Brief Study on Politeness Principle in Chinese and Western Culture

Politeness is a universal phenomenon, for it can be observed in all languages and cultures. It plays an important role in human communication; it helps establish, maintain or consolidate harmonious interpersonal relationships and facilitate social interactions. Politeness as an observable phenomenon is something superficial and a reflection of specific cultural values in the language. Thus, while admitting the universality of politeness, we must also realize the cultural characteristics of politeness. It will help us to communicate with each other successfully by making reaches on the cultural factors and then find the essential characters of politeness. In all, we should learn more about politeness principle and its cultural characteristics and raise people's consciousness on this issue so as to help people successfully in cross-cultural communication.