“望文生义”刍议

A Brief Review of “Understanding Through Intertextual Association”

"望文生义"是中国人学习汉语的认知常态,但绝对不宜移用到英语学习中。作为一种表义符号,汉字是中国文化"比类取象"思维的产物,具有表现力强,意象丰富,适于意合的特点。"望文生义"与汉字汉语之间存在着一种与生俱来的内在联系。

For Chinese, understanding through intertextual association, so-called ＂Wangwenshengyi＂, is just acceptable and excusable in the process of cognitive learning. However, the same practice should be avoided in learning English, especially in translation between English and Chinese. As ideographic writing, Chinese characters are the product of imagery thinking under the impact of the Chinese culture, ＂comparing the kind to take the image＂. The Chinese language is, therefore, characterized by being expressive, rich in imagery and of paratactic prominence. The author believes that there is a natural and inevitable connection between ＂Wangwenshengyi＂ and Chinese.