I think the cultural traits of different peoples are very important, especially for communication and translation.
When it comes to giving comments on something, English prefer a quite straightforward and clear answer, while Chinese often give an ambiguous answer. For example, a very Chinese answer to the question "How do you think of that? " is "还行". I had a friend who comes from the U.S. He is very uncomfortable with it. Every time I say "还行", he is almost crazy. He says to me: " what do you mean by saying '还行‘ ？good or bad? like it or dislike it? Please, give me a clear answer. " So this cultural trait of Chinese people almost drives him crazy.
Another example is translation and interpretation. In a meeting for foreign investment, say, at the beginning of the meeting, a Chinese speaker's opening remarks often describe things irrelevant to the topic --- investment. For example, they often say "金秋九月，金桂飘香，椰风暖人，天高气爽，在这个······“. Sometimes foreign investors are very confused about what the speaker is talking about. They think these words stray from the topic and they just want to learn about those things about the investment. So interpreters need to solve this issue. They need to interpret these fancy Chinese words into simple language so as to save time.
These cultural differences give me many inspirations about cross-cultural communication and interpretation.
When it comes to giving comments on something, English prefer a quite straightforward and clear answer, while Chinese often give an ambiguous answer. For example, a very Chinese answer to the question "How do you think of that? " is "还行". I had a friend who comes from the U.S. He is very uncomfortable with it. Every time I say "还行", he is almost crazy. He says to me: " what do you mean by saying '还行‘ ？good or bad? like it or dislike it? Please, give me a clear answer. " So this cultural trait of Chinese people almost drives him crazy.
Another example is translation and interpretation. In a meeting for foreign investment, say, at the beginning of the meeting, a Chinese speaker's opening remarks often describe things irrelevant to the topic --- investment. For example, they often say "金秋九月，金桂飘香，椰风暖人，天高气爽，在这个······“. Sometimes foreign investors are very confused about what the speaker is talking about. They think these words stray from the topic and they just want to learn about those things about the investment. So interpreters need to solve this issue. They need to interpret these fancy Chinese words into simple language so as to save time.
These cultural differences give me many inspirations about cross-cultural communication and interpretation.
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