Unit 4
Cultural Encounters Susan Bassnett
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We live in an age of easy access to the rest of the world.1 Cheap flights mean that millions of people are able to visit places their parents could only dream about, while the Internet enables us to communicate with the remotest places and the traditional postal services are now referred to almost mockingly as “snail mail.” When students go off backpacking, they can email their parents from Internet cafes in the Himalayas or from a desert oasis. And as for mobile phones — the clicking of text messaging at any hour of the day or night has become familiar to us all. Everyone, it seems, provided, of course, they can afford to do so, need never be out of touch.
Significantly also, this great global communications revolution is also linked to the expansion of English, which has now become the leading international language. Conferences and business meetings around the globe are held in English, regardless of whether anyone present is a native English speaker. English has simply become the language that facilitates communication, and for many people learning English is an essential stepping stone on the road to success.2
So why, you may wonder, would anyone have misgivings about all these wonderful developments, and why does the rise of English as a global language cause feelings of uneasiness for some of us? For there are indeed problems with the communications revolution, problems that are not only economic. Most fundamental is the profound relationship between language and culture that lies at the heart of society and one that we overlook at our peril.3
Different cultures are not simply groups of people who label the world differently; languages give us the means to shape our views of the world and languages are different from one another. We express what we see and feel through language, and because languages are so clearly culture-related,4 often we find that what we can say in one language cannot be expressed at all in another. The English word “homesickness” translates into Italian as “nostalgia,” but English has had to borrow that same word to describe a different state of mind, something that is not quite homesickness and involves a kind of longing. Homesickness and nostalgia put together are almost, but not quite, the Portuguese “saudade,” an untranslatable word that describes a state of mind that is not despair, angst (English borrowed that from German), sadness or regret, but hovers somewhere in and around all those words.
The early Bible translators hit the problem of untranslatability head-on. How do you translate the image of the Lamb of God for a culture in which sheep do not exist? What exactly was the fruit that Eve11 picked in the Garden of Eden? What was the creature that swallowed Jonah, given that whales are not given to swimming in warm, southern seas?5 Faced with unsurmountable linguistic problems, translators negotiated the boundaries between languages and came up with a compromise.6
Compromising is something that speakers of more than one language understand. When there are no words in another language for what you want to say, you make adjustments and 2
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try to approximate.7 English and Welsh speakers make adjustments regarding the color spectrum in the grey / green / blue / brown range, since English has four words and Welsh has three. And even where words do exist, compromises still need to be made. The word “democracy” means completely different things in different contexts, and even a word like “bread” which refers to a staple food item made of flour means totally different things to different people. The flat breads of Central Asia are a long way away from Mother’s Pride white sliced toasties, yet the word “bread” has to serve for both.
7 Inevitably, the spread of English means that millions of people are adding another
language to their own and are learning how to negotiate cultural and linguistic differences. This is an essential skill in today’s hybrid world, particularly now when the need for international understanding has rarely been so important. But even as more people become multilingual, so native English speakers are losing out, for they are becoming ever more monolingual, and hence increasingly unaware of the differences between cultures that languages reveal. Communicating in another language involves not only linguistic skills, but the ability to think differently, to enter into another culture’s mentality and shape language accordingly.8 Millions of people are discovering how to bridge cultures, while the English-speaking world becomes ever more complacent and cuts down on foreign language learning programs in the mistaken belief that it is enough to know English.
8 World peace in the future depends on intercultural understanding. Those best placed to help that process may not be the ones with the latest technology and state-of-the-art mobile phones, but those with the skills to understand what lies in, under and beyond the words spoken in many different languages.9
Paragraphs 1-3
Words and Expressions
1. access n. entrance; way in; means of entering or the right to use or look at something e.g. The only means of access to the building is along a muddy track.
到达那幢楼的唯一途径是沿着那条泥泞的小路前行。
The system has been designed to give the user quick and easy access to the required information. Derivation: accessible a.
2. communicate vi. share or exchange feelings, opinions, or information, etc. e.g. He is a shy boy who can’t communicate very well. Derivation:
communication n.
e.g. The Internet is the best means of communication among several partners at different locations. communicative a.
3. remote a. distant in space or time
e.g. We can see remote stars through a telescope.
In the remote future, many new changes will take place.
The Beatles carried Liverpool’s fame to the remotest corners of the earth. Derivation: remoteness n.
e.g. They found the remoteness of the country a great problem. Comparison: distant, far, remote
distant very far away esp. in distance
e.g. She could hear the distant sound of fireworks exploding.
far describe something that is not near, or the part of something that is most distant from the centre or from you
e.g. The station isn’t far — we could easily walk it.
remote describe an area, house or village that is a long way from any towns or cities e.g. He lived in a remote mountain village. Translation:
1. 我们很难观察月亮的另一边。
The far side of the moon is difficult for us to observe. 2. 邮车每周只到这个偏僻的村庄一次。
Mail comes to this remote village only once a week. 3. 这个朝圣者来自非常远的地方。
This pilgrim came from a very distant place.
4. mockingly ad. in a way in which sb. or sth. is made fun of
e.g. Andrienne raised her eyebrows mockingly — “What’s wrong, my dear? Don’t you
understand?”
The boy who was once referred to mockingly as a country boy is now the CEO of a joint venture.
5. regardless of without taking account of or worrying about e.g. I bought the book, regardless of the cost. 尽管价钱挺高，我还是买了这本书。
The law requires equal treatment for all, regardless of race, religion or sex.
6. facilitate vt. help; make easy or easier
e.g. The new underground railway will facilitate the journey to the airport.
An interface is a window environment designed to facilitate the interaction between the user and the system.
界面是一个窗口环境，其设计是用来促进用户和系统之间的交互作用。 Derivation: facilitation n. facilitative a.
7. stepping stone any of a row of large stones with a level top, which one walks on to cross a river
or stream; figuratively, a way of improvement or gaining success
e.g. For some people, gaining power is an essential stepping stone to a successful life.
Temporary jobs can be a stepping stone out of unemployment.
8. have misgivings not be sure
e.g. I have many misgivings about taking the job. 我对是否接受那项工作顾虑重重。
9. fundamental a. basic
e.g. A knowledge of economics is fundamental to any understanding of this problem.
经济学知识对于理解这个问题是至关重要的。
There is a fundamental difference in attitude between these two politicians. 这两位政治家的态度有着根本的区别。 Derivation:
fundamentally ad.
e.g. I disagreed fundamentally with what they stood for.
10. profound a. intense; deep; very strongly felt
e.g. The book contains profound insight into human behavior.
The development was to have a profound effect on all our lives. Derivation: profoundly ad.
e.g. I am profoundly grateful for this opportunity to meet you.
11. at one’s peril (used when advising sb. not to do sth.) with the near certainty of meeting great
danger
e.g. You ignore this warning at your peril. 你若忽视这个警告，就得自担风险。
Activity: Fill in each blank with a suitable preposition.
1. Which companies was she referring ___when she spoke of competing firms? (to) 2. Bats communicate___ each other by ultrasonic messages. (with) 3. Citizens may have free access ____the library. (to) 4. It is rude to mock ____others’ shortcomings. (at)
5. I’d like to go back to teaching, but I am ___ touch with my subject now. (out of) 6. She is determined to do regardless ____all consequences. (of) 7. Food is essential ___ life. (to)
8. At the time, many doctors had serious misgivings ____ the new treatment. (about) 9. Any climber who neglects these simple precautions does so___ his peril. (at)
Sentences
1. We live in an age of easy access to the rest of the world. (Paragraph 1) Translation: 我们生活在一个可以轻松到达世界其它角落的时代。
2. … for many people learning English is an essential stepping stone on the road to success. (Paragraph 2)
Explanation: … for many people the acquisition of English is basically a spring board towards
their lifetime achievements.
A stepping stone is a means that helps you to progress towards achieving something especially in your work.
e.g. Students from various minority groups are intent on using education as a stepping stone to a better life.
3. Most fundamental is the profound relationship between language and culture that lies at the heart of society and one that we overlook at our peril. (Paragraph 3)
Paraphrase: There is a basic relationship between language and culture which is an essential part of society and one that it is dangerous if we ignore.
Translation: 最根本的是语言与文化之间的深远关系，它存在于社会的中心，忽视它必然会造成危险。
Paragraphs 4-7
Words and Expressions 12. label
v. fix or tie on sth. a piece of paper or other material that gives information about it; use a word
or phrase to describe sb. or sth.
e.g. I’ve just spent a whole day labelling all the items. The bottle is labeled poison. 瓶上标明有毒。
n. a piece of paper or other material, fixed to sth., which gives information about what it is, where
it is to go, who owns it, etc.
e.g. The labels were attached to the luggage.
13. longing n. strong wish; a strong feeling of wanting sth.
e.g. She felt a great longing for the sights, sounds and smells of home.
Nothing could quench her longing to return home again. 她重返家园的念头怎么也打消不掉。
14. despair n. complete loss of hope or confidence; sth. that causes this feeling e.g. His failure in TOEFL drove him to despair.
He is the despair of his teacher because he refuses to study. Synonym: desperation n.
15. hover vi. be in an uncertain state; stay around one place, esp. in a way that annoys other
people
e.g. A hawk hovered in the sky, waiting to swoop down on its prey.
I heard the noise of a helicopter hovering overhead.
16. head-on ad. & a. with the heads or front parts meeting, usu. violently e.g. The motor cycle ran head-on into the lorry.
The government and the unions are set for a head-on confrontation.