Abstract:

With the rapid development of globalization, intercultural communication has been increasingly frequent and extensive. It provides people from different cultures with the opportunity to understand each other better. Meanwhile, it brings new problems. Different taboo especially linguistic taboo, as a part and parcel of human language, has become one of the most serious problems. This paper analyzes the similarities and differences between English and Chinese taboos from the perspective of intercultural communication. The similarities are discussed from the aspects of religion, death and disease, swear words and excretion, and differences focus on the aspects of privacy, respecting and number. And it aims to help the readers to understand such similarities and differences so that they can achieve success in intercultural communication.

Key words: Comparison; Taboo; Euphemism; English and Chinese; Intercultural Communication

摘要：

随着全球化的快速进步和发展，跨文化交流变得日益频繁和广泛。这虽然让人们对不同文化有了更好的了解但也产生了一些新问题。禁忌尤其是语言禁忌作为人类语言不可或缺的一部分已经成了重大的新问题之一。本文从跨文化交际角度对比研究英汉禁忌语的异同。相同点包括宗教，死亡与疾病，咒骂语和排泄四方面。不同点包括隐私，尊称和数字三方面。本文从跨文化角度分析英汉禁忌语的异同，以帮助读者更好地了解这些异同，更好地进行英汉跨文化交流。

关键词：跨文化交际；禁忌语；委婉语

1.    Introduction
1.1 Definition of Taboo
Taboo originally means something sacred or untouchable. In modern English, it indicates an inhibition or ban resulting from social custom or emotional aversion. Language taboo, a commonly existing social phenomenon among nations in the world, is a special type of language which is a window of knowing a national culture and a mirror of reflecting the culture. In terms of taboo, it has a long history. Taboo was borrowed from Tongan language (汤加语) and introduced into English by the captain James Cook in the 18th century. Language taboo, to some degree, is related to the indecent words which often bring the hearers embarrassment, anxiety, scare, nervousness, etc. In short, language taboo is connected with improper speeches and behaviors which are banned by social conventions. Therefore, people should pay much attention to language taboo when talking to others during personal and intercultural communications. Here in this paper, the author discusses the linguistic taboo only.