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汉语传播的国际形象问题

On the Global Image in the International Promotion of Chinese Language
  • 宇明 李

    李宇明, 北京语言大学教授。曾任华中师范大学副校长、教育部语言文字应用研究所所长、教育部语言文字信息管理司司长、国家语委副主任等职。2012 年 4 月起担任北京语言大学校务委员会主任。出版著作 10 余部, 发表论文 400 余篇。主要研究领域为语法学、儿童语言发展和语言规划学。代表作有《儿童语言的发展》 (华中师范大学出版社, 1995 年) 、《汉语量范畴研究》 (华中师范大学出版社, 2000 年) 、《语法研究录》 (商务印书馆, 2002 年), 《中国语言规划论集》 (德古意特出版社, 2015), 并主编《全球华语词典》 (商务印书馆, 2010 年), 联合主编《中国语言生活状况 (英文版)》 (德古意特出版社, 2013, 2014, 2015)。

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From the journal Global Chinese

摘要

本文讨论汉语的国际形象问题。语言形象是由语言所属国家的形象、语言的有关状况和人们有意识的塑造等因素相互作用形成的。这些因素造就了法语 “优美” 、 “文明” 的形象、英语 “国际化” 、 “现代化” 的形象, 而英语在国际应用中逐步超越法语, 表明了 “实用性” 的国际语言选择趋势。汉语现在的国际形象可概括为 “神奇、经济红利、难学”, 应在此基础上采取各种举措, 使其嬗变为 “经济红利+魅力文化” 的形象, 且要破除 “汉语难学” 的印象。一种合适的、正面的语言形象, 对于汉语的国际传播具有十分重要的意义。

Abstract

This paper focuses on the global image of the Chinese language. Language image is formed by a combination of nation image, the actual situation of language use as well as the image shaped consciously by its speaker and planners. For example, French has the image of elegance and civilization while English has the image of internationalization and modernity. English takes over French as a world language because of its image as a practical language. The current image of the Chinese language is mystical, economically profitable, and hard to learn. Efforts are being made to change the image to a language of economic dividend and attractive culture. Such an image would be of great importance to the international promotion of Chinese.

About the authors

宇明 李

李宇明, 北京语言大学教授。曾任华中师范大学副校长、教育部语言文字应用研究所所长、教育部语言文字信息管理司司长、国家语委副主任等职。2012 年 4 月起担任北京语言大学校务委员会主任。出版著作 10 余部, 发表论文 400 余篇。主要研究领域为语法学、儿童语言发展和语言规划学。代表作有《儿童语言的发展》 (华中师范大学出版社, 1995 年) 、《汉语量范畴研究》 (华中师范大学出版社, 2000 年) 、《语法研究录》 (商务印书馆, 2002 年), 《中国语言规划论集》 (德古意特出版社, 2015), 并主编《全球华语词典》 (商务印书馆, 2010 年), 联合主编《中国语言生活状况 (英文版)》 (德古意特出版社, 2013, 2014, 2015)。

Li Yuming is a Professor of Beijing Language and Culture University. He served as the Vice President of Huazhong Normal University, the Director of Education Language Application Research Institute, the Director of Language Information Administration Division of the Ministry of Education, and the Vice Chairman of the State Language Commission, China. Since April 2012, he has severed as the Chairman of the faculty committee of Beijing Language and Culture University. His publications include 10 monographs and over 400 papers. His research interests include grammar, language development of children, and language planning. His main publications include: Language development of children (Huazhong Normal University Press, 1995), Research on Chinese Quantity Category (Huazhong Normal University Press, 2000), Collection of Theses on Grammar (The Commercial Press, 2002), Chinese Language Planning (de Gruyter, 2013, 1014,2015). He is also the editor of the Dictionary of Global Chinese, the co-editor of Language Situation in China (de Gruyter, 2013, 1014, 2015).

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Note

本文内容曾在 “第八届两岸现代汉语问题学术研讨会” (2014 年 6 月 12 ~14,台湾师范大学) 、新闻出版总署第九期 “辞书编辑出版人员资格培训班” (2014 年 6 月 24 日) 、孔子学院志愿者培训班 (2014 年 6 月 25 日,北京语言大学) 、 “首届汉语跨文化传播国际研讨会” (2014 年 7 月 12 日,复旦大学) 、第 11 届对外汉语国际学术研讨会 (ICCSL11,2014 年 7 月 18 日,北京语言大学、宁夏大学) 、首期汉语国际教育高级研习班 (2014 年 7 月 24 日,北京语言大学) 做过演讲。感谢李清清博士提供她的博士论文电子版,慷慨供我参考。感谢李春玲教授帮我搜集、分析关于 “汉语难学” 的一些材料。


English synopsis (英文简介)

On the Global Image in the International Promotion of Chinese Language

The international promotion of the Chinese language involves all Chinese people across the world. Sharing Chinese language and its culture with the world contributes to the diversity of human language and culture, and the harmony and progress of the entire human race. Efficiency of Chinese language promotion, as with any other language, depends on the populations who learn and use it as the second language.

Historically, Chinese language had spread to China’s neighbours through missionaries who introduced Sinology to Europe. It carried a certain image that was created by those concerned. In today’s international promotion of the language, it is important to consider the values and image we wish to promote and project to the learners of Chinese.

All languages in the world have their images, which formed on the basis of various factors. The first group of factors relate to the global image of the nation that the language belongs to, and the situation of the language itself. The second include the situation of the language itself, for example, the linguistic structure, the writing system, the information load of the linguistic system, and its current usage around the world. The third is the awareness of key stake holders in shaping and promoting of language image.

The Chinese language had established its image in East Asia from ancient times through its influences on other languages. Sinology had shaped the Chinese language image in the West. Along with the steady and continuous rapid development in the past decades, the world has a new understanding on China. This understanding, to some extent, will become a new factor in the formation of the new global image of the Chinese language. At present, the international image of Chinese might be summarized in three keywords: mystery, profit and difficulty.

The Chinese language and its written characters, along with its cultural values, continue to appear ancient and mysterious, especially to the West. Missionaries and sinologists were fascinated by the oriental civilization ever since their first contact with China. Chinese scholars tend to emphasize the long and unique history of China, through the teaching of Chinese classics, making the fascinating and peculiar features of the Chinese language even more prominent, which reinforced the image of the Chinese language as a “mysterious” object.

The image of economic and business profits that the Chinese language may bring along did occur in earlier times, e.g. the Silk Road, but has become increasingly evident since China opened up itself in the late 1970s. The prediction of China’s economic future only strengthens that image.

In the meantime, Chinese remains to be seen as a difficult language to learn, not only because of tonal structure and writing system, which are foreign in every sense to the westerners, but also because of the cultural connotations and pragmatic principles underlying its everyday use. The difficulty of learning a language depends on a number of variables, which include the distance between the target language and the first language of the learner, learning conditions and motivations of learning. As language learning requires a large investment including study materials, energy, time and the courage of abandoning other “likes”, dispelling the image of “learning Chinese is hard” is crucial in the promotion of Chinese internationally.

Understanding what image the Chinese language has in the world currently and how such an image was formed is crucial in the successful promotion of Chinese worldwide. In particular, questions should be asked as to whether we should aim to project Chinese as a language of “ancient civilization” or a language to “grasp the future”. The former stands on the perspective of history and cultural traditions, while the latter focuses on the development of economic life. The successful promotion of the Chinese language requires the promotion of China’s achievements on culture, technology, economy, arts, etc, which in turn contributes to the progress of the whole world. Since the Chinese language is not only used in mainland China, but also used in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other overseas Chinese communities, it is necessary to work together by all Chinese people. Chinese speakers should treasure their language and maintain its dignity.

Constructing the international image of Chinese language needs to be a concern by national culture planners, language planners and educators. That is to say, macro-level planning and specific measures need to be considered, constructed and coordinated. People in the world of international economic cooperation and trade should also make their contributions to the promotion of Chinese to the world.

Published Online: 2015-4-14
Published in Print: 2015-4-1

©2015 by De Gruyter Mouton

Downloaded on 19.3.2024 from https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/glochi-2015-1011/html
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