingly frequent exchanges between countries in politics, culture, science and technology, trade, and so on. It is worth noting that mistakes, contradictions and conflicts have gradually emerged in the process of cross-cultural communication due to the differences in cultural concepts. Different countries and nationalities have their own unique culture. The huge gap in way of thinking, culture and values often leads to communication failure. This seriously affects the smooth progress of cross-cultural communication. As a common phenomenon in intercultural communication, pragmatic failure has a long history. It is ubiquitous in verbal communication activities under various language and cultural backgrounds. It helps us better understand the cultures of different countries through studying on pragmatic failure and understanding the causes of errors in cross-cultural communication. The term of “pragmatic failure”
