1. Definition

Culture is one of the most difficult words to be defined.

Among all the definitions of culture, I especially prefer this one, that is, culture is the total accumulation of beliefs, customs, values, behaviors, institutions and communication patterns that are shared, learned and passed down through the generations in an identifiable group of people.

2. Characteristics

Culture is everywhere. It is something that keeps us Chinese. We have things in common. It may lie in certain values and beliefs, certain customs, certain gestures and certain foods. It may also lie in certain art works, music, literature and folk stories. It is the story we tell ourselves about ourselves. If we compare our physical selves as the hardware of a computer, we cannot be said to be human until we are programmed and each of us is programmed by our home culture. It is culture that provides the software. Culture is also like the water a fish swims in. It is the grammar of our behavior.

The Iceberg Theory of Culture describes that some aspects of culture are explicit, such as behaviors, traditions and practices, while other aspects of culture are implicit, including beliefs, attitudes, perceptions and values.

Edward T. Hall is considered the father of intercultural communication. His publication, The Silent Language, published in 1959, is said to be the first work of the discipline. Inthis book, Edward Hall quoted the opinions of different scholars. Some use explicit and implicit, conscious and unconscious, in-awareness and out-of-awareness, overt and covert, visible and not visible to describe culture.

3. Classification

No two cultures are identical. However, experts try to categorize them. Most cultures belong to two categories, high context culture and low contextculture. Popularized by Edward T. Hall,the terms "high context" and "low context" are used to describe general cultural differences between societies.

 In a higher-context culture, many things are left unsaid, letting the culture explain. Words and word choice become very important in higher-context communication, since a few words can communicate a complex message very effectively, while in a lower-context culture, the communicator needs to be much more explicit and the value of a single word is less important. The communicating pattern is 意会 in a higher-context culture, but 言传in a lower-context culture.

Case 1 Showing Concern (In China)

Xiao Li (an interpreter): You must be very tired. You’re old …

Catherine (an elderly American lady): Oh, I’m NOT old, and I’m NOT tired.

Analysis:

Culturally speaking, in western cultures, there is a value placed in being young. People consciously or sub-consciously are not willing to admit that they are old, while this is not the case in China. Senior citizens are respected. The Chinese tend to address the acquaintance “Old Zhang”or “Old Li”, which is a polite and commonly accepted way of addressing people. The custom can find its origin in the most influential Chinese philosophy, Confucianism. There is a quotation from Mengzi, “Care the old as they are your parents and feed the young as they are your children”. What follows in the quotation is “The world is under your control”.

Case 2 First Offer (page 2 of your book)

Analysis:

The Chinese guide’s response is typical in China. The Chinese No always bears anopposite meaning in contrast with the Western No. The reason why we decline the first offer may lie in the doctrine of mean, as is taught in Taoism. As Lao Tzu said, Three treasures have I always treasured: the first is compassion, the second is restraint, and the third is humility. From compassion comes courage; From restraint comes generosity; From humility comes leadership. Courage without compassion, generosity without constraint, and leadership without humility, are doomed to failure.

吾有三宝，持而保之。一曰慈，二曰俭，三曰不敢为天下先。慈故能勇，俭故能广，不敢为天下先故能成器长。今舍慈且勇，舍俭且广，舍后且先，死矣！