Chinese and English are two languages that we use every day. Needless to say, Chinese is our mother tongue, and we are all from China. We use it every day. English is becoming more and more practical now. Britain has gone downhill politically, the British Empire has long since disintegrated, and even Britain has had some problems. But strangely, English is so popular that it will become a world language. This is a very interesting phenomenon. It can be seen that politics is constantly changing, but culture, such as language, can continue. The British often say, "We would rather lose India than lose Shakespeare." It means that a nation's literature is very important. When this sentence was said, India was still a colony of the British Empire. Those who said this at that time did not expect that one day Hong Kong would not belong to Britain. However, Shakespeare is still English.
Is English so popular in Britain? Still rely on the United States? Now let's study how many native English speakers there are in the world. Britain has a population of only 50 million to 60 million, which is roughly equivalent to the population of a province in China. I'm afraid there are more English speakers in America. There are 250 million people in the United States, plus about 300 million people in Britain, plus Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Due to the small population, there are no more than 400 million native speakers of English. There are many times more people whose mother tongue is Chinese, not only in Chinese mainland, Taiwan Province Province, Hongkong, but also in the Chinese-speaking areas of Nanyang, adding up to1230 million. Now everyone says that the world has been globalized, and some people object, but in short, international exchanges are becoming more and more frequent. How to conduct international communication? Of course, it depends on China people. Therefore, for a China person, learning English is very convenient for him, although it is not disadvantageous. We study English very seriously. Now there is a craze for learning English in the mainland. But after learning English, how do we treat Chinese? This is something we should reflect on. At the same time, language communication is more complicated. It's not as simple as currency exchange, just list the exchange rate of RMB against US dollars or Hong Kong dollars today. There are many stages of communication between China people.
When Chinese and English first came into contact, there were no ready-made words to express many English words in Chinese. In the early years of the Republic of China, Liang Qichao wrote an editorial about "democracy". He didn't know what word to use, so he simply transliterated "Demo Clasey". All European countries influenced by Latin have this word: the verb is inspire, which means "to inject vitality into something"; The noun is inspiration, which means "inspiration" But Liang Rengong has no ready-made translator, so he can only say "Lippi Village in Yan Temple". This is a transitional phenomenon when Chinese has just come into contact with western languages and English, and this phenomenon still retains some traces until today. For example, if we want to "boycott" goods from a certain country, there is a saying of "boycott". This "boycott" is transliterated from "boycott". Besides, words like "tank", "jeep", "mini", "miss" and "bus" are transliteration words. Film is called "film", gas is called "gas" and engine is called "engine". And "
Show "-I'm just a little show now. Our Chinese words are very interesting, such as "speech" and English is give a.
Speech, the verb speak or talk are all expressionless words, just saying. China people's "speech" shows that you should not only "speak", but also "act" and have some skills of an actor. This is a "show". Under the influence of British rule for many years, English is of course very popular in Hong Kong. Hong Kong people put English in when they speak Cantonese, so the language in Hong Kong is very complicated and interesting. You go to a small shop to buy drinks. The small shop is called "Shiduo", which is the store; . You go to the post office to buy stamps. These stamps are called "Happy Eggs", that is, stamps. The most interesting sentence in Hong Kong is that you buy strawberries or order strawberry ice cream in a cafe. It is a "happy bud". It's strawberries.
In this way, it is difficult for all languages in the world to keep their original features, because they will change when they contact, rub and communicate with other languages. We China people have actually been less influenced by foreign countries since ancient times, but we have changed. Think about it, a scholar in modern China. Does he only know a little English? Not exactly. The numbers "1, 2, 3, 4" we write every day are not Chinese, but Arabic characters. The English we study contains many Latin words that have been transplanted into English. The most common are abbreviations and so on. , meaning "wait, wait". We look at 18 and 19 th century English, in which there are more Latin, because the British regard Latin as classical Chinese. Another example is French. We went to the restaurant to order food, and the menu came from French. Many French words, such as
Fait Comppli (fait accompli) and coup' Etat (coup) have entered English in large numbers.
Ok, you travel to America and the plane lands on the west coast. This city is called San.
Francisco, the name is not English, but Spanish. Many street names in San Francisco are in Spanish. Then you go to Los Angeles, whose English name is Los.
Los Angeles, actually most articles in Spanish, is masculine; Angeles means "angel" in Spanish Luosi
Los Angeles is "city of angels". You have to learn music and practice the piano. Many musical terms are Italian: Allegro, Allegro; Andante, andante; Adagio, lento If you go to Europe, several words are the same in all countries, such as hotel, police and toilet. They are always very similar words and can be understood without translation. Therefore, we may come into contact with foreign languages every day. For example, if you go to the supermarket to buy a foreign commodity, it may be explained in six languages, and so on. As long as your eyes are brighter and your curiosity is stronger, you can learn a lot.
So have we China people been influenced by foreign countries? Of course there is. The Mongols ruled the Central Plains and the Manchus entered the customs, although the influence was not great, because they were more Chinese, and the imperial examinations were still in Chinese. But when we watch TV, this is "Baylor", that is "Gege", and there are "Fujin" and "Ernian", which seem to be a bit full of language. If you read The West Chamber, it's a little vague. When Zhang Sheng saw the beautiful woman Cui Yingying, he was stunned. What does the play say? "I have seen thousands of things, and it seems so gratifying that it is rare." I have seen many beautiful women, but such beautiful women are still rare. But this "irrefutable" is Mongolian. Sanskrit has a great influence on Chinese. There are many Sanskrit in Buddhist classics. After transliteration into Chinese, Chinese was also entered. Our most common words, such as "Bodhisattva", "Lohan", "Buddha Map", "Nirvana" and "Monk", are all transliteration of Sanskrit and are all foreign words. But even Sanskrit has not entered our education system. Unlike English, it has entered the education system and become an examination subject. This has a great influence, so Chinese is more and more influenced by English, so that many people in China speak, think and write articles, which is more like English than Chinese.
English seems to be the world language now, but compared with Chinese, it can only be said to be a very young language, which is not pure. Chinese has been quite pure for thousands of years, because our culture is still strong compared with the surrounding culture. When we met another strong culture-Indian culture, although it was also influenced to a certain extent, our cultural system at that time was very strong and the influence was not too great. English itself is a very complicated language. If you look at an English dictionary, there is often a box behind the word to explain the source of the word. This subject is called etymology. If you look at this part, you will find great and interesting discoveries, because I'm afraid half of an English dictionary is not the original English, but foreign and inherited.
English can be divided into several periods: from the 5th century to 1 100, which is the period of old English; 1 100 to 1500 These 400 years are Middle English.
English; The English we learn is called Modern.
English is actually 500 years since 1500. The people who really speak old English are not in London, but in Scotland, Wales and Ireland today, because they moved to the border areas under the pressure of foreigners. modern
We can't read English 200 years before English, such as Shakespeare's English. We can only understand it through translation and annotation.
There are two big peninsulas in northern France: the big one is called the British Peninsula; ; Smaller, like a finger pointing to Britain, the name is Normandy. In 1066, a great event happened. Duke William of Normandy (Duke William)
about
Normandy), led the army to attack today's Britain, entered London and became the king of England. This year was the Northern Song Dynasty in China, and Su Dongpo was 30 years old. For hundreds of years, the French have sat on the throne of Britain. This political conquest brought about language changes, and from then on, French entered English in large quantities. You say to a girl, "How?
You are so beautiful! It means "you are beautiful". If you say, "You are beautiful.
Yes! You are so beautiful. "Beauty" is a little higher than "beauty". Beautiful comes from French and pretty comes from local English. Monosyllabic words in English are often authentic English, not old words.
English. The outstanding British Prime Minister Churchill chose monosyllabic words in his speech. Churchill read classical literature. He speaks English with 800 monosyllabic words, odd numbers.
Syllables, as long as they are used properly, with sonorous intonation and full expression, can become a great speaker. During World War II, Hitler's bombers bombed London, which led to a crisis. Churchill held a cabinet meeting to study how to make people turn off the lights as soon as possible when enemy planes attacked, that is, "blackout." Cabinet ministers are all graduates from Oxford and Cambridge, and have read ancient Chinese, that is, Latin. All they came up with were words with many syllables, which some ministers suggested.
eliminate
Lighting. Wow, this is very learned! Churchill said: This will not work! Before you finished, the bomb fell on your head! It's too long. Don't use words with Latin roots. Use our local English. He said, with a lack of
Get out. It's over when it gets dark. (Laughter)
After 1066, English was greatly influenced by French, including many Latin words that also entered English through French. For example, cows are cows, sheep are sheep, and pigs are.
Pigs, but "beef" can't be called cattle.
Meat. When cooked, it becomes another name, beef, mutton and pork. Chinese is very simple, "beef", "mutton" and "pork", followed by "meat". Why is English so tireless? That's because cowboys in conquered England speak local English when they look at cattle and sheep in the fields. "oh,
This is a cow. That's a sheep. "But when the meat is cooked and served to the French owner, it will be in French."
Deliver. "So there are actually several groups of words in English. In a big dictionary, there are so many Latin roots or words from French. The longer the word, the more learned it looks, and the more it comes from Latin. Kith is in English.
and
Kin, which means "five relatives and six relatives", is local English. But there is another word, consanguinity, which is also "consanguinity". The word is five syllables, and you can see that there is a lot of knowledge at a glance. Sure enough, it comes from Latin, con is the same, sanguis is blood, and nity is the suffix of nouns.
Let's take a look at the origin of English Week. Needless to say, Saturday, Sunday and Monday are the same in many countries. But English from Tuesday to Friday seems to be "someone's day". It's like saying "Tom"
Tuesday is the day of Tue, the god of war in Nordic mythology. Wednesdays and Wednes are the biggest gods in northern European mythology, equivalent to the gods in southern Europe.
Jupiter. Thursday's spelling was originally T-H-O-R, and he was the Thor in Norse mythology, so it should thunder on Thursday. How about Friday? Friday commemorates Frigga, who is a great wife. It can be seen that English Week is from Northern Europe. What about the month? All from southern Europe. January comes from the door god in Roman mythology. When we entered a room, we arrived at the door first, so we arrived first in a year.
1 20th of the month. April is the name of Aphrodite, the Greek god of love, which is equivalent to Venus, the Roman god of love, so "April is".
Love ","dedicated to the goddess "
Love June June was named after the wife of a great god, Jupiter. Her husband is very serious, and she often loses her temper, so her name is Juno.
There are some Chinese characters in English. The two most popular Chinese characters, not only in the west, but also in non-western languages, must use our Chinese pronunciation. Tea is a specialty of China. English tea comes from "tea", but it is not pronounced in Putonghua, but in Minnan dialect. The pronunciation of "tea" in Xiamen is "de", and "drinking tea" is called "Limu". This kind of "tea" in China is probably transported to the west by water. Of course, English people have different pronunciations. The word "German" becomes tea, and Hungarians also call it tea. However, there are still many countries called te, and whether it is French, German, Italian, Portuguese or Spanish, it is the pronunciation of southern Fujian. However, if you go to a Slavic country, the word "tea" in Slavic language is like C-A-J in English, where J is the short pronunciation of I and the pronunciation is chai. Many countries in eastern Europe call "tea" firewood. Some people say that going by sea is called "getting" and going by land is called "tea". Another word is diaosi. Silk comes from "silk" in English and is called seda in Latin. Then there is a slight change in different countries, probably around the spelling of "silk". In addition, some Chinese have been introduced into English, such as coolies, Kung Fu, Mandarin and rickshaws. There's a sentence that doesn't need to be passed on, but it's already passed on. It's called mahjong. One action of China people also entered English, that is kowtowing. And so on.
From the above, we can see that British culture is a complex culture, which is composed of many external factors.
Next, I want to talk about the differences between English and Chinese. I have taught China literature in the United States, and some American children are really poor in Chinese, so they can only read China characters with English translators. One day, I taught a poem, An Absent Note by Jia Dao. Everyone can recite it. I translated it into English and understood it at a glance. Then literal translation, the so-called literal translation.
I hope American children know what the original style of China's poems is and how the word order came from. For example, "When I ask your students, under a pine tree" literally translates as "Ask under a pine tree"
Boy. As a result, American children are confused at once. Strange! "When I asked your students under the pine tree, who was asking? No theme. ""My teacher, "he replied," went to collect herbs. ""Who are you? Who is answering? " But towards which corner of the mountain ",who is in the mountain through these clouds, how can I tell? ",more don't know who it is. No theme. How do you China people know that this sentence is about Zhang San and that sentence is about Li Si? I told you, our brains are better than yours, a little better than yours. (Laughter) In fact, this is the relationship between Chinese grammar. We just look at the context and often don't feel the necessity of the subject. When we greet our friends, we say, "Have you eaten?" We don't say, "Have you eaten?" Don't say, "Did you eat rice? "(Laughter) After reading it, the British and Americans thought the sentence was brainless. It can be seen that important words in English grammar are not necessary or even better. This is a big difference between Chinese and English.
Let me give you another example. Li Bai's "Thoughts on a Quiet Night", if said in English, is "the light of the bright moon in front of my bed, I am could there have been a frost already?; I look up at the bright moon, and I bow my head and miss my hometown. " Nature is not as good as the original poem. "Students must be patriotic" is a good China sentence. But English can't be said to be a "student"
You must love your country. "This is not real English. People often say that "students must love their jobs"
Country. "Look, there are two more things out of thin air! One is indefinite article, indefinite article; One is personal.
For China people, "One" students are patriotic, "Three" students are patriotic, and "Five Hundred" students are patriotic, so I don't have to say the majority and minority. Patriotism, of course, is to love your country. You won't like going to Japan (laughs) or India. You need not be afraid to say "my" country or "his" country. Chinese seems more chic, English seems more serious, but sometimes it seems verbose. For example, Chinese says "He is taller than his classmates", which is true. English can't say "he"
Taller than the students in his class. "This is wrong. The correct statement is "he is taller than anyone"
Students in his class. "How accurate! But it is also annoying.
For another example, there is a very important conjunction in English, which is and. English-speaking husbands and wives, fathers and sons, mothers and.
Daughter, teacher and
Students, Chinese is "husband and wife", "father and son", "mother and daughter" and "love between teachers and students", and this conjunction is completely unnecessary. We can't imagine an authentic China person saying "seven things to open the door, rice, oil, salt and vinegar tea." But English must say, "There.
There are four seasons in a year. They are spring, summer, autumn and
winter "It seems that they are particularly afraid of losing contact with these words. We'll be smart, and we'll just talk to each other.
Let me give you another example. Many meanings in English can be expressed by make, such as making policies, making money and making.
Fire (fire) can also make love. "You can do about the same.
Anything. "Not everything can be made in Chinese, but we have been influenced by English and accepted this statement. For example, "hasn't the school made a decision on this matter?" We originally said, "Has the school decided on this? "One verb is enough, you don't need to make a decision. Now the verb "decision" is hypocritical and has become an abstract noun. " The two brothers quarreled all night, and finally the elder brother gave in. "It turned out that what we said was' Brother finally gave in', which is a simple and powerful verb. Now these verbs are sidelined, and an expressionless verb is to be "created" followed by an abstract noun. "Contribute" and "make sacrifices" mean neither "contribute" nor "sacrifice". This is because Chinese is slowly changing under the influence of English, to the extent that we never thought about it.
British people like to use it.
Express "they (one of them ...)". There was nothing wrong with Chinese before Travel Notes of Lao Can, and now it is very popular. If you take a classmate home, introduce him to his mother and say, "This is Xiao Zhang, a good friend of mine." Then your mother thought, "Wow, how many good friends do you have?" Or introduce a painter in the newspaper and publish Autumn on the River, which is said to be one of Li Keran's famous paintings. There are many paintings by Li Keran, so it is unnecessary to say "one". This "one" is the thinking of westerners. At the last moment, we should take care of the same kind. If you say "one of the most famous beauties in China", it seems very accurate, but you didn't tell me how many beauties you have in China, one in seven or one in ten, which is still vague. So English looks very objective and accurate, but it is not necessarily so. "Michael
Jackson is one of the most famous singers in the world. "It seems very accurate, but it is actually the most famous.
The singer has reached the peak, but there is one.
Of put him down again. Where did it fall? I don't know. Is English more accurate than Chinese? Not necessarily! You said that Li Bai was a very famous poet in China, not to mention one of the greatest poets in China. Because the "maximum" is easy to locate, that is, it has reached the apex, and the "one" has lowered him again. Where did it go? You didn't say five or eight I don't know. Therefore, we should study authentic English hard and don't forget Chinese at the same time.
Chinese is an older language than English. I have just analyzed that when the French attacked Britain in 1066, English was still changing and had not yet taken shape. At the beginning of AD, that is, in the time of Jesus, there was no such thing as English in the world. Of course, we should study English hard. To be practical, you can deal with foreigners or surpass them. We can study English literature. But let's not forget Chinese, it is a very beautiful and great language. Just look at our idioms, which are the crystallization of China's language aesthetics. Give an example at will, such as "a horde of troops"
These four-word idioms, such as "Qian Shan is full of water", "a thousand generations will last forever" and "leave no stone unturned", are very well organized and even. "Qian Shan is full of water" means that there are many mountains and waters. Don't cross a mountain and meet ten rivers? Anyone who wants to say "Qian Shan is full of water" is not wrong. After crossing a river, you will see ten mountains, but there are many mountains and rivers and the road is very long. However, Qian Shan Wan Shui does not conform to the aesthetics, and it is plain and unpleasant to listen to.
The same is true of "thousands of troops and horses". Does a soldier have to ride ten horses? However, it is easy for us to express the number of troops with "thousands of troops", because it is very pleasant to listen to, easy to remember and read, and it will be handed down when it sounds pleasant. This is the aesthetics of China's language. No one will say, "He tried his best to hurt me." .
Another example is "beautiful scenery". Of course, the water is beautiful. Why should the mountain be "bright"? The mountain is not the sun. If "the mountains are beautiful and the water is bright", "the water is bright" is normal, and the water is bright, "the mountains are beautiful" can also be used. But we must say "beautiful scenery", which is in line with China's antithesis, level and loudness. He also said "boys and girls", which is not an idiom asked by universities. "Boys" are mediocre and "girls" are boring. But women have always been associated with red, such as "adding fragrance to red tea" and "wearing red clothes", and women rarely wear green. But when we say "boys and girls", it's just ordinary. But occasionally there are a few exceptions. There is a saying in the idiom that I think is totally out of line with the aesthetics of China people. This four-word idiom is "at sixes and sevens". You see, according to the level and level of confrontation, we should have said "at sixes and sevens", but we must say "at sixes and sevens". This is really a mess! That's the end of my ramble. Next, I will recite some poems, some poems written by myself, and some English poems. I think poetry should be read aloud. The so-called "reciting" is often wrong. It doesn't have to be loud or low, it depends on the specific content of the poem. Our ancient scholars read very long books and had a particularly strong accent. This method of reciting is different from the way western poets read English poems and French poems. (a short poem) (warm applause)