Susan Chyn 2009-01-07

21st Century Newspaper 787

 

Last month, many Chinese media reported the incident of a German journal (Max Planck Forschung) mistaking a striptease show advertisement for classical Chinese poetry and using it as its cover. Just how could this publication known for its meticulous academic research make this kind of mistake?

 

It's fair to say that the editors had no clue what the elegant characters on the cover meant; there was no intent to offend. Rather, the problem was a lapse in "quality control." The journal's sinologist should have checked the meaning with a native speaker.

 

Many Chinese readers laughed at the error, but used the incident to gauge China's "soft power" and lament the extent to which Chinese culture is disseminated throughout the world. How is it possibile that even foreign "experts" are unable to understand stock phrases in Chinese?

 

The answer is painful but simple: The Chinese language is incredibly difficult for non-native speakers to master. It can take over 20 years for us to learn language conventions and grasp the social contexts underlying the words. Did the ad for the burlesque show look like a poem? Not really. The foreign sinologist was fooled by the flowery, semi-classical descriptions of the women. There was no explicit reference to strippers. To understand the ad, one had to read between the lines-- and for a non-native speaker, reading between the lines can be very tough.

 

So what about China's global soft power? Because so many young people are choosing to study Chiense these days, the prevailing assumption is that foreigners are knowedgeable about China. More than a few young Westerners in Beijing have confided to me that they hope to become "fluent" within two years and then return home to use Chinese on the job. I listen to their dreams and wish them well. But my own experience suggests that it's virtually impossible to become conversant in Chinese language and culture in the space of two years. The learning curve is just too steep.

 

That's why we should be surprised when an "expert" sinologist fails to understand an indirectly worded text such as the burlesque show ad. For China's soft power to grow, we all need to realize how large an investment is required for foreigners to attain true competency in the Chinese language and a cultural literacy that allows them to "read between the lines." Clearly, China needs to continue to support its Confucius academies and other language training programs. Chinese characters must be better understood before China's cultural influence can expand in tandem with its integration into the global economy.

 

LEXICAL CHUNKS 词串

burlesque - 下流粗俗的表演

competency - 能力

Confucius- 孔子

conversant- 收悉的

disseminate - 散布

gauge - 评估

integration - 结合

lament - 悲叹

lapse in quality control - 品质管制的失误

learning curve is too steep - 学习曲线过于陡峭

meticulous - 小心翼翼的

sinologist - 汉学家

striptease - 脱衣舞

in tandem with x - 随着 x 行

underlying - 隐含的

 

confide in x - 向 x 袒露心事

 

例句

That teacher is very popular with the students. In fact, many of them like to confide in her about their personal problems.

这个老师非常受学生欢迎，许多学生乐于向她袒露心事。

 

read between the lines - 体会言外之意

 

例句

His writing contains a lot of sarcasm, and so you need to read between the lines to understand what he is saying.

他的写作风格十分讥讽。要理解他到底在说什么你必须体会言外之意。