It is human beings’ long cherished wish to search for and establish the common ground of cross-cultural communication. Various ways to conceptualize this “common ground"have been developed for centuries. The most encouraging and inspiring for cross-cultural communication, however, is not to conceive of this “common ground” as a gift from God, or as the foundation of humanity, or as a universal structure of human experience, but to see it as terms, agreements,and a consensus that two cultural parties reach to facilitate communication and mutual understanding. This essay takes the archetypal metaphor as an entry point to discuss the possibility of building such a common ground. It is argued that cross-cultural communication is a two-way metaphorical process of interaction. The founding of a basis of understanding between two cultures depends on whether the two cultures’ conceptual systems are able to reconcile the divergences of their metaphorical structures by way of mutual projection and accommodation. It also relies on whether they are willing to agree to such reconciliation.
中文關鍵詞
跨文化溝通、原型隱喻、互動隱喻理論、文化差異、文化相似性
英文關鍵詞
Cross-cultural Communication, Archetypal Metaphor, Interaction Theory of Metaphor,Cultural Differences, Cultural Similarities