A Cross-cultural Study Of American And Chinese Time Concept

As an important field of nonverbal communication, time plays an important rolein cross-cultural communication. Time concept is also frequently ignored by people,which may cause communication failures and barriers. Language is a system ofcultural symbols, and proverbs are the elite of language that can reflect values andconcept. Therefore, we can learn the core of different cultures by studying theproverbs of different countries. In both American and Chinese proverbs, manyproverbs are about time and are used by people every day. By studying them, we canfind some similarities and differences between American and Chinese time concept,which can provide guidance for people to avoid conflicts when communicating withAmericans.In this study, the author has collected238American proverbs and233Chineseproverbs related to time as the data. Based on these data, two research questions areput forward. The qualitative study and quantitative study are used to analyze themunder the theories of Hall’s monochronic time and polychronic time theory as well asKluckhonh and Strodtbeck’s time orientation. These proverbs are classified into threegroups: the general time concept, M-time and P-time group and past, present andfuture orientation. Each group is further classified into subgroups according tomeanings. Then the percentage of each subgroup is worked out. These statistics areused to manifest the differences and similarities between American and Chineseproverbs.Based on the statistic analysis and the discussion, the major findings are asfollowss: firstly, among the general time concepts, we can find more similarities thandifferences between American and Chinese time concept. Both American and Chinesesee time as valuable resources and cherish the opportunities. They both regardchanges as part of their life and can deal with it properly. Both Americans andChinese prefer slowness rather than haste. They both respect the senior citizen, whichbreaks the stereotype that Americans despise the old people. Secondly, as to the timetendency, both Americans and Chinese are prone to follow M-time revealed in theproverbs. Americans tend to be present-future oriented while Chinese tend to be past-present oriented.