Extended Reading and Translation

I. Reading Tasks

Reading for Chinese Culture

1.  Read the passage Aspects of the Chinese Language and finish the following tasks.

2. Read the following passage carefully and discuss the questions.

II. Translation Task

Read the following carefully and translate it into Chinese.

Culture is a word that has so many meanings already that one more can do it no harm. For anthropologists culture has long stood for the way of life of a people, for the sum of their learned behavior patterns, attitudes, and material things. Though they subscribe to this general view, most anthropologists tend to disagree however, on what the precise substance of culture is. In practice their work often leads some of them to a fascination with a single category of events among the many which make up human life, and they tend to think of this as the essence of all culture. Others, looking for a point of stability in the flux of society, often become preoccupied with identifying a common particle or element which can befound in every aspect of culture.

From the beginning, culture has been the special province of the anthropologist, who usually gained a firsthand experience of its pervasive power in the field during the internship which follows the prescribed period of classroom training. As fledgling anthropologists moved deeper and deeper into the life of the people they were studying they inevitably acquired the conviction that culture was real and not just something dreamed up by the theoretician. Moreover, as they slowly mastered the complexities of a given culture they were apt to feel that these complexities could be understood in no other way than by prolonged experience; and that it was almost impossible to communicate this understanding to anyone who had not lived through the same experience.

III. Fill-in Blanks

Fill in each of the blanks in the following passage with an appropriate word from those given below in its properform, and then you will have some idea about cultural differences in maing business contacts.

suppliers	cross-cultural	assumption	Often	indirect
strangers	initial	official	new	contacts
would-be	prospects	intermediary	associations	success

Business people need to understand the local culture to get started. We might assume that __1__ and connections are less important to international business. But people engaged in global trade quickly learn the limits to this __2__. The case which took place in Singapore illustrates how essential contacts and introductions are to __3__ in the markets of relationship-oriented cultures, for instance, the east Asian cultures, where people do not usually do business with __4__.

For the same reason, Lars will not get in touch with his Japanese __5__ partners in the same way as he does with the Americans. He has done his __6__ homework, so he is aware that cold calls rarely work in cultures like Japan. Since DanMark Widgets is not yet well known in Japan, Larsen’s __7__ there will probably not agree to a meeting based on adirect approach.

Lars will get far better results by making __8__ contact with his distributor candidates in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. How does he go about doing that?

__9__ the best way to contact business partners in relationship-oriented cultures is to go to an international trade show. That is where buyers look for __10__, exporters seek importers and investors search for joint-venture partners. There is another proven way for Lars to make __11__ contact with his distributors in Japan: he can arrange to be introduced by a trusted __12__.

Lars can also get a chance to meet potential partners if he joins an official trade mission. Today governments and trade __13__ are promoting their country’s exports by organizing guided visits to __14__ markets. The organizers of the trade mission sets up appointments with interested parties and provides formal introductions to them. These __15__introductions help break the ice, smoothing the way to a business relationship.

IV. Culture in Movie

Watch the movie clip from Kate & Leopold, and think about the questions: Could you find out the different tablemanners among Kate, her brother and Leopold? What are they? And why?

Then get ready to report your findings to the class.