English Varieties And Multiculturalism In Intercultural Communication

With the rapid development of science and technology and the globalizationof world economy, intercultural communication between nations has becomemore and rnore frequent. Meanwhile, the rapid increase in population andproblems such as poverty, pollution, disease, shortage of resources, ethnicconflicts and local wars, etc., have been threatening the existance of humanbeings. To solve these problems, nations on the earth need to cooperate witheach other, thus intercultural corIununication is of great significance. Inaddition, modern transportation and communication facilities make interculturalcommunication very fast and convenient. Being a perrnenant member of the U.N. Security Council and the largest develeping country in the world, China playsan increasingly important ro1e in international affairs. Cooperation andcommunication between China and other nations has become more and morefrequent.Research has showed that communication is a very complicated process.Human beings communicate intentionally and unintentionally through verbal andnon--verbal channe1s. Successful communication requires a shared languagesystem and a shared cultura1 background. However, People of various culturalbackgrounds involved in intercultural communication use their own languages.Therefore, a common language is the first thing needed in interculturalcommunication. Due to the historica1 and po1itical reasons, English has becomethe wor1d 1anguage. As a result, English education in China is of greatimportance for China's participating in international cooperation andcommun1catlon.However, there are various English varieties, such as Canadian English,Australian English, New Zealand English, South African Eng1ish, West AfricanEngIish, etc., which differ frorn the two main standard English forms -- Britishand American English, in phonetics, vocabu1ary and grammar. With theparticipation of all countries in the world affairs, these varieties of English havebeen used rnore frequently in international communication. To study and graspthese varieties wil1 be greatly helpful for smooth and successful interculturalc ommun1cat1on.Culture is another crucial factor that affects intercultural communication.Language and culture are closely related to each other. Culture not on1yinfluences verbal communication but nonverbal communication. Since Englishhas become the international language, which is used almost by all nations totransAnt information and exchange ideas, culture teaching must be crucial inEnglish education. However, there are some problems that cannot be neglectedin the English education in China. For a long time, we have been teaching onlythe two main English varieties -- British and American English but ignoring theother varieties. In terms of culture teaching only British and American culture,mostly the big C culture, is tought. Cultures of other nations especially theculture with a small c of the English--speaking countries as well as the non-English speaking countries are ignored. What is more, the teaching of our nativeculture has not been given enough attention. All these problems will impede ourEnglish education for bringing up useful English personnel for China'sintercultural communication with other nations. Since China has adopted an all-round open policy to the outside world, we not only need to cooperate andcommunicate with Britain and the United States, but also want to developvarious relations with other nations in the world. We not only want to know andlearn from the outside world, but also to introduce our country and cu1ture tothe world. To achieve these purposes, Chinese English education must undergosome reform. Therefore, the author has made some suggestions. First of all,the teaching materials including audio--visual contents should include those fromother English varieties and foreign teachers shou1d not confined to come onlyfrom Britain and America but from ot...