馬西尼教授的故事

張楓茹

2023年4月23日下午，在歐洲漢語教學協(xié)會（簡稱“歐漢會”）的會場上，一位身形頎長、氣質儒雅的教授用標準而流利的漢語滿懷熱情地介紹著意大利的漢語教學情況和成果。他，就是來自意大利的世界漢語教學學會副會長、著名漢學家，曾任羅馬大學副校長、羅馬大學東方學院院長，現(xiàn)任羅馬大學孔子學院外方院長的費德里科· 馬西尼教授（Federico Masini）。

On the afternoon of April 23rd， 2023， atthe International Symposium of the EuropeanAssociation of Chinese Teaching （EACT），participants were captivated by a tall， poisedprofessor， who presented the progress andachievements of Chinese language educationin Italy in impeccable Chinese. He wasProfessor Federico Masini， Vice President ofthe International Society for Chinese LanguageTeaching. Hailing from Italy， Professor Masini isa celebrated sinologist， having held positions asVice Rector for Academic A airs at the SapienzaUniversity of Rome and Dean of its Departmentof Oriental Studies. Presently， he serves as ItalianDirector of the Confucius Institute at the SapienzaUniversity of Rome.

馬西尼教授學習漢語40余年，從事漢語教學近30年，致力于漢學研究與中西交流。2010年，為嘉獎他在文化傳播領域作出的卓越貢獻，中國政府為其頒發(fā)了“中意友好貢獻獎”。

Professor Masini has dedicated over fourdecades to studying Chinese and has spentnearly three decades teaching the language. Heis committed to Chinese studies and exchangebetween China and the West. In acknowledgmentof his remarkable contributions to culturalexchange， he was honored with the “Sino-ItalyFriendship Award” by the Chinese government in2010.

作為第四屆歐漢會的承辦方，南安普頓孔院有幸邀請到馬西尼教授進行個人專訪，讓我們有機會進一步了解這位擁有傳奇經(jīng)歷的漢學家的成長之路。

As the host of the 4th International EACTSymposium， the Confucius Institute of the Universityof Southampton had the honor of interviewingProfessor Masini. The conversation provided deeperinsights into the journey of this legendary sinologist.

1976年，羅馬意中友好協(xié)會開設漢語課程，16歲的馬西尼第一次接觸到漢語?！爱敃r，意中友好協(xié)會是唯一可以學習漢語的地方。我們不能去中國留學，只能參加協(xié)會每周兩次的漢語課?！弊鳛橹幸饨ń缓笞钤绲囊慌鷿h語學習者，馬西尼遇到的第一個困難是語境和教學資源匱乏。當時的意大利基本沒有華人，為了創(chuàng)造語境，馬西尼和他的同學絞盡腦汁地尋找與中國人交流的機會?！拔液鸵粋€同學到離大學不遠的中國駐意大利使館門外，等里面的人出來，跟他們打個招呼。這些從使館大門內(nèi)出來的中國人是我最早看到的中國人?！闭f起這段“求學”經(jīng)歷，馬西尼教授不禁莞爾。

Back in 1976， when the Italy-China FriendshipAssociation in Rome began offering Chinese languagecourses， the 16-year-old Professor Masini had his firstencounter with Chinese. “During that period， theassociation was the sole avenue for Chinese learningin Italy. Given that studying in China wasn’t an option，we attended the classes twice a week.” Being among thepioneering group of students learning Chinese a er theestablishment of Italy-China diplomatic ties， he grappledwith the scarcity of contextual reference and teachingresources. The absence of a Chinese community inItaly at the time posed another challenge. To immersethemselves in the language， he and his classmates soughtvarious ways to create a Chinese-speaking environment.“One day， a classmate and I stood outside the ChineseEmbassy in Italy， which was not far from the university.Our goal was simple： as people exited， we’d greet themand strike up a conversation. e individuals who cameoutside were， in fact， the rst Chinese people I had everseen.” Professor Masini recalled this learning adventurewith a smile.

高中畢業(yè)后，馬西尼進入羅馬大學文哲學院學習，主修語言哲學，同時開始利用課余時間到文哲學院的東方學部旁聽漢語課。他回憶道：“ 剛開始在大學學習漢語時，我感覺最大的困難是發(fā)音和寫字。發(fā)音的送氣不送氣、聲調和鼻音，這三個是最大的困難?！睕]有錄像帶、沒有中國老師、沒有電腦軟件，馬西尼只能靠反復聽、不斷重復和練習提升語音技能。學了一段時間后，他發(fā)現(xiàn)，詞匯、語法和句型表達方式才是漢語最難的地方。

Upon completing high school， Professor Masinientered the Department of Philosophy and Lettersat the Sapienza University of Rome， majoring in thephilosophy of language. He also attended Chineselanguage courses at the Department of Oriental Studies.Reflecting on this period， he said， “In the beginningstages， I found pronunciation and writing charactersto be the most daunting. The challenges includedaspiration of sounds， mastering tones， and nasal sounds.”Without video tapes， Chinese instructors， or digitallearning tools， he honed his pronunciation throughdiligent listening， relentless repetition， and practice.As his studies progressed， he realized that masteringvocabulary， grammar， and sentence structure posed thebiggest di culties in the Chinese language.

雖面臨種種困難，但馬西尼從未想過放棄。1983年，他獲得了國家獎學金，第一次踏上中國的土地，來到北京語言學院（現(xiàn)北京語言大學）進修，后又轉入北京大學中文系研修中國語言學。在北大期間，馬西尼有幸遇到了很多中文教育乃至中文研究學界的專家和學者，如陸儉明、朱德熙、王力等，并向他們學習和求教，他們的為人處事和教學方法對馬西尼產(chǎn)生了重要的影響。結束在中國的學習后，馬西尼回到歐洲，開始從事漢語教學和漢學研究工作。

Undeterred by these challenges， Professor Masiniremained resolute. In 1983， he received a scholarshipfrom the Chinese government and came to Chinafor the first time. He began his studies at the BeijingLanguage Institute （now Beijing Language andCulture University） and later he transferred to PekingUniversity to study Chinese Linguistics. At PekingUniversity， he had the opportunity to interact withand learn from many esteemed experts and scholarsin Chinese language education and linguistic studies，such as Lu Jianming， Zhu Dexi， and Wang Li. Theirpersonality and distinctive teaching styles deeplyinfluenced him. After completing his studies inChina， he returned to Europe， embarking on a careerdedicated to Chinese language education and researchin Sinology.

回顧自己的漢學研究之路，馬西尼教授說，自己最初學漢語只是對語言本身感興趣，但隨著語言水平的提高，他開始癡迷于中國語言的歷史、演變和文化等方面的研究。在北大研究中國語言學的時候，他的第一項研究課題是“現(xiàn)代語言學之父——瑞士語言學家弗迪南· 德· 索緒爾（Ferdinand deSaussure）”，為此，他還專門去王力教授家請教相關問題。他的第二項研究與詞匯學有關，“第二項研究是關于現(xiàn)代漢語詞匯的形成，主要是現(xiàn)代漢語的醞釀時期——‘鴉片戰(zhàn)爭’初期。這本書（指《現(xiàn)代漢語詞匯的形成：十九世紀漢語外來詞研究》）我是用英語寫的，因為當時在意大利沒有出版商愿意出這本書，所以我是在美國加利福尼亞大學出版的英文版。后來從英語翻譯成漢語，又翻譯成日語和韓語。現(xiàn)在，這本書已經(jīng)在韓國再版了三次。還有關于詞匯的形成，我也寫了好幾篇文章，研究重點是詞匯交流，主要是中國、日本、韓國這三個國家的詞匯交流?！痹诖酥螅R西尼教授開始了他的第三項漢學研究——中西交流研究，他和著名漢學家白佐良合著的《意大利與中國》一書被習近平主席贊譽，習近平主席稱其“為中歐交往架起橋梁”。

Reflecting on his journey in Chinese studies，Professor Massini noted that his initial curiosity wascentered around the Chinese language itself. Yet， as hebecame more pro cient， he was increasingly captivatedby the history， evolution， and culture surroundingthe language. At Peking University， while delving intoChinese linguistics， his rst research centered on Swisslinguist Ferdinand de Saussure， the Father of ModernLinguistics. To gain deeper insights on the topic， heeven visited Professor Wang Li’s home for guidance.His subsequent research shifted to lexicology. “Mysecond research emphasized the evolution of modernChinese vocabulary， particularly during the nascentperiod of Modern Chinese in the early phases ofthe Opium War. This work， titled ‘The Formation ofModern Chinese Lexicon and Its Evolution Towarda National Language： The Period from 1840 to 1898’，was initially written in English， because， at that time，there were no publishers in Italy willing to take it on. us， it was published in English at the University ofCalifornia in the United States. Later， it was translatedinto Chinese， Japanese， and Korean. Notably， it hasbeen reprinted three times in South Korea. I alsowrote several articles on vocabulary formation， witha focus on vocabulary exchange， primarily amongChina， Japan， and South Korea.” A erward， ProfessorMassini embarked on his third area of Chinese studieson China-West exchange. His book， Italy and China，co-authored with the renowned sinologist GiulianoBertuccioli （Bai Zuoliang）， was praised by President XiJinping as “a bridge for China-Europe exchange”.

馬西尼教授在研究語言的過程中反復強調，“將語言當作一把鑰匙，打開了解中國文化之門”。除了在研究“西學東漸”的過程中深入了解中國的歷史文化，馬西尼教授還孜孜不倦地閱讀中國古代文學作品，如《三國演義》《金瓶梅》以及“三言二拍”等，還把一些作品部分翻譯成意大利語——“我主要就是靠閱讀這些著作來體會和理解中國傳統(tǒng)文化的。”

Throughout his linguistic research， ProfessorMassini has always underscored the notion that“l(fā)anguage is a key to unlock Chinese culture”. Beyondhis exploration of Chinese history and culture throughthe process of “Eastward Expansion of WesternLearning”， he has immersed himself in ancient Chineseliterature， delving into classics like Romance of the ree Kingdoms， e Plum in the Golden Vase， and “SanYan Er Pai” （a collection of the ancient short storiesin vernacular from Song and Ming dynasties）. Hehas even translated some of these seminal works intoItalian. “Immersing myself in these literary treasureso ers a direct route to experiencing and grasping thenuances of traditional Chinese culture.”

從1976年開始直到今天，馬西尼教授學習漢語、研究漢語、教授漢語已有將近50年。在這條漫長的“漢語之路”上，他從未感到厭倦，也從未想過放棄。回顧自己的漢語研學之路，馬西尼教授總結道：“沒有好奇，任何語言都學不好，而學習語言也是開發(fā)大腦最好的辦法。”他希望有越來越多的外國人學習漢語，并能在語言學習中感受到好奇與快樂；他也希望漢語學習者們能像他一樣，在這條路上越來越自信、越來越樂觀，握緊語言的鑰匙，走向更廣闊的世界。

Since 1976 and up to the present， Professor Massinihas been learning， researching， and teaching Chinesefor nearly ve decades. roughout this long journeywith the Chinese language， he has never felt fatiguedor considered giving up. Reflecting on his journeyof learning Chinese， Professor Massini believes， “Agenuine curiosity is pivotal to mastering any language.Moreover， learning a language is one of the nest exercisesfor the mind.” He hopes that more non-Chinese individualswill be drawn to learn the language， finding the samecuriosity and joy he has experienced. Furthermore， hewishes for every Chinese language enthusiast to hold ontothis linguistic key with growing con dence and optimism，and to use it to unlock wider horizons.