無(wú)處不在的文化差異

文/Lyuba Atanasova 譯/謝惠君

中西方文化差異其實(shí)是廣泛存在于不同領(lǐng)域的——比如每天的生活習(xí)慣、信仰、道德觀、飲食文化等。而我自然會(huì)選擇我所擅長(zhǎng)的領(lǐng)域來(lái)談一談，就是家庭教育和學(xué)術(shù)教育上的中西方文化差異。

中國(guó)人的生活是以家庭為中心、以家庭價(jià)值觀為主導(dǎo)的。對(duì)他們來(lái)說(shuō)，這種關(guān)系（甚至是依賴(lài)關(guān)系）是極其強(qiáng)大的。我經(jīng)常跟那些為了順從父母心意而放棄自己個(gè)人選擇和目標(biāo)的學(xué)生提到這一點(diǎn)。

這種關(guān)系在西方文化中卻很難讓人理解。自由主義和以自我為中心的觀點(diǎn)從脆弱的童年就逐漸形成并愈加明顯，并且孩子從小就被激勵(lì)要支配自己的事，甚至是成人的事。

根據(jù)我對(duì)中國(guó)學(xué)生行為的觀察，我了解到他們與歐洲學(xué)生大有不同，以下列舉的幾點(diǎn)，是我在北京外國(guó)語(yǔ)大學(xué)六年的教學(xué)實(shí)踐中得到的：

中國(guó)學(xué)生非常害羞。他們不喜歡強(qiáng)調(diào)自己的優(yōu)勢(shì)。集體主義對(duì)他們來(lái)說(shuō)很重要。而歐洲學(xué)生則認(rèn)為自己非常特別、獨(dú)一無(wú)二。所以他們不僅喜歡展示自己，也喜歡表明自己的觀點(diǎn)和個(gè)性。

在上課或者練習(xí)時(shí)，中國(guó)學(xué)生即使不明白，也不會(huì)打斷老師。然而，我認(rèn)為這是很重要的學(xué)習(xí)方法，也是我的教學(xué)手段之一，所以我一早就告訴他們，如果有不明白的地方，必須馬上打斷我并提問(wèn)。在熟悉我的教學(xué)方式以后的第三年，才出現(xiàn)了中國(guó)學(xué)生打斷我的場(chǎng)景（而且也只是部分學(xué)生這樣做）。而歐洲學(xué)生則習(xí)慣在任何情況下打斷教授的講課。

中國(guó)學(xué)生不習(xí)慣表達(dá)自己個(gè)人的意見(jiàn)，即使是針對(duì)那些有爭(zhēng)議的話(huà)題。相反，歐洲學(xué)生則樂(lè)于這樣做，即使沒(méi)有人要求他們這樣做，他們也樂(lè)意表達(dá)自己的觀點(diǎn)，甚至試圖將自己的觀點(diǎn)強(qiáng)加于別人。

中國(guó)學(xué)生尊師重教。他們以尊重的態(tài)度對(duì)待教師，如果他們喜歡某位老師，甚至?xí)?duì)他充滿(mǎn)愛(ài)慕和崇敬?？上У氖牵赡苁且?yàn)槭艿綒W洲自由式教育的影響，于我而言，老師并非是不可挑戰(zhàn)的權(quán)威。日漸形成的對(duì)教育的懷疑就更不用說(shuō)了。

中國(guó)學(xué)生喜歡重復(fù)化和復(fù)制模式。他們不喜歡解決一項(xiàng)需要批判性思維的難題或任務(wù)。歐洲學(xué)生則非常善于批判性的思考，且大多數(shù)不喜歡重復(fù)別人的模式，不管是標(biāo)準(zhǔn)模式還是經(jīng)典模式。

The cultural differences between China and the West can also be divided into separate fields–everyday life, beliefs, ethical views, eating, and so on. I, of course, will choose the field in which I am an expert–family education and institutional education.

The Chinese continue to live under the sign of family and family values. For them, these connections (and even dependencies) are extremely strong. It is often the case that I talk to my students who give up their choices and plans because they do not match their parents' plans.

Such a thing is almost unthinkable in Western civilization.The liberal idea and egocentricity have reached such a level that even in the most fragile childhood, children are being stimulated to dictate what will happen not only to them but also to adults.

As far as the behavior of Chinese students at university is concerned, this is the biggest difference (compared to European students). Here is a list of these differences (made during my six-year practice in BFSU):

Chinese students are shy. They do not like to emphasize their advantages. Collectivism is important to them. European students think of themselves as unique and inimitable. That's why they love to show themselves, to explicate their opinion and their personality.

During a lecture or exercise, even when they do not understand,Chinese students would never interrupt the teacher. Moreover –because I think this is important and this is a part of my teaching methods, I warn them early on that: I want when they do not understand, right away to interrupt me and ask. This is only happening in the third year since they know me (and sporadically,besides only some of the students.) European students have the courage to interrupt the professor on all occasions.

Chinese students prefer not to express their own opinion.Even when it comes to issues that are not controversial. On the contrary, European students are happy to do so – even when they are not asked to do that, they explicate and even try to impose on others their opinion.

阿塔那索娃（Lyuba Atanasova），保加利亞籍，1973年生，畢業(yè)于保加利亞西南大學(xué)，專(zhuān)業(yè)方向?yàn)楸＜永麃喺Z(yǔ)文學(xué)，于2012年獲文化研究和人類(lèi)學(xué)博士學(xué)位。曾在保加利亞、匈牙利、塞浦路斯、黎巴嫩等多地教授保加利亞語(yǔ)言、文學(xué)和文化相關(guān)課程。2012年，通過(guò)保加利亞教育部選拔，被派往中國(guó)擔(dān)任北京外國(guó)語(yǔ)大學(xué)外籍專(zhuān)家，教授保加利亞語(yǔ)言與文學(xué)課程。主要研究方向?yàn)闅W洲文學(xué)現(xiàn)代主義和后現(xiàn)代主義。

最后，我想說(shuō)的是，中國(guó)學(xué)生尤其是年輕學(xué)生的一些情況。盡管我已經(jīng)與中國(guó)學(xué)生相處了五年半，并與他們建立了密切的聯(lián)系，但直到現(xiàn)在，我還不能完全準(zhǔn)確表述這一點(diǎn)。除了明顯的集體主義、缺乏自我關(guān)注以及缺乏展現(xiàn)自己的愿望之外，中國(guó)學(xué)生并不擅長(zhǎng)團(tuán)隊(duì)協(xié)作。當(dāng)他們需要解決團(tuán)隊(duì)任務(wù)時(shí)，他們比起歐洲學(xué)生顯得更無(wú)助（效率也不高）。更多情況下，團(tuán)隊(duì)中的某一個(gè)人（通常是那個(gè)學(xué)業(yè)成績(jī)很好而被推舉為領(lǐng)袖的人）會(huì)承擔(dān)整個(gè)任務(wù)。

關(guān)于最后這一點(diǎn)，我需要強(qiáng)調(diào)的是，在去河南的訪(fǎng)問(wèn)中，我看到了北京大學(xué)的安樂(lè)哲教授（Prof. Roger T.Ames）和北京外國(guó)語(yǔ)大學(xué)的田辰山教授（Prof. Chenshan Tian）之間融洽的合作關(guān)系。我指的不僅僅是他們杰出的科研成果。訪(fǎng)問(wèn)期間，兩位教授為我們這些北京外國(guó)語(yǔ)大學(xué)的教授組織了一個(gè)特別棒的會(huì)議，地點(diǎn)就安排在了他們的酒店套房，我一直觀察他們交談時(shí)的反應(yīng)。令人震撼的一致性！我感覺(jué)自己正在參加一個(gè)已經(jīng)預(yù)演過(guò)的會(huì)議，好像他們提前準(zhǔn)備了所有的對(duì)話(huà)。而他們當(dāng)然沒(méi)有提前準(zhǔn)備。我想說(shuō)的是，我并不是第一次見(jiàn)到這種團(tuán)隊(duì)，但是我第一次見(jiàn)到了團(tuán)隊(duì)成員之間獨(dú)特的同步性和理解力。這讓我印象十分深刻。

在團(tuán)隊(duì)工作的任務(wù)安排中，當(dāng)沒(méi)有確切地明白團(tuán)隊(duì)成員的思維模式和行為習(xí)慣時(shí)，我們就可能會(huì)在一些根本性的問(wèn)題上產(chǎn)生疑惑。我想以此為結(jié)論：一位中國(guó)學(xué)者和一位西方學(xué)者一起組建完美的團(tuán)隊(duì)是可能的。

Chinese students deeply respect the institution Teacher. They treat him/her with respect, and if they personally likes him/her – with love, adoration and worship. To my great regret,probably because of the dominance of the liberal direction of education in Europe, confidence and respect for the teacher is not particularly great. Not to mention growing up lately skepticism about education.

Chinese students prefer to repeat, copy patterns. They dislike tasks related to resolving critical situations. European students are excellent in critical thinking and generally do not like to repeat someone else's (either standard or classic) models.

Lastly, I will leave a characteristic of Chinese students (and young people in general) that I can not explain to myself even today (five and a half years living with Chinese students and having a deep connection with them). Despite the marked collectivism and lack of self-centeredness and willingness to show off their face, Chinese students are not particularly good at team working. When solving tasks that require roles to be assigned to a particular group, they are far more helpless (and often unproductive) than European ones. In a large number of cases, the task is borne by one of them (usually that one who they perceive as the leader only because he/she have the most excellent learning marks).

In connection with the last point, I want to emphasize that the thing that most impressed me during our journey to Henan is the amazing collective/team work of professor Roger T. Ames and Prof. Chenshan Tian. And I mean not only their fantastic scientific results. During the magical meeting with the lecturers of BFSU they organized for us at their hotel suite, I watched their reactions very carefully during the conversation. Stunning synchrony! I had the feeling that I was attending a pre-directed meeting where they had pre-distributed their words in the dialogue. Which, of course, can not be the case. I want to say that I do not meet teammates for the first time, but I see this unique synchronicity and understanding for the first time. I'm really impressed.

It is possible, not knowing the specifics of their thinking and behavior, we to confuse from the bases – with the assignment of the task in the group/team work. And I would like to end like this: it is possible that the Eastern and civilizations are not that"clashed" when a perfect team of Chinese and Western scholars is possible!