Avoid business mishaps
By Jessie Wang
Picture by Zhu Lijun

现在大家对文化冲突已经习以为常了. 可是商业往来中的文化冲突仍需小心. 很多时候由于东西方文化理念的不同, 彼此之间很容易造成隔阂与不解, 从而影响了正常的商贸往来. 本文的作者是一位从事涉外贸易的商务人士, 对此深有体会, 她特地总结出来和大家共享.

As a manager of an import and export company, I have seen from time to time how small cross-cultural misunderstandings can lower the efficiency of business or even spin out of control.
From my experience, here are some cross-cultural roadblocks that we should pay more attention to in order to prevent it from going wrong when dealing with international business.

1. Goal-oriented VS process-oriented
Compared with western culture, Chinese culture is more process-oriented. For instance, westerners regard meetings and negotiating as an efficient way to achieve satisfactory results of transactions, while Chinese usually regard it as a way to see if a relationship can be developed to a stage where both parties feel comfortable to do business with each other. No business will follow if Chinese feel uncomfortable in the process of communications.

2. Individualism VS collectivism
Chinese collectivism can be seen a lot beside the conference table through teamwork. Western customers may feel puzzled at the presence of so many Chinese people in negotiations or dinners. Chinese often get things done slowly through "discussion", while westerners need to stay calm and be patient. Westerners' open and individualistic displays are not always appreciated.

3. Equality VS hierarchy
Customers from the west may think both the seller and buyer are completely equal. That's right. But they need to understand that they are expected to show respect to the senior Chinese people they are meeting in China. Hierarchy is a feature of the management culture in most of Chinese companies. This may be a little difficult for them, the western business people, to accept, but if they show too much of their egocentricity they won't stand in a favorable light.

4. Public VS private
Personally, I think business relationships are often over-valued by Chinese. Chinese businessmen invest much time in building closer relationships with customers through personal contacts such as dinners and entertainment activities. Westerners themselves take contracts seriously and relationships don't work much on them especially when disputes arouse during major benefits. In contrast to us, they always draw a clear distinction between public and private interests.
Actually there are far more problems than these. I feel a minefield of culture clashes are often waiting to happen. The more you work globally today, the more you expose yourself to the risks of doing so. In order to play successfully in the global arena you need not only competency but also "cultural wisdom". Still we have much to learn in these more and more economically globalized times.

 

 

Crossword Puzzle
本栏目内容由 www.1cm.com.cn 提供



Across
3. Not free.
5. Return or repay.
7. A vegetable with many layers.
9. Big and vicious bird.
11. A public speech.

Down
1. Beside a table.
2. The night before.
4. Where do students learn?
6. To cause danger.
7. A number.
8. To promise to marry.
10. To have food.

The following people have won free movie tickets:蔡小英, 许菁菁, 陈霜, 吴晓晖, 叶青峰, 肖建代, 张颖, 陈力, 林津, 郭华群. Please go to the Jinying Cinema (世贸金鹰影院) within two weeks. 欲知上期答案, 请登录www.common-talk.com.

 

 

鸡同鸭讲

人们都说中华语言博大精深, 其中的奥妙常常搞得老外焦头烂额. 但是中国人要搞明白英文中的小细节, 也是颇费周章. 当一个个蝌蚪字母遭遇方块文字中的乾坤, 两种截然不同的语言和文化就在撞击中, 闪现许多让人忍俊不禁的"美丽错误". 如果你也碰到这种"cross cultural humor", 无论是搞笑还是新奇, 快快发邮件给我们, 让大家一起分享吧!

英语老师通知小明的家长:"您儿子这次考试又不及格了, 他'I'和'you'分不清, 'mother'和'father'也分不清, 希望做家长的加强辅导. "第二天, 小明交给老师一张纸条, 上面写道:"老师, 昨天您you(又)打电话给我家长, 结果我I(挨)母亲mother(骂了), 被父亲father(罚了). 现在我对这几个单词记忆深刻, 再也不会混到一块了. "

By Happy Hong

一位富商告诉他的朋友, 昨天和妻子去打网球了. 那位朋友问:"Which won? "富商生气地大叫:"你以为我是花花公子吗? 我还能有几个妻子? "他的朋友这才恍然大悟, 这位富商把"which won"听成了"which one".

一个外国留学生在美国的大街上与人发生争执. 美国人大声吼道:"Who is your daddy? "这个留学生想都没想就说出自己父亲的名字, 心想:"美国人真奇怪, 吵架还要问父亲的名字吗? "那个美国人盯着他看了一会, 满脸不解地走掉了. 其实在美国口语中"Who is your daddy? "是"你算老几啊? "的意思, 通常对方要和你开始吵架了, 不要再礼貌地报上父亲的大号了.

By Belieforever

 

 

Hot Word
Collected by Jianjiang

● unrest
Gunmen bombed two churches in the tense Iraqi city of Mosul, fueling fears of ethnic and sectarian unrest ahead of an election next month.
尽管下个月就要举行大选, 伊拉克依旧笼罩在一片动荡不安的阴影中. 不久前, 伊拉克北部重镇摩苏尔又有两座教堂遭到轰炸.
unrest, 动荡的局面. social unrest, 社会动荡. financial unrest, 金融风暴.

● sportswear
Nike, the multinational athletic shoe and sportswear giant, issued an apology to Chinese customers for its new TV commercial "Chamber of Fear."
运动用品领域的巨头耐克公司的最新广告"恐惧斗室"播出后, 引起中国人的普遍不满. 为此, 耐克公开向中国消费者道歉.
sportswear, 运动装、休闲装. 运动家就是sportsman, 体育界就是sportsdom啦.

● locks
Ahead of unveiling, a pastry chef put the last touches on the golden locks of a white chocolate baby Jesus.
那不勒斯的32位糕点师首次展示了他们用巧克力搭建而成的"耶稣诞生实景". 展示前, 糕点师为小耶稣的金色卷发做最后的润色.
locks, 一绺头发. lock除了有锁的意思, 还可以用复数形式表示"一束长发".

● doomsday
The weather predictions for Asia in 2050 read like a script from a doomsday movie. Asia faces living nightmare from climate change.
你是否也觉得今年的冬天不太冷呢? 气候变迁难以预料, 对2050年亚洲气候的预测就像一部关于世界末日的电影剧本.
doomsday, 世界末日. 有首宣传环保的歌就叫《世界末日》, 保护环境还是从自己做起吧.

● Topless
The notebooks contained a picture of a topless dancing woman. Mr. Mandela had kept the picture because he saw it as a celebration of life.
南非前总统曼德拉关押在罗本岛期间的日记被首次披露. 日记本中保存着一张身着袒胸衣舞蹈的女子图片. 这张图片被曼德拉看成是生命喜庆的象征.
topless, 穿袒胸衣, 裸露上身的. 一般用在女子身上.

● box office
The Chinese mainland's gross box office is expected to reach 1.5 billion yuan, or about 180 million US dollars this year.
日前, 国家广电总局电影事业管理局有关负责人表示, 今年的内地电影票房总值可达15亿元人民币, 成绩喜人.
box office, 票房. box office最初是剧院预订包厢的地方, 慢慢就演变成"上座率"的意思.

● tomboy
A Chilean soap-opera star, a beauty from Ancient Pompeii and a freckled tomboy faced off in the first world-wide digital beauty contest.
一个智利肥皂剧明星, 一个庞培古城的美女, 还有一个带着雀斑的假小子. 她们在首届"世界数字小姐"选美大赛中三峰对峙.
tomboy, 假小子. 别看到boy就以为是在说男孩, tomboy指的是行为像男孩的顽皮姑娘.

 

 

Cartoon English
By Bo & Bob

 

 

Daily English
Collected by the Chef

衣食住行, 学英语要从身边的小事开始. 本栏目将带给您最实用的日常口语. 同时也非常欢迎读者来信来电"点题", 我们将尽力满足大家的要求. (联系电话:5581650;电邮地址:common-talk@fj172.com)

Computer English 网络常用语

● My computer just crashed. 我的电脑刚刚死机了.
● Sorry, the connection was down just now. 对不起, 刚才断线了.
● I am getting off line, talk to you later. 我要下线了, 以后再聊.
● Sign on to your MSN, so we can chat for a while. 登录你的MSN, 我们聊一会儿吧.
● Some of my files are corrupted by this virus. 我的一些文件感染了这个病毒.
● Why don't you search that on line? 你为什么不在网上查一下呢?
● Can you forward that email to me? 你能把这封信转发给我吗?

 

 

Tongue Twister
Translated by Cathy

At noon, I took a book,
And sat by a pool in the woods.
I took off my boot and put my foot in the pool.
Oh! How cool! How cool!

大意:正午, 我拿着一本书坐在树林的水池边, 脱掉鞋子, 把脚放在水池里, 噢, 好清爽, 好凉快!

 

 

互相着迷的男女英语
Collected by Suky

记得在Friends里, Rachel和Ross分手的时候说, I'm over you. (我和你之间完了). 男女间的感情不是最复杂的么? 可是用简单的几个英语单词就可以表达这么复杂的意思.

1. I'm all over you.
我对你非常地着迷.

All over you 就是说对你非常地着迷, 这还有另一种表示方法, 叫 I have a crush on you. 这两句都是表达很喜欢某人的意思.
和先前所说的I'm over you.(我跟你之间完了)一字之差但是意思完全不同喔. 你要是说 I'm over you, 就是我不想再和你有任何的瓜葛. 这和 I'm all over you 是完全不一样的. 请务必谨慎使用哦.

2.I am the one-woman kinda man.
我是那种从一而终的男人.

在美国从一而终的人好像不多. 他们通常从高中就开始交男女朋友, 一直到结婚, 中间不知"改朝换代"多少次. 所以这句话是很难得听到的. 比较常听的是 one-man woman, 因为看来不论中外, 女生都比男生坚贞一点. kinda 在口语中常用, 它是 kind of 的简写, kinda man就是说那样的男人.

3. Those boys like to hit on me all the time.
那些男生老爱找我搭讪.

Hit somebody 是打某人的意思, 但是 hit on somebody 就不一样了, hit on somebody 是当作搭讪来解释. 常常在电视剧里看到, 一个男的跑去跟一个陌生女孩多说了两句话, 那个女生就说: Are you hitting on me?( 你现在是在跟我搭讪吗?) 实在是很有意思.

4. You should have chivalry.
你应该有点绅士风度.

美国的男士都蛮有风度的, 他们会帮女士开门 (这点在美国尤其重要, 因为美国空气太干燥了, 所以开门常常会触电), 会时刻记着 Ladies first. 这种行为中文叫绅士风度, 但对应的英文是骑士精神 (chivalry).

5. I don't want to be the third wheel.
我不想当电灯泡.

一般的自行车都只有两个轮子, 要是有三个轮子呢? 没错, 那第三个轮子就是多余的. 所以 third wheel 就是"电灯泡". 还有一个讲法叫 I don't want to be the third arm. 这里不是说 "第三只手" , 而是和 third wheel 一样, 都是"电灯泡"的意思.

 

 

Letter riddle
Collected by Lily Yang

习惯了中文的脑筋急转弯游戏, 不妨玩玩英语的, 感觉又会如何呢? 答案及分析请关注下期报纸. 参与者将有机会获得联合国儿童基金会精美明信片一张.

1. What letter in the alphabet can travel the greatest distance?
2. Which bus crossed the ocean?
3. What starts with "P", ends with "E", and has millions of letters?

上期答案:
1.What goes around the world and stays in a corner?
A stamp.
2.The more there is the less you see. What is it?
Darkness.
3.There is an ancient invention still used in some parts of the world today that allows people to see through walls. What is it?
A window.
4.What can run but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a bed but never sleeps?
A river.