Preface.
There are many kinds of languages in the world, and each country has its own language and culture.
However, I don't know when English began to become the universal language of the world, and even some countries such as Japan and India gave up their native language and adopted English as the first official language.
However, only China's Chinese characters have been strong to this day, not only the language system is complete, but even can adapt to the changes of the times, and has been promoted to the world, which is one of the proudest cultures in China.
So, now that many countries have succumbed to the alphabet, how do Chinese characters "assert themselves"?
The origin of language.
Language has been around since ancient times, and the process of producing language has changed the entire human race.
The Chinese linguist Derek Bickerton once said, "Of all our mental faculties, language is in the deepest part of consciousness and the most difficult part of reason to understand; We can't recall a time when there were no languages, let alone how they were acquired. When we are able to express an idea for the first time, language already exists. ”
Each of us depends on it for our existence, and it's hard to imagine what it would be like without language, which gracefully changes the way humans interact as the basis of human interaction.
Language and culture bind humanity together and separate us, and the 50,000 languages that currently exist on the planet were created by humans, but the different civilizations that these 5,000 languages have produced are unrelated.
Human beings are all products of civilization, but when we are faced with a new civilization, we realize that everything we do is a human product.
Language distinguishes humans from other species in nature, and human pronunciation and phonemes are only slightly better than apes: humans have 50 phonemes, while orangutans have about 12.
However, we can take these phonemes and reorganize them into at least 100,000 words, which can then be composed into countless sentences.
As a result, human beings are able to communicate information quickly and in detail, and have a rich mind, which is unmatched in nature.
In the last hundred years, with the rise of modern science, people have begun to associate linguistics with other disciplines, but there have been many perplexing questions about the origin of language.
However, in recent years, with the study of molecular anthropology, as well as the study of population migration and differentiation, the mystery seems to be getting closer and closer.
English is not the oldest language in the world, only more than 400 years old, but in the process of global integration, its development and influence on the whole world are unparalleled.
The popularity of the English language.
In 1780, John Adams predicted: "If not by the end of this century, then in the next century, English will be the most revered language, the most widely read and spoken language in the world." English is destined to become the most widely spoken language in the world in the next century and beyond, surpassing the Latin of the past and French of the present. ”
This prediction was quite bold, as the number of English-speaking people at the time was less than 13 million, and most of them lived in Britain and the eastern seaboard of North America.
They make up less than 1% of the global population, and few expect Welsh or Irish people to enjoy English as their second language.
English was rarely spoken 1,300 years ago, and it was not until the development of modern English that it began to take shape, from the number of words to how to read it, and finally formed a preliminary system.
The global popularity of English is closely linked to Britain's supremacy as an "empire that never falls".
After the Industrial Revolution, Britain colonized all parts of the world with its strong ships and guns.
They have hardened British culture, values, and the English language in all aspects of society.
When the British arrived in the United States in the 17th century, they established and spread their teachings here through both military possession and cultural ideology.
At that time, some other countries in Europe were also in the eastern part of the United States, and French, Spanish, and Dutch were spoken, but in the end English was dominant.
The United States overtook Britain in the 20th century and also contributed to the process of English as a global language in a large way.
After World War I and World War II, the United States and Britain became the winners of the post-war period, not only playing a greater role in the world, but also developing the fastest and strongest in global politics, economy, culture, science and technology.
English has spread to the rest of the world in different ways, which makes the position of English in the world particularly important, and many countries have adopted English as the first foreign language and included it in the teaching system to meet the needs of development.
Especially after the introduction of computers in China, 26 English characters could be easily typed into English characters, but it was difficult to input thousands of Chinese characters.
At this moment, the whole world is occupied by English!
British scholar**: Computers will completely erase Chinese characters from the stage of history, and China will become a slave of English!
But it is clear that the Chinese language is still using boxy Chinese characters, and it is no exaggeration to say that China is the only country that has retained its own writing system.
The cultural cohesion of Chinese characters.
Chinese characters are a unique type of writing in China, and its influence gradually increased with the development of feudal dynasties.
Since the Tang Dynasty, Chinese characters have infiltrated many surrounding countries, including Japan, Korea, and even Rome, and Chinese characters have spread in different areas and have continued to live until modern times.
In modern times, due to the rise of the West and the increase in power, they have carried out a large number of colonization activities around the world, making the whole world their colony.
In addition, under the guidance and propaganda of the West, the Western world is recognized as the most outstanding in the world, and not only that, but they are also trying to eliminate all civilizations in the world and integrate them into their own culture.
In this situation, countries have abandoned their own languages and switched to English, while only China has retained Chinese, first of all, thanks to the strong cohesion brought by language and audience.
China has a large population base, and in modern times, foreign powers have also tried to occupy China, but after a series of unsuccessful attempts, the foreigners found that only China can control the Chinese people.
In this populous country, people have come together like never before, creating an unprecedented cultural cohesion.
China also does not know how many countries have tried to impose civilization on itself, but it has no effect, on the contrary, after foreign civilizations enter China, they can absorb their advantages well and use them for their own use.
The core of inheritance and development.
The reason why Chinese characters can be passed down to this day is largely because Chinese characters are integrated with Chinese language and Chinese culture, and Chinese characters are an important part of Chinese traditional culture, a microcosm of Chinese civilization, and also the inheritance and development of Chinese traditional culture.
Moreover, the development and evolution of Chinese characters is also a microcosm of the inheritance and innovation of traditional Chinese culture.
For example, the oldest oracle bone inscriptions contain a special meaning behind each of their figures, which may be a love letter full of love or a ...... about farming experiences
It can be said that each Chinese character is like a miniature picture, telling ancient legends, telling historical stories, and telling eternal cultural heritage.
Unlike other letters, these letters, although recognizable by reading, have no meaning, so they cannot be understood by future generations as the years go by.
The Chinese script is a legendary story left by a Chinese ancestor, and you can find Chinese characters anywhere. From oracle bone inscriptions to seal scripts, to Jin scripts, official scripts, regular scripts, and even from complex fonts to simplified fonts, the history of every Chinese character has not been rewritten.
How do Chinese recognize ancient Chinese characters? This is that Chinese characters have their own spirit, and no matter how it changes, its meaning is the same.
This makes Chinese characters no longer just a kind of writing, but a special Chinese civilization, which we, as Chinese, will definitely pay attention to.
Kanji is proud of its adaptability.
Moreover, Chinese characters can continue to evolve over time, always evolving in tandem with the world.
Western countries are clamoring for the abolition of Chinese characters, largely because Chinese characters are too complicated to be promoted, and they think it is better to replace them with letters.
However, Huaxia Chinese characters, after simplifying Chinese characters, invented the Wubi input method, which made it more powerful and burst out with endless vitality.
Chinese characters can always be revitalized in the new era, and this is the key to our preservation of Chinese characters.
China's Chinese character system used to be regarded as an outlier, but now that the world is basically occupied by the alphabet, China is still able to retain its own writing system, which requires a considerable degree of courage and innovation.
Epilogue. From oracle bone inscription to traditional Chinese characters, to simplified Chinese characters, from classical Chinese to vernacular characters, Chinese characters have gone through thousands of years of history and are witnesses of the survival and development of the nation.