ANÁLISIS DE LA ENCUESTA

According to Byram (1997), savoir être refers to “curiosity and openness, readiness to suspend disbelief about other cultures and belief about one's own” (1997, p. 50), which he further highlighted as the precondition for successful intercultural interaction. Indeed, the open-minded attitude emerged very strongly in this study’s data. The concept of open-mindedness is often defined as an “open and unprejudiced attitude towards out-group members and towards different cultural norms and values” (Van Oudenhoven & Van der Zee, 2002). Accordingly, analysis of the data showed that both international and home students foregrounded an open- minded attitude with regards to engagement in intercultural activities, as well as encounters with cultural others, which, in turn, becomes the basis upon which a closer and personal intercultural relationship can be built. The most frequent words the participants used to show their open- minded attitudes were ‘proactive’, ‘learn by yourself’ and ‘keep an open mind’. Some specific examples are listed below:

I think it’s mainly if you do want to make a lot of Chinese friends, it’s mainly to do with your own…, like, being very proactive, which means you need to spend more time, like, on the Chinese websites; you need to be more brave in approaching people and, like, that kind of thing. (Michelle)

I think here in 1 year in China, I have learned more than in 3 years in Spain. If you want to see how the Chinese economy is growing, you have to come to China. If you are outside, you can’t know anything. I think you have to see the things with your own eyes. If you asked somebody, somebody said China is bad or whatever, you read about this, and you believe in it, maybe it’s not true. I think you have to come and learn by yourself with your own eye. (James) Because I feel like when I am somewhere going to meet people or travel to places, it’s best to keep an open mind, and not to have many expectations about what people are going to be like. (Lauren)

This view was also shared by most of the home students, who held the belief that keeping an open mind and always being proactive was the key factor for establishing and reinforcing intercultural relations:

但是只要你愿意跟外国学生交流，性格比较开朗的，身边都会有几个外 国朋友的。（吴）

But as long as you are willing to communicate with foreign students, and have an open mind, it is quite easy to build up a friendship with them. (Wu)

In contrast, most Chinese participants tended to entertain the idea that shyness and the closed- mindedness of traditional Chinese culture acted as major hindrances that prevented them from developing deeper relationships with foreign students, as exemplified by Yu and Zhao:

我觉得主要是我自己的原因，我不算开放型的，我有的时候也不知道该 跟他们聊些什么。（于）

I personally believe that my introverted personality underlies the difficulty in establishing a deep relationship with foreign students. Hardly can I find an appropriate topic to initiate conversation with them. (Yu)

我在交流中比较被动，可能是别人主动找我，我才会跟他成为朋友，我

不太会主动去找，无论是中国人还是外国人都是这样的。(赵)

I am used to being quite passive when it comes to interacting and making friends with others, regardless of whether they are Chinese or foreign people, unless they take the initiative in making contact with me. (Zhao)

This situation was not unusual. Wu, for example, recollected her conversation with the class representatives among the international student body in relation to their impression about Chinese students on campus:

不敢跟他们说话。(吴)

I think the main encumbrance that obstructs Chinese students from approaching foreigners is their inherited introvertedness and lack of confidence to initiate conversation, which is also agreed on by most of the international students in my department. (Wu)

On the contrary, the open-mindedness and confidence entertained among the overseas students seems to increase their chances of forming a closer relationship with their Chinese counterparts:

我就觉得跟美国人相处比较好玩，因为他们比较自信，也比较开放一点。 （莫）

Although we are not living together, I have been getting on well with the American students in our class, because of their relative open-mindedness and confidence. To be frank, I like hanging out with them more than with my Chinese classmates. (Mo)

本来我也很喜欢和外国学生交流，所以没有什么太大的障碍，也没有什 么特别的想说可能会有什么状况，所以一直就保持着很开放的态度。 （夏）

I was really get keen on interacting with international students, and used to keep an open-minded attitude; therefore, there appears to be few hindrances when it comes to making contact with them. (Xia)

Some Chinese participants even found that the positive and open-minded attitude of their international friends had exerted a profound influence on their way of thinking and communicating with cultural others:

我一开始的时候就是超级内向，但是我觉得如果我这样跟她在一起的话 可能过几次她就不愿意和我交流了。所以现在和她在一起的时候我就尽 量像他一样开心起来，但是平时我可能还是不愿意说话那种，但是和她 在一起我会努力改。（杜）

In the beginning I was super-introverted, but I realised later that if I persisted in keeping silent for a few more times, she might lose her patience with me and even stop contacting me as well. So now I try to change myself, and to be as happy as her whenever we are together, although at other times I could still be reluctant to speak up and kept my mind closed as usual.

我觉得他的性格特别开朗吧，其实我们每次见面其实都很开心，他就是 非常的开朗啊，很热情，所以每次见到他都会特别开心，就会促使我也 保持那种积极开朗的心态。（甘）

I think it is largely the open-minded characteristics of my language partner that led to a rather cheerful atmosphere whenever we met with each other. As a matter of fact, his positive attitude and passion for people has exerted a great influence on me, and now I try to keep a positive and open-minded mentality towards whatever happens in my life. (Gan)

As discussed in chapter 2, implicit communication is regarded as one of the five characteristics of Chinese communication (Gao & Ting-Toomey, 1998). Confucian rules, such as a desire to maintain modesty, lie behind this style of communication. Hence, Chinese culture does not seem to encourage people to take initiatives and to be assertive. This way of behaving still seemed to predominate amongst some of the Chinese participants, compared to the behaviour of their international counterparts in this study. However, it can also be seen from the above accounts that the enthusiasm and open-minded attitude of the international students may, to some extent, excite Chinese people’s desire to have a friendly relationship with some foreigners.