Culture, as a technical term, is flexible. Some people say that culture is a complex social phenomenon. In the book Primitive Culture, Edward Tylor, a British anthropologist in the19th century, gave a classic definition of culture: "Culture is a complex, including knowledge, belief, art, law, morality, customs and any other abilities and habits that people acquire as members of society." The process of communication is a process in which people use language knowledge and social and cultural knowledge to transmit information, so learning a language is inseparable from understanding the cultural background knowledge reflected by the language. Knowledge of English culture contributes to smooth and effective communication. On the contrary, the lack of English cultural background knowledge will inevitably lead to communication barriers, conflicts and misunderstandings. This is what we call "pragmatic failure". What this article says is not unsatisfactory because of grammatical errors, but also improper way of speaking, or expression habits, or untimely speaking. The speaker did not communicate in accordance with the social customs and habits of the British and Americans, which caused mistakes. This paper tries to talk about the misunderstandings in daily communication.

First of all, say hello

In China, familiar people usually use such words when they meet and say hello: "Where are you going?" "Have you eaten?" If you translate these greetings into English (that is, where are you going? Have you eaten? ")。 British and American people may be at a loss, confused and sometimes misunderstood. Foreigners who don't know the culture and customs of China don't think this is a kind of greeting that plays a communicative role. For example, ask another person, "Have you eaten? "The other person may think that this is not a simple greeting, but will mistakenly think that you may send an invitation to him/her. Another example is "Where are you going? This is likely to cause the other person's unhappiness, so his/her answer to this question is likely to be: "This is none of your business. Do you care? ")。 British and Americans usually use "Good morning/good afternoon/good evening" and "Hello! (hello! ) ""Nice to meet you. " "How have you been? How have you been recently? )。 "Hello" or "Hi" can be used between close friends.

Second, the title

In Britain and America, people's address to each other is quite different from our country's habits. Some appellations of China are unreasonable, impolite and uneducated. For example, children don't call their grandparents directly, but they are very decent and kind. Young people call them old people. They can add Mr., Mrs. or Miss before their surnames. For example: Mr. Smith, Mrs. Smith, Miss Alice, etc. In Chinese, we can use the words "teacher, secretary, manager, engineer, factory director" with our surnames, but not in English. You can't say "Mr. Zhan g G" or "Engineer Wu". The correct statement is that, according to British and American customs, Mr, Mrs and Miss should be used with surnames (first names) to show respect or courtesy.

In China, when people address their family members, relatives or neighbors, they often use such appellations as "Big Brother", "Second Sister", "Sister-in-law" and "Uncle Li" which cannot be used in English. When addressing men or women in English, it is usually enough to call them by their first names.

Third, greetings

People in China usually use "How old are you?" "How much can you earn?" "Are you married?" . In English culture, topics such as age, address, work unit, income, marriage, family situation and beliefs are personal privacy, and no one is allowed to ask. In Britain and the United States, the most common greeting topic is the weather condition or weather forecast. For example, "it's good, isn't it?" Or "It's raining hard, isn't it?" "Your address is really good!" Wait a minute. Chinese greetings sometimes show concern for each other. You don't look well today. Are you sick? ""After a long time, you have gained weight again. " "You lost weight again. Pay attention to your health. "People won't be angry about it. If the British and Americans hear you say "you are fat" or "you are so thin". "Even if they are familiar with each other, they will feel embarrassed and difficult to answer because it is impolite.

In addition, in the way of thinking, China students are used to using the semantic structure of Chinese to apply English. For example, when talking on the phone, China students are used to saying, "Hello, who are you?" The habit of British and American people is to give their number or the name of their unit or company first when they receive a phone call. For example:

Hello, 8403229

Hello, I'm Tom. Can I speak to Jim? That's the way to use the telephone.