A Contrast of Chinese and Western Time Concept in Cross-cultural Communication
时间观作为非语言交际要素之一,对跨文化交际的影响已越来越受到众多学者的重视。过去取向与未来取向属于时间的取向问题,属于心理时间观范畴,是指不同文化分别对过去与未来的认识,以及人们对过去与未来所赋予的意义及重视程度。在非语言交际各要素中,关于时间的使用,它代表的意义及其交际行为,是文化差异最大、最能导致交际失误的误区。可见,从文化视角对不同文化的时间取向加以比较,有利于了解不同文化所持的时间观和克服跨文化交际中来自这一文化深沉结构方面的障碍。
在中国社会中，儒家思想一直占统治地位，中国一向是一个传统导向的社会，这说明传统的思想规则、方法等延续至今，为公众所认同，变成集体的无意识，而且规定着人们的行为。这意味着，在时间上，中国是一个以过去取向为主 的社会，或者重视过去的社会。人们做什么,要考虑此事过去做过没有,有什么成功的经验或失败的教训,老祖宗是如何做的等等;而且今天做的如何也往往以过去为标准,因此循规蹈矩已成为一种社会规范。
与中国文化的时间取向相反，西方人，尤其是美国人，一切着眼于未来，因此未来取向是他们的重要的价值观念，对他们来讲回归过去如同走向“原罪”，因此后退是没有出路的。
中西方时间取向上的差异可以从人们对“老”(old)的态度上得以体现。在英语中,“old”(老)被赋予了某种否定的语义,如“past”(过去),“useless”(无用),“hopeless”(无救)等。与美国社会对“old”的惧怕和歧视形成鲜明对比的是中国文化对“老”的尊重和重视, 与这种时间取向相连的是人们崇拜祖先,尊敬老人,尊重老师,重视经验,重视年龄,因为这些方面都与“过去”相关,过去取向一直影响着人们的行为和思维方式。

The sense of time is a vital element of non-verbal communication. Its effect in cross-cultural communication has been attracting much attention from scholars. Past orientations and futuristic orientations are parts of the problem of time orientation belonging to psychological sense of time. It is referring to the difference in how cultures perceive the past and the future, the meanings people attach to them as well as their importance. Among the elements of non-verbal communication, how time is used, its meanings and the acts of communication it represented are the most likely factors among the cultural differences leading to miscommunication. Thus, comparing the differences in time orientations in terms of culture will help to understand the differences in the sense of time in these cultures and to overcome this obstacle in cross-cultural communication that can be better perceived as a condensation of cultural structure.
In the Chinese society, Confucianism has always been in a pre-dominant position. China has always been a culture lead by traditions. What this is saying is that the traditional guidelines and ways of thinking, passed down to this very day, accepted by the masses and transformed into a collective null-conscientious, are defining how the present population would act. This means that in terms of time, the Chinese society consists mainly of past orientation. In other words, it focuses on the society in the history. When people make decisions, they will think about whether similar things have been done in the past, how have it been done in the past, and if there are any experiences from successes or lessons from failures. Things done today are often measured by a scale from the past. Thus, conservatism has become the standard of the society.
As a directly opposite to the Chinese time orientation, the “westerners”, especially Americans, have always been looking out for the future. The futuristic orientation is what they value. To them, repeating the past is going back to the “original sin”, thus the way back does not exist.
This difference in time orientation of the western and eastern cultures can be seen from the reaction to the expression “old”(老). In English, “old” is often tied with expressions such as “past”, “useless”, and “hopeless”. In direct contrast to the American fear of and discrimination towards the concept of “old” is the Chinese culture’s respect and value of the “老”. This time orientation is tied with the worshipping of ancestry and the respecting of elders, teachers, experiences and age. These aspects are all related to the concept of “past”. The past orientation has always been affecting people’s behaviours and ways of thinking.

As a side note, 我个人并不赞同本文的观点. 事实上, 在西方社会, 尤其是北美, conservatism一直是处于主流地位. 在美国, 除了1900左右的资本主义发展(结果股市崩溃)和二战后的一小段时间(大型战争后都会有这样一小段, 来稳住人心), 保守主义一直是深入人心. 尤其是这几年. 而且…北美一直是比欧洲保守
从生物角度来讲, 经验的传递是衡量一个族群发展程度的最基本的标尺. 这也是为什么人类在体力劣势的情况下能够 “统治”地球. 所有的文化都把经验排在第一位. 文中所形容的 “中国社会”的情况其实是每个社会的存在的.
要注意的是, 保守并不是说自然停止探索, 科技停止发展. 保守是形容一种社会 “风气”, 一种人们看待事物的角度. 西方社会的快速发展并不是说他们不保守.
总之, 看了作者的论点总感觉作者对西方社会的看法停留在电影等娱乐性媒体上, 对西方社会并没有真正的了解. 文中讲解观点的时候也是干把把的, 没有一点内容, 没有一点说服力