关于初级汉语教材生词英文释义的思考

Speculation on the English Interpretations to the New Words in Primary Chinese Text Books

以留学生因教材误导而形成的词汇偏误为着眼点,调查发现,目前国内使用范围较广的三种初级汉语教材在生词英文释义上主要存在着如下现象:用一个英文词解释多个汉语词,而没有对生词的搭配对象、使用环境等的不同加以限制说明;用一个英文词对应一个汉语词,但没有指明两个词在不同语言中的使用条件限制,没有指明两者并非是绝对条件的完全一一对应;用多个英文词解释一个汉语词,却没有根据学生相应的学习水平提供多义词在文中义项属于哪一个等问题。文章认为,在用英文给生词释义时不能一味追求简洁,要根据生词在文中的出现环境对其外延意义加以限制,并在此基础上探讨了解决当前问题的方法。

This paper investigates the English interpretations to the new words in three most popular primary Chi- nese textbooks in China from the angle of the lexical errors resulting from the misleading of the textbooks. It puts forward that there exist many problems on the interpretations, such as, using one English word to explain many Chinese words without any districts to their functions, using one English word to explain a Chinese word without pointing out the different using circumstances, and using many English words to explain a Chinese word without giving the exact meaning and usage according to the context. It points out that it is not wise to make new words＇ interpretations briefly only and the districts and connotations of the new words should be expressed too. On the basis of this, this paper explores some solutions to these problems.