歡迎各位參加漢語學(xué)習(xí)班。作為學(xué)習(xí)班的第一課，我想介紹一下漢語有別于歐洲語言的一些普通特征。
對于那些只熟悉普通的歐洲語言的人來說,漢語是一種截然不同的語言。但是，如果我們仔細(xì)觀察一下漢語的結(jié)構(gòu)，我們便可發(fā)現(xiàn)這種結(jié)構(gòu)并非特別復(fù)雜。事實(shí)上漢語在許多方面較西方語言更為簡單。既然漢語與歐洲語言之間存有一些根本性的不同點(diǎn)，那么了解一下漢語結(jié)構(gòu)及其發(fā)展過程，將有助于各位學(xué)習(xí)漢語。
Welcome to the Program of Chinese as a Foreign Language. For the first session of this program, I wish to highlight some general aspects of Chinese which distinguish this language from European languages.
To people who are familiar only with the common European languages, the Chinese language is strikingly different. Yet, when we examine the structure of the Chinese language, we find that it is not conspicuously complex. Indeed, in many ways it is simpler than the Western languages. But since Chinese does differ from European languages in some fundamental respects, some knowledge of its structure and historical development will help you to learn the language.
在西方人看來，漢語的書寫體系是一種全新的體系：他們所看到的不是排列整齊、筆畫簡單的字母,而是數(shù)以千計(jì)、形態(tài)各異的文字，許多文字看上去錯(cuò)綜復(fù)雜,筆畫縱橫交錯(cuò)得令人難以置信。對許多西方人來說，漢語聽上去頗有旋律感,或許有點(diǎn)像歌曲。你若透過漢語的表象看其內(nèi)部結(jié)構(gòu),也許會(huì)有更多的驚訝。漢語基本上沒有什么動(dòng)詞變化形式,也沒有名詞變格。漢語的語法全然沒有那些令西方學(xué)童生畏的、語法手冊中必有的詞形變化表。例如,英語動(dòng)詞 to buy有各種變化形式,如buy, bought 和 buying,而漢語只有一種形式“買”。又如英語名詞book有單復(fù)數(shù)之分,而漢語只有“書”一種形式。上下文常常可以清楚地表明動(dòng)詞的時(shí)態(tài)和語態(tài),以及名詞的數(shù)。因而,漢語無需依靠這種特別的語法結(jié)構(gòu)。也許正因?yàn)闈h語這種結(jié)構(gòu)上的簡潔性,著名的美國人類學(xué)暨語言學(xué)家愛德華?薩皮爾將漢語描繪為一種有著“合理的邏輯性”的語言。
To the Western eye, the writing system of Chinese is altogether novel: instead of neat rows of simple alphabetic letters there are thousands of unique characters. many of which seem incredibly intricate. To the ear of many Westerners, the language sounds rather melodious, perhaps a little like singing. When you peer below the surface, there may be more surprises for you. The language has virtually no conjugation for its verbs and no declension for its nouns. The inevitable paradigns that Western school-children have come to dread in their grammar books are all-together absent in the grammar of Chinese. For example, for the various forms of the English verb "to buy", such as "buy", "bought" and "buying", Chinese has the single form mai. For the singular and plural forms of the English noun "book", the Chinese is shu. Most of the time it is quite clear from the context what tense or mood is intended for a verb and what number is intended for a noun. Hence the Chinese language does not bother much with this particular type of redundancy in its grammar. Perhaps it is this structural simplicity of the language that moves the well-known American anthropologist and linguist Edward Sapir to characterize it as "soberly logical".
上一篇：口譯考試?yán)摹孟x之禍/The Power of the Petty Mosquito
下一篇：口譯例文——左腦之優(yōu)/Left Hemispheric Dominance
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