讓高牆倒下吧：跨文化溝通的策略

Destroying Walls: A Strategy to Stimulate Intercultural Conversation between East and West

現今日趨全球化的世界裡，跨文化的溝通是每天都會發生的問題。在亞洲，許多人即使懂得大量的英文單字及文法，卻仍無法輕鬆地與外國人交談。這篇論文為了提出解決之道，使用了以下的方式：認出東西方的差異、語言哲學的假定、以及符號語言學和文化研究的方法。本文是根據J. L. Austin的語言行為J. Searle的話語行為來做詮釋。他們對於溝通行為的分析都指出成功的溝通是根基於雙方共同的認知。此共同認知是當代對文化的定義之一。當我們了解Searle的共同認知即文化認同與價值觀的共通之處，跨文化溝通之困難的解答便呼之欲出了。當我們找出跨文化溝通之困難以及解決之道，本文使用符號語言學及文化研究的分析觀點來提出針對亞洲學生的具體的建議。

Problems of intercultural communication are an everyday occurrence in the increasingly globalizing world. Many people in Asia report a difficulty in chatting with westerners, despite having a good knowledge of grammar and a broad vocabulary. A strategy is proposed to make intercultural communicative acts less strained by: recognition of how deep the cultural divide is; assumptions from the philosophy of language; and a methodology from semiotics and cultural studies. The hermeneutical approach focuses on the work into illocutionary acts of J.L. Austin (1975), and speech acts by J. Searle (1969). Their analysis of communicative acts shows how shared conventions between the protagonists are essential for successful conversation. These shared conventions correlate with modern definitions of culture. By understanding Searle's shared conventions as overlapping cultural identity and values a vehicle for overcoming the problem of cross-cultural conversation is identified. Once the problem and the solution are determined the analytical codes of semiotics and cultural studies are used to highlight and propose specific topics for successful conversation between east and west.