The influence of the differences between Chinese and English ways of thinking on language expression

The influence of the differences between Chinese and English ways of thinking on language expression

1, the differences between English and Chinese thinking-understanding and rationality

The difference between English and Chinese thinking can be summarized as the difference between reason and understanding from the philosophical point of view;

Chinese is deeply influenced by Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, and attaches great importance to understanding and explanation, rather than knowing everything at a glance. Intuitive and vivid, there are quite a few words (such as metaphors, idioms and proverbs) to express images, images, symbols, associations and imagination. Words are concrete and often express empty concepts in real form.

English thinking is deeply influenced by Aristotle's formal logic, that is, 16- 18 century rationalism popular in Europe. Emphasis on scientific experiments and formal argumentation. Expressed in language, emphasizing the exposure and integrity of form.

2. Overall thinking and individual thinking

China's traditional philosophy emphasizes the holistic view of thinking and holds that the subjective world and the objective world are integrated. Therefore, China culture advocates "the individual obeys the collective".

Western philosophy advocates individual thinking, mainly influenced by Aristotle's logical analysis thinking, and advocates that the essence of things exists in ordinary individuals. Its way of thinking is very logical and analytical.

The influence of holistic thinking and individual thinking on English and Chinese language expression is that English sentence patterns are characterized by many subordinate structures, strong sense of hierarchy in sentences, and many sentences are connected by subordinate conjunctions. Sentences are longer than Chinese sentences. Chinese sentences are mostly coordinate structures, loose sentences and flowing sentences.

3, concrete and abstract

China's traditional philosophy advocates the thinking mode of concrete and heavy image, and the traditional thinking mode attaches great importance to the embodiment or metaphor of abstract things with physical objects.

English emphasizes abstraction, analysis and logic. So English is an analytical language. The language is strict in logic and concise in language.

The differences between English and Chinese concrete thinking and abstract thinking are mainly reflected in the following aspects: English is a static language, while Chinese is a dynamic language; Chinese likes to spread the old than the old, and the language uses four-character idioms, highlighting literary talent and language, and the form is greater than the content; English language is concise, compared with Chinese, concise.

4, order vs reverse order

In China's philosophy, "speaking in sequence" is very important. When it comes to the concept of unity of opposites, China's philosophy always treats "Shun" and "Inverse", "Right" and "Inverse" equally, and the first is always "Shun" and "Right".

English vocabulary arrangement is not as fixed as Chinese. There are a lot of logical conjunctions in English, which can maintain the upside-down "order" without "disorder", which is also the place where English is rigorous.

5. Subjective consciousness and non-objective subject

Subjective consciousness: that is, people's subjective views in the process of thinking. Subjective conscious thinking often understands, deduces and describes the external world from the perspective of self, thus making language expression with various "subjectivity". People in China pay attention to subjective consciousness and often describe objective things from the perspective of self.

Impersonal subject: that is, when understanding and describing things, from an objective point of view, without personal color. Relatively speaking, English emphasizes impersonal subjects and often describes objective things in a calm and objective way. Sentences are often expressed in a passive and impersonal way, emphasizing facts with factual examples, investigation cases and statistical data.