文化背景與成語理解—以「酒」有關的四字格成語為例

Abstract

四字格成語是華語教學中的一大教學難點，因為它具有豐富的文化內涵，常以隱喻寄意，不如白話般直白易懂。本研究旨在聚焦酒成語之隱喻，藉由比較漢字文化圈和非漢字文化圈對於酒成語的理解，以美國、日本、韓國及母語人士為代表，探討文化背景與隱喻認知的關係。 本研究選擇了最常用的五十個與酒有關的酒成語製成測驗。測驗分成五部分:語義色彩判斷、選詞填空、成詞改寫、選擇題和配對題。接著邀請了各二十位分別來自美國、日本及韓國的華語學習者進行測驗，他們都在試前進行了華語測驗，確定所有人都達中級或以上的程度;另外邀請了二十位母語人士作對照組。 測驗證明了文化背景與酒成語認知是互相影響的。四組受試者中，非漢字圈的美國組表現最差，漢字圈的日、韓組表現相約，數據分析顯示兩者之間沒有顯著性差異，但兩組都與美國組存在顯著性差異。當中的文化差別主要見於兩地對於喝醉、派對交友及生活的態度。

Chinese Idioms have always been a big challenge for L2 learners because their meanings are not explicit. They require readers to have a deep knowledge of Chinese culture in order to understand the true meaning behind the metaphors. This research mainly focuses on the relationship between cultural background and cognitive metaphor by comparing the convergence and divergence among native speakers, learners from Sinosphere countries (Japan, Korea) and those from non-Sinosphere countries (America) in the comprehension of alcohol- related Chinese idioms. This study has chosen 50 of the most commonly used alcohol-related idioms. A test was designed to test subjects’ knowledge on these idioms. The test was divided into 5 parts: comprehension of the idioms, fill in the blank, rewriting the idioms, multiple choice and matching. 20 Americans, 20 Japanese, and 20 Korean learners of Chinese whose Chinese level have reached intermediate or above were invited to complete the test. 20 native speakers were also invited to complete the test as a controls. The test has proved that cultural background does affect the comprehension of Chinese idioms. Among the four groups of participants, American (non-Sinosphere) participants performed the worst while Japanese and Korean (Sinosphere) participants’ performances were similar. There was no significant difference between Japanese or Korean participants, but there were significant differences between Sinosphere and non-Sinosphere participants. The major cultural differences resulted from their attitude towards getting drunk, partying, and social life.