潘威廉是如何推销中国的

作者:网站采编
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摘要：我们经常谈论“用英语讲中国故事”，但想要取得成效，仅仅依靠讲述是不够的，我们必须“推销”中国故事。 不久前，我和厦门大学MBA的一个班级一同在华盛顿特区，面对美国学生对

我们经常谈论“用英语讲中国故事”，但想要取得成效，仅仅依靠讲述是不够的，我们必须“推销”中国故事。

不久前，我和厦门大学MBA的一个班级一同在华盛顿特区，面对美国学生对中国品头论足、挑剔质疑的情形，一位女学生深感受伤，也十分生气，在向我抱怨此事时不禁潸然泪下。她说：“我们真的没有必要向他们去证明我们自己。”我回答道：“你说得对，在一个完美的世界里，我们无须证明自己是谁，但现实生活中，如果要实现自身目标，无论是做生意还是帮助人们了解中国，我们都必须采用某种方式证明自己。”

正如苏格兰小说家罗伯特·路易斯·史蒂文森在他的作品《穿越平原》中写道：“每个人生来都需要推销自己。”推销员不会试图强行推销，因为这样只会招致客户的拒绝。即使产品质量绝佳，能为客户节约开支，还正是他们所需，但如果对产品价值不了解，或者对推销员不信任，他们还是会拒绝。因此，销售员必须教育顾客，这可能需要花点时间帮助客户消除其经年累月所积累的“无知”。

讲述中国故事也是如此。

“推销”中国故事必须谨慎措辞。让外国人“接受”一个不同于西方媒体长期以来所灌输的中国形象，可能需要时间和耐心。所以我们不仅要慎重规划所言之事，还要慎重规划如何言之。词汇的含义往往会随时间的推移而变化，鉴于此，在“推销”中国故事时我们必须谨慎措辞。

例如，在英语和德语中，“宣传”一词写法相同，80年前它是一个中性词，等同于汉语的“宣传”之义。但二战以来，其意思窄化为：来自敌人的洗脑。尽管如此，一些中国人仍旧坚持使用该词去译介汉语的“宣传”。这是因为他们所用的辞典50年都未曾更新，远跟不上时代的步伐。当看到涉外的英文名片上写着“洗脑部”时，我不禁哑然失笑。它们的字面意思就是：“嗨！请摘下你的帽子，我好帮你洗洗脑！”

We often talk about “telling China’s story in English” but if we are to be effective, we have to do more than just tell China’s story, we must sell China’s story.

When I was with a Xiamen University OneMBA class in Washington, D.C. recently, a female Chinese student was so hurt and angry by American students’ judgmental and critical questions about China that she cried as she complained to me, “We should not have to prove ourselves to them.” “You are right,” I said. “In a perfect world, we should not have to prove ourselves, but in real life we all must prove ourselves in some way if we are to accomplish our purpose, be it doing business or helping people understand China.”

As the Scottish novelist Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) wrote in 1892 in “Across the Plains”, “Everyone lives by selling something.”Salesmen don’t try to force a product on a customer because the customer will simply refuse it. Even if it is the best product in the world and will save them money, and is something they really need, they will reject the product if they don’t understand its value—or if they don’t trust the person selling it.So a salesman must educate the buyer, which may entail overcoming in only minutes or hours their months or years of ignorance.

The same goes for telling China’s story.

It may take time and patience to “sell” foreigners on a perspective of China that is different from the one that they’ve been spoon-fed by Western media for years or decades. So we must plan carefully not just what we say but how we say it. As we sell China’s story, we must choose our words carefully because the meanings of words evolve over time.

The word “propaganda”, for example, is the same in both English and German, and 80 years ago it was a neutral term, like 宣传 in Chinese, but since World War II it has had only one meaning: enemy brainwashing. Yet some Chinese still insist on using the word propaganda because they got it from a dictionary that is half a century behind the times. I laugh when someone shows a foreigner an English business card that says Propaganda Department. They’re quite literally saying, “Hi! Please remove your hat so I can wash your brain!”

来自美国的厦门大学教授潘威廉先生（左二）和家人在一起

另一个词语是“政权”。50年前，它也是一个中性词，但今天它总跟“邪恶”政府相关。和汉语一样，英语是一门鲜活的语言，随历史、政治语境的变化而不断变化。当然，日常会话如果过于计较，我们就不敢开口说话了！我们对此不能过于偏执。但当我们用英语或其他语言“讲述中国故事”时，“推销”我们的故事时，我们必须精心准备，设身处地为听众着想，因为他们可能没有你我这般幸运，能在中国生活。

文章来源：《母婴世界》 网址: http://www.mysjzzs.cn/qikandaodu/2021/0624/1231.html

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