Cultivation of Intercultural Communicative Competence ——Comparative Study of Chinese － western Cultures〔*〕

Jiang Youwei

(School of Languages Studies Chongqing University of Technology，Chongqing 400069)

Ⅰ.The significance of intercultural communication

Along with the deepening integration among nations and different cultures across the globe，no one can afford to sit still.An awareness of and a skill in intercultural communications are now in urgent demand for further promoting international cooperation and boosting regional integration and globalization.

Intercultural communications refer to communications between people with different cultural backgrounds.It has been in existence since the birth of human civilization.Different peoples，different races，and different countries have never stopped their cultural exchange activities.In order to narrow down the research topic，Professor Hu Wenzhong，from Beijing Foreign Studies University，points out“Focus should first be made on national studies，especially the study of the mainstream culture in one nation.”〔1〕Researches on intercultural communications，not only help eliminate unnecessary misunderstandings between people from different cultures，but also overcome potential cultural clashes and conflicts.

Cultural conflicts usually result from cultural differences.To solve such conflicts，adequate knowledge of intercultural communications is essential.For this reason，one of the major purposes of research on intercultural communications is to broaden people’s mind and promote friendly exchanges between different countries.One culture’s growth and prosperity also cannot be realized without taking in the strengths of other cultures.Thus，the introduction and understanding of foreign cultures are of paramount importance，which have amazing power to inject more vitality and diversity to the indigenous culture.It is safe to say that cultural development is only a pipe dream if the inter-cultural communications are in absence.

Research on intercultural communications gives people great opportunities to fully reflect the past and present of their own culture and to actively learn the past and present of another culture.It is wrong and might be extremely dangerous to assume a superior air in front of another culture.Too much emphasis on one’s own culture also might put the cultural growth to a standstill and even lead to the degeneration and demise of it.By comparing one’s own culture and a foreign culture，the weaknesses and drawbacks are laid bare to our eyes and strengths and advantages of another culture become known to the public.Thus，people are better positioned to hold more meaningful conversations and fruitful cultural exchanges.

Ⅱ.Intercultural communication from the perspective of Chinese and western cultural differences

1.Chinese and western cultures’differences in marriage

Romance is an indispensable part in every culture.However，huge differences exist on the view of family and marriage in China and western countries.Love usually comes before family in the west while family often takes a higher position over love in China and sometimes necessary sacrifices are made in the name of the harmony and prosperity of a family.In the Chinese movie，A Romance under the Hawthorn Tree，the handsome and talented hero Lao San is always ready to do everything for the heroine named Jingqiu.When every dream of hers comes true，Lao San dies of leukemia.

In An Autumn’s Tale，the heroine，Liqi and the hero Chuantou，their love for each other also dies for their shyness to express their love for each other.Love is not and will not be the only reason in Chinese marriage.A host of other factors，including benevolence，courtesy，faith and loyalty，etc.also have their own unique role to play.In sharp contrast，people in the west tend to believe love comes before everything else in life.Love is admired and even worshiped to much greater level that people usually would do everything to be with their love.Life without love is incomplete.People believe that love can cleanse their souls and make them better persons.

In Big Fish，a movie from the west，the love between Edward Bloom and Sandra well demonstrate this point.The different views on love result in different attitudes towards marriage.Marriage takes a much higher position over love in China.Love not intended for marriage in the future is widely disparaged and scorned by the general public.In Marriage Battle，six men and women battled against various temptations.Beijing Love Story might appear to be a love story about post-1980s generation，but it also shows the complex interconnections of love，family and friendship.Most westerners believe in loving at first sight，enjoy being in love.It seems that love has nothing to do with marriage.People usually would find it hard to stay in marriage just for the sake of their family or for their children.Such a view might explain the higher divorce rate in western countries.In this sense，love is more pure in the west while a host of conditions must be met before love can happen in China.

In 50 First Dates，Henry is a celibatarian and he is crazy about the feeling of being in love.He becomes acquainted with a number of women，freely expressing his admiration and love for them，but he never mentions marriage.Such different views on love and marriage in China and western countries play a detrimental role in the interpersonal relationships.

2.Chinese and western cultures’differences in heroism

Hero worship is the common feature in both cultures.However，China and western countries hold different belief systems and people have different understandings of what constitute a hero.China takes pride in collectivism，so Chinese heroes are those who sacrifice their own interests even their lives for the sake of public interest.Collective and national interest comes first.For example，Yuefei，faced with barbarian invasion，sacrificed his life for his homeland，showing great loyalty and patriotism;Lin Zexu，with great determination，battled hard to ensure the integrity and China’s land sovereignty.In western culture，more attention is paid to individualism and personal and success.

The United States，as a representative of western culture，strongly advocates individualism，especially the personal heroism.〔2〕Success depends on one’s own efforts，everyone can become successful.In fact，personal heroism is also a part of American dream.Through one’s own determination，perseverance and hard work，everyone can live a prosperous life as he/she wants to.Democracy and freedom also play a key role in the west.Freedom is the very foundation of one’s success.People are always admired who succeed in fierce social competition.Successful people also gain a sense of security and a sense of accomplishment and become the industry pioneers and leaders.Compared with developed countries in Europe，Americans put more emphasis on self-reliance，rather than relying on government and social security.It encourages people to compete with their own natural instincts freely.American individualism constitutes the core of American traditional culture.The statue of liberty in Upper New York Bay is a typical symbol of American culture.

3.Chinese and western cultures’differences in education

Education，as a cultural phenomenon，plays an indispensable role in every culture.However，people from different places and different cultures usually hold quite different educational philosophy.Education in China can be called delicate and exquisite while it puts great emphasis on being close to the nature and society in the west.Success in school exams and acquisition of knowledge is a specialty of Chinese students.In contrast，students in the west pay more attention to real-life practice and exercises.Take “righteousness”and “profit”for example，Chinese lay particular stress on“righteousness”whereas westerners put more emphasis on“profit”.Given this，“righteousness”is put high while“profit”is placed low on the educational agenda in China.The core of western traditional education is to pursue happiness and enjoy material wealth.〔3〕The combination of Chinese and western education is to unify the two different values.

In addition，there is a big difference between China and western countries in family education.The traditional Chinese family education has played a predominant role in China’s feudal clan society for thousands of years.One of the main characteristics of traditional moral education is to promote Confucianism，paying close attention to the ideological and moral education.Concision，real-to-life language and easily understood contents are its second feature;the traditional moral education based on kinship ethics，including both family rules comes as another important feature in Chinese education.It also emphasizes the loyalty and obedience to one’s parents.

Parents in Western countries treat their children as equal and independent beings.Thus，they respect their children and hope their children to respect other people in return.Besides，great emphasis is put on emotional communications between parents and children to meet children’s psychological needs and ensure their mental health.Also，children’s self-independence，decision-making abilities and reallife skills are high on parents’agenda in the west.

Ⅲ.Improvement on intercultural communicative competence

1.The integration of language learning and cultural transmission

The human mind is expressed through language.Some social scientists believe that language，as a carrier of culture information，is a major means for social members to communicate effectively with one another.It can be well said that language lays the very foundation for culture.〔4〕Relying on culture，language is not only influenced by culture，but also reflects it.A language reflects the characteristics of a nation，showing the historical and cultural backgrounds of it，and bearing marks of a people’s view on life and their way of thinking.In short，language and culture inter-relate with each other.

Language use is inseparable from a particular social environment.Any characteristics borne by a language often show the character of a national，its，culture and people’s life.Different languages，as carriers of their unique cultures，play an irreplaceable role.Professor Hu Wenzhong says“Language and culture are closely related to each other.Human culture exists and evolves with the generation and the development of language.Without language，there would be no culture，and vice versa”.〔5〕Without the appropriate language as a carrier，culture could not successfully spread.Without culture，language would be meaningless.

Language and culture interrelate and interact.To know the language，one must understand the culture;understanding culture needs to know the language.Learning a foreign language means not only mastering the pronunciation，grammar，vocabulary and idioms，but also knowing how the people who speaking the language look at things and how they observe the world.One also needs to know how they use their language to reflect social thinking，habits and behaviors，and also understand their“language of the soul”，that is，to understand the culture of their community.Language stores predecessors’working and life experience.Language unit，especially words，reflects the awareness and attitudes of the objective world.It describes the historical development of peoples and societies.In this way，future generations need to master accumulated national culture by learning the language，acquiring cultural contents and cultural traditions.Conversely，language，including the language usage，cannot exist beyond culture，nor can it maintain its vitality without a culture’s belief systems and customs.Cultural development can promote a language;similarly，a well alive language is essential for the development of its culture.For this reason，learning a language is useless if knowledge of a culture is not in place.Therefore，language learners should be knowledgeable in target language and culture so as to promote Chinese language and Chinese culture in the international stage.

2.Cultural sensitivity and cultural empathy

Cultural sensitivity，an important gauge to evaluate intercultural communicative competence usually involves an open mind(a readiness to embrace new ideas and practices)and flexibility(a willingness to make appropriate adjustments according to specific cultural contexts).

Cultural sensitivity is an effective way to get in touch with people from other cultural backgrounds.Those with high sensitivity of culture more actively respect and enjoy the differences between cultures in order to allow them to better improve the prop-er conduct of effective communication so that intercultural communications can occur successfully.A nation’s culture largely determines the characters of a nation，thus forming its particular way of life and collective psychology.This has a direct impact on the intercultural communication activities.Due to the influences of one’s own culture，people in intercultural communications usually tend to think and act on the basis of his/her own cultural mindset.This may easily create barriers and lead to misunderstanding.To facilitate easy and quick adaptation to a new culture，one must cultivate his/her cultural sensitivity and be able to identify cultural differences.To achieve this，one first needs to acknowledge that there are differences people’s way of thinking，values，lifestyles and belief systems.Cultural sensitivity，as an important part of intercultural communicative competence，prompts the proper use of language and behaviors，and in the end help people from different cultures achieve effective communications.

Following cultural sensitivity，cultural empathy，is the implementation process of intercultural communication.Empathy refers to the ability to understand the environment，emotions and motivations in a new perspective，different from one’s own.〔6〕In intercultural communications，cultural empathy means the participants consciously expose themselves to the cultural backgrounds of the target language，free from the shackles of one’s own cultural background.Through verbal and nonverbal means，one conveys his/her motivations and contents of communication and achieves successful communication.Cultural empathy，in intercultural communications，is the safety valve for intercultural communication.intercultural communication activities involve multiculturalism.Because of this，cultural empathy contributes significantly to the understanding of the foreign culture by narrowing the psychological distance between different cultures and removing cultural barriers.

In intercultural communication，communication barriers caused by cultural differences often occur.The most prominent manifestation of cultural differences is the differences in values.Cultural values control people’s intercultural communication behaviors.Michael Prosser argues that values are the profound culture that individuals or groups constitute through cultural communication，and learners believe that all people have values.Values make those with the same culture know what is good or bad，right or wrong，true or false，positive or negative，making regulations to limit people’s behaviors.〔7〕It has become the fixed system when one makes a choice or settles disputes.Values determine one’s beliefs，attitudes and actions.People from different cultural backgrounds have cultural differences if they only obey their own values.Only through cognitive empathy and communication empathy，can one make the right responses and feedbacks in intercultural communications.That is to say，people should have emotional resonation and put themselves in other people’s shoes before a smooth and effective intercultural exchange can occur.

In short，if one has no or little cultural empathy，no other communicative ability is likely to be effective or to play an active role.In intercultural communications，national ethnocentricity，tribalism and other cultural prejudices often create invisible psychological barriers between different cultures.Only by enhancing the cultural sensitivity and cultural empathy，can people overcome such barriers and achieve effective intercultural communications.

Ⅳ.Conclusion

With the growing trend of economic globalization，intercultural communications become increasingly inevitable.The cultural differences between China and western countries might cause problems and difficulties，which are unavoidable.The reasons are manifold.There are objective factors and subjective factors.In short，language learner are supposed to have a thorough understanding about the relationship between language and culture as well as its connotation，explore the differences between culture and language，make language communication and nonverbal communication be willingly accepted by each other，eliminate prejudice and immobilized thinking mode which may cause unpleasant communication，find out the root of cultural shock，so as to eliminate cultural barriers and communica te smoothly.

〔1〕Hu Wenzhong，An Introduction to Intercultural Communication，1999，Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press，p.7.

〔2〕Chu Lifeng，The Analysis on Personal Heroism of Hollywood Commercial Movies，Journal of Commercial Economics，2011(8)，pp.147-148.

〔3〕Zhou Yinli，Chinese and Western Cultural Differences Reflected by Chinese and Western Films，Movie Literature，2011(7)，pp.11-12.

〔4〕Liu Hui，Improvement of Cross-cultural Communicative Competence on Media，Journal of Liaoning Administration College，2010(2)，pp.134-135.

〔5〕Hu Wenzhong，An Introduction to Intercultural Communication，1999，Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press，p.57

〔6〕Liu Junqi，Cultivation of Cultural Empathy Ability in Intercultural Communication，Journal of Socialist Theory Guide，2012(1)，pp.96-97.

〔7〕Yang Yan，The Comparative Analysis on the Difference of Values Between China and the West，Journal of Northeast Agricultural University(Social Science Edition)，2007(4)，pp.30-31.