Customer Reviews

Communicating Effectively with the Chinese (Communicating Effectively in Multicultural Contexts)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In 2006 or 2007, I surveyed all the books I could find that addressed American and Chinese cross-cultural differences and communication. This book, and Hu Wenzhong et al.'s Encountering the Chinese, are the best of the bunch. I say this based on 30+ years studying Chinese language and culture and interacting with Chinese people in both English and Chinese, including 5 years living in China and Taiwan. Plus a Ph.D. in the subject. One reviewer complained that this book is too short to be so expensive, and while I agree the book is pricey, I consider its length an asset: it succinctly and precisely distills the most relevant information about Chinese culture and communication to those outsiders who seek to behave effectively there. This book and Encountering the Chinese contain knowledge, wisdom and lessons that it took me thirty years to learn--the hard way. In addition to these, I also recommend Ron and Suzanne Wong Scollon's Intercultural Communication, which uses interactions between people of Western and Chinese cultures as its basis. These three books are the absolute best.

Ok so looking at the price of this book I assumed it was going to be a textbook. Its not even a paperback - Its a pamphlet. is this a joke? For ~$0.50 per page this better be a freaking life altering read. It literally is taking me longer to write this than it will to read this book. Also - printed in 1998. So let's recap: 12+ years old, weighs less than a deck of cards, smaller than my hand, could easily staple through every page book for $50. Thank goodness for the death of print media.

The authors contend that Chinese culture has certain rules and norms for social interaction, and that knowledge of those rules and norms is important for identifying and understanding patterns of how the Chinese communicate in general. The authors do caution the reader that individual differences and situational factors can lead to variances from the generalizations they draw about Chinese communication patterns.

The book consists of five, concise chapters and an epilogue. The first chapter identifies elements of Chinese culture that deal with personal relationships, and discusses how they affect patterns of Chinese behavior and communications. The second chapter looks at how personal relationships develop in Chinese culture, and how the Chinese perspective on personal relationships is reflected in the ways that people communicate. The third chapter explores how the Chinese communicate, and identifies four main characteristics of such communication. The fourth chapter analyzes the concept of "face," showing that it has several facets and nuances that influence how the Chinese communicate. The fifth chapter discusses the various ways that Chinese and North Americans miscommunicate, and suggests some guidelines to reduce such miscommunication. In the epilogue, the authors acknowledge the limitations of their research, and suggest lines of future research to better understand Chinese forms of communication.

Although the book is a serious, scholarly one, it is written in a fairly readable style. A reader does not need technical expertise in the subject matter to understand the book. People who should consider reading this book include: people interested in Chinese culture and language; people interested in cultural aspects of communication; business professionals dealing with Chinese companies and individuals; health care professionals, counselors, and social workers who deal with Chinese patients or clients; and law enforcement personnel, judges, lawyers, or mediators who deal with cases involving Chinese-speaking people.

This is excellent for learning how to communicate with the Chinese. It's a short book, but packed with information about how the Chinese communicate. The authors strike a balance between academic & popular. It's fairly easy to read, but it's got plenty of references and, for people familiar with Chinese, gives Chinese characters for key phrases.