Chapter 4. Cultural Differences in Everybody Conversations

1. Vocatives and culture

Names(English people have given names, surnames, full names, with or without a title, and nicknames or pet names.)

Name related to the plant and flowers

Name related to the weapons

Names related to knowledge, authority, fame are also quite common in English

But we can hardly find personal names in English that are related to historical events and date of the birth, English names more related to the Pikes, and Chinese names related to the “剑””盾”often. Personal names related to the place of birth and natural phenomena. are also popular in Chinese. And we seldom found the personal names in Chinese that are related to religion.

And English: (Mr[adult male], Mrs(for married women), Miss(for unmarried women), Ms(for women whose marital status is unknown or is not indicted))+surname

Chinese: in Chinese the terms that can be used as titles are numerous. For example”局长” “处长”etc.

In Chinese titles can be used in combination with the addressee’s given name, surname or full name. For example: “林同志” “德清同志” “林德清同志.”

standard appellatives

“mother” ”father” ”grandmother” etc can be used alone both in English and Chinese

“aunt” “uncle” are often used together with the addressee’s give name, but not in Chinese. For example, Uncle Tom, Aunt Mary

English speaking people can named their relative by using their name, but we can’t do like this in Chinese, even between brothers and sisters. For example: “大哥” “二哥” “二姐”

When addressing strangers, the Chinese people resort to “同志” “师傅” “先生” “小姐” “老爷爷” “伯父” “阿姨” “伯母” “大哥” “大嫂” “大兄弟” “大姐” “小朋友”