Case Analysis of Cognitive Switch Between Chinese and English Languages: Encouraging Learners to Explore on Their Own the Reasons Behind

Contents

Symbols and Linguistic Terms

Preface

Chapter 1     Cross-cultural Contrast of Image Schemas between Chinese and English Speakers

Chapter 2     Differences in Category Boundary between Chinese and English Languages

Chapter 3     The Cross-cultural Comparison of V wán le and V hǎo le

Chapter 4     Chinese English Cross-cultural Perspective Mind-set

Chapter 5     Chinese and English Cognitive Mind-sets of Value Orientations

Chapter 6     Case Studies on Chinese and English Cognitive Mind-set of Sequence Representations

Afterword

Glossary

Symbols and Linguistic Terms

The symbol*denotes that this sentence is grammatically unacceptable in collocation,

or unreasonable in meaning.

V is used as the abbreviation for verb, e.g.V wán le denotes verb+ wán le.So does V hăo le.

N is used as the abbreviation for noun, e.g. N+V wán le denotes "noun+verb+ wán le".So does N+V hăo le.

The term patient is a linguistic term that refers to the object or person acting as the receiver role in an action initiated by agent. Regaydless of the different position of a noun in a sentence, it can always been identified as patient in comparison with its peer term object which is either identified as object when appears after verb, or as subject while appears prior to verb in a sentence.

The term affix. According to Wikipedia, An affix (in modern sense) is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word. Affixes may be derivational, like English -ness and pre-, or inflectional, like English plural -s and past tense -ed. They are bound morphemes by definition; prefixes and suffixes may be separable affixes.

Preface

Indigenous cognitive perspectives embedded in the Chinese language are different from those in English. Therefore, it is necessary to link and shift cognitive patterns when Chinese and English speakers communicate cross-culturally. Given that, residing on the same globe and sharing the same environment, people of different nations, ethnicities, and languages actually bear the same cognitive foundations among the variations in our lifestyles, cultural backgrounds, and perceptions. For example, human beings follow the same cognitive mechanism while evaluating gains and cost, regardless of their ethnical or cultural backgrounds. Such similarities are duly reflected in their language representations as similar minds think alike. In other words, Chinese and other languages may look like two icebergs above water but are actually connected beneath the surface through cognitive channels. Their relation is like that of hamburgers and steamed buns: different in taste and processing procedures but are similar down to the molecule level as compounds of carbohydrate and protein.

Cross-cultural cognitive studies explore how people from different cultures select the cognitive perspectives that are most intuitive to their own experiences and representations of the world. Why we say Milky Way in English but silver river (yín hé) in Chinese? Why we say 10 percent off in English while its Chinese equivalent is 90 percent discount (jiǔ zhé)? Why we say northeast and southwest in English but east-north (dong bei) and west-south (xī nán) in Chinese? Li Ming is worn out from playing basketball. Its Chinese counterpart is Li Ming played basketball and worn out (Lǐ Míng dǎ qiú dǎ lèi le). What caused the reverse order of the two expressions of cause and effect?

Figure 1

There is only one objective world out there, but we have many ways to perceive and represent it. Different cultures nurture different cognitive worlds, which have both similar parts and different parts. Each word and sentence in our languages is imprinted with these cultural marks, which need to be translated to match with each other. Transferring between cultural mind-sets is an unavoidable path to cross-cultural learning and communication.

Cognitive patterns determine the basic rules of cross-cultural language learning. If culture is perceived as an iceberg, the overt structure of a language is the part above water. But what is hidden beneath the surface actually controls the distribution, combination, and permutation of linguistic symbols.

Languages consolidate cultural cognition. One language corresponds to one cognitive world. Learning a language is opening a gate to another different cognitive world. The objective world is projected into Chinese, English, and many other languages in ways that are either similar or different. If we do not know the right approaches, our years of efforts to shift mind-sets cross-culturally will be in vain. Despite some cross-cultural learners of Chinese language could embark on the ship with their language competence, in most cases, their mind-set is still lagged behind on the other bank of the river, with large amount of Eng-Chinese or other inter-Chinese generated unconsciously. Aiming at this cross-cultural barrier, this book analyzed many cases that reflect the cognitive conversion between English and Chinese mind-sets, enlightening learners to approach the Chinese cognitive world by grasping a set of simplified cross-cultural cognitive rules.

In order to illustrate cross-cultural cognitive conversion with tangible examples, this book presents a collection of Chinese errors based on cognitive conversion found frequently in conversation and homework of English learners of Chinese. These mistakes in language use are rich resources reminding us that our perception and expressing is not limited in a single way. Examples are the counterpart of Milky Way is yín hé (silver river) in Chinese, daughter-in-law corresponds to ér xífu (son’s wife), 10 percent off equals to jiǔzhé(90 percent discount), joint venture is equivalent to hézī (joint investment) in Chinese. This cross-cultural conversion involves different levels of comprehensive transformation in terms of vocabulary system, grammatical system, and pragmatic system based on cognitive mind-set as well as cultural evaluation, from literal interpretation to social connotation. This complex situation causes the difficulty from not only linguistic and cultural aspects but also from cognitive mind-set for a cross-cultural Chinese learner to understand Chinese language and culture. This urges us to reexamine the complex relations among language, culture, and cognition to discover their inner logic and secrets.

Language is a kind of solidified mind-set based on specific cultural patterns. Our cognitive world is shaped by cultural perception and cognitive sequence. Language is not only shaped by but also shapes cognitive mind-set developed through certain social cultural context. One culture shapes a corresponding cognitive world. For example, in Chinese hē tāng (drink soup) is equivalent to eat soup (chi tang) in English, regardless whether the soup is thick or thin. Clearly, the prototype category based on one’s mind-set determines which verb to use (drink/eat) rather than the nature of the soup itself. Although in these examples mentioned above, what is referred to in English or Chinese is the same. However, there are contrasting differences in their cognitive schema and organizing rules. This results in delicate differences in meaning as well. From this perspective, it is clear that teaching Chinese cross-culturally should not only focus on language transformation, but also on developing deep understanding of different cultural mind-sets.

Cross-cultural foreign language teaching involves three levels of transformation: linguistic symbols, culture, and cognition. They are interdependent and intertwined. Transformation between different mind-sets is the most difficult because cognition most of the time is hidden in the deepest from foreign-language learners. This is the fundamental reason for many errors found in translation between languages. Foreign language learners do not often realize it, but even if they do, they are unable to shift their mind-sets between two languages in a reasonable way. Chinglish is the result of incomplete switching between mind-sets and using Chinese cognitive categories instead of English ones. In other words, learning a foreign language is a process of reconstructing and transforming cognitive ways, perspectives, and organization strategies of both language and cognition.

Specific cognitive ways, perspectives, and strategies are embedded in languages. Cognition is the essence of language. Mind-sets formed in foreign and Chinese cultures share similarities and differ as well on many levels in form and essence. Cognition developed in learners’ native language often confines them in translating between languages. A successful translation requires matching at both levels of cognition and linguistic symbols rather than on either. This is an often-neglected point in teaching Chinese as a foreign language. That language is indispensable from culture is very important in a cognitive approach. In foreign-language teaching, teachers should guide learners to break the confinement of their native languages. Thus, they will become eloquent in both forms and essence in the foreign language and perform a complete cross-cultural cognitive conversion.

It is helpful for foreigners to have a deeper understanding of Chinese if frequent cognitive patterns and rules are summarized in cross-cultural foreign-language teaching. This makes it possible to learn a foreign language from all aspects, such as cognitive mind-sets, cultural background, and language structure. It offers learners a toolbox for self-study, makes learning more interesting, deepens their understanding cognitively, and facilitates long-term memory. In this way, the complex process of grasping a language is simplified.

One feature of this book is recognizing the internal connection among language, cognition, and culture as a standing theme through all chapters. It pays particular attention to how cognitive, psychological, and behavioral patterns, as well as value orientations, are reflected in language structure. This is actually often overlooked in traditional classroom teaching of foreign languages, which treat language and culture separately. In a pleasant manner, readers will gradually become aware of the hidden effects of culture on language structure and cognition. The book sketches out how Chinese cognition maps to its English equivalence in a complex way with the use of numerous cases and brief explanations so that readers can understand and remember them easily.

Another feature of this book is that it tries to embed cross-cultural cognitive theories into real-world cases and guide readers with inspiring questions and practical examples. Instructions for self-learning dissect each case by steps and divide big issues into small tasks so that they can be followed easily. Readers are encouraged to explore with their own initiative and at their own pace the cognitive motivation behind examples presented in this book. It is a process from knowing what to knowing why. All examples used in this book are from classroom exercise or students’ homework. The book can be used as a self-study guide or resource and reference book for teachers of Chinese to foreigners.

Chapter 1

Cross-cultural Contrast of Image Schemas between Chinese and English Speakers

Section 1. Cases of Cross-cultural Shift between Chinese and English Schemas

1. Why is it correct in English to use check in when one registers as a guest to a hotel or has a luggage registered for a flight but incorrect in Chinese to use the same phrase, jiǎn piào (check in), on any of these occasions?

2. Why qiāndào (register on arrival) in Chinese is translated as sign in in English?

3. Why does rain check mean taking or accepting an offer later? Is there a cognitive reason?

4. Why is guòqī (expired) in Chinese translated into outdated in English?

Section 2. Cognitive Explanation from a Cross-cultural Perspective

1. Schema and Its Representation

A typical procedure for iǎn piào is to examine whether tickets held by travelers are valid before they enter a venue or ride a bus.

It applies to the following occasions:

A. Travelers or audience present prepurchased tickets (including digital ones) at the entrance. The ticket is proof that the ower has paid and can enter.

B. Guests check in to hotel rooms. They do not hold on to any tickets, nor are the tickets proof of granted access.

C. Passengers check in their luggage. Tickets of proof are available.

In a word, events of jiǎn piào are categorized into two types in Chinese according to whether there are tickets or not in the hands of customers. In English, there is no such distinction, so check in can be used on all occasions. In Chinese, only on occasions of examining actual tickets iǎn piào can be used.

The representations of check in in Chinese and English are compared in table 1.1, and one can see where they match and where they do not.

Table 1.1

A semantic domain often contains related concepts and words. In English, check in and check out are a pair with similar structure and complementary meanings. However, in Chinese, iǎn piào (check in) is not related to tuì fáng (check out) in neither structure nor meaning because iǎn piào takes ticket as proof for granted access and tuì fáng does not.

Table 1.2

Differences between jiǎn piào, tuōyùn xíngli, and rùuzhù bīnguǎn in Chinese

Table 1.3

Similarities among Events Using Check In

From tables 1.2 and 1.3, we can see that if we focus on the differences (e.g., whether tickets are processed on site or not) and overlook the similarities (e.g., granted access to vehicles or venues) among these events, the use of different expressions of jiǎn piào in Chinese starts to make sense.

Similarly, if we focus on the similarities (e.g., examining either tickets or identity, granting access to either vehicles or venues) and overlook the differences (e.g., whether tickets are processed on site or not) among these events, the use of the same expressions of check in in English makes sense too.

2. Passing Path Schema

Schema is a basic unit in cognitive representation. There are different types of schemas, such as container schema, path schema, and attachment schema. For an event, there can be many organizing perspectives and elements for constructing