Looking back, China has a long history of more than 5,000 years. Under the background of globalization, with the continuous promotion of the construction of "the belt and road initiative", China has been devoting itself to the construction of Community of Shared Future for Mankind, telling the story of China well, making the world realize the charm of China culture, and realizing the effective cross-cultural communication of Chinese excellent traditional culture in the big garden of world culture. With the continuous development of internationalization, cultural communication has become one of the important ways for a country to develop continuously in the world. So how to spread China culture and traditional values of China widely in the world has become an important issue in China’s cultural export. Telling the story of China to the world is a very effective way to spread China culture to the outside world.
What exactly is Chinese excellent traditional culture? Some people think that China’s excellent traditional culture is the figurative culture of four books and five classics, piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, Chinese martial arts, national costumes and folk customs handed down from ancient China. However, China’s excellent traditional culture not only includes these figurative cultural contents, but also some intangible cultural heritages that we recognize, which bear the excellent traditional culture of China. Chinese traditional culture embodies the creative source of the essence of Chinese civilization and carries the synthesis of moral inheritance, various cultural ideas and spiritual concepts in national history. It includes both material and institutional levels, as well as conceptual levels. Promoting the construction of a strong socialist culture is one of the important aspects to enhance the soft power of the country’s culture, and it is through inheriting and carrying forward China’s outstanding traditional culture. China’s outstanding traditional culture is the foundation and soul of the Chinese nation. With its profound ideological connotation, rich moral connotation and profound value concept, it is of great practical significance to China’s contemporary social and economic construction, political life, cultural construction and all-round development of people. "Generations of Chinese sons and daughters have cultivated and developed a unique and profound Chinese culture, which has provided a strong spiritual support for the Chinese nation to overcome difficulties and live endlessly." In the long history, the reason why the Chinese nation can become a great nation, stand among the nations of the world, and become more frustrated and brave after suffering is that it has nurtured and developed a unique and profound Chinese culture.It has provided strong spiritual support and rich cultural nourishment for its own development.
Cross-cultural communication is a very important research field in communication science. Cross-cultural communication refers to interpersonal communication and information dissemination activities between members of society under different cultural backgrounds. At present, with the continuous development of scientific and technological progress, cross-cultural communication can effectively promote cultural exchanges between countries.
If you want to tell a good story about China, it is important to know who will tell a good story about China. The cultivation of intercultural communicative competence can be said to be the ultimate goal of foreign language teaching. With the help of foreign language classroom teaching, it is undoubtedly a good choice to tell the story of China. Pay attention to knowledge transmission, value shaping and ability training, and cultivate international talents with China feelings. Such talents should be familiar with China’s national conditions, have an international perspective, have a solid theoretical knowledge, and have relevant translation skills. At the same time, they also have different countries’ historical and cultural knowledge backgrounds, so that they can adjust their strategies for spreading China’s stories in the case of different national audiences’ different reactions.
Knowledge transfer. In the process of foreign language teaching, we should pay attention to the teaching of culture. We should not only export our excellent local traditional culture to students, but also let students know about western culture, other countries’ languages and habits. Only in this way can we promote the integration of China and the West in the process of teaching and better let the West understand our culture. In the teaching process, we should respect the cultural differences between China and foreign countries, teach students in accordance with their aptitude, adjust their lecture contents according to different students, different places and local conditions, so that the audience countries can better understand China culture. In the course of teaching, we can convey our spiritual connotation to the west through some traditional stories and some contemporary stories. In the process of imparting knowledge, we should not only cultivate students’ ability of listening, speaking, reading, writing and translating, but more importantly, let students know the cultural background of the two countries, so that students can better communicate across cultures and become disseminators of Chinese culture. Teachers encourage learners to know more about China culture, help students build up cultural self-confidence and remove barriers to communication between different countries, thus contributing to the development of the two countries.
Value shaping. Everyone in China is deeply influenced by Chinese excellent traditional culture in the process of growth and study. In the hearts of every China people, there is a broad value consensus and common value pursuit, that is, socialist core values. This is our action guide and value core, and it is our ideological engine to realize the great rejuvenation dream of the Chinese nation. With the continuous progress of the times, our country has different development connotations in each period. In today’s era, socialist core values are more conducive to social development and can encourage people to develop better. We should combine the requirements of the times and vigorously carry forward socialist core values. Foreign language teaching plays an important strategic role in cultivating and practicing socialist core values. In our foreign language class, we should also establish students’ core values, integrate socialist core values with Chinese traditional culture, and tell stories that belong to our China in the process of teaching foreign languages.
Ability training. The first thing we should do is to improve the translation ability of foreign language talents. A foreign language is the best medium to tell a good story about China and convey the good voice of China. Communication is not only a form of spreading cultural pictures, but also a factory of cultural production. Telling a good story is not a one-way output, but an exchange between the two sides. The narrator tells a good story about China, and the listener can understand the connotation behind the story. This requires students to have the ability of cross-cultural communication. Can tell the good story of China in a way that is easier for international audiences to understand. When translating language expressions with China characteristics, we should learn to use terms that are in line with China’s national conditions. Foreign language students need to systematically learn cross-cultural knowledge, make reasonable translation based on cultural background, cultivate their cross-cultural literacy, and truly spread Chinese excellent traditional culture in cross-cultural context. Secondly, it is necessary to cultivate students’ ability to select and disseminate China cultural translation materials. Chinese culture has a long history and is profound, and there are many good stories to tell. So what kind of story to choose and how to teach it is a very challenging problem. Cultural content in translation selection is the main content we want to spread abroad. So how do we choose the right materials in the vast sea of literature? First of all, we should preserve the characteristics of China culture and select materials that can represent China culture. Chinese culture has traditional core values. Such as benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom and faithfulness, these China cultures are fundamentally different from other western cultures.China’s ancient philosophy and wisdom are also worthy of our consideration, which is also one of our very good materials. Therefore, when selecting materials for translation, the first thing we should do is that any material selection should not be divorced from China’s traditional core values, and we should choose a good story that best represents China’s characteristics and has the significance of external communication. Finally, it is necessary to improve the oral interaction ability of foreign language majors. To spread Chinese excellent traditional culture under the cross-cultural background, we must learn to use reasonable international expressions. Compared with one-way communication such as media and newspapers, personal cultural communication involves two-way communication between the narrator and the listener. Therefore, it is particularly important to improve students’ oral English expression ability, and good oral English expression can improve the effect of foreign communication of Chinese excellent traditional culture. Teachers should be good at stimulating students’ interest in speaking foreign languages, encouraging students to find opportunities to speak foreign languages, praising students’ progress in time and improving their self-confidence. Cultivate students’ awareness of foreign language culture, introduce students to the customs and humanistic environment of foreign societies, and create a good contextual foundation for students.
One of the carriers of cultural communication-Confucius Institute. Confucius Institute is the most representative China language and culture promotion organization that tells the story of China to the world. Under the new period and background, China is constantly glowing with new vitality. As an important way to export culture to the outside world, Confucius Institute shoulders great responsibilities and missions. As one of the important channels of cultural exchange, the Confucius Institute must first ensure that it has a good brand influence and a high external reputation. Only in this way can we increase the sense of identity and confidence of foreign society in Confucius Institute. The Confucius Institute can hold a series of activities such as "Chinese Bridge". During the activities, the Confucius Institute can invite local teachers and students to visit China and hold a variety of cultural activities, such as experiencing local characteristics and holding a Chinese Bridge Cup competition to attract more students to learn Chinese. At the same time, the "New Sinology Program" can be held to attract young talents from various countries to study in China, so that they can study for doctoral degrees in humanities and social sciences in China, and study Sinology from the perspective of foreigners, so that they can go deep into their lives, feel China and appreciate the charm of China culture, so as to promote China culture and enhance the international status of China culture. Confucius Institute should have its own courses with China characteristics, and introduce courses with local characteristics according to local conditions and the actual conditions of different countries and regions. According to a survey, most people come to the Confucius Institute for the purpose of learning the Chinese language and understanding the history and culture of China. And learning the Chinese language,Some people want to learn spoken Chinese well and strengthen their daily communication with China people. Others are full of love for China’s calligraphy, and their main purpose is to learn China’s Chinese characters and culture. Therefore, we can carry out targeted teaching, mainly focusing on teaching the basic knowledge of Chinese, supplemented by oral courses, but some cultural courses with China characteristics can be mixed with them, and the knowledge of China history should be combined to make the courses more lively and interesting. Let German Chinese lovers learn the cultural knowledge they want to learn according to their own needs.
At present, the Confucius Institute has a good momentum of development abroad. In order to gain a foothold overseas in the future, localized development will be the best choice. In order to train more high-quality native Chinese teachers, the Confucius Institute can set up a special training fund to allow outstanding German native teachers and outstanding graduates who are willing to teach Chinese in the future to study in China. Set up special courses for them, improve their Chinese level and Chinese teaching ability, and train them to grow into excellent Chinese teachers in a short time. At the same time, the Confucius Institute can also carry out a cooperative school-running plan, fully tap the local German teacher resources, carry out targeted training, conduct small-scale high-intensity guidance, purposefully improve the Chinese language ability and teaching level of local German teaching resources, select experienced professional Chinese teachers from China, and train more German-speaking Chinese teachers through one-on-one assistance, so as to steadily promote the rapid development of the Confucius Institute in Germany. In the concrete implementation, we should also create a positive image of Confucius Institute in the mainstream media. We should pay attention to building a network platform in German local and neighboring countries, provide exchange services for local China cultural lovers, provide updated information on a regular basis, and realize the sharing of network resources. Through the network platform, we can strengthen the organization and management of Confucius Institute students, and provide characteristic online courses and study plans for Chinese learners in Germany, imitating the domestic learning model, so as to facilitate learners to choose their studies freely according to their hobbies and freely arranged time. Most importantly,We must strengthen cooperation with German local media, make positive reports on Confucius Institute with the help of local media, try our best to establish a good brand image of Confucius Institute, and strive to improve the brand competitiveness of Confucius Institute.
To sum up, the 5,000-year-old traditional culture is our cultural heritage, and the progress brought about by the reform and opening up is the foundation of our confidence. Concepts such as "the belt and road initiative" initiative and Community of Shared Future for Mankind have provided excellent conditions for us to develop Socialism with Chinese characteristics culture. Informatization and globalization are the development trends in today’s world, which puts new demands on the positioning of Confucius Institutes. Confucius Institutes should not only show their mission in combination with the current trends, but also shoulder the role of cultural diplomacy. They should not only position themselves as Chinese teaching and cultural communication institutions, but also consciously play their role in cultural diplomacy. With the continuous strengthening of China’s national strength, it is unstoppable for culture to go abroad. Telling the story of China well and making China’s voice resound through the world means that China’s international status is constantly strengthening. However, if we want to tell the story of China well, we need to dig out the good stories in China culture that can resonate with the world. At the same time, we should set up an excellent team with international vision and cross-cultural communication, deepen international cooperation with an international vision, strengthen research on the international market, optimize communication strategies, and spread the excellent traditional socialist culture with China characteristics to every corner of the world.
(Author: Dong Kun, lecturer of bohai university Foreign Studies University, doctoral student of European Civilization Institute of Tianjin Normal University; This paper is the research achievement of Hebei Social Science Fund Project [No.:HB21SL002]. )
Source: Guangming Net
