dly or lack of education.
As the reform and opening up of our country is deepened and the
pace of internationalization of economy is quickening, the society
poses higher and higher demand on English learners’ comprehensive
pragmatic competence. Hence, how to use appropriate and genuine
English to communicate seems to be particularly important.
This paper will analyze the categories and causes of pragmatic
failures and raise some effective suggestions for remedy. It aims
to remind foreign language learners to be more sensitive to
pragmatic failures and avoid unnecessary inappropriateness and
misunderstanding so as to develop their communicative competence in
using the English language.
2. Demonstration 2.1 Manifestations of pragmatic failure The
research on pragmatic failure starts with Jenny Thomas. She
published the article Cross-cultural Pragmatic Failure, which
established the theoretical framework for analyzing pragmatic
failures and cultural transfer. In Thomas’ view, if a person makes
grammatical mistakes when expressing his ideas, he will be
considered “speaking badly”. However, the violation of
communication principles such as the Politeness Principle will be
thought as “behaving badly” or “insincere, deceitful or harboring
evil intentions”. (Thomas, 1983) In China, He Ziran holds that all
mistakes that lead to unsuccessful communication results are called
pragmatic failure. (He & Chen, 2002:168-169). Sun Ya and Dai
Ling give a relatively overall definition: Pragmatic failures occur
when the speaker uses right sentences in communication, but at
unsuitable time, in improper ways of speaking or failing to keep up
with the native’s expressive habits, etc. To be specific, the
speaker violates interpersonal standard or social rules, or at
unsuitable time, in inappropriate place, neglects the status and
occasions, goes against cultural values of the target language,
which result in breakdown or failure of communication and lead to
the failure to achieve expected effect. This kind of mistake is
called pragmatic failure. (Bao, 2004:453).
Pragmatic failures can be divided into two types: pragmalinguistic
failure and sociopragmatic failure.
2.1.1
Pragmalinguistic failure Thomas points out that
pragmalinguistic failure occurs when the pragmatic force mapped by
S(speaker) onto a given utterance is systematically different from
the force most frequently assigned to it by native speakers of the
target language, or when speech act strategies are inappropriately
transferred from L1 to L2. (Thomas, 1983) Pragmalinguistic failure
occurs when speakers or hearers miscode an utterance, which damages
the pragmatic force mapped onto a linguistic token or structure.
Language barrier is the cause of pragmalinguistic failure, that is,
English learners fail to follow the native speakers’ expressive
habits, misuse the usual expressing ways of English, or have no
knowledge of the right way of expressing English but use English in
accordance with the semantics and structure of their mother
tongue.
The following dialogue is performed by the students in class:
Student A: Good morning, sir. What is the business you want to
do?
Student B: Good morning. I want to take some money out.
Student A: OK. Please hand me your card, and then you input your
secret number.
Student B: Thank you.
In this dialogue, the two students only have partial understanding
about the idiomatic use of English and apply their mother tongue
mechanically. The native speakers may fail to understand their
meaning. The appropriate way of doing somebody a favor is “How can
I help you?” And people should say “I want to withdraw some money,
please” instead of “take some money out”. Also, in English, the
exact expression of “密码” is “password” instead of “secret
number”.
There are many pragmalinguistic failures that we often come across.
For example: “I miss you” Vs “I think you”, “I will bring the
umbrella to you” Vs “I will take the umbrella to you”, “I will come
to your home tomorrow” Vs “I will go to your home tomorrow”,
etc.
Pragmalinguistic failures are very common to see in daily
communication, but people can avoid them so long as they build up a
social language foundation and pay enough attention to such
language phenomena.
2.1.2 Sociopragmatic failure
Sociopragmatic failures refer to language expression mistakes
caused by having no knowledge or ignoring the differences of
cultural backgrounds between two countries. The root of
sociopragmatic failures lies in that people from different cultures
have different ideas about proper social behaviors. He Ziran points
out that English learners run into sociopragmatic failures mainly
because they have no idea about different cultural backgrounds
which influence the choice of language forms. They are related to
status, register, level of familiarity with the topic, etc,
involving people’s concepts and ideas and concerning what people
can say and what they should not talk about. They are difficult for
people to detect. (He, 1988 )
In daily life, people may have different ideas about a same
concept. There are two reasons for such misunderstanding: One is
that, a word or a term has different ranges of meaning in different
cultures; the other is, different cultures have different
interpretive bias or understanding about a same word or term. (He,
2000:268). For example:
American teacher: You’re a very clever woman.
Chinese student: No, I’m not a woman, I’m a girl.
This is a dialogue between a foreign teacher and a Chinese college
student. Customarily, Chinese distinguish “girl” clearly from
“woman”. “Girl” refers to a young unmarried woman while “woman”
refers to a married female, usually older than girl. In foreign
countries, “woman” and “girl” both refer to a female, whether
married or not. The only difference is that “girl” denotes naivety
while “woman” stands for maturity.
Besides, sociopragmatic failures are also related to situational
knowledge. The pragmatic parameters include time and space,
register, degree of formality, role and status, information
transmission medium, subject matter, etc. (Sun, 2001) If one
parameter changes, others will change at the same time. And if
people ignore the changes of pragmatic parameters, sociopragmatic
failures arise.
For example, on Chinese wedding, people usually say “恭喜恭喜” to the
bride and bridegroom. However, people should not translate it
directly into “Congratulations”, because according to the English
culture, people can only say “Congratulations” to the bridegroom
but not to the bride, for “Congratulations” means one finally gets
success through efforts. To the bride, this word may indicate that
she tries hard and finally seizes someone. It is really rude to say
so. Here, the speaker lacks understanding about the semantics and
pragmatic functions of the word “Congratulations” and mixes up the
roles of bride and bridegroom in different communication. Thus,
sociopragmatic failures occur.
However, it is worth noting that the distinction between
pragmalinguistic failure and sociopragmatic failure is not so
absolute. In different contexts or judged from different angles of
comprehension, some mistakes can be seen either as pragmalinguistic
or sociopragmatic failure. Moreover, they both may occur in a
person’s speech.
2.2 Cause analysis of pragmatic failure
2.2.1 The influence of cultural
differences
2.2.1.1 Mode of thinking
Language is the dress of thinking. Different modes of thinking
bring about different language structures and ways of
communication. The characteristics of Chinese mode of thinking are
vivid and comprehensive. They tend to grasp the general nature of
something directly through intuition. By contrast, westerners
emphasize abstract and analytic thinking. This kind of thinking is
to know by logic and reason. For example, when in cross-cultural
communication, westerners always ask “Why” about an issue. But the
Chinese usually put emphasis on experience and feelings when
looking at things. At this time, westerners will make repeated
inquiries like “Why do you think so?”. Then the Chinese may finally
feel at a loss what to answer.
In addition, Chinese culture is in the traditional style of
circumference while western culture is in the style of straight
line. When dealing with things, Chinese people tend to foreshadow
first, allowing the hearers to be mentally prepared, and then go to
the point. It seems that if they don’t talk in a roundabout way but
come straight to the point, matters will not be effectively dealt
with. However, in westerners’ opinions, too much foreshadowing may
cause mental confusion or is just evading the matter. From English
idioms such as “Don’t beat about the bush”, “Go to the point”, we
can see westerners’ style of setting about solving problems
directly. For example, a Chinese student A wants to discuss with
his foreign teacher B some academic questions. As is the Chinese
usual practice, A asks: “Are you very busy?” B, however, taking it
as a usual inquiry, answers: “Yes, I’ve been very busy recently”
and then leaves. Here, A doesn’t come straight to the point and B
fails to understand his intended meaning. Therefore, pragmatic
failure occurs.
2.2.1.2 Value orientation and moral
ethics As the cores of cultures, values of different nations may
also cause pragmatic failures when a cross-cultural communication
is taking place.
Chinese people esteem collectivism, focus on team spirit and moral
ethics, respect the old and pay great attention to mutual love. The
westerners esteem individualism, have strong self-awareness,
emphasize privacy, lay stress on personal value and pursue
equality, independence and freedom. For example, in China, if one’s
colleagues or friends get sick, they often say “Take care of
yourself” or “Drink more water” to show their concern, but
westerners are different. Here is a dialogue between a Chinese
student and a foreign student studying in China.
A: You look pale. What’s the matter?
B: I’m feeling sick. A cold, maybe.
A: Go and see the doctor. Drink more water. Did you take any
pills?
B: You are not my mother. Are you?
At the end of this dialogue, we can obviously see that the foreign
student feels unhappy. In his opinion, feeling sick is his personal
affair and he doesn’t like to be warned. The appropriate expression
should be “Take care of yourself and I hope you will be better
soon”. This is enough.
Besides, westerners hold the view that if someone offers help when
he is not asked to, others may have the feeling that he is showing
benevolence and looking down on others’ ability. For example:
—Pardon me, sir, will you do me a favor? Let me purchase you one of
these puddings. It would give me such pleasure
—Excuse me, I don’t believe I have the pleasure of knowing you;
undoubtedly you have mistaken me for someone else.
It is a dialogue taken from the text The Sampler, which reveals the
social mentality of offering and accepting/refusing help. Although
the young man offered help out of sympathy, yet the old man
arrogantly refused: “You have mistaken me for someone else.” The
underlying meaning is “You are looking down on me.
Values and moral ethics are so important in communication that they
guide perceptions and behaviors. So, to avoid embarrassment, people
should pay more attention to differences of values between
different countries.
2.2.1.3 Customs and religious belief
Every country has its own customs which are different from others,
such as festival customs, catering customs, politeness and
etiquette, privacy and taboo, greetings, religious belief and so
on. They have gone deep into the social members’ minds and
behaviors and they are inevitably embodied in the language. What’s
more, every country has special sacred feelings about its customs.
So in cross-cultural communication, ignorance of customs and
religious beliefs usually causes pragmatic failures or even
conflicts.
For example, the usual Chinese greetings among friends are “Where
are you going?”, “What are you doing?” or “Have you eaten?”. To
native speakers of English, such kind of greetings will make them
feel antipathetic, because they think “Where are you going?”
threatens their privacy. On certain occasions, “Have you eaten?”
will give others a feeling that the speaker is inviting them for
dinner.
For another example, the number 13 and the day of Friday are taboos
for westerners. If one day happens to be the 13th and Friday,
people will not go out to handle any affairs because this day is an
unfortunate day in the history of religion. It was recorded in the
Bible that at the last supper, Judas in the thirteenth seat
betrayed Jesus and the latter was killed on Friday. From then on,
the number 13 and the day of Friday have both become unfortunate
things for westerners.
The ways of sending gifts are also different between westerners and
the Chinese. When receiving presents from others, a westerner often
opens the gift at once and shows his or her appreciation. If not,
people who send the gifts will think that he / she dislikes the
gift. However, Chinese people will not open gifts in front of
others unless they are asked to. The Chinese do so to show that
they regard friendship as more important than material
benefits.
Every country has its special feelings about its customs, pride or
sacredness. People should be familiar with other countries’ customs
and religious belief in order to avoid unnecessary cultural
conflicts and learn to “Do in Rome as the Romans do”.
2.2.2 The influence of improper
language learning and teaching methods
2.2.2.1 Negative transfer of mother tongue In
cross-cultural communication, language learners are prone to
transfer from their mother tongue into the target language
expressions that are semantically or syntactically equivalent, but
totally different in pragmatic force. Negative transfer of mother
tongue involves the use of patterns or rules of the native
language. It shows transfer in many aspects.
Using polite and appropriate addressing forms are very necessary in
communication. Due to cultural differences, different countries
have different addressing forms. In China, people often use “old”
and addressing modifiers to show respect and cordiality, but
westerners use “elderly” or “senior” as substitution because “old”
is taboo for them. If one transfers it directly from Chinese to
English in accordance with Chinese expressing habit and call a
foreigner “Old Tom”, the foreigner will feel offended and
unhappy.
Pragmatic failures also arise when speech strategies are
inappropriately transferred from one language to another. For
example, if a foreigner visits his Chinese friend. The Chinese host
may offer him a cup of tea or an apple and say, “Please have a cup
of tea” or “Have an apple, please.” On this occasion, the foreign
guest may think the host is insincere, because in English, “please”
means the speaker is asking for a favor. But in China, “请”(please)
can be used both in offering and requesting situation to show
politeness. Here in this situation, the proper expression should be
“Would you like a cup of tea?” or “Would you like an apple?”
Again, on some occasions, some Chinese often use “Of course” to
show confirmation to others’ questions. For instance, when a
foreign guest asks “Is the restaurant in this same building?”, the
Chinese waiter often replies: “Of course.” However, this answer may
make the foreigner feel unhappy because it may imply that he is
ignorant.
From the above examples, we can clearly see that in cross-cultural
communication, negative transfer of mother tongue may easily give
rise to misunderstandings and result in pragmatic failure. It is
therefore important for Chinese English learners to try their best
to avoid negative transfers in language use.
2.2.2.2 Classroom English teaching
Language teaching in China sometimes doesn’t help students to avoid
pragmatic failures but make it worse. The related aspects are
textbooks, teaching methods and teachers.
The role that textbooks play in language learning is self-evident.
In recent years, language materials for English textbooks have
become more authentic and plentiful in China. However, it is common
to see many cases ignoring cultural backgrounds and pragmatic rules
in the training of language structures, especially in primary and
secondary textbooks. The following example is a dialogue taken from
a primary school textbook:
A: Are you writing a letter to your wife?
B: Yes, I am.
A: How often do you write to her?
B: Once a week.
Such kind of dialogue actually does help students to grasp language
structures, but it is seldom used among native speakers, for it may
offend others’ privacy. However, in the students’ minds, textbooks
are authority, so they think they can communicate with westerners
this way, which will make the latter feel unhappy and
offended.
In China, exams mainly focus on the correctness of language
knowledge and in order to handle exams, students usually drill in
language structures and have no knowledge of pragmatics. As a
result, in cross-cultural communication, pragmatic failure occurs
and conversations may break down.
Teachers themselves and their teaching methods are also an
important factor leading to pragmatic failures. Some teachers do
not know much about pragmatics but teach the students linguistic
knowledge only. They stick to textbooks and neglect the pragmatic
mistakes or they just misunderstand that pragmatics is not
important. As time passes, students form a wrong idea that they can
talk with foreigners that way and have no awareness of pragmatic
failures even when they have come across them. Therefore, English
teaching should not lose connection with its culture. When teaching
language knowledge, teachers should attach importance to cultural
backgrounds of the English-speaking countries and pay attention to
cultural differences.
2.3 Tactics for overcoming pragmatic
failure 2.3.1 Consolidating
language knowledge and competence Due to differences in history,
beliefs and customs, people of China and western countries may have
different understanding of a same word. Take “drugstore” as an
example, Chinese students find it hard to imagine that they can buy
food, drinks and articles of daily use from a drugstore. The
medical system established in China makes people form the idea that
drug can only be bought in hospitals or drugstores. The word “drug”
will make Chinese students think of narcotics instead of common
goods or something that can be sold everywhere just like drinks.
Also, “dragon” is a symbol of sacredness in China. There are many
idioms about dragon, showing people’s worship and love for it.
However, in western countries, dragon is a symbol of fierceness and
evil. Therefore, westerners often say “Four tigers of Asia” instead
of “Four dragons of Asia”. Another example is, the image of dog in
many Chinese’s minds is loathsome and negative, but in western
countries, dog is considered as one member of the family. Except a
few negative idioms such as “go to the dogs” “feel like a dog’s
dinner”, the majority is positive. People often describe a man by
using “dog’, such as “gay dog” “lucky dog” “old dog” “top dog”,
etc.
Since the lack of language knowledge and abilities may lead to
pragmatic failures, then in order to avoid pragmatic failure in
cross-cultural communication, we should do our best to consolidate
language knowledge and competence. Visiting English websites,
communicating with foreigners through the internet, reading English
novels and learning foreign countries’ histories are all activities
that can help us understand western culture vividly and directly.
Through them, we can effectively avoid cultural intervention and
improve our cross-cultural abilities.
2.3.2 Enhancing cross-cultural
awareness Developing the students’ cross-cultural awareness is very
important in coping with pragmatic failures. As the term used to
describe sensitivity to the impact of culturally-induced behaviors
on language use and communication, cross-cultural awareness
involves beliefs, values, world outlook, feelings and so on.
The following measures can help students to enhance cross-cultural
awareness. Firstly, teachers should consciously guide their
students to use appropriate language in different contexts in the
course of teaching. They should not just focus on the grammatical
usages. Secondly, teachers themselves should enrich their
cross-cultural knowledge and be familiar with cultural backgrounds
of western countries. If possible, they should be given the
opportunity of being trained in the country of the target culture.
Thirdly, lectures about the target language should be provided by
schools and foreign teachers should be invited to introduce their
cultures. And students should also be encouraged to communicate
with native speakers. Fourthly, textbook compliers should provide
language materials for the training of appropriate language use in
different contexts instead of focusing on grammar and usage only.
They should add more cultural information so that students can get
to know more about western culture and develop their awareness of
cultural differences. The very reason is, cultural misunderstanding
will lead to greater offences in cross-cultural communication than
grammatical mistakes.
2.3.3 Developing cross-cultural
communicative competence Western scholars such as Ruben have done a
lot of studies on cross-cultural communicative competence in the
latest several years (Jia, 1997:502). It is a multi-dimensional
concept, mainly due to the multifaceted nature of culture and the
complexity of the phenomenon of cross-cultural communication. It
refers to not only a body of social cultural knowledge and
competence of a foreign language, but also a power of perceiving
and interpreting cultural encounters as well as an internal
capability of perfecting one’s own personality through the process
of cross-cultural interaction.
Teachers should make full use of books, films, videos and TV
programs in the original. Through imitating real interactions,
students can be encouraged to use language creatively to express
their thoughts. By so doing, students can truly experience cultural
differences and learn some rules about social intercourse from the
native speakers’ points of view.
Nowadays, with the development of science, technology and economy,
the society poses higher demand on students’ cross-cultural
communicative competence. It has become the evident feature of the
21st century. Hence, developing students’ cross-cultural
communicative competence has become a urgent task on hand.
3. Conclusion Pragmatic failure, which
includes pragmalinguistic failure and sociopragmatic failure, is a
common phenomenon in cross-cultural communication. It may give rise
to language barriers and failures to achieve the communicative
purpose. There are several reasons contributing to pragmatic
failure in cross-cultural communication, namely, mode of thinking,
value orientation, customs, negative transfer of mother tongue and
classroom English teaching and so on. The study about pragmatic
failure therefore has great significance for cross-cultural
communication and English learning. On the one hand, it can help
people of different cultural backgrounds understand each other
better, find out communicating barriers and take remedial measures.
On the other hand, it makes us recognize that correct language form
alone is insufficient to achieve the goal of cross-cultural
communication and appropriate ways of expression must be adopted.
Therefore, in English learning, students should focus on not only
the grasp of basic language knowledge but also the development of
pragmatic competence and cultural awareness.
