Application,of,Idioms,in,Cross-cultural,Communication_cultural ingroup

　　Abstract:An idiom is a phrase, construction, or expression that is understood in a given language. This expression has a meaning that differs from typical syntactic patterns or that differs from the literal meaning of its parts taken together. This paper mainly discusses idioms including set phrases, proverbs, enigmatic folk similes and literary quotations. Both English and Chinese languages have a long history, Different customs and element of idioms is the objective factor of understanding of idioms. The paper concerns the concepts and features of idioms from Chinese and English countries as well as its application during cross-cultural communication.
　　Key Words:idioms cross-cultural communication application
　　
　　Ⅰ Brief Introduction of Cross-cultural Communication Background
　　Recently, we have witnessed the closer and closer international communication. It is not only a bilingual phenomenon, but also a bicultural one. Language is an important part of the culture. As we know, Chinese and English belong to different language systems; people from these countries enjoy different cultures. During communication, people are using idioms everyday even without realizing it. Both Chinese and English are rich in idiomatic expressions. Due to the distinct significance of idioms, as a speaker of culture, it is of great importance to study the cross-cultural comparison of idiom in different language.
　　Ⅱ Definitions of idioms
　　In Collins (COBUILD) English Dictionary (Sinclair, 33), idiom is defined as:
　　1.A particular idiom is a particular style of something such as music, dance or architecture; a formal use.
　　2.An idiom is a group of words which have a different meaning when used together from the one they would have if you took the meaning of each word individually.
　　3.Idiom of a particular kind is the kind of language and grammatical structures that people use at a particular time or in a particular place; a formal use.
　　Ⅲ Some idioms in Daily Life
　　Different countries can share the same language, however, different people have their own dialects, the local social tradition, the native concepts and beliefs; many idioms are just developed from such special cultural backgrounds.
　　1.Bad hair day
　　A bad hair day is one of those days when nothing seems to be going right. It originated from the 1992"s movie "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". This was the exact lines from the film:
　　Buffy (Kristy Swanson) to the one-armed vampire Amilyn (Paul Reubens):
　　"I"m fine but you"re obviously having a bad hair day."
　　2.Catch-22
　　Originated from a 1961 novel by Joseph Heller, where one bureaucratic regulation is dependent on another, which in turn is dependent on the first. It is a paradox - a situation or statement which seems impossible or is difficult to understand because it contains two opposite facts or characteristics.
　　3.Drink like a fish
　　Meaning drink heavily, this idiom originated from the fact that fish live in water and are associated with water. Obviously, fishes don"t drink.
　　4.Elvis has left the building
　　Meaning the show/event has ended, this comes from the announcements that used to be made at the end of musician Elvis"s concerts in order to get fans to leave the arena. Now we use this term anytime an event has ended.
　　5.Flea market
　　Dating back to the 1920"s it is translation of a French term for open air markets. These markets were often flea infested. Also, “flea”used to mean cheap.
　　Ⅳ Application in cross-cultural communication
　　There are so many funny idioms in our daily life which can reflect kinds of cultural phenomenon from Chinese and English languages. In this paper I will write some down and share the joys of these stories with you.
　　1.One day an America man dated with a Chinese girl. They had a good time and hoped to have such talk again. So they made an arrangement that they would have lunch together the next day. On the moment of saying goodbye, the girl suddenly said, "Don"t send me pigeon!" But the foreigner couldn"t understand and wondered why he should send her a pigeon. Later he knew that girl just translated Chinese word“别放我鸽子” into English directly. The America idiom is “Don’t stand me up.”
　　2.One day the writer went to a well-known western-style restaurant in Singapore. He heard that the steak in this restaurant is good. So when the waiter came to ask him "How would you like your steak?" He answered quickly "Forty percent." But the waiter didn"t know what he was driving at. What"s the problem? That is because in English no such expression as "Forty percent". It should be right expression as followings:
　　三分熟 Rare 五分熟 Medium 七分熟 Medium-well 全熟 Well-done
　　3.As we all know, foreigners like to have party. Everyone is party girl or party boy. One day,I went to join one foreigner friend’s party. Seeing me, he just said, “Hey, knock yourself out!” I was totally confused and doubted if I was not accepted here. And later I knew that means “Enjoy yourself just feel like at home”.
　　Ⅴ Cultural Factors of Idioms in Cross-cultural Communication
　　Though belong to different society in historical and cultural background, Chinese and English languages share general similarity in living environments, in living and thinking mode and in human emotion. These aspects lead to many similarities in idioms.
　　In Chinese language, We may find so many examples in a great many cross-cultural communications, there are some rough similar words or idioms in English and Chinese, such as "strike iron while it is hot (趁热打铁)”, “love me, love my dog(爱屋及乌)” and etc. In English, for example, one may say “from the frying pan into the fire”, as a way of indicating the circumstances become worse circumstances. In Chinese, one may say “祸不单行”,indicating increasingly worse and worse. When we talk about a person who is quite poor, in English expressions such as “他穿的像个要饭的”. Similar expressions such as “the burnt child dreads the fire(一日被蛇咬,十日怕井绳)” “as you sow, you will reap(种瓜得瓜,种豆得豆)” and etc. In these examples, we consider them as similarity cultural factor. In the light of above analysis, cultural similarity takes two fields in a sense:(1)Rough similarity in content and in form, It means the equivalence in meaning, style and rhetoric;(2)The words or idiomatic phrases with the same meanings in spite of their different surface structures.
　　Ⅵ Function of idioms in cross-cultural communication
　　The main function of idioms is to explain what is going on, and what is being said. Idiomatic expressions pervade English with a peculiar flavor and give it great variety, bright personality and color. They help language learners understand English culture, penetrate into customs and lifestyle of English people, and make a deeper insight into English history and culture.
　　With the development of cross-cultural communication, more and more idioms will widely show up in English movies, books, newspapers, and real life communication. Consequently, learners will meet more and more idioms in their learning not only in written form such as novels and magazines, but also in spoken form like movies and plays. Take a view of English learning in China; it is easy to find that learners are not fully aware of the importance of English idiom study. And the result of idiom learning is far from satisfactory.
　　Furthermore, English idioms should also be noted that are different from Chinese idioms. For example: the users and the implication of idioms are different. In Chinese, a speaker being able to use four-character idioms is in most cases a cultured one, whereas it is not necessarily the case in English. Different cultural implications in Chinese and English idioms can be said to be the contributor to the difference in their pragmatic use.
　　In view of the difficulty and the significance of idiom learning, as language learners, who are supposed to build a bridge for the Eastern and Western cultures, we should become aware of the increasing significance of idiom learning. Due attention and efforts should be given to the study of English idioms and more work needs to be done in this special field. English learners should learn about the meaning and usages of idioms as well as the origins of these idioms for the sake of adequate communication.
　　Ⅶ Conclusion
　　From what we have discussed above, we can clearly come to a conclusion that it is necessary to learn the cultural factors in English and Chinese idioms when we are applying them. From the point of cross-cultural communication"s view, it is easy and interesting to notice the meanings of the idioms .English and Chinese idioms themselves are important part of that country"s culture. They play a vital role of retaining, passing traditional culture down to the next generation including one people"s unique cultural factors, and they will go on having progressive influence on people"s real life.
　　References:
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