中美小费文化差异及英文表达

回顾:

上一次:中美的租法法律相关的一些事情

现在我们就化几分钟的时间来回顾一下昨天提到的相关内容以及英文化表达

法律文书:legal forms.

房东是:landlord

租客:tenant

房屋租赁:residential rental/lease

Housing style: Room, basement suite, apartment, condominium, town house, duplex, cabin, house, mobile home.

Furnishings

Appliances

Amenities

Parking lot

Home business

Other occupants

Pets

Smoking

Lease start date

Inspection

Length of lease

Amount of rent

Security deposit

Payment schedule

Utilities

Rent increases

Late fees

Default

Landlord improvements

Tenant improvements

Maintenance

Insurance

Renter’s insurance

Assignment and subletting

Renewal of lease

Termination of the lease

Rerent  levy

Addional  clauses

Signing information

中国有关于房屋出租的法律的,最直接的就是《合同法》。

房屋出租的,双方间属于租赁合同关系,《合同法》中的第十三章就是针对租赁合同的特别规定。

《合同法》第十三章 租赁合同



中西方小费文化差异及相对应的英文表达:

tips(小费),源自于18世纪的英国,是to insure prompt service(保证立刻服务)的首写字母缩略词。付小费的风气在英美国家的服务行业中十分流行,因此小费是服务人员的正当合法收入。

to insure prompt service

UK [tu ɪnˈʃʊə(r) prɒmpt ˈsɜːvɪs]

US [tu ɪnˈʃʊr prɑːmpt ˈsɜːrvɪs]

确保快捷服务(赏金)

A tip/tips小费

动词用法:给小费

复数:tips第三人称单数:tips现在进行时:tipping过去式:tipped过去分词:tipped











tipping

In China, a 10 or 15 percent service charge is added in lieu of tipping.

加收了 10% 或15%的服务费以代替小费。

in lieu of

UK [ɪn luː ɒv]

US [ɪn luː əv]

代替(或补充)罚金,代替,作为……的替代

TIPS = To Insure Prompt Service,小费的意思. tips的中文音。是指小提示,小技巧。 贴士是“TIPS”的音译,最早是香港、广东一带传入的,意思是提示。

gratuity

UK [ɡrəˈtjuːəti]

US [ɡrəˈtuːəti]

n.

小费;赏钱;报酬;退职金;遣散费;退休金

grat 令人高兴的;高雅 + uity → 因高兴才给〔的东西〕→ 赏钱

GRE Vocabulary

复数:gratuities

Comparison of Chinese and Western Tip Culture:

Abstract: We are talking about the research of Chinese and Western Tip Culture. Chinese people and westerners have totally different attitudes towards tips, resulting from the difference of cultural psychology. Chinese society has a strong group consciousness and sense of hierarchy and the westerners have individual consciousness and awareness of equality.

Keywords: Chinese, Western, Tip, cultural psychology, root。我们分享的是中西方小费文化的差异。中西方人对于小费的态度差异源于文化心理的不同,中国人有着强烈的集体意识和等级观念,西方人个人意识和平等观念比较强。

1. Introduction

Tip originates from London in the 18th century, which was used to insure promptness (tip is short for "to insure promptness) at first and later for the payment to reward the service personnel. Some scholars elaborate that tip cannot reflect the level of civilization and it has nothing to do with personal quality. Some other scholars think that the particularity of service is the root of tip. And the particularity of service has the value which could equal to the tip. Though many scholars have analyzed the tip from different angles of view, these theories can not explain why Chinese and western people have different attitudes to the tip. In this sharing, I'll try to find the original of the difference between Chinese and Western tip culture.

2. Western Tip Culture

The tip comes from the west and prevails in the service industry of western countries. It is very common that customers pay tips to the people who have provided service to them. Especially in America, you should pay tips when you are living in a hotel, dinning in a restaurant, moving, having a haircut or having shoes brushed. According to statistics, there are 35 service industries that need to tip in America. and 29 in Spain, 25 in Canada, 24 in Italy and 10 in Denmark.

In these Western countries, paying tips is not a kind of system and has no legal restriction. It is a kind of voluntary behavior and convention. Tips are an important part of service personnel' s income. 70% of the income comes from tips and in some industries, the percentage even have reached 100. It is obvious that western service personnel's  income is considerable. In America, some people live on tips and some even make fortune through tips. For example, some young waitresses working in the restaurants in Disney can get tips of 400 dollars each week at most.

The amount of the tip is decided by the country size, industry and service properties. Take restaurant for example, the restaurants do not include a service charge in the bill, so you should tip the waiter 15% of the total bill. If service is slow or particularly bad, some Americans will tip only 10%. Likewise, if service was particularly good, it is appropriate to tip 20%. If service was SO bad that you would never eat in the restaurant again, leave two cents. This is a deliberate insult, because it tells the waiter that you didn't forget to leave a tip. Tipping is only appropriate in restaurants which offer table service. You do not tip the cashier in a fast food restaurant.

3. Chinese Tip Culture

Tip which prevails in the western countries used to be a sensitive topic in China. The National Tourism Administration used to prohibit the behavior of asking for tips in tourism industry. According to a survey, 60.11% of people don't agree with tips in the domestic tourism and 39.89% said that they can accept the tip based on the high quality of service.

The tip can not survive indeed in such an eastern civilization country. Nowadays, it is rare to tip in the tourism as well as in other industries. Tour guides working for organized group tours may expect tips which, along with commissions, may form the bulk of their income. Private or independent guides work for an agreed tipping in cash should not be necessary. Taxi drivers in Beijing, Shang hai and most other Chinese cities are not accustomed to tipping at all, because they are required by the law to give a receipt to every passenger. Therefore, no tip is necessary.

Tipping is not a part of Chinese culture or tradition, and several establishments actually have a strict no tipping policy. This includes restaurants, massage studios and so on. In fact, offering a gratuity may be considered impolite in certain quarters as it can be taken to imply that one's work is undervalued by the employer. The only place where a tip might be expected is at a high-end hotel catering to western tourists. And the only reason tipping maybe expected there is because western tourists have conditioned the behavior. Still, not tipping will not cause offence.

4. The root of differences between Chinese and Western Tip Culture

When we are trying to find the root of differences between Chinese and Western Tip Culture, we can find that the difference of cultural psychology is the key factor. Cultural psychology is a field of psychology which assumes the idea that culture and mind are inseparable, and that psychological theories grounded in one culture are likely to be limited in applicability when applied to a different culture." (Wikipedia) It includes philosophy, values, religion, ethics and other cultural concepts. The traditional Chinese culture and the western culture have a great of differences.

Because of the differences of geographical environment, historical background and development process. Cultural psychology can affect people's ways of thinking and  behavior, which leads to the differences between Chinese and Western Tip Culture.

4.1 Group consciousness and individual consciousness

Farming and small-scale peasant economy is the main production mode of our country, and it makes people used to collective work, which results in Chinese people’s group consciousness. Chinese people advocate the personal interest obedience to the collective interests, the collective honor, self less dedication and the unity cooperation.

The basic characteristic of the western culture is individualism. The individual is the starting point, the core and the purpose. From their point of view, individual rights are sacrosanct and it is the country and society's duty to protect individual rights. They attach great importance to the personal dignity and personal value and they put personal interests in the first place. They are not used to care about other people or to help others.

In the west, tips can show affirmation and respect of the guests to the service personnel and can also express guests' gratitude to the service provided. You will be blamed if you refuse to pay tips in America. However, in China, accepting tips is a behavior against moral. Because most Chinese people think that tips is the result of ideological trend of money worship and it is service personnel's responsibility to provide attentive services. As a result, tips will be refused by the service personnel angrily, because they regard tips as a shame.

4.2 Sense of hierarchy and awareness of equality Confucianism is the core of Chinese traditional culture. In the feudal society of China, it was generally accepted that seniority should be respected, and that the respected should be treated differently from inferiors. The sense of hierarchy has rooted in the heart of contemporary Chinese. In China, the service work has always been viewed as nidering work. Service personnel have a low social status and they always have inferior mentality. If they are given tips, they will feel a shame.

In the west, people emphasize that individuals are equal and noble, and should be respected as well. Everyone respect themselves and as well as other people. Parents and their children are also equal. They can call each other 's name directly and can compete with each other. In the western countries, where have no sense of hierarchy, customers and service personnel are totally equal. Tip is a kind of expression of gratitude based on respecting each other. Refusing to pay tips is a performance of inequality.

5. Conclusion

Chinese people and western people have totally different attitudes towards tips, resulting from the difference of cultural psychology. Chinese society has a strong group consciousness and sense of hierarchy, SO Chinese people are not used to paying tips and service personnel regard tips as a shame. Nevertheless, in the west, tips are the expression of respecting each other and show the equality of individuals. This is because their individual consciousness and awareness of equality. But I guess, someday, Chinese people will accept tips gradually, because equality and individualism are the trends of social development.


很多去过欧美国家游玩的小伙伴们,无论是去感受纯净自然风光,还是欣赏先贤大师们的杰作,一定有着一个相同的小烦恼——给小费。给多少、什么时候给、具体给谁?这些问题似乎没有一个准确答案,不同地不同俗。其实,关于给小费这件事,不仅咱们有些“水土不服”,就连发展壮大了这个风俗习惯的美国也对此褒贬不一。近日,美国数据和营销服务公司Dynata的一项调查发现,只有37%的人表示他们“总是”或“经常”给小费,美国国家经济研究局的一项研究也发现,近60%的优步乘客从不给司机小费。来自亚特兰大咨询机构的数据显示,有29%的18至34岁的受访者认为给小费这种行为已经过时。近年来,在美国的服务业,刮起了一场抵制小费的“拒付小费活动”(No-Tipping Movement)风潮。早在2015年,联合广场酒店集团(Union Square Hospitality)的老板丹尼·梅耶(Danny Meyer)就宣布名下的11家餐厅全部禁止给小费行为。Joe's Crab Shack也发声称,禁止旗下的18家连锁店收受小费,很多知名连锁餐厅、咖啡馆也都纷纷效仿,加入到这个活动中。

说起给小费这个习惯,还得追溯到17世纪的英格兰。当时,乡绅贵族们会经常和朋友一起到郊外聚会喝酒,他们会塞给酒保、留宿地的房东一些钱,以此“确保迅捷的服务”(To Insure Promptitude),后来,这句短语被缩略成了每个单词的首字母“TIP”,给小费的习惯也由此慢慢扩展开来。19世纪时,一些到欧洲旅行的美国富人看到了这种“时髦”的生活方式,于是将这种具有“上层贵族气质”的习惯带回了美国本土,以此“炫耀”他们高人一等的社会阶级。给小费这种习惯最初遭到很多美国人的反对,他们认为付小费的行为会滋生出依赖权贵阶层的“奴性社会”。于是,在19世纪末20世纪初时,美国就掀起过一场反对小费的活动,包括威斯康辛、伊利诺伊、爱荷华、内布拉斯加、田纳西以及南卡罗来纳在内的六个州的立法机构都提案关于反对小费的立法,但都宣告失败。小费制度在美国的餐厅、酒吧中迅速蔓延,并“大行其道”。

2004年,一位名叫杰伊·波特的计算机顾问辞职下海,在圣地亚哥开了一家名为The Linkery的时尚餐厅。2006年,餐厅的一个举措吸引了全美的目光——老板杰伊·波特宣布餐厅将严禁给小费行为,当时,包括《纽约时报》在内的很多媒体都对此进行了宣扬,甚至有人称其为“拒付小费活动”的“教父”,反对小费的风潮时隔近1个世纪后再次被点燃。杰伊·波特曾在其博客中解释了采取这一举动的原因,他认为,给小费已经慢慢从风俗演变成了行业不成文的“潜制度”,而这样的一种分配制度其实不利于服务业的正常发展。杰伊·波特指出,小费的直接受益者只有服务员,这对餐厅中的其他工作人员不公平,其次,服务员也有可能无法专注于服务顾客,因为他们得分心想着其他桌的顾客有没有付小费。这样分配不公的工作环境有可能打击工作人员的积极性,最终受害的其实是餐厅。

对顾客而言,小费是对享受到的优质服务的一种额外奖励,而现实中,在餐厅忍受了漫长等位、等餐时间,或是回到酒店时看到依旧粘着头发的床具、浴巾的顾客们,迫于“入乡随俗”的压力,不得不支付小费。一些店家类似“绑架”或“索要”的方式要小费,也让不少顾客感到非常反感。

“拒付小费活动”的成员卡罗尔?萨多夫斯基曾在网上分享过她在拉斯维加旅行的一个经历,她居住的酒店所在的街道有很多洗衣店和美发店,在这些店铺里,无一例外地都摆放着一个物件——小费罐,即便是自助洗衣店中也不例外。“当你没有往罐子里塞小费时,店里的员工会一直瞪着你直至你离开,有些店铺甚至会在小费罐旁放上耶稣的画像,并写上“上帝看见了你的诚意”等语句,以此‘绑架’你掏钱。”除此之外,还有一些餐饮店把顾客给小费当成了补贴服务员工资的一种方式,这让很多已经支付了餐费后又被“薅羊毛”的顾客怨声载道。针对“拒付小费活动”可能导致服务员收入降低的问题,一些学者和业界专家认为,大多数消费者的注意力会集中在直接消费的项目上,对那些间接的费用反倒不会太过于关注,例如,相对于数百元的餐费而言,几块或是十几块的小费和服务费不太会让消费者们上心。因此,餐厅或其他服务业者可以通过适当地提高商品价格,或者以收取服务费的方式,让餐厅的所有从业人员享有这份福利,薪资提升带来的幸福感会促进大家的工作积极性,这才是让服务业长远稳定发展的好办法。

你可能感兴趣的:(中美小费文化差异及英文表达)