Cross-culture; Business contact; English pragmatics
At present, more and more export-oriented enterprises go to the world, and more and more products go to the world. Business exchanges between China and foreign countries, East and West are unprecedented. Business communication is like a bridge across Chinese and Western businesses, pushing China's enterprises, products and services to the world, introducing the advanced governance, technology and capital of western enterprises to China, and narrowing the gap between the rapid development of China enterprises and the development of developed enterprises in the world.
In a sense, this cross-cultural business communication is carried out through language communication. In today's world, the international business language is mainly English. As we all know, any language is a reflection of a certain social culture and has profound social connotations. Culture is one of the most important attributes of language, and the two have some intersection.
Pragmatics is a science that studies the understanding and use of language scientifically. As far as English is concerned, it involves the history, geography, customs, traditional customs, lifestyle and values of English-speaking countries, and every aspect is very rich.
China and the West have different historical development paths, different environments and different cultural connotations. Therefore, there are great differences in thinking, personality, values and customs. If we don't pay attention to these differences, on the other hand, influenced by mother tongue and mother tongue culture, foreign-related enterprises in China are prone to cultural transfer in business communication, which leads to English pragmatic failure, thus having a great negative impact on cross-cultural business communication of foreign-related enterprises. 1. Causes of English Pragmatic Failure in Cross-cultural Business Communication of Foreign-related Enterprises. Cross-cultural business communication is interfered by China's pragmatic rules and China's culture. "The communication between native speakers and non-native speakers and the communication between people with different languages and social and cultural backgrounds constitute cross-cultural communication. In cross-cultural communication, due to the differences in thinking mode, speaking rules, values and social connotations of vocabulary, misunderstandings or conversations are interrupted, which leads to communication failure and fails to achieve the expected purpose. This is called "pragmatic failure". The term "pragmatic failure" was first put forward by the British linguist Thomas in 1983. China and the west have different cultural backgrounds. People's evaluation and explanation of the phenomena, things and behaviors they encounter are based on their own national culture, as well as in business cross-cultural communication. It is easy to form "ethnocentrism", that is, to understand and measure everything in other cultures according to the concepts and standards of one's own culture, including people's ways of behavior, communication, social customs, governance models and values. Ethnocentrism is often manifested in the exchange and transmission of information, so it often leads to pragmatic failures, the root of which lies in ignoring the negative transfer of national culture. The pragmatic rules of mother tongue and the interference of mother tongue culture are the fundamental reasons for pragmatic failure. The usage rules of different languages in different cultures will be different. The standard norms of one culture can only be explained according to its specific conditions, but not as norms to describe another culture, otherwise it will inevitably lead to pragmatic failures in cross-cultural business communication.
For example, when you meet and introduce each other for the first time in business communication, "Oldmanager" is sometimes used as a title of respect for people who are young but experienced. In western culture, "old" means "outdated" and "useless". If we are called "old managers" in this case, westerners will be puzzled and even unhappy. They like to use the word "experienced" to express their appreciation and respect.
2. Only pay attention to the training of employees' English language skills, ignoring the introduction of English-speaking countries' culture. Undoubtedly, foreign-related enterprises have certain requirements for their employees to master English and attach great importance to their English training. However, in the training process, we often only pay attention to English language skills and practice English words, translation and conversation repeatedly, while ignoring cultural introduction and the cultivation of cross-cultural awareness, which makes employees lack sensitivity, inclusiveness and flexibility in dealing with cultural differences. Just learning the pronunciation and grammar rules of a foreign language and mastering a certain vocabulary does not mean that you can communicate smoothly if you learn this foreign language well. In cross-cultural communication, if both sides can't enter the same cultural background, it will easily lead to confusion or misunderstanding, which will lead to communication failure. As Thomas pointed out: "Grammatical mistakes can be seen on the surface, and listeners can easily find such mistakes." Once this kind of mistake is discovered, the listener will think that the speaker lacks enough language knowledge, so he can understand it. Pragmatic failure will not be treated like grammatical failure. If a person who can speak a foreign language fluently makes pragmatic mistakes, he is likely to be considered impolite or unfriendly. His mistakes in communication will not be attributed to his lack of language ability, but to his rudeness or hostility. "Obviously, foreign language training needs the support of culturology. People use language to communicate, but also convey their own unique cultural connotation. Therefore, the cultivation of cross-cultural pragmatic competence can not lack the participation of cultural creativity, which is the subjective initiative of employees. Second, improving the language ability of cross-cultural business strategy of foreign-related enterprises is the basis of communication ability. However, having language skills does not mean having good cross-cultural business communication skills, nor does it mean that you can make good use of English pragmatic strategies for proper communication. In foreign-related business communication, many pragmatic failures lead people to fail to understand and accept each other's lessons, thus losing many business opportunities and even causing economic losses. For example, a company in the north exports "goat" cashmere quilts to Britain. They translated Chinese "goat brand" into English "goat". As a result, although the quality of cashmere quilt is excellent, it is unsalable. This is because "goat" means "goat" in English. Cross-cultural communication refers to the communication between people with different cultural backgrounds. There are cultural differences between languages in cross-cultural communication. Malinowski, a British linguist, said: "Language is deeply rooted in the cultural reality of this nation and people's customs, and language research cannot be separated from this vast language behavior environment. To understand language, in the final analysis, we should understand the whole cultural background and lifestyle of the speaker. "In the process of using English, whether it is understanding or expressing, we need to choose the right words and expressions according to the context. One of the most important issues is to prevent pragmatic failure. Therefore, it is necessary for foreign-related enterprises to study English pragmatic strategies in order to improve their cross-cultural business communication ability.
1. The practice of strengthening cross-cultural communication in English skill training for employees. In enterprise training, in addition to strengthening employees' English learning, we should also strengthen employees' cross-cultural practice, strengthen employees' awareness of cross-cultural communication, and provide employees with information-based exercises, such as inviting experienced foreign experts to give special lectures or lectures on the history and customs of some countries that have frequent business contacts with enterprises, and letting employees get in touch with the cultural information of English-speaking countries through their senses and hearts by playing videos and DVDs, so as to experience foreign cultures and understand their cultural connotations in a relaxed and happy mood, and organize discussions on western cultural issues; Often let employees know the success or failure of English pragmatics in cross-cultural business communication, and let employees analyze and study the cases with their own foreign-related work experience, and take this as a lesson; Guide employees to compare the differences between English and Chinese thinking modes, let them know and understand this cultural difference, and consciously communicate with appropriate and appropriate cultural background; Create a good English cultural atmosphere, encourage employees to read widely, absorb cultural nutrients through multiple channels, and pay more attention to cultural details in the reading process, so as to understand the cultural factors behind the language more deeply; When necessary, employees can have role experience exercises, that is, practitioners designate trainees to play certain roles and experience difficulties and problems in cross-cultural communication. The purpose is to artificially create another English cultural environment, so that students can learn the ability to solve various problems in this environment. In addition, employees are encouraged to talk face to face with westerners, or visit websites to communicate with western netizens, so that employees can learn about foreign cultures, spread China culture and exercise their cross-cultural communication skills through direct communication.
2. Pay attention to the pragmatic differences between English and Chinese to adapt English to the context. Due to the different cultural backgrounds of English and Chinese, pragmatic failure is manifested in the fact that when communicating in English, it is easy to apply Chinese language habits, formats and idioms, which contain national thoughts and values, thus easily causing ambiguity to the other party.
Due to the different contexts, the two sides have direct and face-to-face cross-cultural communication, and their success depends on whether they have a good understanding of each other's cultural background. When we communicate in English, we should avoid the problem that English language is not suitable for its context. The concrete manifestations are as follows: First, be careful not to use words one by one in two languages. This is a common problem in English communication. Chinese likes to use overlapping idioms to emphasize mood, such as "handling and treating" and "proceeding". If you look for their equivalents in English, it is not in line with English language rules, it is blunt and feels redundant. Second, don't completely "copy" Chinese idioms into English. For example, in a formal business meeting, the speaker likes to wish the delegates "happy family, happy family, good health and all the best" and so on. If this "set" is entirely in English, it will make the British laugh and cry, because English-speaking countries don't need such long sentences to show politeness at formal meetings. If they do, they just need simple words and sentences to pass. Third, pay attention to dealing with some "unique" languages in Chinese under extraordinary circumstances. In Chinese, we like to use simple words and phrases to summarize rich meanings, such as "export for domestic sales", "nouveau riche", "five stresses and four beauties", "eight honors and eight disgraces" and so on. Many of these words in Chinese have their own unique allusions, historical backgrounds and humanistic environmental connotations. Only by explaining them clearly can they be well accepted by the other side and not be confused. For example, when introducing the investment environment to foreign investors, the advantages of a city are summarized as "three cities and five excellent". If we just translate these four words without any explanation, then foreign investors will be puzzled. However, if we further explain these four words, "three cities" means "famous cultural cities, famous tourist cities and emerging industrial cities" and "excellent". With these explanations, the effect will be very different, and the blunt and incomprehensible expressions will be vivid. Fourth, don't ask some taboo questions when you meet for the first time. The taboos in the first conversation of English speakers can be summarized into four words: I, warm, where, and rice. I stands for income; The second word, W stands for weight, A stands for age, R stands for religion, and M stands for marriage. This leads to the "seven don't ask": don't ask each other's income, weight, age, religious belief, marital status, "where have you been" and "have you eaten". Knowing and understanding these common pragmatic skills in general business English will help us to communicate better across cultures.
3. Overcome cultural inferiority and "face-saving" psychology, and conduct cross-cultural business communication with equal pragmatic strategies. Some large western enterprises unconsciously show their cultural advantages in business pragmatics by relying on abundant funds. In this case, foreign-related enterprises should take countermeasures to maintain the pragmatic strategy of English. Every culture is the crystallization of social and historical development, and there is no distinction between good and bad. Different cultures should respect each other, learn from each other's strengths, learn from each other and integrate with each other. Therefore, foreign-related enterprises should adopt the principle of equality and pragmatism in business negotiations and business contacts, so as to keep constant and adapt to changes. When you meet the other side's provocation, you can be tit for tat and speak with confidence.
In addition, the issue of "face" is a cliche. We have always stressed that China is a country of etiquette, influenced by the traditional culture with Confucianism as the core. In order to take care of "face", foreign-related enterprises sometimes behave too humbly and easygoing in trade negotiations, emphasizing politeness. For example, I like to use some vague words, such as "maybe/maybe" and "whatever". Although we are polite and euphemistic in terms of China's context and cultural psychology, if we use such words too much in business communication, it will be counterproductive. Westerners, especially Americans, are open-minded, straightforward and straight to the point. Too many vague words give people the impression that they are ambiguous, unconfident and insincere. They will find it very difficult to communicate with China people in business, and they will have the impression that China people can't openly admit their shortcomings and mistakes when communicating with others, and can't publicly clarify their views and attitudes, which will make business communication difficult and inefficient. Foreign-related enterprises should actively communicate from the perspective of western culture with a culturally adaptive attitude in their foreign-related business contacts. On the one hand, they should understand the differences between English context and Chinese context. Since most business communication is conducted in English at present, if it is expressed in English under the Chinese context and mode of thinking, it will inevitably lead to pragmatic failure. Therefore, we should try our best to adapt to and integrate into the English context; On the other hand, we should actively and timely introduce the cultural background of China to westerners, so as to avoid conflicts that may be caused by cultural understanding in foreign business communication. Overcome the confusion of "face" and don't lose big because of small.
4. Pay attention to nonverbal communication in cross-cultural business communication in order to realize English pragmatic optimization. Non-verbal communication refers to communication without verbal means, including gestures, body posture, eyes, smile, silence, facial expressions, clothing, physical contact, body distance, the use of time and space and so on. Samovar said: "Most research experts believe that in face-to-face communication, only about 35% of the social content of information is verbal behavior, and the rest is transmitted through nonverbal behavior." Some experts in the United States have shown that when expressing feelings and attitudes, language only accounts for 7% of communication behavior, while intonation and facial expressions convey information as high as 93%. It doesn't matter how much we believe these surveys and statistics made by western scholars, but one thing is certain: nonverbal communication is an indispensable part of the whole communication. Non-verbal communication means are very rich. Generally, they are used in combination with language to emphasize tone, repetition, show attitude and dislike, but some are not used together with language, such as the concept of time and physical distance. Generally speaking, if nonverbal communication can cooperate well with English language communication, it will promote English pragmatic optimization and make people appear decent and reasonable in cross-cultural communication. On the contrary, it may destroy the function of language communication and even cause unnecessary trouble. It can be seen that nonverbal communication plays a vital role in pragmatic optimization of cross-cultural business communication.
Conclusion: Language itself is a cultural phenomenon. It is the carrier of culture and an important part of culture. The two are closely linked and inseparable. How to adopt appropriate pragmatic strategies in cross-cultural business communication and successfully carry out cross-cultural business activities is an important topic that every foreign-related enterprise must study, and it is also one of the prerequisites for foreign-related enterprises to gain competitive advantages in the international market.