第二十四届“韩素音青年翻译奖”竞赛汉译英参考译文

Language and Social Identity<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

A person’s language and social identity are in fact an inseparable entity. When I was in Australia, as I can recall, my neighbor practiced his speaking every morning, making it both pleasant and a privilege to hear, for the purpose of getting into parliament.

Language is indeed a marker of social identity, especially in a multiethnic and multicultural society. The so-called identity may also be considered as a knowledge structure, identifying cultural background, knowledge level or even the geographical location of the social group the person belongs to.

Language may also affect our perception of the cultures we are involved with. For instance, an investigation reveals that bilingual Chinese responded well to questionnaires tapping issues of cultural values in a more Chinese manner when the items were presented in Chinese than when they were presented in Chinese than when they were presented in English. Interestingly, when receiving instructions in Mandarin, the Cantonese speaking Hong Kong and Macau natives responded to questions regarding traditional Chinese culture and beliefs in a more Western-like approach, compared to their responses when surveyed in Cantonese.

Most foreign language learners of Chinese would not be considered bilingual in the truest sense; they would be deemed only to be the “diglossic”. In a way, they are merely practicing their skills at basic linguistic and expressive levels. True bilinguals, on the other hand, have already merged themselves into the languages in terms of thinking and a way of life. The two processes, however, have never stalled and are consistent in their continued transformation.

When we learn a language we are actually engaged in nurturing a relationship with the social world and deciding how that relationship is constructed across the limitless context of time and space we understand. The issue of social identity, which is more multiple and subject to change, is therefore one the language learners have to deal with no less than the linguistic identity.

Research has also revealed that a person’s style of spoken language is not merely composed of fixed elements of fixed elements of an individual’s language use; it varies depending on the social setting and the conversational ways of the interlocutor. People’s speech styles generally tend to converge (becoming more like that of their peers or conversation partners), although sometimes they diverge (showing their prominence deliberately). I, myself, as a native of Beijing, find that whenever I return to my home city, my native accent just naturally restores itself. A friend of mine, native British, when he was in Australia, as I observed, had an especially reserved speech manner prompting his Englishness, whether consciously or subconsciously.

An individual’s acculturation may also impact their native language shift with positive and negative consequences depending on the person who may opt for a different approach. While actively participating in the mainstream culture, some may intentionally diminish their native language competence; others may strengthen the ability as one of their advantages.

Generally speaking, a social group will gain a higher prestigious social status if its members communicate through and use a respected language that has wide public appeal (such as the language used by the aristocrats in England, most notably by the Queen). The members of social circles are also willing to display their divergence to maintain positive group distinctiveness. Surely, some others may also intend to associate themselves with the speaking style of this privileged group as well.

A person’s language may also become an evaluative subject with which perceivers can infer his or her social status, educational background, benevolence, intelligence, ability or even wealth and so on as certain research has suggested.

All in all, the implications of one’s language can be seen as the manifestation of an individual’s inner comprehensive values in the same way the clothes adorn the body. Language to a person, therefore, ought never to be seen as merely a tool as it has always been perceived, but more importantly, as a necessary quality.

（集体讨论，林巍 执笔）