超星 - 第十一章跨文化能力的培养 - 查题吧

简答题

Case Study 1At a 1970 summit meeting between U.S. President Richard Nixon and the Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato, they discussed a growing problem concerning trade in textiles between Japan and the United States, Nixon, for domestic political reasons, put heavy pressure upon Sato to curtail Japan’s proliferating textile exports to the United States. In response, Sato used a Japanese phrase which, loosely translated, means “I’ll do my damnedest.” All that Sato meant to convey was that, as they were on such good terms with each other, he would look into the problem and see if there was some way he could alleviate it without too many ugly repercussions. To Nixon, however, it sounded as though Sato had promised to remedy the situation.During the next few weeks both were shocked at the consequences in their meeting. Nixon was infuriated to learn that the new policies he expected were not forthcoming, and he bitterly concluded that he had been double-crossed. On the other hand, Sato was upset to find that he had unwittingly triggered a new wave of hostility toward his country.1) Why did Nixon think that he had been deceived by Sato?2) What can we learn from this case about the differences between the Japanese and Americans in the way they normally communicate?

简答题

A French woman who had just come to live in the United States said that she was really shocked by the way Americans behaved on the telephone. In some cases, when she attempted to converse with American acquaintances who answered her phone call, they would ask whom she wanted to speak with, and, without allowing her to continue, they would hand the phone over directly to the person she intended to speak with, as if they did not like chatting with her. On other occasions, she answered the phone, heard the voice of an acquaintance, and was surprised and hurt when the caller, instead of greeting and conversing with her, simply asked for somebody else. Apart from that, she sometimes felt a little annoyed because, unlike people in France, many American callers did not say anything to apologize for disturbing her.1) Why did the French woman feel shocked and hurt by the way Americans behaved on the telephone?2) What can you say about the habitual Chinese way of making telephone calls?

1