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【中图分类号】G2 【文献标识码】A
【文章编号】1007-4309（2011）04-0050-1.5
The rapid development of globalization promotes the communication of different cultures．We have found some common points of different cultures during our long-term communication．Meanwhile，some conflicts caused by differences of culture have appeared to hinder the intercultural communication．Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge，beliefs，arts，morals，laws，customs，and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society．In different regions，culture is different．Every cultural group consists of its members．Therefore，the intercultural communication is interpersonal communication with different cultural backgrounds．Personal communication is connected with information and behavior．In this case，people always touch the edge of privacy without intention．Social being is the nature of human beings．And the connection of human beings and personal affairs is inherent nature of human beings．The psychology to protect privacy develops with the development of people’s wisdom．
Ⅰ．The Origin and Development of the
Legal Definition of Privacy
Privacy is human beings’ perspective of external environment，belief and how to exist in this environment．Of all the human right in the international catalogue，privacy is perhaps the most difficult to define circumscribe （Warren & Brandeis，1890）．Definitions of privacy vary widely according to context and environment．Every country’s laws and scholars have different understandings on privacy．In the law of France，privacy is treated as the“individual life”．American scholar Timothy D．Casey considers that the concept of privacy usually equals to personal information and behavior．It means that every person in each kind of culture in the world is unique．
In the mainland of China，some scholars say that privacy is also called life secret．It refers to citizen’s personal lives that would not like to be known and published．Some scholars think that the privacy is all things that would not be known in personal lives．Some think privacy is the information which people do not like others know．And the others think that privacy is the secret which not to be willing to be opened or be known by others，such as individual private life，individual diary，photos，saving and wealth，the habits and custom and communication secret and so on．In fact，there is no word“privacy”in Chinese traditional culture．The definition of privacy in Modern Chinese Dictionary （second edition）is“the personal information that is intended to not tell others and be kept secret．”In Chinese，the word“privacy”has a derogative meaning and carries the connotation of illicit of secret and selfish．
America is one of the earliest to point out the importance of respecting others’ privacy in law．In 1890，American scholars Samuel •Allen and Louis•D•Brandeis published a paper named The Right to Privacy in Harvard Law Review．They denounced the mass media exposed individual’s privacy，which established the legal base for protecting people’s privacy and was gradually accepted by Houses of America．Since 1960s’ American Court has dealt with a series of cases about privacy and supported some precedents．From then on，American Government has issued a series of laws to protect individual’s privacy，such as，Information Freedom Law （1967），Law of Privacy （1974），etc．Nowadays，the rights to privacy that protected by American law include as follows：（1）using other’s name or portrait for commercial purpose without permission is prohibited；（2）the right to be let alone；（3）personal activity；（4）not accepting inappropriate publication and exposure．
Ⅱ．The Conflicts Caused by the
Different Concepts of Privacy
In Chinese and western culture，people have different viewpoints of privacy，which hinders friendly communication．The dominant culture of the west includes individualism，egalitarianism，competition，masculinity and direct communication．Crossly，China’s dominant culture is collectivism，face-maintenance，hierarchy and indirect communication．The Chinese tradition pays little attention to individual’s privacy，while the west underlines more the importance of privacy．And misunderstanding caused by these differences leads to many not pleasant phenomena．For instance，there are conflicts in age，salary，marriage，personal space，etc．
The Chinese prefer to share their personal affairs with parents，friends，even foreigners．And they think that asking questions of personal affairs can extend their caring and friendly to others．As to personal affairs，the two peoples have different attitudes．
The westerns would like to keep age secret．Asking one’s age is very sensitive．It can be seen in an example followed：In one interflow activity between foreign guests and students in a foreign language school，one passionate girl greeted to an old lady speaking English．After the introduction of each other，in order to have a further communication with the old lady in English，the little girl asked the guest，“How old are you?”The foreign woman said，“Ah，it’s a secret！”At the moment the girl did not know what to say，and the intercourse would not go on．May be the girl did not know that for English and Americans，especially for females，age is really a“secret”．They will not tell others easily．
Ⅲ．The Causes of the Conflicts
Privacy is related to private business，private affairs and private concerns．There is no notion of privacy in Chinese traditional culture．So the Chinese are neither sensitive to nor scrupulous in privacy．Comparatively speaking，the westerns are focusing on individual privacy，just like an old saying goes，a man’s home is his castle．These are resulted from their different attitudes towards privacy．
Different cultures have different norms of etiquette．Etiquette is an important method to run a good communication．Goffman promoted a theory of“face”．“Face”is man’s right to protect his dignity．Through the theory of face，the etiquette requires people respecting others，avoiding disturbing others and preserving others’ face．Gu Yueguo points that the differences of sense of etiquette lie in two aspects．They are modesty and enthusiasm．Chinese and western modesty is different．Chinese modesty has Chinese style．And enthusiasm is a method that the Chinese use to express their caring and friendly，which is regarded as impolite，because the westerns think that it is an invasion of their privacy．The differences are reflected in many aspects．
Ⅳ．Conclusion
Privacy itself is a taboo topic in the public，which is not known to many people．People do not realize that it is impossible to talk and enquire privacy．Based on this situation，this thesis analyzes the different concepts of privacy both in China and in western countries，which can be shown in daily topics，salutations，value orientations and so on．In addition，it digs out that China and the west have different concepts of privacy because the westerns highly value individualism and the western governments have issued many relevant laws to protect right to privacy．But the Chinese collectivism hinders the growth of privacy and China has no relevant laws to protect people’s right to privacy．At least，it is the respect to individual independence and self-dignity．It is hoped that this thesis can help to arouse people’s awareness of privacy so that they will do better in intercultural communication．
【参考文献】
［1］艾德曼，肯尼迪著，吴懿婷译．隐私的权利［M］．北京：当代世界出版社，2003．10．
［2］贾玉新．跨文化交际学［M］．上海：上海外语教育出版社，1997．
［3］徐爱国．“隐私权的法律界限”［N］．人民法院报，2003．05．
【作者简介】陈志新：男，东北师范大学外国语学院英语翻译专业，研究方向：翻译、文化。
【文章编号】1007-4309（2011）04-0050-1.5
The rapid development of globalization promotes the communication of different cultures．We have found some common points of different cultures during our long-term communication．Meanwhile，some conflicts caused by differences of culture have appeared to hinder the intercultural communication．Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge，beliefs，arts，morals，laws，customs，and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society．In different regions，culture is different．Every cultural group consists of its members．Therefore，the intercultural communication is interpersonal communication with different cultural backgrounds．Personal communication is connected with information and behavior．In this case，people always touch the edge of privacy without intention．Social being is the nature of human beings．And the connection of human beings and personal affairs is inherent nature of human beings．The psychology to protect privacy develops with the development of people’s wisdom．
Ⅰ．The Origin and Development of the
Legal Definition of Privacy
Privacy is human beings’ perspective of external environment，belief and how to exist in this environment．Of all the human right in the international catalogue，privacy is perhaps the most difficult to define circumscribe （Warren & Brandeis，1890）．Definitions of privacy vary widely according to context and environment．Every country’s laws and scholars have different understandings on privacy．In the law of France，privacy is treated as the“individual life”．American scholar Timothy D．Casey considers that the concept of privacy usually equals to personal information and behavior．It means that every person in each kind of culture in the world is unique．
In the mainland of China，some scholars say that privacy is also called life secret．It refers to citizen’s personal lives that would not like to be known and published．Some scholars think that the privacy is all things that would not be known in personal lives．Some think privacy is the information which people do not like others know．And the others think that privacy is the secret which not to be willing to be opened or be known by others，such as individual private life，individual diary，photos，saving and wealth，the habits and custom and communication secret and so on．In fact，there is no word“privacy”in Chinese traditional culture．The definition of privacy in Modern Chinese Dictionary （second edition）is“the personal information that is intended to not tell others and be kept secret．”In Chinese，the word“privacy”has a derogative meaning and carries the connotation of illicit of secret and selfish．
America is one of the earliest to point out the importance of respecting others’ privacy in law．In 1890，American scholars Samuel •Allen and Louis•D•Brandeis published a paper named The Right to Privacy in Harvard Law Review．They denounced the mass media exposed individual’s privacy，which established the legal base for protecting people’s privacy and was gradually accepted by Houses of America．Since 1960s’ American Court has dealt with a series of cases about privacy and supported some precedents．From then on，American Government has issued a series of laws to protect individual’s privacy，such as，Information Freedom Law （1967），Law of Privacy （1974），etc．Nowadays，the rights to privacy that protected by American law include as follows：（1）using other’s name or portrait for commercial purpose without permission is prohibited；（2）the right to be let alone；（3）personal activity；（4）not accepting inappropriate publication and exposure．
Ⅱ．The Conflicts Caused by the
Different Concepts of Privacy
In Chinese and western culture，people have different viewpoints of privacy，which hinders friendly communication．The dominant culture of the west includes individualism，egalitarianism，competition，masculinity and direct communication．Crossly，China’s dominant culture is collectivism，face-maintenance，hierarchy and indirect communication．The Chinese tradition pays little attention to individual’s privacy，while the west underlines more the importance of privacy．And misunderstanding caused by these differences leads to many not pleasant phenomena．For instance，there are conflicts in age，salary，marriage，personal space，etc．
The Chinese prefer to share their personal affairs with parents，friends，even foreigners．And they think that asking questions of personal affairs can extend their caring and friendly to others．As to personal affairs，the two peoples have different attitudes．
The westerns would like to keep age secret．Asking one’s age is very sensitive．It can be seen in an example followed：In one interflow activity between foreign guests and students in a foreign language school，one passionate girl greeted to an old lady speaking English．After the introduction of each other，in order to have a further communication with the old lady in English，the little girl asked the guest，“How old are you?”The foreign woman said，“Ah，it’s a secret！”At the moment the girl did not know what to say，and the intercourse would not go on．May be the girl did not know that for English and Americans，especially for females，age is really a“secret”．They will not tell others easily．
Ⅲ．The Causes of the Conflicts
Privacy is related to private business，private affairs and private concerns．There is no notion of privacy in Chinese traditional culture．So the Chinese are neither sensitive to nor scrupulous in privacy．Comparatively speaking，the westerns are focusing on individual privacy，just like an old saying goes，a man’s home is his castle．These are resulted from their different attitudes towards privacy．
Different cultures have different norms of etiquette．Etiquette is an important method to run a good communication．Goffman promoted a theory of“face”．“Face”is man’s right to protect his dignity．Through the theory of face，the etiquette requires people respecting others，avoiding disturbing others and preserving others’ face．Gu Yueguo points that the differences of sense of etiquette lie in two aspects．They are modesty and enthusiasm．Chinese and western modesty is different．Chinese modesty has Chinese style．And enthusiasm is a method that the Chinese use to express their caring and friendly，which is regarded as impolite，because the westerns think that it is an invasion of their privacy．The differences are reflected in many aspects．
Ⅳ．Conclusion
Privacy itself is a taboo topic in the public，which is not known to many people．People do not realize that it is impossible to talk and enquire privacy．Based on this situation，this thesis analyzes the different concepts of privacy both in China and in western countries，which can be shown in daily topics，salutations，value orientations and so on．In addition，it digs out that China and the west have different concepts of privacy because the westerns highly value individualism and the western governments have issued many relevant laws to protect right to privacy．But the Chinese collectivism hinders the growth of privacy and China has no relevant laws to protect people’s right to privacy．At least，it is the respect to individual independence and self-dignity．It is hoped that this thesis can help to arouse people’s awareness of privacy so that they will do better in intercultural communication．
【参考文献】
［1］艾德曼，肯尼迪著，吴懿婷译．隐私的权利［M］．北京：当代世界出版社，2003．10．
［2］贾玉新．跨文化交际学［M］．上海：上海外语教育出版社，1997．
［3］徐爱国．“隐私权的法律界限”［N］．人民法院报，2003．05．
【作者简介】陈志新：男，东北师范大学外国语学院英语翻译专业，研究方向：翻译、文化。