集大外语学术沙龙  第82期

讲座主题：Lost in Translation: Parents as Medium Translators in Intergenerational Language Transmission (在翻译中消逝：父母在代际语言传承中的媒介翻译角色)

主讲人： Professor Xiao Lan Curdt-Christiansen (英国巴斯大学)

内容简介：

   Family Language Policy (FLP) has received increasing attention in recent years. Of central interest is why some children, growing up in a bilingual environment, become monolinguals while other children, growing up in a monolingual society, become bilinguals. Over the past decades, researchers in this field have tried to understand the role FLP plays in bi/multilingual development by examining parental language ideologies, investigating interactions between family members, as well as studying parents’ conscious choices in their discourse strategies. This study reports on the role of parents in intergenerational language transmission in China. Thirteen city families’ everyday communication practices have been collected, including dinner table talks, homework tutoring, and interactions during children’s playtime. Through comparative conversation analysis, the study reveals a phenomenon of “medium translation”, a de facto language practice in three-generation households who use fangyan and Putonghua in their daily communication. “Medium Translation” is an intentional or unintentional language practice which parents adopt when ‘brokering’ the communication between grandparents and children. It consists of translation from fangyan to Putonghua or vice versa. Although grandparents play a key role in childrearing and although children are exposed to fangyan from birth, few children speak fangyan because parents act as “medium translators” where languages/fangyans are lost in translation. The language shift is, thus, ‘translated into being’ as parents mediate children’s language shift from fangyan to Putonghua.

个人简介：

     Xiao Lan Curdt-Christiansen，英国巴斯大学教育学院应用语言学首席教授，亚洲教育研究中心主任，“语言、教育与实践”研究组负责人。其研究聚焦于意识形态、社会文化认知和政策视角下的儿童多语教育与双语素养发展。主持编撰12辑学术专刊，在Language, Culture and Curriculum、Current Issues in Language Planning、Language Policy、Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development、Language and Education、System、《语言战略研究》等SSCI及CSSCI期刊发表术论文近百篇。已在Routledge、John Benjamins、Springer等国际权威出版社出版3部学术专著，另有4部专著即将出版。2022-2024年入选斯坦福大学评选的全球语言学领域前2%顶尖科学家，主持参与18项科研项目，获英国巴斯大学、英国雷丁大学及英国经济和社会研究委员会等机构资助，总经费达120万英镑（约合人民币1000万）。

主办单位：集美大学外国语学院

主持人：  张海燕

讲座时间：2025年4月18日上午9:00-12:00

讲座地点：庄汉水楼5楼会议室 

“集大外语学术沙龙”是外国语学院为推动学科建设而推出的长期活动，旨在为外国语学院全体专任教师、在读研究生提供学术交流平台。请各科研团队积极参加，欢迎感兴趣的师生到会指导。