毛丹青：用日語著書 教學生漢語

吳洋 楊冠穹

銀座，是東京最具代表性的繁華商區，匯集了日本全國各大高級百貨商店、米其林星級餐廳和頂級夜總會，代表著日本高速發展時期最繁榮的現代文化。筑地，在2018年10月正式關閉前曾被稱為“日本的廚房”，有著全球最大型的魚市場——筑地市場，魚販、廚師、主婦、食客、游人混雜其中、人聲鼎沸，展現了東京豐富的市井文化。

而在銀座和筑地之間，有一個叫“東銀座”的街區，這便是毛丹青開啟旅日生活的起點，也是他此后踏上用日語著書之路的靈感原點。在這里，他把自己完完全全置身于普通日本人的生活語境之中，每天和形形色色的日本人打交道，在強調效率至上的現代文化與飽含人情冷暖的傳統文化的交融中深切地感受著異國文化帶來的沖擊和驚喜。

與毛丹青對話，一開始他便提到了自己“另類”而非典型的創作生涯軌跡。他把自己在日本的30多年劃分成了三個階段：最先的10年是中途退學、棄學從商，做過遠洋漁業的生意;中間的10年，棄商從文，走遍了日本47個都道府縣，用日語直接寫出了自己的第一本書，或許應了那句“無心插柳柳成蔭”的古話，日語著作獲得了日本第28屆籃海文學獎，被多次用于日本大學高考試題;后來的10年應邀到日本的大學當教授，給日本大學生講中文，教中文寫作，講一門叫《日本文化論》的課。

這3個10年，看似獨立成篇，卻可以看到，正是這些不同階段的人生經歷積累、沉淀并串聯起了一條脈絡清晰的屬于毛丹青所獨有的思想主線，其中包含了對異國文化的理解、通過理解異國文化對本國文化的深度再理解、對不同語言表達差異的思考，以及在異文化交流上具體到個人可以作出的努力。這條主線中還包含了3個關鍵詞：情懷、融合、共通。

熱愛一門外語

用情懷去觸摸她的文化

在毛丹青教過的日本學生中，有人成了知名的漢學家，有人在日本外務省擔任要職，他們都與中國有著緊密的聯系。時隔多年后，他們記住的或許并不是課堂上的某個單詞、某個發音，而是某種感染力，這種感染帶力帶給他們的是對漢語學習的持之以恒的激情，以及如何去熱愛語言的一種能力。

如今世界格局正在發生深刻變革，過去是中國看世界，現在是世界看中國，而看待中國的方式多種多樣，其中當然也包括漢語帶給人們的認知。“通過語言去了解對方的國家和文化，豐富自己的智慧。通過學習漢語，去增強自己的想象力，把中國當作一面鏡子，就像過去中國把日本當成一面鏡子一樣。”這既是毛丹青告訴日本學生們的，也與他本人用日語寫日本風土人情、以中國人的身份給日本人講日本文化一脈相承。“了解別人應該大于表達我們自己。”毛丹青說。

針對日本大學三四年級學生的漢語學習，他有自己的一套“另類”教法。比如，在講解漢語發音要領時他重點提到了漢語和日語構造的不同：日語發音的基礎是元音，用胸腔和喉嚨發音;漢語有輔音，更多依靠的是運用鼻腔。口腔內的肌肉和氣流變化是否能被百分百把握是外語發音能否標準的關鍵因素，漢語學習者應該讓自己成為一名運動員，通過對體能和技能的訓練，讓口腔內的肌肉和氣流變化在漢語表達的世界中達到嚴絲合縫的程度。

毛丹青有時會在他的公眾號上分享日本學生們寫的漢語作文，他的寫作課從不要求學生們必須寫有關中國的題材，很多時候只是寫他們看過的最好的風景，并給他們講了這樣一個金句：“當你們去中國時，希望依然能按照你們看到最美風景時的心情去感受當地的風景。”

他個人30多年的旅日生涯正是把這種教學思維貫徹到底的最好案例，它給學生們展示了一種學習外語現實可行的路徑：用對方國家的語言去觸摸對方國家的文化，去慢慢體會和理解對方國家人們的心情。后來，有些學生選擇在中國定居，至今仍記得他當初說過的這句話。“開展對外教育、文化交流，具體到從事漢語教育，其實教育和傳遞的是一種情懷，而不是一種邏輯。人與人之間更多的是情懷相知。” 毛丹青談道。

從“語言互撕”

到你中有我我中有你的融合

不同的語言有著不同的框架體系，每種語言也都有其獨特的表達習慣和思維方式，學習語言是了解對方文化習性、思維表達的最直接途徑，需要經歷一個漫長的過程。語言是情感是時間是信念，同時也是學語言的那個你自己。

日本學生們的作文用的是漢語，表達思維卻仍然比較日式，這讓毛丹青覺得頗有意思。回想起過去語言學習過程中曾經歷的振奮、彷徨、失落和豁然開朗，毛丹青把掌握不同的語言比喻成一場拳擊比賽，雙方參加的是一場消磨戰，你進我退。一般來說，學外語學到第二年，會有一種飛躍的感覺，可能發現單詞與句式入腦很快、樣樣得心應手;可到了第三年，外語的進步經常會出現急驟的停滯，甚至到了寸步難行的地步，同時面對外語沉浸式的進入，自身對母語的表達能力也一定程度上被弱化了。他認為，這個節點便是“語言互撕”的開始。

對此，毛丹青給出的建議是，“暫且擱置外語，全力用母語表達。以漢語為例，尤其是強化對詩歌的熟稔度，增大閱讀量以及用習題練手，尋找語言革命的脈絡;經過上述多重洗禮后，再回過頭切入外語，會頓時感覺身輕如燕”。

語言之間的“互撕”，就像一篇好小說在很多場合下不同角色產生矛盾的過程，有愛有恨，所有情感的出現都是以對方的存在顯現出來的。然而，“互撕”只是學習的途中狀態，深知困難所在并堅持不懈地努力克服困難之后便可以發現，不同語言是可以達到“融合”這一你中有我、我中有你的精進狀態的。

異文化交流和理解

多看彼此共通的地方

從語言融合延伸談到不同文化之間的相互影響，“手繪”是個既古老又年輕、既中式又日式的詞匯。以手繪這一共通的表達方式描述對美好事物的共同向往，有助于增進異文化交流中的相互理解。

在毛丹青的課件和著作中，經常可以看到各式各樣的手繪圖。談到開始創作手繪圖的契機，毛丹青說：“剛進入教育行業時，在大學有幾節大課，被安排在那種階梯教室里，一堂課上有兩三百名學生。后來發現這樣聽講的效果好像有問題，于是就想到了把課件一個個畫出來，復印成冊，讓助教人手一份發給聽課的學生。學生們都很感動，課后他們在聽課反饋卡上畫滿了畫。受到這件事的激勵，我發現手繪其實是有溫度的，能讓時間停留，能傳達情懷，不知不覺中也成了我的一種風格。”

如今，全世界范圍內新冠肺炎疫情的影響仍在持續，對外文化交流人員的跨國流動、對外文化交流活動的跨國舉辦都處于減少或停滯狀態。在這種大背景下如何推進中日文化交流是一個值得探討的話題。

對此，毛丹青提到可以從“文本的交流”方面去做一些具體的努力。比如，除了教學、著書外，他還忙碌于策劃譯書。這次與上海譯文出版社合作的紀實類日本女性職場勵志譯書系列一套共三本，分別是稻垣惠美子的《五十歲，我辭職了》、國谷裕子的《我是主播》和小川理子的《音的記憶》，描述了不同領域中的三位女性職場人對現代社會的選擇，展現人的情懷，其文化的著眼點是跨越國界、穿越海洋的。同時，他還策劃與三位作者做網上對談直播，這樣中國讀者也可以參與其中。稻垣惠美子表示，她雖然沒有去過中國，但很期待與中國讀者交流。

另一方面，通過日語著書、譯文策劃等工作，毛丹青與日本文壇的一些知名作家如諾貝爾文學獎得主大江健三郎、芥川龍之介獎得主又吉直樹都建立了良好的關系，并致力于成為他們與中國文化交流的橋梁與紐帶，從而在更廣的范圍內推動中日之間的文化交流和相互理解。

2017年，日本漫才（類似于中國相聲的詼諧表演）藝人、作家又吉直樹攜小說處女作《火花》第一次來到中國并在上海舉辦演講會，日本NHK電視臺全程進行了拍攝，這本書的中文版譯者就是毛丹青。那次和又吉直樹一起的上海之行令他印象深刻，至今他還記得又吉直樹回到日本后說的那句話，“人與人之間應該多看共通的地方，共通之處是希望的光芒”。

Mao Danqing： Writing Books in Japanese and

Teaching Students Chinese

By? Wu Yang?? Yang Guanqionbg

Between Ginza， the most prosperous district of Tokyo， and Tsukiji， the location of the biggest fish market in the world， there is a block called "East Ginza"， which is the starting point for Mao Danqing’s life in Japan and also the source of inspiration for him later to write in Japanese. There， he immerses himself in the daily life of ordinary Japanese and deal with all kinds of people， which has made him feel deeply the shock and surprise brought by the cultural differences.

At the very beginning of our dialogue， Mao Danqing mentioned that his writing career was not typical as other writers’. He divided his 30 years of experience in Japan into three stages. For the first 10 years， he dropped out of school and went into business. In the next 10 years， he abandoned his business and turned to literature; during this period of time， he traveled throughout 47 prefectures in Japan and finished his first book in Japanese， which won 28th Bleu Mer Literary Prize in Japan and had appeared for many times in Japan’s college entrance examinations. Then， for the third 10 years， he became a college professor， teaching Chinese in Japan. It is these special experiences that have formed his own way of thinking.

Among the Japanese students Mao Danqing taught， some became well-known Sinologists and some held important positions in the Japanese Foreign Ministry， invariably having close ties with China. Even all those years later， what they remembered was not a word or a pronunciation in the class but the inspiration that had come from Mao to learn Chinese and the ability to love the language.

With profound changes that have been ongoing in international relations， attention on China has been growing by the day from the rest of world. There are various ways to know China， one of which of course is through learning Chinese. As Mao Danqing once told his students： “By learning a language， you can understand the country and its culture， which can help enrich your own wisdom at the same time.” For him， “Understanding others should always be more important than expressing ourselves.”

Sometimes Mao shares Chinese compositions written by Japanese students on his Wechat account. In Mao’s writing classes， instead of asking his students to focus on subjects only about China， he prefers asking them to write about various topics， such as the best scenery they have ever seen. One of the most frequently given advice by Mao to his students is “when you go to China， I hope you can still feel the local scenery in the same way as when you see a piece of beautiful scenery anywhere else."

Indeed， his stay in Japan for over three decades is the best proof， as it has shown a feasible way to learn a foreign language： Language education is more on understanding the culture and touch the feelings of the people， not simply the logic and mechanics of language itself.

Each language has its own system， its unique expression habits and way of thinking. Learning language is the most effective way to understand the habits and the thinking of another culture， which usually takes a long time.

Mao Danqing has noticed an interesting point in the compositions that the Japanese students have written. Although finished in Chinese， the underlying thinking is still in Japanese. Looking back on the excitement， the doubt， the feeling of loss and the sudden enlightenment he has experienced in the process of studying Japanese， Mao compares learning a second language to a boxing match， an attrition game no less. Generally， in the second year， one will feel very excited that new words， expressions and sentences enter into one’s mind so quickly and easily. However， in the third year， the progress often stagnates suddenly. What’s worse is that as one becomes more and more immersed into the foreign language， he or she will see that their ability to speak mother tongue would be weakened. To Mao， this is when the two languages start to be engaged in a seesaw battle.

To smoothly get past this stage， Mao’s suggestion is “to put the foreign language aside temporarily and strengthen the mother tongue. Taking Chinese as an example， learners should strengthen familiarity with poetry， increase the amount of reading and practice with exercises to find the root， so to speak， of the language. After all of these efforts， they can turn back to the foreign language study again， and then they could use it freely.” To Mao， after going through this process， one will find that different languages could actually blended into each other.

Both a “young” and an “old” phrase， shouhui or “freehand sketching" exists both in Chinese and Japanese. Using this common expression in two cultures could help enhance mutual understanding in cross-cultural exchanges. Popular with his students， freehand sketching can be commonly seen in Mao Danqing’s teaching materials and works. As time goes on， his students also begin to use freehand sketching on the class feedback cards to express their feelings.

Nowadays， with COVID-19 still going on， international cultural exchanges declined as a result， and it is no exception when it comes to China and Japan. Mao believed that more efforts should be made on "text-based communication" to promote cultural exchange.

For instance， apart from his teaching the Chinese language and writing books， he has translated a series of nonfiction books on Japanese women in the workplace for the Shanghai Translation Publishing House and established good relations with some well-known Japanese writers， such as Kensaburo Oe， winner of the Nobel Literature Prize， and Naoki Matayoshi， winner of the Akutagawa Ryunosuke Award. What Mao seeks to achieve is to become a bridge between the two cultures and foster mutual understanding.

As Naoki Matayoshi said after his visit in China in 2017： “We should focus on what we have in common， where there is a light of hope.”