"Sex is similar, learning is far away." Both Chinese and western schools are based on the principle of merit-based admission, and are also oriented to improving students' moral, intellectual and physical cultivation. However, due to the differences in cultural thinking, Chinese and western schools have different standards and methods to measure students' advantages and disadvantages, and students have different opportunities and skills to show their talents and strengths. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of cultural differences between China and the West on the writing content of study abroad documents, so as to help improve the writing skills of such documents. Due to the limited space, the discussion in this article is limited to personal statement, recommendation letter and resume. Chinese schools mainly admit students through examinations and official files, paying attention to students' previous achievements in study, research or work, but not understanding the differences of students' personality, thinking and potential; Foreign schools mainly admit students through examinations and application materials. After confirming that students have the necessary qualifications for study, research or work, we should pay more attention to comparing their differences in personality, thinking and potential. Therefore, students in China like to list their achievements in general when showing their talents and strength, and teachers in China also like to say that their disciples are excellent in general when recommending students, and the wording is quite satisfactory; When displaying their talents and strengths, international students like to portray their distinctive personality, thinking and potential under the guise of pride. Foreign professors also like to describe their outstanding and distinctive disciples concisely and vividly when recommending students, and the wording should be steady and vivid. It is precisely because of this difference in cultural thinking that China students' learning, research and work abilities are no less than or even better than those of foreign students. However, because they are not good at using the western way of thinking to show their talents and strength in application materials, they can only look to famous foreign schools.
Resume The content of a resume for studying abroad should focus on advantages and be clear, including personal information, education, work background, honors and awards, academic activities, published works, extracurricular activities, participation in groups, hobbies and other elements. Because they don't understand the cognitive habits of western readers, China students tend to fall into two kinds of thinking misunderstandings in their writing: first, they are too contemptuous and just finish a few lines; The second is to pay too much attention to sesame and watermelon. In the former, the common mistake is that (1) the time of each item is not clear enough. Generally speaking, educational experience and work experience should have starting and ending dates, honors and awards, and specific years of participation in groups, etc. (2) The main responsibilities and major projects should be outlined in the work experience. (3) published works should be written in strict accordance with western standards. (4) It is best to list the roles played by the participating organizations. The latter includes: (1) repeated statements. For example, after mentioning scholarships in academic qualifications, they are repeated in honors and awards. (2) List trivial matters. For example, writing about the inspection of dormitory hygiene six years ago is neither beneficial nor explanatory to the application. (3) There is no focus. For example, in the work background, the general job description is the same as the job description in the project, and so on.
Letter of recommendation Letter of recommendation The contents of the letter of recommendation shall be true and concise. When we need a letter of recommendation in China, we often look for the head of the unit or academic experts. The recommender usually talks about the character and performance of the recommended person. Therefore, letters of recommendation have limited functions in China (readers pay more attention to the information or interpersonal relationship provided by official documents) and limited uses (generally only used for job recommendation). On the contrary, in the western society where the credit system is relatively perfect, the recommendation letter, as a document of credit guarantee, plays a very important role. It is one of the important ways for readers to know the recommended person, and it is widely used in reading, job hunting, and even choosing a house and renting a house. In foreign countries, referees are generally people who have the necessary qualifications and know one or more aspects of the recommended person's study, work and personality. The content of the recommendation letter should be true, accurate and complete, which is directly or indirectly related to the purpose of the recommended person. In view of the differences in cultural thinking between China and the West, China students should pay attention to the following points when preparing letters of recommendation for studying abroad: (1) referees should have more opportunities to know the recommended person, and several referees can show the recommended person's study, work and personality from different angles. Therefore, the recommended person cannot blindly find an academician or foreign professor who knows little about himself, nor can a few referees say that they only reflect one aspect and cannot reflect other aspects. (2) From the common sense of ordinary readers, the content of the recommendation letter is reasonable. Generally speaking, it is unreasonable if the boss of the company knows the specific score of a course when the recommended person goes to college, or if the ordinary teachers in the university know the average score of all courses of the recommended person. (3) The contents of the recommendation letter should not be empty and general. In the recommendation letter, the recommender lists many advantages of the recommended person in study, work, personality and other aspects, but the effect is not as good as describing three or four advantages within a reasonable range. In addition, the relationship between the recommender and the recommended person, the contact time and the contact information of the recommender should also be clearly written.
Personal statement The content of personal statement should be detailed, unique, reasonable and clear. Generally speaking, we only use similar words when applying for professional titles or reporting work in China, but the content requirements are different. Domestic "personal statement" is limited to describing my previous achievements in study, research or work, even if specific cases are occasionally involved in order to highlight the achievements. In a sense, this kind of writing is an expanded version of the resume. Personal statements abroad are the best opportunity for applicants to promote themselves. They not only describe their achievements in previous study, research or work, but also pay more attention to expressing their uniqueness, especially using memorable events as an excuse to describe their distinctive personality, thinking and potential. This difference in thinking has deeply influenced the angle and method of personal statement writing between China and the West. For example, when describing their actions in a project, most students in China focus on describing their solid theory or superb technology. In addition to outlining the background of the project and the theoretical or physical tools used, foreign students pay more attention to their own personality (such as perseverance and team spirit), thinking (such as being diligent in thinking and finding new ways) and potential (such as being good at learning and applying). Although the recognized advantages in personality, thinking and potential are limited, foreign students can often successfully highlight their distinctive personality with their own specific examples and superb writing skills in their mother tongue. Being unfamiliar with the cognitive habits of foreign school admissions officers in reading personal statements, China students are prone to make the following common mistakes: (1) monotonous performance statements. Admissions officers can only know what the applicant has done through such personal statements, but they don't know what kind of person he is and how he thinks. Moreover, admissions officers have to read dozens of application documents every day, which is likely to ignore such personal statements. (2) the argument of the opposite viewpoint. For example, some candidates like to write that they often work overtime to show their diligence. Although this personality is a virtue in a few special cases, the applicant may leave the impression of inefficiency, inefficient use of effective resources and "workaholic" symptoms to the admissions officer. (3) Weak defect explanation. If the applicant's language performance or professional performance is not satisfactory, but in his personal statement, he attributed the failure to busy work and poor health. I hope I can make up for it. But the admissions officer will think that you can't overcome similar adversity abroad in the future, and you lack the courage to bear the results. (4) Guilt complex of self-denial. Applicants may suddenly find that their original major is not suitable for them at all, but there is no need to think that this is a mistake. The key is to convince the admissions officer with your previous professional learning ability and research ability, as well as your careful consideration and full preparation for changing majors. (5) Description of artificial personality. Some applicants have misunderstood the connotation of "personality" and are addicted to attracting readers' attention with strange things that have nothing to do with the application, even sensational things and unrestrained passion. But the admissions staff may think that this is very stupid. Remember that what the admissions officer wants to know is a real applicant. There is a western proverb: "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." As a matter of fact, China students should take care of readers' cognitive habits with the western way of thinking while retaining their own characteristics when writing documents for studying abroad. Only in this way can applicants fully demonstrate their natural potential through these documents and win admission opportunities for themselves.