There were also many people who could speak foreign languages in ancient China.
In fact, China's earliest translation was a long time ago. Translation was recorded as early as the Zhou Dynasty. The ancient book Yuan Gui of Ci Fu records:
The Duke of Zhou has been filming for three years, and Shang Yue has retranslated the Pheasant with three images. The road is long, the mountains and rivers are deep, and the sound is impassable, so it is retranslated. ?
It means that when the Duke of Zhou was regent, Shang Yue sent three translators (Xu Xiang) to pay tribute, and said that because the journey was too long and the mountains and rivers were blocked, he sent three translators to translate them one by one, and it took three times to translate them into a language that the Duke of Zhou could understand, thus completing the mission of paying tribute. This is the Confucian classic Shangshu? Retranslation and dedication? Allusions.
And in the Qin and Han dynasties? Nine translation orders? 、? Translation? And other full-time translators, and later officials of various dynasties will also recruit and train full-time translators. Therefore, translation was not a particularly rare occupation in ancient China.
Xuanzang is also a foreign language god.
Xuanzang lived in the Tang Dynasty, which was the most internationalized dynasty in ancient China except Yuan Dynasty. The city where Xuanzang lives is Chang 'an, which is very international by modern standards. Xuanzang may meet some foreigners living in the Tang Dynasty every day. Moreover, Xuanzang is a monk and needs to learn a lot of Buddhist classics, and the earliest Buddhist scriptures were actually translated from Indian Sanskrit into Chinese, so it is normal for Xuanzang to contact some original classics and even learn some Sanskrit when studying, so it is not surprising that Xuanzang knows some foreign languages.
According to historical records, Xuanzang studied Sanskrit with monks from the Western Regions who came to China in his early years. Since he is a monk in the western regions, Xuanzang has to learn not only Sanskrit but also some languages in the western regions in India. After Xuanzang went west, he also went to Kashmir today to study Sanskrit, so when Xuanzang really arrived in India, he should have been able to speak Sanskrit fluently.
Although the language in India is very complicated, and each region is different, Xuanzang is mainly in contact with monks, but monks will learn Buddhist classics, so some accomplished Buddhist monks can also speak Sanskrit. At that time, all Buddhist monks in India spoke Sanskrit like Mandarin now, and Xuanzang understood it without learning too many languages.
After arriving in India, with the language environment, Xuanzang's Sanskrit level will naturally advance by leaps and bounds, improving more on the original basis. Xuanzang's westward journey lasted 17 years, which was a long time. Moreover, with master Xuanzang's high IQ, it is estimated that his Sanskrit level has reached the level of his mother tongue when he returns to China. Therefore, after Xuanzang returned to China, he translated a large number of Sanskrit Buddhist scriptures for Buddhism in the Central Plains, which played an important role in the spread of Buddhism in the Central Plains and was therefore regarded as an outstanding translator by later generations.