Cultural Customs Learning and Intercultural Communication

A Case Study of Chinese Character “Fu”

Abstract

Cultural customs learning should be a component part of foreign language learning. Cultural customs have very important functions in intercultural communication, which influence the people’s behaviors and ways in special cultural context, and even essential conditions that people from different cultural backgrounds make better and smoother intercultural communication. However, foreign language learners often overlooked learning cultural customs and misunderstood cultural customs, so that they always made unsuccessful intercultural communication with the native people. In this article, the author takes a Chinese character “Fu” for an example, elaborates a real story that the author experienced in person more than ten years ago and analyzes the relationships between language and culture, and then discusses about the important effects of cultural customs in intercultural communication and adaptation. Finally, the author gives some suggestions of how to adapt to a new culture, especially a new cultural custom in order to have a better understanding one new culture and have a good communication with the native people.