国家外语能力的理论构建与应用尝试

A Model of National Foreign Language Capacity and Its Trial Use

在21世纪经济全球化背景下,国家外语能力已成为衡量一个国家核心竞争力和软实力的重要标准之一。本文首先探讨了国家外语能力、全民外语能力和公民外语能力三者的定义与相互关系,进而依据构成要素、存在形式与转换机制,尝试构建国家外语能力的理论框架。为了检验该理论框架的应用性,本文比较了中美两国的国家外语能力,尤其是两国在外语资源的种类与质量以及两个转化机制上的异同。

In a globalization era, national foreign language capacity has become one of the singificant criteria for a country＇s core competency and soft power. This paper first discusses the definitions of national foreign language capacity, citizens＇ overall foreign language capacity and citizens＇ individual foreign language capacity and their relationships. Then it proposes a theoretical framework for describing national foreign language capacity in which its components, existing forms and transformation mechanisms are explained. To test its applicability, a comparison has been made within this framework between the national foreign language capacity of China and that of the United States, specifically, the types and quality of foreign language resources of the two countries, as well as the two transformation mechanisms.