English and Chinese Politeness: Cross-cultural Contrast

Politeness is a universal phenomenon, for it can be observed in all languages and cultures. It helps establish, maintain or consolidate harmonious interpersonal relationships and facilitate social interactions. Politeness as an observable phenomenon is a reflection of specific cultural values in the language. Thus, while admitting the universality of politeness, we must realize the cultural characteristics of politeness. That is, due to the influence of cultural value orientations, the actual manifestations of politeness and the standards for its judgment differ substantially from culture to culture. Exploring politeness, we must consider its cultural specificity and accordingly go into the depth where cultural values are firmly rooted. Only in doing so can we uncover the essence of politeness and successfully account for its cross-cultural differences. This paper intends to research English and Chinese politeness from a cross-cultural perspective and explore their cultural differences in the hope of achieving a better understanding of them, to raise our cultural awareness and to promote English-Chinese cross-cultural communication.