Pengpeng enjoying an English rose bush.

Cultural 文化的 differences can really cause misunderstandings 误解。 No matter how perfect your English is, learning the local culture and customs 习俗 is definitely a lesson that can not be skipped 跳过。

Otherwise, lots of confusion 困惑 and embarrassment 尴尬 can be on the way. But fortunately it is something that we can work on.. Here are some culture shock scenarios 情景 that we should be aware of 意识到 in the UK:

1. To begin with, the correct way to greet your friends is ''how are you?'', rather than ''have you had your meal?'' in a Chinese way.

2. When receiving compliments 赞赏，you are supposed to reply with ''thank you'' here. Whereas in China, people often try to reject 否决 compliments in order to show their modesty.

3. As for ''excuse me'' and ''sorry'', they are not applied only when you have made a serious mistake. You use them whenever you cause any inconvenience 不便, such as a sneeze 打喷嚏, getting in the way 挡路，or asking others to repeat.

4. You are appreciated 欣赏 here to hold the door for the people behind you. But you can serve 招待 the drinks for yourself before serving others, which is considered 被认为 to be impolite in China to put yourself first.

5. You are encouraged 鼓励 to open the present in front of the sender. However, it is more common in China to open the present after the sender leave.

6. When meeting new friends, remember to smile and be sociable 善交际的。 Chinese people appear to be more reserved 保守的 and serious when meeting strangers for the first time. But it is important here to give a friendly impression 印象 at the very beginning.

7. Certain kinds of topics are taken more sensitive 敏感的 than in China. People here will not be pleased when you are digging out 挖掘 the details about their private 私人的 life, age, and salary.

8. Talking Chinese in front of foreigners is not polite. This will make them uncomfortable 感觉不自在 as they cannot understand a word.

9. Going to the pubs or a night out is the most common way to socialise here. So take the offer when being invited. It means they want to know more about you as friends.

10. Try to lower your voice down in the public places. Very often you can only hear the sound of the newspapers on the tube, and I guess you do not want to spoil 扰乱 that moment of peace.

I only named a few above that is most common in Britain, there are still to be more for you to find out and add to the culture shock list.

Send us your observations on cultural differences. We will publish them on this page.

你可以写信告诉我们你遇到的文化冲击，我们将把你的评论在此表页发表。

Send her a question by filling in the form at the top of the page or email us at chinaelt@bbc.co.uk

请填写上面的问题反馈表或发邮件给我们 chinaelt@bbc.co.uk

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文章中可能含有某些语法错误，这是因为这些撰稿者的母语不是英语。我们没有刻意纠正，因为我们希望采用作者的原话。