And English Taboos Contrast

Taboo is a kind of cultural phenomenon. Taboo commonly exists among nations in the world, which regulates people' language and social communication. Language is the carrier of culture, and it's also a part of the culture. And the great differences between Chinese and western culture led to the difference of taboo in Chinese -English. So, whether of English or Chinese, we will encounter some communication failure phenomenon, for the different traditional habits or other social customs caused strong dislike. So it's helpful for us to learn and understand taboo in Chinese and English. It helps us finish cross cultural communication effectively. This paper is divided into four chapters: the first chapter, introduce taboo language of emergence, development and nature. The second chapter, the author compares the similarities and differences from addressing words, religion, race, privacy, four-letter-word, number and so on. The third chapter, the author finds out the reasons for the differences of Chinese-English taboo from the historical background, religious beliefs, values, custom aspects. The fourth chapter, taboo words connected with the teaching Chinese as a foreign language, and how to teach and learn taboo words. The author hopes that this paper can help Chinese learners and English learners to learn and understand Chinese and western culture, and enhance intercultural communicative competence, avoid communication failure.