What is it about?
This article identifies the principal myths and misconceptions surrounding the Chinese language and, by means of discourse analysis, shows how they have been expressed and become entrenched in the academic world, both in China and in the West, despite the evidence which undermines the premises on which these myths are founded.
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Why is it important?
In Chinese and Western academia still prevails a orientalist discourse on Chinese that permeates the Chinese language teaching. This tendency should be changed since it offers a distorted image of the Chinese language and at the same time adds difficulty to its learning.
Perspectives
The paper takes a discourse analysis approach to reveal that Chinese, as an object of study, paradoxally has suffered both occidentalism and orientalism. the result being a distorted image of the language.
Dr Sara Rovira-Esteva
Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona
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This page is a summary of: Orientalism and occidentalism: two forces behind the image of the Chinese language and construction of the modern standard, Journal of Multicultural Discourses, July 2009, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/17447140902741296.
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