A Study of Culture Transfer and Pragmatic Failure

中文名汉字 (1234567, Class 8)

Abstract: Culture transfer can be a stumbling block on the road to learning a foreign language and cultural differences are always neglected in cross-cultural communication, thus leading to pragmatic failure, setting obstacles and barriers, hindering communications from moving on smoothly. This paper offers a tentative introduction to culture transfer, explores the concept of pragmatic failure, and aims to analyze the relationship between them. The present study tries to provide people with a thorough understanding of culture transfer and to foster people’s awareness to avoid pragmatic failure in cross-cultural communication.

Key words: culture transfer, pragmatic failure, pragmalinguistic failure

0. Introduction

Every culture is unique in the world and cultural differences can be a stumbling block on the road to learning a foreign language. However, cultural differences are often overlooked and neglected in cross-cultural communication, in which the cultural background of the participants’ mother tongue inevitably influences their use of the target language, leading to misunderstanding or even hatred. Put differently, in such situations, culture transfer occurs, which in turn results in pragmatic failure, setting obstacles and barriers to cross-cultural communication, and hindering it from going on smoothly. What is culture transfer? What is pragmatic failure? What is the relationship between culture transfer and pragmatic failure? These are the questions we will discuss in this paper.

1. Theoretical study of transfer

The past fifty years have witnessed an ever-growing interest in language transfer in the filed of Second Language Acquisition, which has gained scholars’ close attention. They explore this subject from different perspectives and have achieved a lot in this field. In this part, our emphasis is mainly put on the theoretical aspects of transfer study: its concept, classification and culture transfer.

1.1 The concept of transfer

Originally, the word “transfer” was an important term in Learning Psychology, which was supposed to be a hypothesis that “one’s knowledge of task A influences one’s study of task B” (H. Ellis 3). Later, James (11) suggested that task A and task B, which were mentioned in the definition of H. Ellis, be replaced with L1 (first language) and L2 (second language) respectively, leading the study of transfer into the field of Second Language Acquisition. Thereafter, this term has been given various definitions, among which the most widely accepted one is given by Terence Odlin

(27): “Transfer is the influence resulting from the similarities and differences between the language and any other language has been previously (and perhaps imperfectly) acquired.”

1.2 The classification of transfer

There are many kinds of transfer, for when learning a second language, the learners’ knowledge of the first language will inevitably influence their study in every level and aspects of the target language, such as phonetics, lexicon and syntax. Therefore, to give a comprehensive systematic classification has become a notoriously difficult task. However, in this paper, when the result of transfer is considered, transfer can be classified as either positive or negative. As Professor Mei Deming puts:

It is apparent that for any two languages, similar patterns exist alongside different patterns in their grammatical and other systems. Presumably, positive transfer occurs when an L1 pattern is identical with, or similar to, a target-language pattern. Conversely, negative transfer occurs when an L1 pattern is different from the counterpart pattern of the target language (255).

1.3 Culture transfer

Strictly speaking, any particular language is a form of learned behavior and therefore part of the culture. “Language is just as culture-bound as are the traditional habits and value orientations characteristic of the society whose members use it” (Zdenek Salzmann 156). Thus, as Liu Runqing and Deng Yanchang put in Language and Culture:

Language is a part of culture and plays a very important role in it. Some

social scientists consider it the keystone of culture. Without language,

they maintain, culture would not be possible. On the other hand, language

is influenced and shaped by culture; it reflects culture (3).

Therefore, since language is so closely integrated with culture, when transfer is mentioned, culture transfer, not only language transfer, should be taken into consideration as well. This part will focus on the concept of culture, the definition of culture transfer and its classification.

1.3.1 The concept of culture

In order to define culture transfer scientifically, we should make it clear what in the world culture is.

The term culture, which consists of all the shared products of human society, is all-inclusive. To be specific, culture refers to “the total pattern of human learned behavior transmitted from generation to generation” (Zdenek Salzmann 156). Based on this definition, culture can be subdivided into three levels: the first level is material culture, that is, the material products of behavior (for example, a pull-open beer can or a radio telescope); the second level is institution culture (for example, political and economic institutions, law, art, interpersonal relationship and habits); the third level is mental culture (for example, worldview, value orientations, way of thinking, moral values and religious consciousness) (Hu Wenzhong 29).

Works Cited

New York: Garland, 1982. Free University, 1998. Longman, 1985. 1964.

邓炎昌，刘润清. 语言与文化 [M]. 北京: 外语教学与研究出版社, 1989. 92-93. 何自然. 语用学概论 [M]. 长沙: 湖南教育出版社, 1988. 225-227.

何自然. 语用学与英语学习 [M]. 上海: 上海外语教育出版社, 1997. 205-207. 黄能. 文化负迁移现象及其教学对策 [J]. 山东外语教学，2001, (1): 66-68. 胡文仲. 跨文化交际学概论 [M]. 北京: 外语教学与研究出版社, 1999. 28-29. 梅德明. 现代语言学简明教程 [M]. 上海: 上海外语教育出版社, 2003. 255-256. 赵双之. 《红楼梦》与《傲慢与偏见》之比较 [J]. 天津师大学报, 1986, (2): 12-14.

第二篇：中考英语优秀作文评析(一)——记叙文123

记叙文 1 （记事）

【习作要求】

根据中文意思和英文提示词语，写出意思连贯，符合逻辑的英文文段。所给英文提示词语必须都用上；每组英文提示所写的句数不限。

彼得只有五岁，和他的祖母住在一起。一天他的祖母得了重感冒，彼得急得直哭，后来他……

(1) Peter, five

(2) live, grandma

(3) have, cold, worried, cry

(4) idea, find, parents' telephone number, call

(5) news, hurry, home, hospital

1

【参考范文】

Peter is only five (years old). He lives with his grandma. One day his grandma had a cold. Peter was so worried that he began to cry. Then he had an idea. He found his parents' telephone number and gave them a call. When his parents heard the news, they hurried back home and took Peter's grandma to the hospital.

【名师点评】

根据中英文提示可理清需要进行表达的大致情节是：彼得只有五岁，他和他的祖母住在一起，一天他的祖母得了重感冒，他急得直哭。后来有了一个主意，他找到了他父母的电话号码，他打电话给了他们，当他的父母得知这一消息后迅速地赶回家，把祖母送进医院。须注意前面介绍的是一般情况用一般现在时，后面叙述的是过去发生的事用一般过去时。动词的运用及动词的时态是在进行书面表达时尤其要注意的。

2

记叙文 2 （写人）

【习作要求】

请根据下面所给李玲的个人小档案，以My good friend为题，写一篇英语短文，介绍李玲的基本情况。要求条理清楚，语句通顺，体现表中的全部内容，不得少于12句话。

3

【参考范文】

My Good Friend

I have a good friend. Her Chinese name is Li Ling, and Susan is her English name. She is from Qinghai. Li Ling is fifteen years old. She studies in No. 8 Middle School. She is in Class Two, Grade Three. Li Ling is good at maths and English. She likes singing and playing volleyball very much. And she sings quite well. She likes watching TV, too. Li Ling is very kind and friendly. She studies very hard and always likes helping others. What a good girl she is! I like her!

【名师点评】

这是一篇记叙文，内容要交待清楚、全面，要注意中英文的表达习惯，如汉语中年级在前，班级在后，而英语正相反；首尾句要格外留意，要保持短文的完整性。

(1) 格式：人物介绍 (2) 人称：第三人称 (3) 时态：一般现在时

(4) 短语：have a good friend, English name, to be from, No. 8 Middle School, in Class Two, Grade Three, to be good at, like singing and playing, sing well, like watching TV, study hard, what a good girl

(5) 句型：陈述句与感叹句

4

优秀作文评析（一）——记叙文3

【习作要求】

根据中文意思和英文提示词语，写出意思连贯、符合逻辑的英文文段。所给的英文提示词语必须都用上，句数不限；中文提示内容不必逐句翻译。

一个雨天，李莉乘出租车回家。在车里她发现司机在学英语。他对李莉说了些什么? 此事对你学习英语有何启发? 为支持北京奥运你打算做些什么?

(1) one rainy day, go home, by taxi

(2) in the car, find, was learning English

(3) said to Li Li, I, weak, English, when at school, now work hard, to help with the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

(4) I think... to show support （n.支持）for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

5

【参考范文】

One rainy day, Li Li went home by taxi. In the car she found (that) the driver was learning English. He said to Li Li: "I was weak in English when I was at school. Now I'm working hard at it to help with the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games." I think I should learn from the driver. English is very important to us because it is widely used all over the world. As a student, I'll do my best to learn English well at school. And I'm going to speak English as much as possible to show support for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

【名师点评】

第一句很重要，以便确定全文时态。句与句之间要连贯。关键句要用上，如：I'm going to speak English as much as possible to show support for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

(1) 格式：简介

(2) 人称：第三人称

(3) 时态：一般现在时，一般过去时，一般将来时

(4) 短语、句式、句型：短语与句式已给出，句型包括简单句、直接引语、宾语从句 6