學術研討：We need more peace!

作者：林懷玓Huai-Ti Lin（自主學習實驗計畫畢業生，現就讀麻州州立大學物理系）
大要：談中文比英文更適合成為世界語文的原因
編案：因為全球化的壓力，與國際接軌的需求，使目前台灣流行英文教育，甚至到了從學齡前就在強迫小孩學英文，而忽視了中文教育。相反地，懷玓雖然身在美國，卻為這種「崇洋」的趨適感到憂心。這篇文章是他在大學文學課寫的一篇作文，成功地說服了文學老師：中文比英文更全面、更先進、更具教育意義、也更適合作為國際語言。我過去曾和他一起學習中國歷史與文學，很高興看到他的文化素養，在國外竟能產生如此的光芒。為此，我和他決定將〈We need more peace!〉登在電子報上，希望大家能正視中國文化和文字的價值，不要盲目地隨波逐流。在國際化的世界立足，需要的不只是共通的語言，更重要的是精彩的文化素養！

In today’s world, due to the advance of communication technology and the open social structure, the opportunities of intercultural contact increase significantly. Consequently, the need of setting a common language, in order to communicate with each other accurately, arose. Since designing a language costs a lot, both in time and effort, it’s smarter to designate an existing language as the “international language”. But there are hundreds of countries and thousands of different living cultures in the world, so whose language is to be the one, the international language? Because of the superpower dominancy the United Kingdom and the United States of America have in this modern time, this choice fell to America’s language, English. However, if we consider this choice from the real function of “international language” and our need of communication, we’ll find our original choice improper. In this essay, I’ll try to present the features of Chinese, a few undeniable facts contrasting the functions and needs of “international language” to explain why Chinese should be the one “international language.” Before I start to introduce Chinese, let’s explore and define the need of “Mutual Understanding”, and the functions of “international language”.

Some people say that peace comes from the degree of our communicating; others directly point out the practical benefits of communication, such as commercial trades, and resources exchange. Whatever the need of “Mutual Understanding” is, one thing is always for sure: “international language” functions as the communication media for people from different cultures and backgrounds, and must be unified and eternal so that users don’t need to update the changes or get confused. Every language was constructed not only by a single person, but many people throughout
many generations. In fact, every user of a certain language in every generation has at least a partial contribution to the development of the language. Of the many languages, Chinese has been improved by the greatest number of people. Not to mention the length of Chinese history in which thousands of generations of people have gone through, the Chinese population in any given area is always the most numerous. According to the latest statistics, speakers of Chinese around the world represent more than one third of the world population. It’s undeniable that the people who have participated in structuring Chinese are the most numerous, thus Chinese must contain the most numerous different kinds of experiences and thoughts. In other words, Chinese has the highest expression of diversity.

The emergence of Chinese can be traced back to more than 3500 years ago, where archaeological excavations found a paragraph of early Chinese written on a piece of tortoise plastron later known as “the inscriptions on tortoise shells”. The evolution of a language requires time. Over time and experience, people add new expressions and eliminate improper 2 old ones into and from the language. It’s undeniable that Chinese has experienced the longest developing time than any other language; therefore Chinese must be the most well-developed language, having the most humane communication structure.
Geographically, China has always been the most diverse country. From about 4 to 53 degrees latitude, China covers about 49 degrees at the northern hemisphere of our earth, and contains all four weather zones: tropical, subtropical, temperate, and frigid. From about 73 to 135 degrees, China covers about 62 degrees in longitude, and contains five time zones. This giant territory contains various terrains and all kinds of weathers. People from these diverse living environments all contribute their life experiences into this language. As the result, people from anywhere all can find something in Chinese to make them smile.

Chinese language has the most well developed written system, which reinforces the qualification of Chinese to be the international language. Chinese has three unique features: Pictorial feature (it can be seen as drawings), Musical feature (it can be heard as music), and Philosophical feature (it can be sensed as inspirations compacted with the wisdoms of humanity). Through these connections, Chinese has been inducted six ways of expression: 象形(pictorial)、指事(pictorial + philosophical)、會意(pictorial + philosophical)、形聲(pictorial + musical)、轉注and 假借(extending usage in sound and meaning). Surprisingly, we’ll find that phonetically noting down the oral language, the only expression alphabetic languages, such as English, have is only a part of the 形聲(pictorial + musical) expression of the six ways of expression in Chinese. The Chinese written form is independent from the oral form. In other
words, there is no easy way that one can understand written Chinese fully with only the knowledge of oral speaking. This fact can also be seen in the language itself. In Chinese, we have two distinctive terms for oral and written communication systems. For other languages, English, for example, there is only one “language” referring to both speaking and writing. In fact, we could say that there is no writing system in alphabetic language such as English at all, because the alphabetic writing system only records the sound of the oral language. Users of alphabetic languages, such as English, re-pronounce the language and make sense of it in the interpretation of oral sound. It actually becomes futile when we could use a sound recording device, such as voice/video mail or voice recognition technology products, as many science fictions have shown. Inversely, Chinese, as experts depict, is the “symbol of thought”.
Many people, including Chinese, feel that learning Chinese is a tough job, and doubt the possibility of making Chinese an “international language” that “everyone should learn”, yet, interestingly, some others enjoy the logical system of Chinese. Like science or math, Chinese requires the learner to follow its logic, with the fundamental simple principles, like “F=ma” in physics, to get the meaning of it. Every Chinese word is explainable! Similarly, not many people think learning either science or math is easy, right? However, all experienced science/math learners know, but many other don’t realize, that scientific theories/mathematical principles are just the reflection of the physical reality. By experiencing the natural phenomenon, one 3 could find those theories/principles comprehensible. Learning Chinese is the same, since Chinese reflects the human reality so much, by experiencing one’s life with heart, soul, and mind. In other words, to live consciously, one will find Chinese tremendously easy to comprehend. Indeed, in Chinese philosophy, introspection and practice are always what we should do in daily life. Consciousness, isn’t that just what we need?

The function of international language is to allow people from different cultures, backgrounds, and even eras to be understood by others. Chinese language is, indeed, originally designed for all kinds of people, having all kinds of life experiences, from all eras to use. China does not consist of a single people, but several tens of different peoples and cultures. Chinese, in fact, already is an “intercultural language” in China, or even eastern Asia. People from
different places might not be able to communicate orally, but when they pick up a pen starting to write “Chinese”, all the sudden they find their familiarity. It’s still true today. Since the Japanese took Chinese characters as the basis to develop their written language more than one thousand years ago, today, we, the Chinese, though we cannot pronounce it, we can mostly understand traditional Japanese writing. Having the most humane structure and unique written system, Chinese words directly represent the meaning humans want to express, thus will never be affected by difference of dialects or the change of oral speaking throughout time. Compared to English, while modern English professors hold the “Specialized English Lexicon” to read Shakespeare’s drama scripts (written in the end of the 1500’s), modern Chinese elementary scholars are enjoying poetry from the Tang Dynasty (A.D. 618 ~ 907).

Chinese not only has those qualities of humane, expressive, and convenient, but the most important of all, the Chinese written system makes those qualities never disappear as long as human beings don’t mutate. Now, the last question is: “do we need to set the most qualified language as our international language?” “Do we need to communicate more thoroughly?” “Are we satisfied with our level of mutual understanding in today’s world?” And very likely, “Do we need more peace?”