#聾人 跟 #聽人 的文化交流就像戀愛
「唯有抱持開放的心胸，而非居自我的故步自封，才能使全體人類文明進步。」—豆比語錄（噗 自己語錄有點好笑）豆比知道手語/聾人圈一直都是相對封閉且敏感的小圈子，人們對於手語歌是否破壞自然手語、誰有權利教手語、做手語導覽、聽人是否有權能拍手語影片……等等的議題一直持有兩派不同意見。
最近深讀中西翻譯簡史的部分時，豆比真的發現：
「徐光啓真是思想開闊的偉大人物呀！」
年紀還輕時讀這歷史內容，會看到課本的文字;
年紀長了一點再讀一次時，會看到人物的偉大性。
我想信讀過歷史的朋友們大概都曉得：
明末清初，利瑪竇等優秀的基督教傳教士去到中國藉科學之名行傳道之實。首先當時的背景，中國的士大夫放眼望去無不是以天下自居的「華夷天下」觀念看待世間一切，認為中國是世界上唯一強大的帝國，所有事物都繞著中國轉。當時有個官吏名為徐光啓，先無論他是否有信仰基督之實，（歷史專家有看到請糾正我或留言分享感謝）他當時跟利瑪竇的互動交流相當頻繁，甚至隨利瑪竇一起學習了古希臘歐幾里得著作的「幾何原本」，為其中的邏輯理論大為讚嘆，決心要深入研讀並開啟了一系列的宏偉的翻譯作業。
講到這邊大多數人可能沒有感覺，可是講到「平行線」、「三角形」、「對角」、「直角」、「銳角」、「鈍角」、「相似」等等的中文數學術語，應該都有感覺了吧？沒錯，這些術語都是當時徐光啓譯出的詞彙。
歐！而且請注意，當時這本書「幾何原本」的原文可是希臘文，跟中文的文字、詞彙、文法都大相徑庭，如果整頁譯出文章閱讀起來流暢度不足，他們甚至會從頭來過，可想當年徐光啓跟利瑪竇是兩位賢明之人是耗費了多麼長久的時間和心力，嘔心瀝血才好不容易完成前六卷內容。
當然，這僅僅是徐光啓貢獻給中國的宏偉成就的冰山一角，數學、天文、農學、軍事等等領域的著作多少都看得到他的蹤跡，無數的譯作讓徐光啓有了「科學譯祖」、「中西文化交流第一人」的美名。
但說到來，除了他的強聞博記和努力，他能翻譯出這麼多鉅作的起因終究跟他 #開放的心胸 脫不了關係。他不同於多數的士大夫， 他 #接受並欣賞不同思想、 #對不懂的事物虛心受教，理性觀察到西方思想系統跟技術確實是優於中國，一心一意只想要向西方學習並運用於協助祖國。當然，利瑪竇當初如果沒有很聰明地換上儒服、熟習漢語，並努力以科學的傳播方式（例如畫了世界地圖）接近士大夫階級，徐光啓不會開啟他的翻譯道路，中國更不會用不同視角看世界、思想遼闊並進步。
就像戀愛一樣，不管什麼文化，都不會有永遠完美融合的時候，總有衝突碰撞的時刻，同時也有擦出火花的瞬間，相互尊重、學習對方的優勢、包容對方的不足才能使人類整體進步不是嗎？
Cultural exchange between the Deaf and the Hearing is like a romantic relationship.
“Only by holding an open mind, rather than being self-contained, can humankind progress.” — Doby (Pfft, it is a bit funny to quote my own quotation.)
Doby is aware that the sign language/deaf community has always been a relatively closed and sensitive circle. There are still two parties debating about whether sign language songs destroy natural sign language, who has the right to teach sign language or to do sign language tours, and whether the Hearing have the rights to shoot sign language videos…so on and so forth.
Recently, when I read a part of A Brief History of Translation in China and the West, Doby realized, “Xu Guangqi is really a great man with an open mind!”
When you read this historical content when you are young, you will see the text of the textbook;
When you read it again when you are a little older, you will see the greatness of the characters.
I believe that those who have studied history probably know:
Between the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, outstanding Christian missionaries such as Matteo Ricci went to China to preach in the name of science. First of all, at that time, Chinese scholar-bureaucrats perceived everything in the world with the concept of “Hua–Yi distinction” that they regarded themselves as the center of the world, and believed that China was the only powerful empire in the world, everything revolving around China.
Back then, there was an official named Xu Guangqi. Regardless of whether he believed in Christianity or not (please leave a message to correct me if you are a history maniac). After studying the Elements written by Euclid in ancient Greece, he was greatly impressed by the logic theory in it, determined to continue studying it in depth and started a series of magnificent translation works with Matteo Ricci.
Most of you may not be familiar with their translation works, but when it comes to Chinese mathematical terms such as “parallel line”, “triangle”, “diagonal”, “subtended angle”, “acute angle”, “obtuse angle”, “similar”, etc. Sounds familiar? Yes! These terms were translated by Xu Guangqi at that time(From Latin into Chinese).
Oh btw, please note that the original text of this book Elements is in Greek, which was pretty different from the Chinese text, vocabulary, and grammar. Xu Guangqi and Matteo Ricci are certainly sages, who devoted themselves with much time and efforts to complete the first six volumes.
For sure, this translation work is only the tip of the iceberg. Xu Guangqi has way more magnificent achievements other than that. His works can be seen in the fields of mathematics, astronomy, agriculture, and military science, etc. He is even reputed to be the first person in cultural exchange between China and the West”.
But when it comes to it, apart from his strong knowledge and hard work, the reason why he succeeded to translate so many masterpieces is thanks to his open-minded character. He was different from most scholar-bureaucrats. He accepted and appreciated different ideas, was open-minded to learn things that he did not understand, observed that Western thought systems and technologies are indeed superior to China. What he did was only to learn from the West and apply them to assist his nation.
Of course, if Matteo Ricci hadn’t smartly put on Confucian uniforms, mastered the Chinese language, and worked hard to approach the scholar-bureaucrats in a scientific way of communication (such as illustrating a world map), Xu Guangqi would not have started his translation path, China would not have started to see the world from a different perspective and think broadly and progress.
Similar to couples, no matter which two cultures combine, there will never be an immediate perfect fusion at first but always moments of conflict, and of course, sparks, too, in the process.
Only through mutual respect, learning from each other’s strengths, and tolerating each other’s shortcomings can our civilization progress, can’t it?
