Politeness in The Chinese And English Language

Politeness in The Chinese And English Language
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Introduction
The English and Chinese language are quite different at the core relative to the fact that they are based on different cultures. These are two different cultures that have varying values which also means that their approach to morals and ethics is diverse. This affects the way that people interact with one another. One of the aspects that has to be considered when it comes to the element of politeness in the Chinese culture is that, both morals and ethics are an integral part of the basis for politeness. In the English language however, there is some element of difference compared to the Chinese language. This is relative to the fact that, in the English language the aspect of politeness largely exists where there are two or more parties that are conflicted. As such, for the Chinese people there is a difference in concept of what they would consider to be politeness and most importantly the interpretation of what counts as face threatening acts or that which does not. It is important to understand the differences that exists between the two languages (McEnery, & Xiao, 2010). This is an aspect that can be seen as feeding the element of cultural competence in today’s society that has different cultures interacting. In the recent past, there have been some significant interaction between the Chinese culture and the American culture. This is relative to the fact that, Chinese has been rising in power over the last few years. This has thus promoted the need to learn the Chinese language for most of the people in the corporate sector for social, legal and business reasons (Peeters, Mullan, & Béal, 2013). Learning the differences between the two languages is thus a crucial part of cultural competence and one that could a long way in making sure there are no conflicts due to language barriers. What the English-speaking persons may assume is polite may turn out to be a complete opposite for the Chinese creating a tensile moment, one that could compromise important relationships (McEnery, & Xiao, 2010). This paper looks at the differences between the two languages with reference to the way that politeness is addressed in conversations.
Literature Review
Politeness
To establish the difference between the two languages with reference to politeness, it is crucial to first understand how it is defined (Walkinshaw, 2008). Politeness can be considered to be a deviation from the a maximally efficient communication. It is an act that allows the people conversing to perform sensitive actions that are interpersonal in a manner that is not threatening to either of the parties. This means that what is considered to be polite in the Chinese culture may be considered a mere intrusion in the English-speaking culture. The two cultures follow different value systems to establish the essence of one being polite to the other party (Zheng, 2015). That which is considered to be polite and sincere in the Chinese culture may be considered to be intrusive in the English culture. It is thus crucial to understand such differences as they bring a world of complications where they are not considered in a conversation (Zhu, & Bao, 2010).
To better understand what is perceived at the surface it is important to comprehend in depth the different cultural values and how they are rooted in language. Within the Chinese language, the equivalent is Limao. This is believed to have evolved from Li, which simply refers to the rules of good conduct and the analects, which were advocated to the Chinese people by the famous philosopher and great thinker, Confucius. He lived during the period when the slavery system collapsed and there were constant wars between the feudal states. Li has evolved to the request to the Chinese people to humble themselves and respect others that they interact with (McEnery, & Xiao, 2010). The Chinese culture as such is associated with self-denigration along with orientation to others.
The Chinese society is formed into a hierarchy with those in higher places of power and age being accorded the right titles when they are addressed and ultimate respect. The English language speaking countries within the western realm tend to approach the society with more equality, intimacy, sharing and common goals among others.
Differences Between the Western And Chinese Culture
Individualism and Collectivism
There are differences in the western culture and the Chinese culture and they are part of the underlying elements that differentiate the interpretation of politeness between the two languages.
‘To achieve harmony, Chinese people emphasize tactfulness, indirectness, and ambiguity. While English people pay more attention to their own targets that promote or improve them. They stress directness and self-exposure in conversation. The origin of Western individual values could trace back to ancient Greek philosopher Plato and Socrates. They advocated that prominent yourself. English people lay emphasis on individual identity, needs, and rights; they highly value self-autonomy, self-realization, and self-reliance (God helps those who help themselves). For Chinese, individualism is a signal of selfish and self-centered. While in the English-speaking countries, individualism means making decision by oneself, emphasizing independence. When there are some conflicts between individual and community or state, they usually stress their rights rather than community. “Due respect to an individual’s liberty, rights and independence will be considered polite. Lack of it will appear to an English-speaker to be improper and even rude” (HE, 1995, p. 2). The core of individualism is the seeking of personal happiness and success.’ (Yi-bo, 2015)
The Chinese culture tends to be based on the group-orientation. This is largely associated with the Confucius teachings that rely on loving others as part of ethics and benevolence. As such, the traditions in the Chinese culture encourage people to value groups more than they should value individuals (Yi-bo, 2015). Much of the Chinese culture also encourages the people the direction of individual developments is jointly achieved with others rather than other than self-contained. This is to mean that in the Chinese culture, the group aims are much more important than the individual aims. It is also important to note that the Chinese favor indirectness, tactfulness and ambiguity. On the opposite hand, the western culture emphasis on being direct and using self-exposure in any given conversation (Yi-bo, 2015). There is an emphasis on self-realization, self-reliance and self-autonomy. For the Chinese, individualism is a signal of a self-centered and selfish approach in any given conversation. In most of the western countries when one makes a decision that involves improving themselves this is considered as being ambitious. It means that the person in this case is seeking happiness and success on their own terms. As such, in the western culture is thus not considered as selfish but a virtue, while in the Chinese culture the opposite is true (Yi-bo, 2015).
Modesty Against Self-Denigration
In the case of the Chinese culture, people will avoid using the first person when making references in any situation. In the western culture, it is common for persons to use first person to make references to situations. For example, it is common in the western culture to say, I want..., while for the Chinese people this is seen to be arrogant more than it is modest. As such in the case of the Chinese culture modesty has a lot to do with self-denigration, while in the western cultures it has to do more with minimizing self-praise (Yi-bo, 2015).
Privacy and Attitudinal Warmth
Privacy is a common phenomenon in all cultures however the main differences come in with reference to recognition and definition of the same (Ogiermann, 2009). In the English-speaking nations, privacy is a dicey issue. It involves one living alone, sensitive information about self, and feeling exposed. In the Chinese culture, it is more associated with the element of secrets. In the Chinese culture, relative to the fact that, people tend to take care of one another in a cohesive approach, it is common for people ask about income, health condition and even family condition. In the English culture, this could be considered as sensitive information that the parties may not want to share (Yi-bo, 2015). As such, in the western culture it would be considered rude to ask one about their finances in the case of a health crisis. For the Chinese, this is not an invasion into privacy but rather a way of showing warmth and care to the person being asked; answering also means returning the warmth.
Theory on Politeness
There are a number of theories that have been developed in the quest to explain the basic elements of politeness and how it affects conversations and power (Song, 2012). More important the theories try to explain the difference in the cultural use of politeness in conversations. One of the best models that is crucial to understanding the differences in the cultural backgrounds along with the applications of politeness is the Brown and Levinson’s Politeness Model and is based on the notion of face threats (Brown & Levinson, 1987).
“Face” refers to two basic wants of every individual: (1) to be approved of by others (positive face), and (2) to have his / her actions and thoughts unimpeded by others (negative face). The face-saving view of politeness places emphasis on the wants of the participants involved in a given interaction rather than on the interaction itself or the norms operating in society. Face is “something that is emotionally invested, and can be lost, maintained, or enhanced, and must be constantly attended to in interaction” (Wagner, 2017)
As such, there are times when one will use their face to gain approval from the listeners and in some of the cases the speaker will use their face to make sure that their thoughts on the matter that is being discussed are not impeded by others who are listening (Locher, 2004). As such, politeness is not in most of the cases according to the their based on the conversation itself, rather on the wants of the speaker to place emphasis on their wants (Wagner, 2017). As such, this can either be developed, lost maintained and even enhanced depending on the direction that the conversation is taking (Lakoff & Ide, 2005).
The basic premise of the Brown and Levinson model regards every other conversation as having the basic element of being face threatening. This is to mean that in most of the cases speeches acts do not support the face of the speaker. The face acts of the addressee on the other hand depend on two main aspects, that is, whose face is being threatened and the face type that is being threatened in the speech. In this case, the addressee’s positive face may be threatened if the speaker indicates in his or her speech that they do not approve of the addressee’s positive face or in some of the cases the self-image of the addressee. For example, the addressee may mention something about their cultural norms, taboos, an accusation or even mention something that sounds like criticism (Wagner, 2017). The speaker in this case may not approve of these things that the addressee has brought to the conversation and this means that the addressee’s positive face is threatened. In short, the speaker does not approve of what the addressee is trying to bring to the conversation. It could be that they do not approve of the cultural differences that the addressee is trying to explain and their significance (Ogiermann, 2009). On the other have, the addressee’s negative face may also be threatened by the speaker, where they are pressured to accept or reject the future acts that may put forward by the speaker.
In the case of the speakers face threatening acts, these will include apologies, self-humiliation, accepting compliments and even making confessions. In the case of the face threatening acts that are associated with the speaker’s negative face, there are examples such as accepting appreciation, expressing gratitude, making promises, making offers or an apology.
However, one of the aspects about the model that is quite fitting when evaluating the element of politeness between the Chinese and American cultures, where Chinese represents the eastern and American the western cultures; is the fact that the notion of face is universal but this is also subject to cultural elaboration. This is to mean that, different cultures will elaborate a different face threat in a dissimilar manner depending on their cultural background (Chang, 2008). In an example, in a conversation where a Chinese speaker asks an American about their financial background, to the Am...