ChinesePod learner, David Hallgren recommend the article below. It is rather interesting and we willl use some of the ideas for future lessons:

Phatic communication Between Chinese and westerner
Ⅰ.Introduction

Phatic communication is advanced by B. Malinowski in his paper “The problem of Meaning in Primitive Language”. Phatic communication refers to language used for establishing an atmosphere or maintaining social contact rather than exchanging or ideas. It can be divided into three parts: greeting, farewell and small talk. Much of the language used for phatic purposes is insincere if taken literally, but to child it its insincerity is to miss the point. The importance of phatic language is well shown in its function of establishing and maintaining relationships between people.

Phatic communication is compatible with human society. It would never without such communication wherever human exists. But the manner and concluded contents are not same anywhere. Phatic communication language, at a large degree, is influenced by the culture tradition. Since China and the West belong to cultures which differ greatly, the phatic communication between Chinese and Westerners can be very difficult and sometimes completely out of the question. In order to improve the intercultural communication effectiveness between Chinese and Westerners, it is necessary for Chinese to know about Western phatic formula and Westerners to get familiar with Chinese phatic expressions, and their respective cultural background as well. A contrastive study of the two cultures may result in a deeper understanding of differences in phatic communication between Chinese and Westerners.

This paper is to deal with differences in phatic communication between Chinese and Westerners and attempts to seek cultural interpretations for the differences.

Ⅱ. Greetings

In any civilized language, there is a set of greeting expressions. They play an important role in establishing and maintaining social relationships between people. Greeting expressions vary from language to language, from culture to culture. Although both Chinese and English-speaking people, when they meet, have the habit and custom of greeting each other, the expressions, the ways, the frequency of their greetings are quite different.

In the morning, English-speaking people greet each other “Good morning”. This greeting covers the whole period from the time one gets up in the early morning to the noon .In this case, Chinese would greet one another “Ni zao” or “Zao”(literal English translation “You’re early.”) during the period from the time one gets up to about nine o’clock in the morning. Outside this period, “Ni hao” (You’re well) is preferred exclusively while English has “Good afternoon” and “Good evening” for afternoon and evening respectively. From the above, it is obvious that English-speaking people has a more direct way of expressing their good will towards others, which is quite typical of their culture—a low-context system. Chinese “Ni zao” may sound ridiculous and puzzling to a Westerner who knows nothing about Chinese culture. But, to Chinese, it is quite a common practice to greet in that manner since Chinese culture traditionally considers it a good habit to keep early hours (to get up early and go to bed early), which is just opposite to the Western habit of keeping late hours.

It seems to us that Chinese “Ni hao” is an all-time greeting .It is appropriate on almost all occasions: meeting colleagues, friends, acquaintance, strangers; at home, in the office, at parties, on the way…In English, there is a somewhat complicated system of greeting expressions working on different occasions. When People meet each other for the first time,“How do you do?”is often used, especially on formal occasions .On informal occasions, “Hello” or “Hi” serves the purpose. Besides, it is always polite to say something like “I’m pleased to meet you.” after that. When acquaintances meet each other, “How are you?” is a usual greeting, which does not mean that the person who asks the question is really interested in the others health, but is a way of expressing good will, so the answer to it is always “Very well (Fine), thank you.” Other greetings that have the same function include “Hi!”“Hello”,“How are you getting on?”“How is everything going (with you)” and the like .By the way the same greeting “How are you” may be repeated many times a day to the same friend, which seems to be redundant and hence unnecessary to a Chinese speaker .He may greet his friends just once in the morning “Ni zao”.

In Chinese, there is another set of greetings between acquaintances, the expressions of which vary from situation to situation.

When people meet around mealtime, one would greet the other “Ni chi le ma?”(literal translation “Have you eaten yet?” or “Chi guo fan la ?” (Have you had your lunch?). It’s the Chinese way of saying “Hello” or “Hi”. But, to Westerners, this greeting might mean this,” I haven’t either. Come on, let’s to together and get something to eat.” or “If you haven’t, I was just going to invite you to my place.” In other words, it could indicate an invitation to a meal (Deng Yanchang, Liu Runqing, 1989.) This greeting often brings about brings about misunderstanding in intercultural communication since, to Chinese, it is simply a greeting, but, to Westerners, it is an invitation to a meal. This greeting, though puzzling to Westerners, is deeply rooted in Chinese culture. Chinese is a big country with a large population .In its long history, the problem of food always haunted the Chinese people: many people were starved to death and a lot more always lived in hunger .In people’s mind, food is the first necessity in their existence .It always tops the list of their daily concerns .In China, there goes a popular saying “Min yi shi wei tian.”(Food is people’s God.) So the greeting sounds customary, natural and intimate to the Chinese ear and to some degree reflects the inner mind of the Chinese people (Hu Wenzhong, 1994)

When two Chinese met on the way, one would greet the other “shang na er qu a?”(Where are you going)”Shang na er qu la? (Where have you been”)? The natural reaction of most easterners to this greeting would most likely be “It’s none of your business!” since in Western culture, such questions are private questions and asking them could be interpreted as an invasion of privacy, to which Westerners are very sensitive. But in Chinese culture, it is in order to show one’s concern for another by asking this kind of questions, so they are appropriate greetings. Similar greetings are very common between acquaintances such as “Shang ban qu a?”(Are you going to work?)”Xia ban la?”(Are you back from work?)”shang jie qu”(Are you going shopping?).Informal and private as they are, they suggest friendliness and familiarity and help to strengthen the tie established between people and to intensify the atmosphere of harmony.

Many Chinese greeting seem to be very special and indirect in expressing good will, which just reflects the characteristics of a high-context system that Chinese culture belongs to.

Chinese greeting and Western greeting are based on different cultures and therefore have different cultural background. This gives a good explanation for the difference in greeting expressions between Chinese and Westerners.

Ⅲ. Farewell

Farewells are absolutely necessary when people depart just as greetings cannot be omitted when people meet. They share the same importance in communication.

“Goodbye” in English and “Zai Jian” (“see you again”) in Chinese are the commonest farewell expressions used by English-speaking people and Chinese respectively when people depart. “Goodbye” is widely used during the daytime and “Good night” (sometimes “Good evening”) is a farewell when people depart at night. But before going to bed, some Chinese people intend to say something like “Zao dian xiu xi ba.” (“Go to bed early.”) instead of “Zai Jian”. “Bye-bye” is the informal form of “Goodbye” and used mostly by or to children. But nowadays there is a tendency that more and more grown-ups, especially American young people, choose to use it. This change has it root in American culture—people favor in formalness. The Chinese “Zai Jian” undergoes little change although some TV and radio hosts prefer “Wan an”(From English “Good night”) to end a day’s rogrammer at night, but it sounds awkward and formal to ordinary Chinese.

English “Good-bye” is a distortion of “God bye” of the early nineteenth century, and “God bye” come out of “God be with you” of the Middle Ages. So “Good-bye” is a religion-loaded farewell. In the late 1960s, young Californians, who were too hip to believe in God and too now-oriented to even consider tomorrow, came up with the vapid “Have a nice day.” Soon it became endemic and popular all over the U.S. But, to Chinese, this farewell may sound strange and confusing.

Other informal farewells are “Good luck”, which, in Chinese, is a wish, “Take care” similar to Chinese “Duo bao zhong”, “So long” and “See you (later).” etc.

In Chinese, there is a kind of farewell expressions, which Westerners would find ridiculous and hard to understand. When the host sees a guest or visitor to the door or gateway, it is customary for the guest or visitor to say to the host “Qing liu bu.”(“Please stay here.”) The host would say “Man zou”(“Go slowly”), “Zou hao”(“Walk carefully”) or “man man qi.”(“Ride slowly”) if he(she) is riding a bike. These farewells, full of considerateness, fit the Chinese culture, which values the virtue of showing concern for others.

English farewells are becoming more and more informal while Chinese farewell remain almost unchanged. This consequence reflects culture features: Westerners appeals to novelty while Chinese culture appeals to tradition.

Ⅳ：Small talks

People who know each other very well-husband and wife or close friends for instance-may sit or talk together for long periods without feeling it necessary to speak. But silence between people is distinctly awkward on social occasions at an evening meal or a party for example. In this case, “small talks” is necessary. “Small talk” is part of the conversation formula in a language, which is a preliminary in the form of light conversation to deeper human relationship and more serious conversation-if these are desired, and a good means to chase away silence and remove tension on social occasions. In both English and Chinese, as in other languages, there is “small talk”, yet there exist great difference between them.

In “small talk”, English-speaking people’s favorite topic is the weather. It is a very common scene that a man going along the street easily agree with someone he meets that it is “a lovely day”, and with someone else that is “distinctly nippy”. People from other cultures often find it amusing and wonder why English-speaking people are so interested in weather.

People’s life is always closely connected with weather, and the life of English people has more connection with it. In England, where the English language originated, one can experience almost every kind of weather. People can never be sure when the different type of weather will occur. Not only do they get several different sorts weather in one day, but they may very well get a speil of winter in summer and vice versa. This uncertainly about the weather has not only had a definite effect upon the Englishman’s character but also provided a constant topic of conversation. Even the most taciturn of Englishman is always prepared to discuss the weather. And, thought he sometimes complain bitterly of it, he would not, even if he could, exchange it for the more predictable climate of other countries. This feeling for the weather went to other lands along with the language. In the passage of time, the English language has experienced great changes in almost every aspect. But people’s felling for the weather remains unchanged. Thus the topic concerning is its neutrality which agrees with Western culture, where privacy is well protected. For English-speaking people, mentioning the weather is a useful and inoffensive way of starting a conversation. It is not to exchange information but to express good will.

On the contrary, Chinese people like to talk about private things. They often ask each other questions such as “what are you doing these days?” “How old are you?” “How much is your income every month (year)?” etc. These questions are considered by Westerns as private and improper and therefore it is rude to ask them. But, to Chinese, they are common and natural “small talk”. By asking private questions, people express good will to each other and show concern for each other.

Here lies the cultural difference. In Western culture, characterized by in digitalism, people take the concept of privacy very seriously and guard their personal territory very careful in case it should be invaded. So it is a common rule in life that people should keep their distance from each other’s private life. Chinese culture is characterized by collectivism. Through history, there exists” deprecation of individualism: Confucianism subordinates the individual to the group; Taoism subordinates the group to nature; Buddhism denies that the self exists. And the ultra-leftists reject and denounce what they call bourgeois individualism.”(Gu Jiazu, 1992) In such a culture, individuals belongs to groups or collectivities, which are supposed to look after them in exchange for loyalty and are required to fit into the group (William B. Gudy Kunst, 1997:56). People are taught to care for the group rather than themselves and to put collective interests above personal interests. So privacy is open to the public. Raised in collectivistic culture, the Chinese people have developed the habit of discussing each other’s personal or private things without feeling it inappropriate.

Besides the weather, among the topic Westerners choose to discuss are traffic problems, shopping, their children, and the heating systems of their homes, their guerdons, their holidays and the like. Chinese tend to discuss more private things: age, quality of one’s wife or husband, incomes, marriages, neighbors, etc.

From the contrasts above, it is not hard to see that there are great differences in small talk between Chinese and Westerners. If these differences are ignored in communication between them, misunderstanding is sure to occur, and what is worse, cultural shock.

Ⅴ. Conclusion

This paper has made a contrastive study of phatic communication between Chinese and westerners. Through the study we realize that there exist a lot of differences in such a communication and these differences have their roots in culture. In intercultural communication, a good knowledge of phatic differences between the cultures may contribute greatly to the effectiveness and success of the communication while any neglect or ignorance of the differences is bound to result in misunderstanding or failure

Link.

Ken Carroll 凯恩