講英語的人聽到別人贊揚,一般說“謝謝”,表示接受,說明自己認為對方的贊揚是誠心誠意的,所贊揚的事是值得贊揚的,因此不應“假裝自卑”或“故作謙虛”,但是,對于中國人來說,聽到別人贊揚時,通常要表示受之有愧,做得很不夠;或者說自己的成就不過是由于僥幸,或者說是客觀條件造成的,等等,而接受贊揚則意味著有驕傲自滿情緒或“缺乏教養”。因此,上述兩種回答引起不同反應是由于雙方語言習慣不同,他們都根據各自的風俗去理解別人所說的話。
English-speakers who hear praise from others generally say “thank you” to indicate acceptance, which shows that they believe the other person’s praise is sincere and what they commend is worth it. Therefore, one should not pretend to be inferior or humble. However, for Chinese, when hearing praise from others, they usually claim that they do not deserve the praise and what they have done is far from enough. Or it can be said that one’s achievements benefit from luck, or objective conditions, etc… while accepting a compliment would imply complacency or a lack of courtesy. Consequently, the differences in the above two responses are due to different language habits of both parties. They all interpret what others say according to their own language customs.