Differences In Informal Time In Intercultural Communication-A Comparative Study Between China And United States

Cultural is omnipresent. Messages from time, as an important channel ofnonverbal communication, are greatly influenced by culture. Time plays asignificant role in intercultural communication and it is a fundamental basison which all cultures rest and around which all activities revolve. Differentcultures shape different time-orientations, which affect the effectiveness ofintercultural communication. The aim of this thesis is to give a detailed andsystematic analysis of Chinese concept of informal time and that of the U.S.Aon the level of set, isolate and pattern. I attempt here to expound thedifferences between two time systems from a different and more detailedaspect.The thesis begins with a general introduction, and then in Chapter One Igive a literature review. With the development of international interaction,more and more people pay attention to the importance of interculturalcommunication. Among the elements of communication, chronemics plays asignificant role. My research is on the basis of Edward T. Hall's theory ofinformal time, and I discuss the category of time, three levels and the factorsthat influence the understanding of informal time in Chapter Two. ChapterThree is the main body of the thesis, which devotes to the analysis throughcase study in several aspects. The polychromic and monochromic time systemis always a focus of both Chinese and western scholars. Hall studied andsummarized the system of informal time from the perspective of Americans.Considering that U.S.A .and China are two big countries in the world and arerepresentatives of western and eastern cultures respectively, I choose thesetwo counties' time systems as my research focus. It is widely believed thatChinese belong to polychromic culture while Americans belong tomonochromic culture. However, Professor Hu Wenzhong firmly believes thatChina is a monochromic country basically (Hu, 1990:94). In order to make itclear what are the differences between Chinese time orientation and that ofU.S.A, I choose the punctuality standard in two cultures as the focus and thenuse the questionnaire to prove my findings. Chapter Four intends to explorethe implication as well as the application of time in our daily life withemphasis on the business setting. With the development of global economics,it is necessary to take all the differences in the key norms of social interactionsinto consideration in order to make a successful intercultural communication.Chapter Five gives a brief summary of this thesis.