Abstract: Politeness is an universal phenomenon in human society, and it is a symbol of human civilization and an important criterion of human social activities. With a detailed analysis and comparison, this paper studies the commonality and differences of politeness principles in China and the West.  It proves that to carry out an effective cross-cultural communication, communicators should fully understand the social and cultural background of that country, paying great attention to those differences with their motherland,  obeying  the politeness principle , and thus avoid communication failures.

Key words: cross-cultural communication; politeness; cultural differences; verbal communication

摘要 礼貌, 是人类社会一种普遍存在的现象, 在不同文化中具有文化差异性。它是人类文明的标志, 是人类社会活动的重要的准则。本文对中西礼貌原则进行分析对比,通过礼貌研究的理论背景，研究中西礼貌原则的共同性和差异性，说明要想有效的进行跨文化交际, 交际者应该充分了解目的语国家的社会文化背景及差异, 从而遵从礼貌原则，避免造成交际失败。

关键词：跨文化交际；礼貌；文化差异；语言表达