On the Significance of Contrastive Study between English and Chinese_浅谈英汉语言对比对研究.doc

浅谈英汉语言对比研究的重要性on the significance of contrastive study between english and chineseabstractthe languages in different countries and nations have their own cultural background and thinking model. for chinese students, contrastive study can help them know the differences between english and chinese, thus having depth of recognition of its importance of contrastive study in china, so many linguists have done lots of study on contrastive study between english and chinese. based on their study, i have done a literature review on contrastive study before writing my paper, which includes: the definition of contrastive study and the process of the development of contrastive study in china . by this literature review ，this paper shows the development of contrastive english, thus making more and more english learners realize the significance of contrastive study between english and chinese.this paper illustrates the differences of the two languages in contrast of words, sentence structure, photograph structure, information distribution and cultural background between the two languages through a great many of living examples to help english learners to find the focus of english study, avoid chinglish and improve their translation skills, thus representing the significance of contrastive study between english and chinese.key words: contrastive study; literature review; english study; chinglish; translation skills; significance浅谈英汉语言对比研究的重要性内容摘要不同的国家和民族的语言表现出的文化背景和思维模式都有所不同。对学习英语的中国学生来说，通过英汉语言的对比，可以使其认识到英语和汉语的差别，从而对英语学习能够有更深刻的认识。许多中国语言学家对英汉语言对比做过大量研究，基于前人的研究，我在论文创作之前做了文献综述，其内容包括：英汉对比语言学的定义；及中国英汉对比语言学的发展历程。本文通过文献综述向大家展示英汉对比语言学的发展历程，从而使更多的人了解并认识到英汉对比的重要性。本文主要通过大量的实例对英汉两种语言在词汇、句子结构、段落和篇章以及英汉文化上的对比与分析来说明两种语言的相异之处，以帮助英语学习者确定学习重点和针对性，避免中式英语，培养与提高英语学习者的翻译能力。从而体现出英汉对比研究的重要性。关键词：英汉对比研究；文献综述；学习重点；中式英语；翻译技巧；重要性contents1 introduction12 literature review on contrastive study32.1 the definition of contrastive study32.2 the process of the development of contrastive study in china43 the significance of contrastive study83.1 helping learners find the focus of study83.2 helping learners avoid chinglish113.3 helping learners improve translation skills184 conclusion23notes24works cited26acknowledgements28declaration of thesis originality291 introductionsome american scholars developed an idea that most of the difficulties in foreign language study spring from disturbance of the mother language. when the mother language and a foreign language are different, the former will disturb the latters learning. however, when they are the same, the former will help the latters learning. it is called “language transfer”. language transfer is positive when the two languages have much in common, and will be negative when they are different, which are called positive transfer and negative transfer. in their opinion language learners should pay attention to the differences caused by negative transfer. the purpose of contrastive study is promoting positive transfer by contrasting the characteristics of the two languages. in the process of language study we often find that if the foreign language is familiar with the mother language, it will be easy to study. take korean and chinese for example, there are a lot of words having the same pronunciation, so chinese people will find it easy to study korean. on the contrary, if the two languages are different, the study will be difficult. for english learners, its a good way to do contrastive analysis between english and chinese to help learn english well.contrastive study will make english learners know the characteristics of the two languages. the contrast will tell us what should be focused and in what way the negative transfer could be avoided. chinese learners of english need to know how to avoid chinglish and how to improve their skills, especially translation skills. they should make contrastive analysis on words formation, words matching, word order, sentence structure, paragraph structure and culture. thus we can see the significance of contrastive english on english study.2 literature review on contrastive study contrastive study between english and chinese has developed for many years, but there are still so many people dont realize the significance of contrastive english, even they dont know what contrastive english is. as a english major, i want to improve english standard, for 10 years english study, i found english is not as difficult as i imagined, maybe the reason is i both like english and chinese. engels said, “you could know your own language only if you compared it with other languages.”1 so, when we learn a language, we should compare it with our own languages, thus having depth recognition of the characteristics of the tow languages. if we did so, we can improve our study efficiency. in china, so many linguists do lots of study on contrastive study, and base on their study, i do a literature review on contrastive study between english and chinese before i write my paper, this literature review includes:1) the definition of contrastive study 2) the process of the development of contrastive study in china i want to use this literature review show the development of contrastive study, i hope more and more english learners would realize the significance of contrastive study2.1 the definition of contrastive studythe famous linguist lv shuxiang said, “contrastive study means paying attention to the differences between english and chinese”mr xu yulong made a definition of contrastive study like this: contrastive study is a branch of contrastive linguistics, the purpose is to analyze and compare the two languages, to describe the differences and the common ground, especially their differences, and use this series of theory to solve problems in other fields. contrastive study is a branch of linguistics, it has the characteristics of theoretical linguistics and applied linguistics, the main task is to do comparative study, to describe and explain the differences between english and chinese, and to use this series of theory to solve problems in other fields.2.2 the process of the development of contrastive study in chinathe theory of contrastive study was established in china after 1990s. before the contrastive english, there was another theory chinese cultural linguistics, the researchers advocated to put the analysis of vocabulary into the cultural background to analyze the vocabularys cultural function. analysis of chinese cultural linguistics was a foundation to the contrastive english in china. the famous linguists, lu shuxiang, xu yulong, yang zijian, pan wenguo etc, has always called on to do some research on contrastive english from a macro view.although the famous linguists, zhao yuanren, wang li and lu shuxiang, gao mingkai etc, has always call on english learners to use the contrastive study method, but in china, the term contrast analysis ,was regarded as a academic term after 1970s. mr. lu shuxiang is the balance to actively advocates research and practitioner. mr lu shuxiang s view on the research of contrastive study: 1)contrastive study is analysis of errors and explain errors; 2) we should do the research of contrastive study from the concept (or category ) set out in a language; 3) by contrast, the ultimate aim is to explain the differences of the two languages. mr lu shuxiangs view on contrastive study is a significant direction for our words semantic research : first, the contrast of vocabulary should pay attention to the culture of semantic and realism, thus reaching for the purpose of second language acquisition, and also should pay attention to the explanation which is associated with the collision and vacancy phenomenon; second, we should do the contrast of word cultural semantic from the concept of(or category ) set out in a language;3) we must focus the ultimate aim of contrastive study is research their national culture and philosophic thinking. more and more chinese people concern contrastive study in 1990s. in 1992, professor xu yulongs book contrast linguistics overview was published. contrastive study became an independent subject in china. mr xu definited contrastive study like this: contrastive study is a branch of contrastive linguistics, the purpose is to analyze and compare the two languages, to describe the differences and the common ground, especially their differences, and use this series of theory to solve problems in other fields. compare xus definition with the western linguists james and fisiaks definition, mr xus definition has the following progressive significance:1) it is clear that the properties of contrastive linguistics is a branch of linguistics, it no longer belongs to applied linguistics , mr xu thinks contrastive linguistics includes theory of contrastive linguistics and applied linguistics, thus adding theoretical color to contrastive english; 2)on the analysis of contrastive study, xus definition emphasizes the common ground of the two languages, the importance of the contrast is their differences;3)the researching method is focus on the description of their differences; 4)to use the results to solve the problems in other fields.2 in 1994, professor yang zijian professor revised professor xu yulongs definition of contrastive linguistics. he said, the contrastive linguistics is a branch of linguistics, it has the characteristics of theoretical linguistics and applied linguistics, the main task is to do comparative study, to describe and explain the differences between english and chinese, and use this series of theory to solve problems in other fields. the definition determines the nature of contrastive linguistics and target, thus promoting the development of contrastive study in china. in 1990s, the linguists in china made great progress of contrastive study, liu biqin, xu yulong, yang zijian, pan wenguo etc. have written lots of books to explain their views of contrastive english. the chinese association of contrastive english have made great contribution to the establishment of contrastive english linguistics under the leadership of professors liu chongde and yang zijian. the contrastive english linguistics books that were published in the early 1990s all engage in the research of contrastive study in the aspect of theory and application, and analyze the theoretic and practical value of the contrastive research on english and chinese. professor xu yulongs new published book contrastive linguistics(2003) highlights that people should use the evidence to carry on the study of contrastive linguistics so that strengthen the reliability and usage of research achievement. after professor xu, there are seven contrastive linguistics books were published, namely, lian suxiongs book study on contrastive english(1993), yu yungens book contrastive english linguistics(1994), xiong wenhuas book contrast linguistics application overview(1997), pan wenguos book outline on contrastive english(1997), shao zhihongs book analysis of contrastive study(1997), ke pings book contrastive linguistis(1998) and the book analysis of language(2002) written by he shanfen. professor pan wenguo is one of the famous scholars in the fields of contrastive english research in china in recent ten years, who published series of books that are illustrate the theoretic establishment of contrastive english research. professor pans book outline on contrastive study(1997) is named as “a book has the most deep impact on the field of contrastive language since 1990s”, which inherits the philosophy view of hong baote, studying the features of grammar, sentence, the order of language and organization of words, pointing out that the english is basically a kind of morphological language, on the contrary, chinese is a semantic language, he discusses the psychological and cultural reasons that form the characteristics of grammar, order of language, sentence and words from the language philosophy angle. meanwhile, professor pan appeals that people should change their point of view to research contrastive study, and start to research it from chinese, setting up chinese grammar scope and theory system according to chinese characteristics, and dealing with the discriminative relationship between generality and personality properly. in the recent years, intercultural communication becomes more and more important, especially language communication. language is the carrier of culture, but the language in different countries and nations has its own background and thinking model, so we should know the differences between the different languages, if we do this, we can avoid some mistakes in intercultural communication, and we will learn english better. contrastive study is the focus of english study, i believe more and more english learners will pay attention to contrastive study and they will realize the significance of contrastive study. maybe contrastive study should be applied in teaching and learning, by this way, we can recognize the value of contrastive study. we should combine the theory of contrastive study with practice, thus reveal the value of contrastive study completely.on the basis of the former research, i want to write a thesis on the significance of contrastive study. in my paper, i analyze the significance of contrastive study from the english learners point view, and also analyze the common mistakes in english expressions, thus helping learners know the differences in expressions between english and chinese to avoid chinglish and improve translation skills.3 the significance of contrastive studythe purpose of contrastive study is promoting positive transfer by contrasting the characteristics of the two languages. in the process of language study we often find that if the foreign language is familiar with the mother language, it will be easy to study. take korean and chinese for example, there are a lot of words having the same pronunciation, so chinese people will find it easy to study korean. on the contrary, if the two languages are different, the study will be difficult. for english learners, its a good way to do contrastive analysis between english and chinese to help learn english well.contrastive study will make english learners know the characteristics of the two languages. the contrast will tell us what should be focused and in what way the negative transfer could be avoided. chinese learners of english need to know how to avoid chinglish and how to improve their skills, especially translation skills. they should make contrastive analysis on words formation, words matching, word order, sentence structure, paragraph structure and culture. thus we can see the significance of contrastive english on english study.3.1 helping learners find the focus of studyenglish and chinese have many significant differences which make english learning a serious challenge for chinese learners of english as they are in two language families. chinese uses a logographic system for its written language, while english uses an alphabetic system. chinese characters are not made up of letters as english words, so it is a great difficulty for chinese learners to read or spell english words. the differences are not just in words but also in phrases, sentences and paragraphs. to learn english well, english learners must make a comparison between the two languages to find out their differences.every language has its own cultural background which makes it different with others and of course makes it difficult to learn. chinese and english are different because of the differences in natural environment, mode of thinking, values, history and life style. the different living situations decide their different values and viewpoints.therefore english learners should focus on finding the differences in language and culture before they can learn english well.3.1.1 focus on differences in linguistic aspectmost english learners find that when english and chinese have much in common, its easy to learn. for example, “goldfish” in both languages are constituted by the meaning of “gold” and “fish”. its easy for learners to understand. but some words or phrases cant be constituted like this. take “important matter” for example. it means a big issue. but some chinese people may use “big thing” to express it. “big thing” means some object with big volume.the negative transfer will influence the study of a language, so we should focus on the differences between them. the differences are not only in words, but also in phrases, sentences, paragraphs, sections and chapters. there are more examples.“for the latest couple of years the third industry in our country has been developing very fast”. here “third” is a wrong word. it should be “the tertiary industry” because it is established by usage. “the service industry” is right because it means the industry that offers services.“its hard to do business in light senses.” here “light seasons” is a wrong word. we use “slack seasons” to express the time business is slow. “i have no english name” is another sentence we heard from many chinese people. it should be “i dont have an english name.”chinese sentences are based on meaning while english sentences are based on grammar. in chinese the standard of a sentence is whether it expresses a complete meaning. in english, however, the standard is whether the sentence is with a complete structure. for example：看样子要变天了。it seems that the weather is changing.all of the of sentences show that in chinese sentences subject and verb can be omitted, while in english a subject-predicate st