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What is privacy? English word privacy is defined as freedom from interference or public attention, which means “ the state of being alone and not watched or disturbed by other people; the state of being free from the attention of the public”(Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary, 2009:1575). However, in the Chinese language, there is no accurate word could be used for privacy. Now we use “yinsi” to describe privacy. According to the Modern Chinese Dictionary, yinsi means “the personal information that is intended not to tell others and just kept secret”(2000: 1506). The meaning of these two words is actually somewhat different.
Because of the differences between Chinese and American cultural background, as well as the different concept of values and the meaning of privacy, the understanding of privacy in China and America is also different. In China, it is very polite and normal to ask some questions about personal things, such as “Do you have a boyfriend or girlfriend?”, “How old are you?”. On the contrary, these questions are not welcomed by Americans because they regard them as personal information. They do not like to share these information with others.
The concept of privacy is not unchangeable, and it will shift with different times and places. In China, with the reform and opening up in late 1979, people’s living standard has improved and cultural awareness has established gradually. Then they began to realize their rights and respect other’s rights and interests. Furthermore, people realize that the distance between people is necessary and that should esteem other’s own space. That is privacy. Also because the globalization is narrowing the gap between people, privacy is more connected than ever before in the world. Thus it is far and foremost to learn the difference to create a comfortable environment in which an easy conversation or interaction can take place.
It is not unusual that communication obstacles appear between Chinese and American thanks to cultural difference. Hence, this thesis is going to focus its attention on the different concepts of privacy in China and America and its cause. Moreover, the tendency of the concept of privacy and some advice will be proposed based on the analysis of theory and case. It is sincerely hoped that this essay may help those who are or will be puzzled with the different concept of privacy and will be beneficial to improve cross-culture communication in the future. If we are aware of cultural transformations and get the latest knowledge about privacy attitudes in the process of intercultural communication, we can minimize fixed stereotypes, which may lead to cultural prejudice and cultural shocks. Thus, it will be conducive to effective intercultural communication.
2. Literature review
2.1 Culture and Communication
Culture is invisible and universal and it exists in almost every human society. Although many scholars have tried to define the term “culture”, it is difficult to come to an agreement on a single definition. Almost everyone has a definition of culture. Nida (1993:105) has defined culture as “the totality of beliefs and practices of a society” and another general definition of it is the products of life and arts. Culture is the deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, actions, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and artifacts acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through inpidual and group striving. (Samovar, 2000: 36)
Like culture, communication is everywhere. People can not live without communication. According to Samovar and Porter (2000), communication occurs whenever meaning is attributed to behavior or the residue of behavior. When someone observes our behavior or its residue and gives meaning to it, communication has taken place regardless of whether our behavior was conscious or unconscious, intentional or unintentional. Later, they furthered the definition: (1) Communication is dynamic; it is an ongoing, ever changing activity. (2) Communication is symbolic. (3) Communication is interactive. (4) Communication is irreversible. (5) Communication takes place in a physical and a social context; both establish the rules that govern the interaction.