The Different Time Concept In China And Madagascar

The concept of time is an important part of nonverbal communication incross-cultural communication. It is formed on the basis of culture and deeply influentpeople’s behavior and way of thinking. The time concept is stable in a period of timeand hard to change. Thus, it is necessary to understand others’ time concept in thecross-cultural communication..The communication between China and Madagascar becomes more frequent,including the intergovernmental and non-governmental cooperation. Theestablishment of the Confucius Institute also further promotes the friendlycommunication between the two countries. Therefore, the study which is to discoverthe different concept of time has several meanings: first, it is for promoting culturalunderstanding and recognition; Second, it is for promoting friendly communicationand cooperation; Third, it is helpful to improve cross-cultural awareness; Fourth, it ishelpful to improve the efficiency of Chinese teaching in Madagascar.From the cultural point of view, we will discuss and analysis the differences intime orientation of China and Madagascar and causes. It includes three aspects, thetime concept, time orientation and usage of time. At the same time to find thesolutions to reduce the misunderstanding in cross-cultural communication. First weshould strengthen the communication. Second, we should avoid the ethnocentrism inthe cross-cultural communication. Third, we should understand and learn from theculture in other nations. Fourth, we should look on the two different time orientationswith the vision of development. We should make efforts from these aspects to makethe communication more smoothly.