American’s sense of time
What is time? Is it a thing to be saved or spent or wasted, like money? Or is it something we have no control over, like the weather? Americans see time as a valuable resource. Maybe that‘s why they are fond of the expression, "Time is money."
  The early American hero Benjamin Franklin expressed this view best: "Do you love life? Then do not waste time, for that is the stuff life is made of."
  American lifestyles show how much people respect the time of others. When people plan an event, they often set the time days or weeks in advance. Once the time is fixed, it takes almost an emergency to change it. time is money
  Even Americans would admit that no one can master time. Time-like money-slips all too easily through our fingers. And time-like the weather-is very hard to predict. Nevertheless, time is one of life‘s most precious gifts. And unwrapping it is half the fun.
American’s唱念做打的意思 concept of time.
Hello, good morning everyone. Today, my topic is American’s concept of time.
Sino-American Cultural has many differences and the concept of time is the biggest one. Most misunderstands and disagreements come from different views on time.
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Early in 1994, President Clinton was once late for a meeting on national affairs. This resulted in fierce criticism by the press. They pointed out: Being late means you lack the ability to manage time, if you can't manage your own time, how can you manage the affairs of state?
You possibly think it’s a little too relentless to complain about the busy president's occasional tardiness. But Americans don't think so.
To Americans, punctuality is a way of showing respect for other people’s time. Being more than ten minutes late to an appointment usually calls for an apology, and maybe an explanation. People who are running late often call ahead to let others know of the delay. Of course, the less formal the situation, the less important it is to be exactly on time. At inf
ormal get-togethers, for example, people often arrive as much as thirty minutes past the appointed time. But they usually don’t try that at work. Those who are late are often considered lazy and inconsiderate and they lose the trust of others.
American lifestyles show how much people respect the time of others. When people plan an event, they often set the time days or weeks in advance. Once the time is fixed, it takes almost an emergency to change it. If people want to come to your house for a friendly visit, they will usually call first to make sure it is convenient. Only very close friends will just “轻工业是指什么drop by” unannounced. Also, people hesitate to call others late at night for fear they might be in bed.
 
The Concept of Time in Different Cultures
“The inaudible and noiseless foot of Time.” written by Shakespeare, indicates the word “Time” what we take it for granted but often neglected. Although we cannot hold or see ti
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me, it controls our lives all the time. Since time is such a personal phenomenon, all of us perceive it in a manner that expresses our character. Each of the culture perceives time differently, so a culture’s attitude towards time can provide valuable clues to how members of that culture value and respond to time.
Hall has classified two kinds of people according to his observation. One is monochromic time and the other is polychromic time (Edward Hall, 1976:17). The members of cultures from USA, north and west Europe holding monochromic time assume time is linear and can be cut, so they pay much more attention to timetables and pre-arrangements. While the people from Latin America and Middle East insists on polychromic time, which is to cope with several things at the same period of time, not emphasizing on the timetable. When the Americans do business with the Arabic people, they always feel disrespected, for the Arabic people are used to dealing with several groups of people at the same time. However, the Arabic people regard that the people preferring monochromic time are unreasonable because they stress the importance of timetable and neglect the concrete circumstances and perfect communication. As for China, it is a monochromic time country
to some extent（Hu Wenzhong, 1999:114）.
To prearrange the plan is of great significance to the people holding monochromic time. For some big wheels and businesspeople, their schedules are filled with time for meetings, banquets and so on. In these countries, if you want to invite some people to dinner, you had better send the invitation in advance, at least one week before. Otherwise, you will be possibly refused. Most of the rules for them are not explicitly taught but they play a pivotal role in intercultural communication. Appreciating the diversity in the concept of time, we would be able to better understand the variation among different cultures.   
As for punctuality, different cultures have various appreciations and have no international rule for that. Michael Argyle makes almost the same point when comparing cultural differences in punctuality standards: “恐惧的意思How late is ‘late’? This varies greatly. In Britain and America one may be 5 minutes late for a business appointment, but not 15 and certainly not 30 minutes late, which is perfectly normal in Arab countries (Michael Argyle, 1982:68). ”