Characters for the world（面向世界的人物）

Miss_Wednesday

编者按：2024年5月11日，《中国日报/China Daily》刊发了《Characters for the world（面向世界的人物）》这篇报道，里面有牵老师和她的西雅图诗友Sarah的故事。

经出版方同意，在此摘录并翻译成中文，以此记录。翻译成中文主要是想给牵老师的爸爸妈妈看。

点击文末“阅读原文”可直达报道页面。

China Daily May 11-12, 2024

Characters for the world

Author: Fang Aiqing

报道原文（牵老师与诗友Sarah部分）

A poetic tie

It's the third year Liao Shiqin has been teaching Chinese in Vienna, Austria. Her students range from sophomores majoring in Sinology at the University of Vienna and retirees learning Chinese for fun, and "preventing Alzheimer's disease", to those learning as a personal challenge, to facilitate work, find better job opportunities, or simply because they have a Chinese partner.

The 32-year-old has taught in Indonesia, South Africa and the United States over the past decade. Throughout this period, she has worked on the premise that raising her students' interest in Chinese language and culture involves maintaining a respect for their culture.

So, Liao is keen on sharing in her classes what she sees in her new environment and the culture shock she experiences, comparing between the differences, and listening to her students' stories of China, as well as explaining to them what China is like nowadays in her eyes.

These stories provide a window for both her students and herself to rediscover the life they have taken for granted, she adds.

Apart from routine courses, Liao has been reading Chinese poems with 48-year-old Seattle-based poetry lover Sarah Bitter, via video calls once a week for more than two years.

With different cultural and educational backgrounds, life experiences and an age gap of 16 years, their dialogues often stir up shared feelings and fresh inspiration, both say.

Liao says reading poems aloud — both ancient and modern — with Bitter is an escape from the real world and a dive into the life of different historical periods.

A writing challenge

However, both Liao and Li Hongfei find written language a major challenge for their students. As an alternative, some prefer typing or using pinyin instead of learning to write the characters themselves, which coincides with the universal debate on whether it's still necessary to master handwriting in the digital era.

中文翻译

诗意的连接

这是廖诗琴在奥地利维也纳教授汉语的第三年。 她的学生包括维也纳大学汉学系二年级的学生和一些社会人士，后者学习汉语的目的包括“预防老年痴呆”，也包括将学习视为个人挑战、为工作提供便利、寻找更好的工作机会或仅仅因为他们有中国的合作伙伴。

这位 32 岁的国际中文教师在过去十年中曾在印度尼西亚、南非和美国任教。 在此期间，她一直致力于提高学生对中国语言和文化的兴趣、同时尊重和了解对方的文化这一点上。

因此，廖老师热衷于在课堂上分享她在新环境中的所见所闻和所经历的文化冲击并进行文化对比，倾听学生讲述关于中国的故事，并向学生们描述当下中国的样子。 

廖老师提道，这些故事为她的学生和她自己提供了一个重新发现他们已经习以为常的生活的窗口。

除了日常课程之外，两年多来，廖老师一直与48岁的西雅图诗歌爱好者莎拉·比特（Sarah Bitter）一起通过视频通话阅读中国诗歌，每周一次。

两人都表示，尽管文化教育背景、生活经历都不同，年龄还相差16岁，但每次读诗、论诗都能激发出共同的感受和新鲜的灵感。

廖老师说，每次朗读古代和现代诗歌，既可以暂时逃避现实世界，也可以沉浸式地体验不同历史时期的生活。

手写汉字面临的挑战

然而，廖老师和（另一位被采访者）都发现书面语对他们的学生来说是一个不小的挑战。 作为替代方案，有些人更喜欢打字或使用拼音，而不是学写汉字，这个现象与目前盛行的数字时代是否仍有必要掌握手写汉字的争论不谋而合。

不知不觉我和Sarah已经读了将近100次诗了，每次都是我找现代诗、她找古诗；一般都是我先把诗歌朗读一遍，然后我们再进行讨论。

我个人认为，带感情地朗读诗歌非常重要，这样才能更好地感受古诗的韵脚以及现代诗的各种意象。大声朗读会有很多默读时无法体会到的收获。

在“国际中文教师的一天”这个vlog中，从4分35秒开始记录了2024年5月24号读燕七的诗《我是哭起来整个春天都会下雨的人》的经历。

点击下方“阅读原文”可直达报道页面。

 

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