When thinking about the intercultural communication, the
first thing comes up into my mind is how to answer the Yes /No questions in
different cultures. I myself have made
many mistakes with just Yes/No and often express myself to the opposite side. You
may not believe I can make some mistakes on Yes/No question because the answer
should be quite straight forward. Here shows a dialogue between an English
speaker and a Chinese Speaker. Maybe you will also get lost in the end.
A: Did you anything?
B: No
A: So you did not eat anything.
B: Yes
A: Did you eat?
B: No
A: So you did not eat
B: Yes
A:……????......
Actually this misunderstanding is caused by the different
way to answer the type of question ‘don’t you do xxxx?’ or ‘Aren’t you xxxx?’ For Chinese, the complete answer for ‘So you did
not eat anything’ should be ‘Yes, I did not eat anything.’ However, for English
speakers, the answer will be “No, I did not eat anything.’ When only answering Yes/No in short, the
meaning is just opposite. This
intercultural communication problem sometimes can lead to some serious results
because it is the opposite understanding of what one wants to express. Both the parties think they express themselves
and understanding the other quite well, however, misunderstanding comes about
without any sign.
I think effect intercultural communication is not only about
knowing the other cultures, it is also about putting yourself into that
culture. For example, when I learned English
many years ago, I knew the above different answers. However, I still cannot
answer it correctly because I still use my own way. Although it is quite hard to think in a
different way, I believe it is quite possible after some practicing.
