{"id":809,"date":"2012-03-22T00:39:37","date_gmt":"2012-03-21T16:39:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=809"},"modified":"2012-03-22T11:51:36","modified_gmt":"2012-03-22T03:51:36","slug":"nytimes-bilinguals-are-smugger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=809","title":{"rendered":"NYTimes Bilinguals are Smugger"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a>The New York Times \/ International Herald Tribune <\/em>blog ran a particularly frustrating piece the other day under the title “Rendezvous Always Knew \u2018Bilinguals Are Smarter<\/a>.\u2019” Yes, I agree that mastering other languages benefits intelligence, but it was the particular smugness–and cultural superiority–that I writhe against. In particular, Marcus Mabry’s argument for learning other languages involves not only edification, it involves economic rational action, as well, hence his decision to teach his kids both French and have them learn Mandarin via a Chinese nanny (though not everyone can afford the six-figure salary<\/a> such services claim). I have no problem with economic motivation for learning languages, but I found Mabry’s rhetoric pretty annoying: after listing Camus and the romance of the Paris M\u00e9tro, he says, “\u201cLe fran\u00e7ais c\u2019est pour s\u2019amuser, le chinois c\u2019est pour travailler.\u201d French is for fun, Chinese is for work.” So, no arguments with Beijing cab drivers? No Chinese literature, from the Book of Change<\/a> <\/em>\u6613\u7d93 to Du Fu<\/a> \u675c\u752b to the Journey to the West<\/em><\/a> \u897f\u904a\u8a18 to Xi Chuan? No, I guess the only reason to learn Chinese is to suck up to the people who’ll be paying you, since it’s not like anything Chinese could be fun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The New York Times \/ International Herald Tribune blog ran a particularly frustrating piece the other day under the title “Rendezvous Always Knew \u2018Bilinguals Are Smarter.\u2019” Yes, I agree that mastering other languages benefits intelligence, but it was the particular … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3,16,7],"tags":[446,447,180,448,445,1654],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8srwF-d3","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1725,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=1725","url_meta":{"origin":809,"position":0},"title":"Xi Chuan at Harvard","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"March 8, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Event Title: Notes on the Mosquito \u2013 Poetry Reading and Talk by Xi Chuan \u897f\u5ddd Speaker: Xi Chuan Moderators: David Der-wei Wang, Lucas Klein Friday March 8, 2013 12:00-1:30pm Common room, 2 Divinity Ave.? Sponsored by the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations and the CCK Foundation Inter-University Center\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Readings"","block_context":{"text":"Readings","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=9"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/harvardealc.org\/images\/2Div-outside.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":195,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=195","url_meta":{"origin":809,"position":1},"title":"Xi Chuan & the International Poetry Nights Hong Kong","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"October 30, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Xi Chuan will be in Hong Kong for this year's International Poetry Nights in a week and a half. He'll be taking part in a panel discussion on the topic of \"Masters and (M)other Tongues\" moderated by Prof. Leo Ou-fan Lee \u674e\u6b50\u68b5 on Thursday the 10th at 3:30 p.m. and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "International Poetry Nights"","block_context":{"text":"International Poetry Nights","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IPNHK-2011-Leaflet_f.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IPNHK-2011-Leaflet_f.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IPNHK-2011-Leaflet_f.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IPNHK-2011-Leaflet_f.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IPNHK-2011-Leaflet_f.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IPNHK-2011-Leaflet_f.jpg?resize=1400%2C800 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2806,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=2806","url_meta":{"origin":809,"position":2},"title":"Notes on the Mosquito at M-Dash Untranslatables","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"September 25, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"M-Dash, the new literary journal from Autumn Hill Books, is running a series called \"The Untranslatables\" -- \"about those\u00a0words or phrases that give us pause as translators, that stump us\u00a0and then, sometimes, enlighten us.\" To inaugurate their feature, they invited me to contribute something from my translation of Xi Chuan's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"Egyptian Translator 700x428 copy","src":"https:\/\/mdashahb.files.wordpress.com\/2014\/01\/egyptian-translator-700x428-copy1.jpg?w=350&h=200&crop=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":338,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=338","url_meta":{"origin":809,"position":3},"title":"Chinese Week at Norway’s Litteraturhuset","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"November 15, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"As I mentioned yesterday, Xi Chuan flew from Hongkong to Norway, where he's participating in Chinese Literature week at the House of Literature along with Wang Hui \u6c6a\u6656, Murong Xuecun \u6155\u5bb9\u96ea\u6751, Ma Jian \u9a6c\u5efa, Leslie T. Chang, Rebecca Karl, Michael Dutton, Yiyun Li \u674e\u7fca\u96f2, Hong Ying \u8679\u5f71, Mian Mian \u68c9\u68c9,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Litteraturhuset-China-Week.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":988,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=988","url_meta":{"origin":809,"position":4},"title":"On the Tyranny of Big Languages","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"June 21, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Publishing Perspectives has published a perspective on a panel in which three European writers--Bulgaria\u2019s Kalin Terziiski, Romania\u2019s R\u0103zvan R\u0103dulescu, and the Czech Republic\u2019s Tom\u00e1\u0161 Zme\u0161kal--discussed the state of literature and literary publishing around the world. The whole piece is worth a read, but to me, the most interesting question is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4192,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=4192","url_meta":{"origin":809,"position":5},"title":"Goodman on The Reciprocal Translation Project","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"August 3, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Writing for the LARB China Channel, Eleanor Goodman reviews The Reciprocal Translation Project, edited by James Sherry and Sun Dong \u5b59\u51ac. And she comes out swinging! The Reciprocal Translation Project is a messy, fraught endeavor. Here is the back blurb, which is also the first paragraph of the editors\u2019 introduction:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51McVMfSV6L._SX387_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=809"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":811,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809\/revisions\/811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}