A Comparative Study of English and Chinese Apologies 英语论文.doc

A Comparative Study of English and Chinese Apologies 1. The Comparison of the Apology Strategies From this table, we may draw some conclusions about the similarities of these apology strategies. Both English and Chinese use Strategy (3), giving an explanation or account frequently, and both English and Chinese seldom use Strategy (6), promise of forbearance. 1.1Similarities As for the first similarity, we may relate it to the “face” problem, which is explored by many scholars in history. George Yule (2000) states his opinion in his book Pragmatics, “As a technical term, face means the public self-image of a person. It refers to that emotional and social sense of self that everyone has and expects everyone else to recognize”(2000:60). Some scholars divide the concept of “face” into two aspects: the “positive face” and the “negative face”, and put forward the “face-saving theory”. The “positive face” means the need of being accepted and approved by the collective. The “negative face” means the need of freedom, independence and not be bothered by other people. When ones behavior threats the “face” of the other person, the offender should take the face-saving action to make the remedy. Therefore, saving the “face” of the offender himself or herself, and giving the “face” to the listener at the same time are the principles both Chinese and English apologies obey. When we are in a situation that we have to apologize for our faults, giving an appropriate explanation is the most decent way for both sides. It will not only remove the unhappiness, but also take the “face” problem into account. 1.2Differences Compared with the similarities, there are many differences between two languages, which deserve much of our attention. From the survey above, we may find obvious contrast on some specific strategies, especially on Strategies (1), (4), (5) and (7). Choosing the certain apology strategy is affected by lots of elements, such as the culture, the social value, and the mode of thinking. Zhang Guoxia lists four main points (2003:107): a. The social distance between the speaker and the listener. b. The relative power between the speaker and the listener. c. The severity of the offence. d. The obligation of apology between the speaker and the listener. Integrating these factors, we are able to explore the root of the differences between the English and Chinese apology. Through the comparison on Strategies (1), (4), (5) and (7), we could make a deep research on the differences between English and Chinese respective reflection of the social values, the cultural background and the modes of thinking. 2. The Roots of the Differences between English and Chinese Apologies Referring to Zhang Guoxias point and integrating other cross-cultural characteristics, I will put my emphases on three primary roots as follows, which have comparatively distinct effects on English and Chinese apologies: high and low context culture, individualism and collectivism, large and small power distance. 2.1 High-context Culture and Low-context Culture The differences of the strategy application between English and Chinese apology is mostly influenced by the respective culture and value of two countries. Hall, an American anthropologist puts forward two concepts of “the high-context culture” and “the low-context culture”. A high-context (HC) communication or massage is one in which most of the information is either in the physical context or internalized in the person, while very litter is in the coded, explicit, transmitted part of the massage (qtd. in 许力 生 114). It is obvious that the culture of China belongs to the high-context. According to Xu Lisheng, high-context cultures, because of tradition and history, change very little over time. As a result, for most normal transactions in daily life they do not require, nor do they expect, much in-depth, background information. Therefore, the meaning of the message is unnecessarily transmitted by words. The information can be provided through gestures, the use of space, and even silence. Meaning is also conveyed in through status and through an individuals informal friends and associates. Because high-context cultures tend to be less open, most high-context countries hold that conflict should be dealt with discreetly and subtly, and they are more aware of their surroundings and their environment and do not rely on verbal communication as their main information channel. Thats why Chinese people prefer to adopt the indirect apology and nonverbal apology. We all consider them as a more implicit expression. Most Western countries belong to the low- context cultures. According to Halls theory, “A low-context (LC) communication is just the opposite of High-context; i.e., the mass of the information is vested in the explicit” (qtd. in 许力生 114). In low-context cultures, the verbal message contains most of the information and very little is embedded in the context or the participants. This characteristic manifests itself in a host of ways. Members of low-context cultures expect messages to be detailed, clear-cut, and definite. Therefore, western communication tends to be direct and explicit, stating everything clearly. Thats why English apology concentrates on Strategy (3). They insist that providing a definite explanation or account is the best method to mitigate ones responsibility. 2.2 Individualism and Collectivism 2.2.1 Individualism Individualism stands for a preference for a loosely knit social framework in society wherein individuals are supposed to take care of themselves and their immediate family only (许力生 109). English apology embodies its social value on the individualism. They consider the moderate conflict as an occasion for both sides to express the own opinions. As for the existed offender, they acknowledge the responsibility they should undertake, and try their best to clarify the rest responsibility for the whole event. It is the reason that English apology prefer Strategy (1), to minimize the degree of the offense as well as ones own responsibility. Whats more, people in western countries pay more attention to the individual space, time, as well as privacy. For example, in western countries, when people sneeze in public places, they speak out “Excuse me ” automatically, but Chinese dont take it as a matter that should make an apology. Because of individualism prevails in western countries, English apology seldom adopts Strategy (7). Interfering in other persons business is regarded as an inappropriate and even a rude behavior by most western people. 2.2.2 Collectivism Opposite to individualism, collectivism stands for a preference for a tightly knit social framework in which individuals can expect their relatives, clan, or other in- group to look after them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty (许力生 109). Chinese people always lay stress on collectivism, which conducts our behaviors to maintain a harmonious atmosphere of the group, avoid the intensive interrelationship and take the provision against the vehement collision. So when the conflicts arise, Chinese people will mostly choose Strategy (4) to apologize directly to avoid a more severe quarrel. As for Strategy (7), Chinese people take the friendly concern as a performance of the politeness and warm-heartedness. As a result, there is a huge distance between the two kinds of apologies on application of the concerning strategy. 2.3 Large and Small Power Distances The power distance is another important factor influence the application of apology strategies in English and Chinese. “Power Distance is the extent to which the members of a society accept that power in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally ” (ibid 111). China is a typical Large Power Distance country. There is an obvious gap between seniority and posterity, senior and junior staff, teacher and student, etc. However, the western countries belong to the Small Power Distance societies. They emphasize equality more, regardless of the level of ones position. Lets make a clear explanation from the examples as follows: 1 The chairman is late several minutes for the meeting. Chinese: “看来大家都到齐了,那我们就开始吧.” English: “I'm sorry I 'm late. I was unavoidably detained.” 2 The employee is unable to finish the task given by the boss. Chinese: “实在是太抱歉了，我没能完成任务，请再给我一次机会，我 保证按时完成.” English: “I'm very sorry. I completely forgot about it. I suppose I should have been more careful. It will definitely never happen again.” 3 The leader is mistaken about someone. Chinese: “哦,不好意思,刚才错怪你了.” English: “I'm sorry. I blamed you for someone else's mistake. Please accept my apologies. It was all a terrible misunderstanding.” From these examples, we may find that, in China, the person in a superior position seldom apologizes for his mistakeStrategy (0) to other who is inferior to him，or minimize the mistake simply. By contrast, the person in the lower position always adopts more formal apology to the seniorities. However, in western countries, everyone is standing on the same level, and willing to give the sincere apology. English apology uses Strategy (1), minimizing the degree of offense on most occasions. As a result, the frequency and the degree of the apology vary from these two languages. 3. The Difference of Pragmatic Functions between English and Chinese Apologies 3.1 The Primary Function of Apologies What is the primary function of an apology? For majority of social scientists, the basic motivation behind an apology is the offenders desire to counteract the negative impression of himself that was generated by transgression and an apology is a “remedial tactic” (Schlenker, 1980; Schlenker&Darby, 1981) or “impression management tactic” (Tedeschi&Reiss, 1981) that an offender uses in an effort to achieve this goal. The purpose of this remedial work is to change the meaning that might otherwise be given to an act, transforming what should be seen as offensive into what can be seen as acceptable. An apology achieves this goal by endorsing the offenders reading of the situation and casting aspersions back upon the offender. In the case of more serious infractions, an apology serves as a vehicle through an offender who attempts to resolve a conflict, repairing broken trust, and restore social equilibrium. In these cases, an apology is a gesture of respect, which often takes considerable effort to perform, offers substantial risks to the participants, and is usually subjected to careful evaluation by the recipients. These functions demonstrate the general effects of English and Chinese apologies. However, compared with English apologies, Chinese apologies have their own features and distinctive pragmatic functions. 3.2 The Distinctive Pragmatic Function of Chinese and English Apologies In the cross-cultural communication, except those primary functions, apologies also play other many different roles in daily life, especially in the Chinese apologies. Chinese people use apology not only to express a feeling of regret and sorry, but also to represent the acknowledgement and thanks. Here are the examples. 4 “实在是太不好意思了, 为了帮我解决疑问, 占用您这么长时间。 ” It is a typical Chinese expression of gratitude, but this version is quite confusing in western countries. English language hardly adopts an apology to represent the thanks, which is a disorder expression in English communication. 5 Dear Mr. X, Ive caught a bad cold and I have to ask you for a sickleave Thank you very much Yours sincerely, X Jan.10, 2008 This is a common note of explaining the absence written by a Chinese student. In this note, we are accustomed to use the words “thank you” to take the place of apologizing directly, while in western countries, they are bond to speak out “Im sorry” first. They take it as a definite occasion, which is needed to apologize sincerely. From the two examples, we may figure out that there are several differences of the pragmatic functions between English and Chinese apologies. To sum up, Chinese apology has a larger extent than English apology in daily communication, but the English apology is comparatively more decent and reasonable. Both of these two languages plentifully express the characters of respective cultures. 4. Conclusion Apology, as an essential part in western and Chinese cultures, is not only a pragmatic topic to talk about, but also a significant field to make research on. It belongs to pragmatics as well as cultural circle. In Hu Wenzhongs work, Cross- cultural Communication, he states that culture has its profound influence on social communication, as well as on grammar, passage construction and writing style. He points out that there is a very close connection between language and culture. Through the comparative study of English and Chinese apology strategies, the different cultures, social values and the modes of thinking have significant influence on languages use. We all believe that language is the carrier and reflection of the culture. The vivid elements of language represent the cultural characters. In return, culture also affects the application of language, so the strategy of apology is a term of the cultural expression. This paper aims at comparing the different strategies used in apologizing from the cross-cultural perspective, and makes further research in exploring the roots of these differences. Besides, it also explains the different pragmatic functions of two kinds of apologies. With the increasing communications between China and the rest of the world, especially with the English-speaking countries, it is inevitable to study English and Chinese cultures on apology. It is an essential section that helps us avoid pragmatic failure in linguistic communication，and meet the requirements of politeness and appropriateness. Anyhow, this paper totally agrees with the view that language is the carrier and reflection of culture. We need further researches on the connection between language and culture. References 1 Blum-Kulka & Olshtain. Requests and apologies: A cross-cultural study of speech-act realization patterns (CCSARP). Applied Linguistics, 1984,5: 196-213. 2 He Zhaoxiong. Study of Politeness in English and Chinese Cultures. Foreign Language, 1995, 2- 8. 3 Hickey, L. & Stewart, M. Politeness in Europe. Cromwell Press Ltd., 2005. 4 Hornby AS. Oxford Advanced Learner's English-Chinese Dictionary Extended Forth Edition. 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