The Cultural Differences between Chinese and English in Greeting and Address

Every language appears and develops under some certain social cultural background， reflecting the history and experience of a nation. There is no exception that every nation combines its cultural tradition and mindset with language in the process of employing language to express idea and convey information. If the speaker and the listener are unable to share the same cultural background when conducting intercultural communication， a misunderstanding or a puzzle may be caused， thus turning the intercommunication to a failure. Therefore， it is of great importance to establish clear cultural difference consciousness.

1. Greeting etiquette

1.1 Greeting words

Daily greeting， expressed variously due to different languages and cultural customs， is a kind of folk language phenomenon and one of the most significant symbols of civilization. For example， in English people say ‘good morning to others after getting up and before lunchtime， but it dose not equal to the Chinese ‘您早， which is usually used in a short period of time between getting up and breakfast， for keeping early hours is considered good for health in China. According to Edward Halls distinction between low and high context culture， China is the latter where much important information is conveyed beyond and outside the words actually spoken. ‘您早 usually bears some meaning of praise， but if a person greets someone with it at 10 a.m.， he must be showing irony. Moreover， Chinese are used to asking friends ‘吃了嗎 or ‘去哪啊 as a greeting， regarding it as an ordinary way of saying hello rather than a formal question expected to be answered. It is quite similar to ‘how are you and ‘hows it going， which are just greeting words instead of questions demanding answer. The majority of English countries are individualistic cultures which emphasize privacy and take individuals as the center. With this cultural background， people in such countries believe that greeting people by asking ‘did you have your meal or ‘where are you going is offending peoples privacy， hence they will never greet friends like this. For instance， Britains climate is marked by changeable weather， a neutral topic which will not involve ones privacy. Accordingly， British people always talk about weather when they meet others.

1.2 Body movements

There are also some body movements when people greet each other. Since people in different countries possess different personalities and characters， the body movements employed by them for greeting differs from each other. Handshake is a common etiquette for China and the world today. It can be used in various occasions regardless of social status and gender. In English countries， it is very popular that people give a kiss or an embrace when they meet their friends. The part of the face at which they kiss is also different. Some kiss on the forehead， some on the cheek， and some on the back of the hand. It varies by age， gender， status and intimacy. Chinese people， relatively introverted and conservative， are under the belief that it is improper for unfamiliar men and women to touch each other， and an embrace or a kiss is so intimate that can only occur between people with a close relationship. Consequently， traditional Chinese prefer handshake to hug or kiss when greeting. On the contrary， Europeans and Americans always tend to be more open and outgoing. Embrace and kiss is a kind of meeting etiquette which is quite popular in the Europe and the United States， just as common as handshake in China. In short， it is required whether in Chinese or western culture that we avoid using inappropriate greeting words such as unpleasant ones or words that involves privacy or are easy to be misunderstood.

2. Address

In general， address refers to the address terms used by people in communication. Right and proper address shows not only ones upbringing but also the respect for others. A decent address will help to leave a favorable impression to others and lay a good basis for the later communication， while a wrong or improper address may cause an unpleasant influence and even lead to the failure of the communication.

The biggest difference of peoples name in Chinese and western culture is the order of family name and personal name. In China， ones family name is followed by his personal name while in western countries the order is just the opposite. It will be rather astonishing if a Chinese adhere to his own habit and call Bill Smith as Mr. Bill in that only the black slaves address their masters like this. Such address not only demeans ourselves but also makes others hard to accept. This example suggests that do not replace family name with personal name when making contact with people from different culture， and never implant ones own culture into others culture， or else it can give rise to an embarrassment and go against the future communication.

2.1 Ways of addressing in Chinese culture

Power distance， another cultural value dimension offered by Hofstede， classifies cultures on a continuum of high and low-power distance. Hofstede summarizes the concept of power distance in the following manner： “Power distance as a characteristic of a culture defines the extent to which the less powerful person in society accepts inequality in power and considers it as normal.” The premise of the dimension deals with the extent to which a society prefers that power in relationships， institutions， and organizations. On the basis of this， China falls into a high-power distance country while most of English countries are low-power distance cultures.

2.1.1 Address for courtesy and modesty

Under a high-power culture， most Chinese tend to be reserved and unpretentious. In social communication， people prefer to use honorific to address others and others property while call themselves and their own things in a humble tone. Thus some prefixes such as “貴”， “令”， “尊” are created to show respect and “鄙”， “敝”， “犬” to show humility. For example， “令尊”， “令堂” respectively denotes others father and mother， “貴府” referring to others house， and “鄙人” means the speaker himself， “犬子” referring to the speakers son.

2.1.2 Address by ones title

In high-power distance culture， it can be found that more importance is placed on status and rank， and a structured value system determines the worth of each job and subordinates adheres to a rigid hierarchy， making addressing by ones administrative title the most common way in the interpersonal communication in China. Furthermore， Chinese usually add ones surname before his title， such as “王局長(zhǎng)”， “李校長(zhǎng)”， “錢(qián)經(jīng)理”， etc.

2.2 Ways of addressing in western culture

As low-power distance cultures， western countries hold that inequality in society should be minimized. People in these cultures see hierarchy as an inequality. Subordinates consider superiors to be the same kind of people as they are， and superiors perceive their subordinates in the same way. Consequently， unlike Chinese， English people only use “Mr.”， “Mrs.” and “Miss” rather than administrative title to address others. When addressing a person， you can either add his full name or just his family name， but it is incorrect to add ones first name merely. For example， if a persons full name is Taylor Smith， it is normative to call him “Mr. Taylor Smith” or “Mr. Smith”， while it is irregular to call him “Mr. Taylor”. For married women， they can be addressed as “Mrs. + husbands surname”， and for those who are unmarried， using “Miss” to address them is advisable.

“Sir” and “madam” are a respectful form of address used for people who are elder or have high status. Besides， they can be used to address an official or a policeman to show respect when they are performing public duties.

Generally， people in English countries do not address others by administrative title. Only a few professions will be addressed with ones surname， such as judge， doctor， professor， senior government official and military officer.

Accordingly， it is important to be aware of the differences between Chinese and English culture when introducing someone. For instance， “這是我們的王總經(jīng)理” can not be translated as “This is our general manager Wang” but should be “This is our general manager， Mr. Wang”. Likewise， “黃老師” should be addressed as “Mr./Miss Huang” instead of “teacher Huang”.

3. Conclusion

All in all， whether in Chinese or English culture， we ought to avoid using unconventional ways to greet or address people. Cross-cultural communication demands language ability as well as the understanding and mastering of different cultures. Only the correct conversion of the two kinds of cultural information can promote international communication and achieve the goal of conversation. Therefore， we should respect the different culture and custom in the two languages and learn the expressions conforming to the other partys culture so as to ensure successful cross-cultural communication.

作者簡(jiǎn)介：黃雅純（1993-），女，漢族，江西新余人，碩士，研究方向：英語(yǔ)筆譯。