Do-all-Chinese-students-learn-classical-Chinese

文言文是中國學(xué)生必修課程嗎？我該如何學(xué)習(xí)？

評論翻譯

原創(chuàng)翻譯：龍騰網(wǎng) http://www. 轉(zhuǎn)載請注明出處


Rachel
My answer is based on my own experience.
I’m not sure what level you want to reach. If you simply want to know more about Chinese ancient culture, you don’t necessarily need to read original text because it is even hard for native Chinese students. It seems that this fits your situation based on your discxtion.
It’s true that we learn classical Chinese from middle school to high school. We are required to buy a book of modern translation of classical Chinese. Our teacher teaches us sentence by sentence. She explains to us about some difficult characters that have different meanings from the modern Chinese. However, not all Chinese people can read classical Chinese since it requires memorizing over and over again and we don’t use it in daily life. After we graduate, it is likely that we forget some of it.
For me, reading classical Chinese in modern translation is nearly the same to reading modern works about ancient Chinese stories. My advice is if you want to read classical Chinese but not in original text, you may read half-classical-Chinese works (We call 半文言文 in Chinese. I create this term:P) like Four Great Classical Novels. They are much easier to understand while retain some Classical Chinese.

我的答案是基于我自己的經(jīng)驗(yàn)。我不知道你想達(dá)到什么程度。如果你只是想更多地了解中國古代文化，你并不一定需要閱讀原文，因?yàn)檫@對中國本土學(xué)生來說甚至是困難的?；谀愕恼f明，這似乎符合你的情況。

我們從中學(xué)到高中都學(xué)習(xí)文言文，這是事實(shí)。我們被要求買一本現(xiàn)代文言文譯本。我們的老師逐句教我們。她向我們解釋了一些與現(xiàn)代漢語有不同含義的人物。然而，并不是所有的中國人都能讀懂文言文，因?yàn)樗笪覀円槐橛忠槐榈乇痴b，而且我們在日常生活中也不使用它。畢業(yè)后，我們很可能忘記其中的一些。

對我來說，在現(xiàn)代翻譯中閱讀文言文，與閱讀中國古代故事的現(xiàn)代作品幾乎是一樣的。我的建議是，如果你想讀文言文而不是原文，你可以讀半本文言文的作品（我們叫它半文言文，我創(chuàng)造了這個詞），比如四部偉大的古典小說。在保留一些文言文的同時，他們更容易理解。

Zengyan 
Well, I am learning classical Chinese now. I'll tell you some facts then suggestions.
First Confucius proposed that teaching students according to their aptitude is the best way to teach. Thus, the best way to solve your problem is in your situation. No should, only suit.
Every Chinese student learn classical Chinese. This is one of the requirements of the MOE. However, most Chinese students can read without totally understand (your intuition is correct). Few of them could make it clear to other people. For example, when we have a discussion aimed at an article. In mandarin, students could summarize and discuss in their ideas freely. In classical Chinese, they may not have the same ability to do that. I have to admit our average level of classical Chinese is lower than our ancestors.
I was an science student in my high school. Though I had a great teacher in Chinese, I put most of the time into science disciplines. I believe a art student will have a better recommend of classical Chinese (when I was in the last year of high school, my girlfriend, an art student, published her first writing on a magazine in half classical Chinese. Which uses the writing style of Tang Dynasty.)
As for myself, I can't read Confucius's most works, though I can still recite some of them. My father is a traditional Chinese doctor, because of his occupation, he need to read a lot. Hence he could understand classical Chinese easily. My home has some ancient Chinese books. But still I can't understand. And when you don't have a good commend of the language, it will decrease your motivation to read.
I want to read the history of China, I mean, the whole history. Thus I can't only rely on the Internet, I had to learn how to read.
Honestly, I don't know what area of classical Chinese you want to read. Because of the preciseness of academics, you need to understand by yourself. The translations can not guarantee the quality of the books. The reason why I need to learn classical Chinese is I have to find the hints by myself. The classical Chinese are pithy and concise, the translators may add their own understandings...so Chinese around you suggested you'd better to learn by yourself.
Some specific suggestions you don't need to learn it all by yourself:
1. Find the recommended translated editions. How to find recommended editions? Here is a website for you to take a reference. Page on douban.com Search for the book you want to read and read the comments below.
2. You need a company. You need a student with good knowledge of classical Chinese, read the original book together, translate and then discuss. This helps you to get to know the points that you didn't notice when you are reading the translated ones. If you are not in a city without a university or college, go to the local university and find some students of Chinese major. You need one with good grades and lacks money. If you choose TA or a cram school you will pay more with less gained. So go straight to the university and find a student by yourself. Choose the one with tidy clothes and without an iphone. Talk to him or her politely and show your ID to him or her. Remember you need to see their school report.
3. You need to make sure your understanding is 90 percent correct and acceptable. One or two people are not enough. Another website you could use: 百度貼吧――全球最大的中文社區(qū). Register an account and find the topic you read then write what you have learn. (Or you could put it on your own website if you have one.) In a word, you need to create an environment to exchange the ideas. Working online is a good choice.



Anonymous
Do you need to read Homer or Beowulf in their original language to understand English language? Protip: hell no! Then why do American educators required their students to read those ultra-violent useless books about a Danish guy and a Greek guy? It's part of their cultural heritage. That's why. Would it impress hell out of other people if you could read Ancient Greek or Old English? Yes, you would! It's a mark of educated person to understand those books. People used to expect you to know these stories and some people still expect you to know them.
Why do Chinese people still want you to learn Classical Chinese? 
I can think of few reasons:
1. They like you and want to share Chinese culture with you and Classical Chinese is a very important part of Chinese culture.
2. Classical Chinese is still a very prestige language, it's a mark of educated person to be able to READ Classical Chinese. Think of Americans' love affair with French language. Oui! Oui!
3. They think it's a beautiful language.
Don't think too much about this decision. If you don't give a shit about Classical Chinese then don't learn it. I will still be able to sleep well at night. 
In conclusion:
You don't have learn Classical Chinese. Nobody expect you to understand ancient language. Yes, all Chinese can READ Classical Chinese because it's part of their education. Notice, I said READ, very few people can WRITE in Classical Chinese.

你需要讀《荷馬史詩》或《貝奧武夫》的原著去理解英語嗎？別逗了！那么，為什么美國的教育家們，還是要求他們的學(xué)生，閱讀那些關(guān)于一個丹麥男人和一個希臘男人的，極端暴力無用的書？因?yàn)檫@是他們文化遺產(chǎn)的一部分。這就是為什么。如果你能讀懂古希臘語或古英語，別人會不會對你印象深刻？是的，當(dāng)然會！了解這些書是受過教育的人的標(biāo)志。以前人們希望你知道這些故事，但有些人仍然希望你讀懂它們。

為什么中國想讓你學(xué)文言文？
我能想到幾個原因
1.他們喜歡你，想和你分享中國文化，文言文是中國文化的重要組成部分。
2.文言文仍然是一種很有聲望的語言，能夠閱讀文言文是一個受過教育的人的標(biāo)志。想想美國人對法語的熱愛。
3.他們認(rèn)為這是一種美麗的語言。

不要對這個決定想太多。如果你對古典漢語一竅不通，那就別學(xué)。我晚上還能睡個好覺。
結(jié)論: 如果你沒有學(xué)過古典漢語。沒有人指望你懂古代語言。是的，所有的中國人都會讀古典漢語，因?yàn)檫@是他們教育的一部分。注意我說的是閱讀，很少有人能用文言文寫作。