A View on the Similarities between English and Chinese Spread with Regard to Confucius Institute 从孔子学院看英语和汉语传播的相似之处.doc

a view on the similarities between english and chinese spread with regard to confucius institute从孔子学院看英语和汉语传播的相似之处1. introduction of confucius institute1.1 definition and purpose confucius institute also confucius school. it is not a general sense of the university, but rather the promotion of chinese culture, education and cultural institutions, is a non-profit social welfare institutions. it also has another definition that confucius institute is non-profit public institution that aim to promote chinese language and culture, support local chinese teaching internationally, as well as facilitating cultural exchanges. according to the confucius institute central website, their objectives are to develop chinese language courses for various social sectors, train chinese language instructors and provide them with teaching resources, establish local facilities for the holding of the hsk examination (chinese proficiency test) and for the administration of procedures for the certification of the chinese language teachers, provide information and consultative services concerning chinese education, culture, economy and society, and promote research about contemporary china. additionally, the institutes have provided chinese language teaching staff from the mainland to fill growing demand until local teachers can be sufficiently trained and certified. the project also has a more abstract public relations purpose, to improve chinas image abroad. many foreign scholars have characterized the confucius institute program as an exercise in soft power, expanding chinas economic, cultural, and diplomatic reach through the promotion of chinese language and culture.1.2 the nature of the organization and the form of running confucius institute is a non-profit social welfare institution. confucius institute is the most important one is to work around the world to provide chinese language learners norms, the authority of the modern chinese language teaching materials; provide the most formal, the most important channel for chinese language teaching. confucius institute headquarters in beijing, april 9, 2007 listing. the confucius institute is outside its branches, mainly in the form of start-up sino-foreign cooperation. confucius is a representative figure of traditional chinese culture, confucius choice of teaching chinese as a brand is a traditional chinese symbol of cultural renaissance. confucius institutes/classrooms adopt flexible teaching patterns and adapt to suit local conditions when teaching chinese language and promoting culture in foreign primary schools, secondary schools, communities and enterprises.1.3 the scale november 21, 2004, the worlds first confucius institute in the korean capital of seoul listed. in 2010, the confucius institutes around the world made remarkable achievements, with steady development and positive trends for future growth. by the end of 2010, 322 confucius institutes and 369 confucius classrooms had been established in 96 countries and regions in the world. currently, the number of the faculty and staff, full-time and part-time, is 4,109, of whom 2,049 are china side directors and teachers. the overall space for teaching chinese at confucius institutes and classrooms is1, 280,000square meters.withmorethan18, 000classesofchinese, there are 360,000 registered students. over 5 million people have participated in more than10, 000 cultural activities and events; the number of participants doubled from the year before.1.4 service object and content the confucius institute offers the following services: chinese language teaching; training chinese language instructors and providing chinese language teaching resources; holding the hsk examination (chinese proficiency test) and tests for the certification of the chinese language teachers; providing information and consultative services concerning chinas education, culture, and so forth; conducting language and cultural exchange activities between china and other countries.2. spread of english 2.1 summary about spread of english in 1987, crystal (cited in kachru & nelson, 2001) provided a list of forty-five countries where english possesses official status (p11) and in 1997 he (cited in jenkins, 2003) presented another list of some seventy-five english-speaking territories (pp2-3).it is estimated that the number of speakers of l1 english speakers could be about 350 million (jenkins, 2003) and that the number of l2 english speakers could be around 350 million (crystal, 1997, cited in jenkins, 2003) while jenkins (2003) also noticed that this number ignore the considerable number of speakers of english as a foreign language (efl), eil, or english as a lingua franca (elf). it is also approximately estimated in 1999 (graddol, cited in mckay, 2003) that the number of english non-native speakers (nns) will surpass the number of native speakers (ns) in the foreseeable future.2.2 the status of english: as a global language it is generally agreed that the status of english in the world is now stronger not just than any contemporary language but also than any historical language. according to the statistics (fishmen 1977), english was already the language of diplomacy (95 of the 126 members of the united nations received working documents in english), the language of 70 percent of the worlds mail, used by pilot to communicate with air controllers, the first language of nearly 300 million people, and second language of probably many more. (spolsky 2004)in literature kachru (1982) makes distinction between the inner, outer, and expanding circles of english-using countries. the countries like uk, australia where english is the primary and dominant language lies in the inner core of the circles. the outer and expanding circles, which are labeled as periphery in phillipsons (1992) distinction, include countries where english is used in major situations and for some as the international language. the extensive use of english in these countries may be connected to the impersonal social and economic forces on the one hand, but on the other it could be planned deliberately by the authorities of a country.normally, these causes would then lead to varied impacts of english upon different countries, especially countries in the outer circle and those in the expending circle. according to tollefson (2000), in the later cases, such as china, the use of english is primarily linked with international government and business, as well as with access to popular culture, rather than a key basis for deciding who has access to economic resources and political power. however, in countries where english can also be used domestically, such as philippines, english is more deeply implanted in structuring the society culturally, economically and politically.2.3 english in china it is in the fundamental interest of china for her to have strong enthusiasm for english. due to the national policy of reform and opening-up implemented in early 1980s, china is playing an increasingly significant role in the international arena. this requires much co-operation with her counterparts, communication with the outside world, and participation into the international affairs. all these efforts have to be realized with the assistance of the international language - english. 3. influence of confucius institute3.1 expanding chinas influence as the scale is expanding of confucius institute in the world, chinas influence for the world is also expanding. confucius institute is the founder of the chinese government to promote the spread of chinese culture, one of the important items. the specific approach is taken by the chinese universities and other public agencies and other universities or research institutions co-founder of the way, other countries, such as providing land and material basis for school buildings, the chinese side is responsible for providing chinese language teachers and teaching materials. in addition, the chinese side is also responsible for training teachers of chinese and chinese culture held academic lectures and other activities. over recent years, the confucius institutes development has been sharp and they have provided scope for people all over the world to learn about chinese language and culture. in addition they have become a platform for cultural exchanges between china and the world as well as a bridge reinforcing friendship and cooperation between china and the rest of the world and are much welcomed across the globe. through the joint efforts of china and the confucius institute host countries in addition to the enthusiasm and active support of people all over the world.3.2 spreading and deepening chinese language teachingconfucius institute to promote chinese language teaching also conveys to the world the best chinese traditional culture and contemporary chinese art culture spirit. confucius institute teaching students the experience of culture and change the concept of student education, teaching methods take many forms, multicultural means of communication, chinese and foreign cultures to promote two-way exchange and transfer. confucius institute to do a good job not only as a bridge between chinese and western cultures, but also overseas chinese and han chinese culture and education, but also bears an inescapable responsibility.3.3 promoting the communication of chinese and foreign education after chinas economic reforms started, we discovered we had an urgent need for communication, and we found that its not enough that we learned foreign languages. communications could be better if other people could speak chinese. we need two-way communications, and now that our economy is strong, we can support this.no doubt expand the chinese culture and chinese is the main way, but the language education is not the only purpose of the confucius institute. to overcome the current difficulties, need to re-locate overseas confucius institutes. world chinese language teaching society, peking university professor lu jianming that language learning is to strengthen cultural identity, but the language is always the carrier of culture, the chinese culture to the world is the ultimate goal of foreign language teaching. therefore, the confucius institute is a language education is not only the cooperation of institutions, but should be the overseas promotion of chinese culture and arts coordinator. although the establishment of cultural institutions on the basis of the traditional culture, but culture is not static, so in normal circumstances, these institutions will continue to reflect the countrys cultural evolution, progress. the international promotion of chinese language is not purely educational, but a cultural product. must operate as industry, the market to promote the if you do not go this route; chinese language teaching is absolutely no way. 3.4 improving the soft power of chinese culture soft power concept was first used by harvard university professor, former u.s. assistant secretary of defense joseph nyes, he pointed out that soft power, creating a situation of a country, to enable other countries to follow the tendency and the ability to define their interests, this power often comes from cultural and ideological appeal, the rules of international mechanisms and institutions and other resources. confucius institute at the chinese culture come close to western eyes, up close to a foreign audience in their own country can feel the authentic chinese culture, while china fever is accompanied by the pervasive influence of culture in the west continues to heat up, from behind the prosperity and development of the confucius institute to see the chinese cultural soft power. the confucius institute is an important symbol of chinas soft power. however, china has a long way to go to effectively deliver soft power.4. views on the similarities between english and chinese4.1 opportunitylanguage aside, such inequality as social class, racism, and sexism has undoubtedly occupied the social life since long ago. looking for the sources, it is not necessarily english which brings such inequality among people, but rather it is the world system such as colonialism which is to blame instead.contrastively good command of english may provide more chances to advancement. a survey has been conducted by the british council in 1995 among two thousand people and the result shows that for a majority, english is major contributor to economic and social advance in most countries. even more respondents believe that english may guarantee a chance to the access of high-tech communication and information in the future. this demonstrates that as one language english is only a tool used for communication and transferring information other than a gate keeper catering for people within a certain circle.4.2 equalityfurthermore english might hardly be perceived as the source of inequality between people in the centre and in the periphery, for people in the outer circles, where english is recognized as the national or official language, could also make use of their not-so-perfect english as an opportunity ranging from international communication to employment. the philippines is a multilingual country where english is the language of government, education, business etc. compared with criticism of the role of english in determining the access to wealth and power in this country nationally, it is much more reasonable to exam the chance that knowing english could provide for the people in the international stage.take an instance from my own experience. china is in the expanding circle wherein a great number of people are joining in the trend of learning english, therefore a large number of teachers proficient in english are in urgent need. lacking native speakers as teachers of english have created lots of vacancies for people from the outer circles such as philippines. it is already a fact that many schools in china indeed have such teachers. in this case, it is hard to find any inequalities but rather a benefit for both sides.4.3 diversity culturally, english dose with it spread its cultures to other countries. but the key lies in whether the local cultures have been destroyed by the western cultures. it is common that when people travel around they may get impressed by the local culture and products (ferguson 2006). when people watch films they may appreciate the culture. if it is not starbucks or hollywood, there would still be something else that makes people get attracted.still there is no strong evidence to show that the western cultures are dominating globally. it is rather english that provides the chance for people to enjoy more of the cultures other than their own. this could mean that japanese may have sushi for one day and then turn to hotdogs or sandwiches as an alternative. it could be that the world is making english more diverse in its forms, functions and cultural associations.5. conclusion confucius institute to promote chinese language teaching also conveys to the world the best chinese traditional culture and contemporary chinese art culture spirit. confucius institute teaching students the experience of culture and change the concept of student education, teaching methods take many forms, multicultural means of communication, chinese and foreign cultures to promote two-way exchange and transfer. confucius institute to do a good job not only as a bridge between chinese and western cultures, but also overseas chinese and han chinese culture and education, but also bears an inescapable responsibility.confucius institute is not only spreading and deepening chinese language teaching, but also promoting the communication of chinese and foreign education. it is also an important symbol of chinas soft power.admittedly as some linguists have pointed out such spread can have negative impact, but when such influences are assessed carefully we may discover that it is other factors other than english that is the source. high status of english and its speakers has led people to consider english as the direct establishment of linguistic empiricism. for many critic linguists english may cause inequality between languages and then between people economically. furthermore english is perceived as an endangerment to other minority languages and cultures. such biased claim is critically assessed in this article and through discussion we come to the conclusi