Anglický jazyk

Welcome To My Home

Vydavateľstvo: Roy E. Blackwood
Rok vydania: 2019
Formát: Paperback
Rozmer: 229 x 152 mm
Jazyk: Anglický jazyk
ISBN: 9780578473024

Na objednávku

22.05 €

bežná cena: 24.50 €

O knihe

Shortly after we arrived in China, my assistant introduced me to a professor who greeted me

in Chinese. Obviously, as I did not speak Chinese, I had no idea what he had said, so my

assistant translated, saying, "Welcome to my home." Well, that I understood, so I responded

with, "We'd love to come-when would be good for you?" The man looked surprised, and there

was a long pause before he said, "How about if you and your family come to dinner Friday?" I

said that would be fine, and we said goodbye. After we left, I asked my assistant what had been

wrong, why the man had been so surprised when I accepted his invitation. My assistant paused,

then said, "Oh, nothing, he was just thinking about when the best time would be." I wasn't entirely

convinced, but I accepted his explanation. Months later, I learned that, "Welcome to my

home," was a standard greeting to people visiting China, and meant something like, "I hope you

are enjoying China." It wasn't an invitation to his home any more than my saying, "Hello, how

are you doing?" would have been an invitation for him to catalogue his ailments and personal

problems in detail. Similar situations-in which we assumed we understood meanings just

because we understood the meanings of words-plagued us throughout our year in China. We

adjusted quickly, however, to most of the cultural differences, and learned to accept even those

customs we didn't like, but there always remained the inherent possibility that, although we

acted in good faith, we acted incorrectly. We could never be sure that our understanding of what

people said to us-even in English-was cultural, as well as linguistic.