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Benny's Blog

Culture difference

Do you know about one word which is "Culture difference"? It is very important for a foreigner to understand the difference between his culture and Chinese culture, when he first comes to China. If you don't know how to handle it. I am afraid it's gonna be tough for you life.

The interesting thing is the language barrier is one of the biggest differences of the culture differences. For example: In Chinese, we rarely say “Thank you” to good friends or family members for receiving help. It’s considered as such an unpopular response here. If you use it a lot, the other party will think you are treating him/her as a stranger, otherwise you are lacking of intimacy. A Chinese saying is: Good friends don't need to say thank you to each other

But in the West, "thank you" is one of the most frequently used sentences as far as I know. A mother will thank her son even for making a coffee.

However, in Japan. "Thank you and sorry" are used a lot. It seems Japanese are always sorry to everything. No matter in family or among friends, They use those 2 expressions all the day.

Let me if you have any interesting stories that you guys would like to share.

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Chinese Mandarin : Chinese Mandarin Level

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Lee Kong hotmail.com
2009-07-20 / 11:31PM

Haha…I think Japanese have become very peaceful after WWII, they are one of the most peaceful nations in the world, maybe that’s why, they are always sorry about everything, haha.

Chinese Mandarin : Chinese Mandarin Level

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Lee Kong hotmail.com
2009-07-20 / 11:31PM

Benny, I have this experience that Chinese people do think that you are treating them as a stranger when you are always saying “thankyou”. But on the other hand, I feel maybe they do want you to thank them, and they always have to respond by saying “no need to thank” or “we are friends, don’t say thankyou”, I want to ask you Benny, when they say this, do they actually mean it?

It’s just like when you invite your friend to have a drink, he will always say “no”, but he is actually expecting you on insisting him to have a drink with him, you insist and insist, but he still says “no”, at the same time, he’s expecting you to insist more. Until finally he agrees to have a drink with. As far as I know, a Chinese person would not stop insisting you, until you tell him a good reason why you don’t want to have a drink, like you have a bad stomach or something, or you already had some drinks back home. Does the same thing applies to “thankyou”?

Chinese Mandarin : Chinese Mandarin Level

Registered on : 2008-08-31
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Posts : 148
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Lee Kong hotmail.com
2009-07-21 / 12:26AM

Quote: “A mother will thank her son even for making a coffee.”

There could be two reasons for that:

1. I think this is to teach children good manners, and make them get used to saying thankyou to friends and strangers.

2. As children grow up in the Western society, the distance between them and their parents starts to grow. In Eastern society, it maybe considered an obligation for a child to make his/her mother a coffee. Just like in my country it is also considered an obligation for taking care of one’s parents when they are old. In China, these moral values were provided by Confucius.

I think I will start a new topic, I must stop here, haha.