New Zealand and Chinese Managers' Reflections on Language Use in Business Settings: Implications for Intercultural Communication

Culture, persuasion and language are closely intertwined in intercultural business communication. Hence it is important to study language and persuasion and solicit professional members' views about how effective communication is situated in different cultural contexts. This paper aims to report findings on differences in expectations for good writing between New Zealand and Chinese business cultures. A reflective model based on genre knowledge and Pan, Scollon and Scollon's (2002) reflective intercultural training method is developed as a major approach for soliciting managers' views. Specifically New Zealand and Chinese managers' views on their own culture as well as on their counterparts' were compared. It has been found that persuasive orientations underpin the criteria for good writing in each of the target cultures. However, what is insightful for both groups is that "pathos" or "qing" and "logos" or "li" should be seen as a continuum that can be adjusted appropriately when communicating with their counterparts. (Contains 2 notes.)