Learning Chinese, turning Chinese : challenges to becoming sinophone in a globalised world / Edward McDonald.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

MacDonald, E. (Edward)

Series:

Asia's transformations

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Chinese language--Study and teaching.

Chinese language.

Second language acquisition.

Chinese language--Globalization.

Globalization.

Physical Description:

xxi, 241 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Abingdon, Oxon ; New York : Routledge, 2011.

Summary:

In this book Edward McDonald takes a fresh look at issues of language in Chinese studies. He takes the viewpoint of the university student of Chinese with the ultimate goal of becoming 'sinophone': that is, developing a fluency and facility at operating in Chinese-language contexts comparable to their own mother tongue. While the entry point for most potential sinophones is the Chinese language classroom, the kinds of 'language' and 'culture' on offer there are rarely questioned, and the links between the forms of the language and the situations in which they may be used are rarely drawn. The author's explorations of Chinese studies illustrate the crucial link between becoming sinophone and developing a sinophone identity learning Chinese and turning Chinese.

Including chapters on:

relating text to context in learning Chinese;

the social and political contexts of language learning;

myths about Chinese characters;

language reform and nationalism in modern China;

critical discourse analysis of popular culture;

ethnicity and identity in language learning.

This book will be invaluable for all Chinese language students and teachers, and those with an interest in Chinese linguistics, linguistic anthropology, critical discourse analysis, and language education. Book jacket.

Contents:

Part A The Great Wall of Chinese language teaching 15

1 Arguing semantics with a Beijing taxi-driver: relating text and context in a university Chinese language program 17

2 Gateways to becoming sinophone: conflicting paradigms in Chinese language textbooks 35

3 Learning Chinese the Lee Kuan Yew way: the social and political context of language learning 57

Part B Drawing battlelines over language 77

4 Character fetishisation: the modus operandi of orientalism in Chinese studies 81

5 Ideolatry versus phonolatry? Chinese characters as disciplinary identifier 109

6 Keeping Chinese for the Chinese: the paradox of nativised orientalism in Chinese linguistics 133

Part C Getting over the Walls of Discourse 153

7 Construing 'metrosexual' in Chinese: social and semiotic change in the era of globalisation 155

8 Reconstruction versus deconstruction: textual criticism, social semiotics and 'New Sinology' 175

9 From 'Ed McDonald' to 'Ned McHorse': negotiating multiple identities in a globalised world 197.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780415559416

0415559413

9780415559423

0415559421

9780203840726

0203840720

OCLC:

368025392