Chinanews.com, Beijing, February 9th (Reporter Lu Mei) The first edition of "Modern Dutch-Chinese Dictionary" in 1995, and the updated edition in 2020 was recently published by World Knowledge Publishing House.
This is a Dutch and Chinese bilingual dictionary compiled by Chinese diplomats. More than 8,700 new words have been added. The whole book contains 67,000 entries and nearly 100,000 definitions, covering 60 industry vocabularies. It is currently the largest in China Dutch-Chinese bilingual dictionary.
The lexicographer Kong Quan has been working in the diplomatic system since 1973. He has served as Director of the Information Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Director of the European Department, and Chinese Ambassador to France and the Principality of Monaco. He is currently the 13th National Deputy Director of the CPPCC Foreign Affairs Committee.
Recently, Kong Quan accepted an exclusive interview with a reporter from Chinanews.com in Beijing. He reviewed the three editions of the "Modern Dutch-Chinese Dictionary" from the time of compilation to the present, and a profile of the changes of the times in the past 40 years.
"Modern Dutch-Chinese Dictionary" 2020 updated edition photo by Kong Quan
Young people fill the gap
In 1973, 18-year-old Kong Quan went to Belgium to learn Flemish (the old name of Belgian Dutch) as a learner in the embassy while working.
At that time, there were few exchanges between China and Europe, information was blocked, and language learning tools for small European languages were scarce.
"At that time, there was no Dutch-Chinese dictionary. I could only learn through Dutch-English and Dutch-French dictionaries, which was very difficult." Kong Quan recalled.
In 1976, Kong Quan was officially sent to the Chinese Embassy in the Kingdom of Belgium.
At that time, the librarian's residence was located near Waterloo, a dozen kilometers away from Brussels, in a remote location and life was monotonous.
The young foreign affair worker has aspirations: "Why not use this time to compile a Dutch-Chinese dictionary to fill the gaps in this field?"
Kong Quan only realized the hardships when he devoted himself to concrete work.
The complicated and boring editing work and the questioning of the editor in charge of this fledgling young man made him deeply distressed.
He confided these to Chen Yuan, the editor-in-chief and general manager of the Commercial Press at the time. This famous publisher and linguist wrote back personally, expressing his firm support and enthusiastic encouragement, and also supporting Kong Quan to complete the dictionary. Compilation.
From the 1980s to the early 1990s, Kong Quan spent almost all of his spare time. With the encouragement of Chen Yuan and the help of his colleagues Wang Wenbo and Gao Zhansheng, he completed the compilation and review of the third draft of the dictionary, which was formally completed in 1995. publishing.
This is also China's first Dutch-Chinese bilingual dictionary.
Photographed by Kong Quan Lumei, the editor of "Modern Dutch-Chinese Dictionary" and deputy director of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the 13th CPPCC National Committee
The cultural bond between China and the Netherlands
In the 1980s and 1990s, after several oil crises, the Netherlands entered a period of sustained economic growth. Many Chinese went to the Netherlands to seek job opportunities. The personnel, economic and trade exchanges between China and the Netherlands have become increasingly close, and the two languages have been translated into each other. Demand surged.
Kong Quan's "Modern Dutch-Chinese Dictionary" is not only popular among Dutch learners, but also used as an essential tool by the Dutch government as a gift to Chinese naturalized Dutch.
For a time, Luoyang paper was expensive, and the "Modern Dutch-Chinese Dictionary", which was originally printed in small quantities, was in short supply.
Some people have seen "business opportunities", printing pirated editions and even being mixed into the books donated by the Dutch government.
In order to meet market demand, the "Modern Dutch-Chinese Dictionary" was published in 2003.
With the development of Sino-European relations, the number of Chinese expatriates and Chinese students in the Netherlands has increased significantly.
Today there are 200,000 overseas Chinese in the Netherlands, and more than 10,000 Chinese students; there are also thousands of Dutch people studying, working and living in China.
Due to the short supply, the two editions of the "Modern Dutch-Chinese Dictionary" that have been sold out have been sold at a price ten times higher than the original price on the Internet. The most expensive price is even more than RMB 8,000.
Update with the times
"The vitality of language comes from the emergence of new vocabulary. In the past 10 years, through annual revisions, thousands or even thousands of new entries have been added to the large dictionaries of European and American countries. The "Modern Dutch-Chinese Dictionary" should also keep pace with the times. Kong Quan said that during the 2020 new crown pneumonia epidemic, he used his home time to verify and correct the spelling and interpretation of all entries in the dictionary based on the Dutch language reform implemented by the Dutch government, and refer to many new versions of the dictionary commonly used in the Netherlands. More than 8,700 new words that have been used more than ten years have been added.
Open the dictionary, "new crown virus epidemic", "anti-new crown virus vaccine", "measures to prevent new crown virus regulations" and other new terms are included; the previously included term "involutie", the new definition "in" is added to the definition "Volume" refers to the phenomenon of "involution" that has been widely discussed on Chinese social media recently.
There are countless examples of this, and the characteristics of the current era are clearly displayed in front of users.
In the compilation of the third edition of the dictionary, Kong Quan experienced more deeply the process of China's opening up and the integration and mutual learning with world trends.
For example, concepts or phenomena such as "sponge city" and "carpooling" did not appear in China in the 1990s. When translating related Dutch terms, Kong Quan could only describe them in lengthy sentences.
Nowadays, the Chinese vocabulary has been updated in sync with the world, and the dictionary definition is more vivid and appropriate.
Sino-European culture should be "beautiful and beautiful"
2020 marks the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Europe.
Kong Quan's diplomatic career started almost at the same time as the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Europe. He witnessed the continuous deepening of China-EU relations.
The number of EU members has increased from 9 countries when they established diplomatic relations with China to 27 countries now. In 2020, China has become the EU's largest trading partner. The two-way personnel exchanges between China and Europe exceed 8 million. The depth and breadth of China-EU exchanges are unprecedented.
However, the EU-China: Strategic Outlook report released by the European Union in 2019 stated that China is still a partner in diplomacy, but China is a competitor in key high-tech areas such as 5G, and in terms of governance models, China is " Institutional opponents".
In this regard, Kong Quan believes that this is actually a deviation in the understanding of China's sustainable development by some people in the EU institutions, which triggered a series of restrictions on Chinese investment afterwards, which led to a decline in the enthusiasm of some Chinese companies to invest in Europe.
For these long-term issues related to the long-term relationship between the two parties, it is necessary to face and deal with it through policy elaboration and communication, and to further enhance mutual understanding and mutual trust through people-to-people and cultural exchanges. Language is an important link.
The updated version of "Modern Dutch-Chinese Dictionary" received strong support from China Ocean Shipping Group.
Kong Quan said, “More than 40 years ago, COSCO’s annual cargo ships to the Netherlands seemed to be less than six. Today, COSCO SHIPPING and the Port of Rotterdam have joined hands to promote cooperation projects in various forms and mutually beneficial. More than 20 cargo flights are frequently loaded every month. The round trip has built a beautiful landscape of the construction of the “Belt and Road” and China-Europe exchanges. They look forward to expanding the field of cooperation with the Netherlands and are very supportive of the update and publication of this dictionary."
He Weimin, the Dutch ambassador to China, said in his preface to the dictionary, “Language is one of the most specific points of contact between two cultures. While reading the dictionary, it seems to be immersed in cultural exchanges.” “We must constantly revise it. With continuous exchanges, this dictionary can play its role, and a limited resource can create endless opportunities. Because only after we can communicate with each other can we deepen mutual understanding and recognition, achieve mutual respect, mutual trust, mutual help and mutual prosperity."
"Mutual understanding is the foundation of friendship, and mutual trust is the guarantee of cooperation." Kong Quan said that there are currently more than 3,000 Chinese companies investing in Europe. I hope these companies can not only pay taxes and provide employment in their countries, but also promote China and Europe. The lubricant of cultural exchanges has become a booster for the development of China-EU relations.
Kong Quan is fluent in French and Dutch, and can also use English and German.
Years of overseas work experience allowed him to appreciate the richness and exquisiteness of different languages and the exquisite expression of different languages.
There are more than 50 official languages in 65 countries along the “Belt and Road”.
Kong Quan believes that with the expansion of China's foreign exchanges and cooperation, the demand for minor languages has increased rapidly, but China's domestic resources and investment in learning minor languages are far from sufficient.
"To achieve true deep emotional communication and appreciation of different cultures, it is still necessary to learn and master the language of the other party."
"China has become a major manufacturing country and has all the industrial categories listed in the United Nations Industrial Classification." Kong Quan said, "As an ancient civilization, I hope that China will also become the country that masters and understands the most languages of the world, and becomes the most respectful and respectful of other civilizations. A country that has cultural exchanges and other countries in the world, as Mr. Fei Xiaotong said, “Everyone has its own beauty, the beauty of the beauty, the beauty of the same, the world is in harmony.” (End)