My experiences of intercultural communication我的跨文化交际经历
My experiences of intercultural communication
I’m a Chinese student, living with Chinese people around me, so I have few opportunities to do with foreigners. While fortunately, I’m an English major, I have to face foreigners sooner or later and for that reason, I need to practice communicating with people from other culture. And I do have.
My first contact with a foreigner took place when I was a high school student. It was a sunny day, and our school was holding a sports meeting. The nuclear family with a lovely girl were seated, watching the running race when I found no seat except one next to theirs. My legs worn out so that I was eager to sit down and enjoy the wonderful match. I wanted to sit next to them. But the point is, I was afraid that if I say something wrong in English, they might think me as a freak. After all, I knew little about their culture then. I just knew they were from the US and the parents taught in our school as foreign teachers. Finally, my tiredness pushed me to walk to them. “Mind if I sit there?” I asked with care, hoping that I did n’t say anything wrong, though there were only five words. “No, not at all. Sit down, please.” Said the mother. I sighed with relief, and replied “Thank you.” Then I could watch the race seated, relaxed. I’m grateful to the family for their politeness. Although I did not talk much with them, I could feel their kindness.
As English majors, we have foreign teachers. One of them is called Greg. He is an outgoing, easygoing and humorous guy. He doesn’t give class to us, but somehow I joined a reading club organized by him. Every weekend, members of the club go out to visit a Suzhou garden or just talk about what we’ve read during a week over a cup of coffee. I remember the first time we went out together. We v isited the Liu Garden. We introduced Chinese culture to him on seeing some antiques, and he was quite interested in it. What surprised me most was that he knew a lot of Chinese words, even some modern Internet slangs such as “Fu Er Dai”, referring to those whose parents are rich. He kept asking questions like a curious kid. We tried to answer him even with some strange words. Luckily, due to his teaching experience in China, he could understand us. What a clever big boy!
When it comes to gardens , I once came across a gentleman while I was visiting the Zhuozheng Garden with my uncle, anut and my little sister who was a one-year-old baby. The gentlemen was in front of us when we were lining up to have tickets checked. He turned around and said to me “Beautiful girl and cute baby. A happy family!”And then a big s mile. I s miled back to him, saying “Thanks”. Maybe he was an American, I supposed, according to his accent. And he give me an impression that American people are kind-hearted and willing to praising others.
The most recent experience communicating with a person from other culture was talking with an exchange student called Daniel. He is a British boy. Brown hair and eyes, light skin and slim figure. He happened to sit beside me so I seized the chance to chat with him, attempting to learn more about their culture. He talked about his travels in China, his favorite Chinese food, what kinds of TV series he’d like to watch and so on. And he told me that they were open, so they could talk about everything with us. I told him about Chinese history and Chinese tourist attractions. When I asked about his hair colour, he said he was from a cold area and he loved the natural colour. I asked for his phone number but pitifully, he didn’t have a Chinese number. He may have left now. And I like the talktive and open boy. With these experiences communicating with foreiners, I find these people from Europe countries or the US are kind and sonsy. They like to wear a s mile on their faces and always say hello to you actively as soon as seeing you. I enjoy staying with them and I wish to have more chances to communicate with them.