1805-15年間廣州及澳門對外漢語的教與學：
嚴先生、《漢字西譯》與英美社群
Teaching and Learning Chinese in Canton and Macao in 1805-15:
Abel Yen, the Dictionary Han-tze-sin-yih and the Anglo-American Community
研究簡介
Introduction
以新發現的資料為基礎，本計劃會由普遍從學習者的視角、突出馬禮遜（1782–1834）等少數知名學習者的經驗，轉為從教授者的視角，重視導師和教材。1805–15年間，馬禮遜的中文導師嚴先生，通過流通他所抄寫的著名漢語—拉丁語字典《漢字西譯》，積極參與跟教學有關的活動。儘管研究馬禮遜的論著很多，有關嚴先生的卻甚少。對嚴先生及其抄本的研究，將能闡釋三個大體上未經探究的問題：《漢字西譯》對西方漢語學習的影響、嚴先生教導西方人時以語言教學為本的多重角色，和更重要的，其時英美社群學習活動的異同之處。通過聚焦於嚴先生和《漢字西譯》，本計劃將糾正過往忽視中國籍導師應有角色的問題，並在此過程中得出對中西關係創新而重要的見解。
因應這些關注點，本計劃的三個目標是：（1）從教材的教育價值的視角，探究《漢字西譯》的“中國元素”；（2）從對西方人漢語教育史的視角，揭示嚴先生的生平事跡和重新評述其教學活動；（3）從中西交往的視角，拓闊考察英國人學習漢語的範圍，並首次查考19世紀初期美國人如何學習漢語。為了與當時其他字典的特點進行比較，本計劃會編製一個具注解的電子版《漢字西譯》，將書中已音譯的拉丁漢字回譯為中文，並提供其內容出處，再加上一個包括節選漢字、詞例和引伸用例的電子數據庫。除了可為國際間的合作研究提供平台，這些電子資源也會對教學和研究工作非常有用。
Matthew Raper Jr.’s A Dictionary: Chinese and English Carefully Compiled from Many Others. Courtesy of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland
While we know that traditionally the Chinese valued education and students spent an inordinate amount of time learning to read and write the characters, little is known about how the Anglo-American community who engaged in the Canton trade in the early-19th century study Chinese learned characters. How did these Westerners study the language? Answers to this seemingly simple question involves exploring important academic domains such as the history of Sino-Western relations, Anglo-Chinese translations, the Canton trade and teaching/learning Chinese as a second language.
Based on newly discovered sources, the proposed project will shift from the commonly adopted learner’s perspective that highlight the experience of a few well-known learners such as Robert Morrison (1782-1834) to the instructor’s perspective that highlight the teachers and teaching materials used. During the 1805-15 period, Morrison’s Chinese instructor, Abel Yen, actively participated in teaching-related activities through circulation of his manuscripts of the famous Chinese-Latin dictionary Hán-tzé-sin-yih 漢字西譯 (“Hanzi xiyi”, Western Translation of Chinese Characters, H-t-s-y). Yet, while much has been written on Morrison, there is little on Yen. Research on Yen and his manuscripts will shed new light on three largely unexplored issues: H-t-s-y’s impact on Western Chinese learning, the multiple roles Yen played in the language-based instruction of Westerners, and more importantly, the differences and similarities of the learning activities of the community at that time. By focusing on Yen and H-t-s-y, this project will correct the hitherto neglect of the role of the Chinese instructors and in the process yield new and significant insights on Sino-Western relations.
In accordance with those concerns, the project’s three objectives are (1) to explore, from the perspective of the educational value of teaching material, the “Chinese elements” of H-t-s-y; (2) to disclose, from the perspective of the history of teaching Westerners Chinese, details of Yen’s life and reassess his teaching activities; and (3) to broaden, from the perspective of Chinese-Western contacts, the scope of investigation into British learning of Chinese and launch the first inquiry into how the Americans conduct such learning in the early nineteenth century. An annotated electronic version of H-t-s-y will be compiled, with transliterated Latin entries transcribed back into Chinese and source information provided, and an electronic database of selected Chinese characters, examples and derivatives to allow comparison with the features of other contemporary dictionaries. As well as providing a platform for international collaborative research, these electronic resources will be immensely useful for teaching and research purposes.