An Analysis of Influences on Chinese and English by Different Modes of Thinking between the Chinese and Westerners

【Abstract】：This paper expounds the differences in the modes of thinking between Chinese and westerners， the reasons and their impacts on the expressions and languages use. Thinking has furthered the development of language. Language is the outer shell of thinking and this inevitably shows that thinking firmly controls language. Knowing the different modes of thinking between the Chinese and westerners throws some lights on improving English learning and the quality of English teaching.

【Key words】： Different Modes of Thinking， Chinese and English， Influences

1.Introduction

The mode of thinking is the bridge linking the culture and the language （Lian， 2010）. The language is the instrument and the carrier of the mode of thinking. In this sense， the differences in the mode of thinking can account for the differences in language. In this paper， the author will analyze the differences in Chinese and English languages use in the way of expounding the differences in the modes of thinking of the Chinese and the westerners in the following parts.

2. The Reasons of the Differences in Modes of Thinking between Chinese amp; Westerners

The culture and the philosophy interact with each other. The culture and the philosophy of a nation impose tremendous influences on the modes of thinking and the language. As a matter of fact， one of the most important reasons of the differences between thinking patterns of Chinese and English lies in the differences of two philosophical viewpoints.

2.1 The Modes of Thinking of Chinese

Chinese people emphasize \"unity of Nature and man\" and \"harmony\"， \"understand tacitly\" and \"the mentality space and time order\".

Owing to its philosophy， the Chinese people hold that Heaven and man should be united， which means nature and man interact with each other and both should obey the same laws. Man and nature， nature and the man's spirits are supposed to be in a harmonious unity. Influenced by the traditional Confucianism， Taoism and eastern Buddhism， Chinese people emphasized the idea of “understanding” （wu xing in Chinese Pinyin）. When this kind of philosophical thinking comes into Chinese people's mind， the entire modes of thinking come into being. A famous translator Fu Lei holds that the Easterners pay attention to synthesis， conclusion， hint and reservation （Lian， 2010， p299）. Furthermore， Chinese people don't stress the analysis， but pay attention to \"the individual comprehension\"， contributing to the subjectivity in the minds of its people.

2.2 The Modes of Thinking of the Westerners

Western pattern of thinking is rational thinking because westerners are influenced by formal logic of Aristotle and rationalism since the 16th century to the 18th century. From then on， western people have focused on the rationalism and rigid logic. They think man and objects should be separated from each other and emphasize the form coherence and logical deduction due to their philosophy.

So， westerners focus on analysis， the pursuit of details， the all-aspects description of things and objectivity.

3. The Impacts on English and Chinese Expressions by Different Modes of Thinking

3.1 Chinese Holistic Thought versus Western Individual Thought

As has been stated above， one of the most typical characteristics of traditional Chinese philosophy is the emphasis of the unity between the Heaven and the man， In this sense， people are accustomed to observing and dealing with things as an enclosed whole when reflected in the language. For instance， a writer would attach great importance to the unity and harmony of the whole， paying enough attention to the correspondence between the introduction and the conclusion and the natural transition from one point to another， rather than the clear-cut division among different sections.

On the contrary， the English people emphasize the individual consciousness and esteem the individual thinking modes， and the expressions in English are the partial， considerate and strict ones in structure.

On the lexical level， the words in Chinese have broader meaning and cover more compared with those in English relatively， i.e.， general words are prevalent in Chinese while more specific words are more preferred by English people. For example， when we express the concept of mass in Chinese， we often employ “一堆”， nevertheless， different words will be chosen according to different objects， that is， “a flock of sheep” and “a pride of lions”.

3.2 Parataxis in Chinese and Hypotaxis in English

The dialectical-focus modes of thinking of Chinese people influences the way they organize the sentences and the texts. Whether it is expressed once or repeatedly is not taken into consideration. Thus， the structure of the sentence is loose and lacking of logic. As for English， the formal logical-focus modes of thinking of westerners results in the emphasis on the unity of formality， i.e.， English is a language of perfectly connected and strictly logical structure， its expressions are clear and the sentences are logical in order. Therefore， the dialectical-focus mode of thinking is reflected in English as being hypotactic. They are relatively stronger in making use of concepts for logical reasoning. That is， “the arranging of clauses one after the other without connectives show the relation between them. Example： The rain fell; the river flooded; the house washed away” （Lian， 2010， p73）.

Reflected in the texts， Chinese people are not fond of using the connective words to show the logical relations between the sentences in a text. But that is the necessary part of English to develop an English text. So when a sentence is translated from Chinese to English， the first step is to make clear the logical relations of the sentences and then choose the proper connective words.

For example， the translation of a familiar Chinese proverb “不到長城非好漢” is “ He who does not reach the Great Wall is not a true man”. The translator should make clear the implicit relation of the Chinese proverb first of all.

3.3 Synthetic in English and Analytic in Chinese

Westerners tend to view things separately and they give a priority to the formal appearance. According to Lian， a synthetic language is characterized by frequent and systematic use of inflected forms to express grammatical relationships （Lian， 2010， p25）， it has been universally accepted that English is a synthetic-analytic language. Inflection occurs frequently in English， which concerns the form variation indicating grammatical functions such as number， gender， tense， aspect and case， etc. Besides， derivation in English can account for the synthesis.

By contrast， Chinese is a typical analytic language， “an analytic language is characterized by a relatively frequent use of function words， auxiliary verbs， and changes in word order to express syntactic relations， rather than of inflected forms” （Lian， 2010， p25）.

3.4 Impersonal in English and Personal in Chinese

Based on the traditional Chinese philosophical ideology， Chinese people give a high priority to the power of the man. They consider everything as artificial product and pay much attention to subjective consciousness. Therefore， Chinese is a subjectivity-prominent language. Personal style plays an important role in Chinese， that is， pronouns such as “we”， ”I”， ”you” or the animate are employed as the subject of sentences.

On the contrary， westerners take the objective world as the center. Such mode of thinking accounts for the choice of the inanimate as the subject of a sentence. Thus， in English， the impersonal nouns are preferred to be the subject of sentences. What’s more， the passive voice receives much popularity. Lian cited “Formal written language often goes with an impersonal style…but avoids the pronouns I， you， we. Some of the common features of impersonal language are passives， sentences beginning with introductory It， and abstract nouns” （Lian， 2010， p104）.

E.g.

瑪麗的事業在2014年出現轉機。

2014 saw a turning point in Mary’s career.

4. Conclusion

This paper expounds the differences in the modes of thinking between Chinese and westerners， the reasons and their impacts on the expressions and languages use. To conclude， thinking has furthered the development of language. Language is the outer shell of thinking and thinking firmly controls language. Language makes thinking movement accurate， precise and quick. Language depends on the thinking patterns， the differences in the modes of thinking resulting in the differences in the expressions and language use. Also， knowing the different modes of thinking between the Chinese and westerners throws some lights on improving English learning and the quality of English teaching.

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