學(xué)外語到底難不難？不如來聽聽一個會講10種語言的人現(xiàn)身說法。

There are over 6,000 languages in the world. Some are more important than others, not better or more advanced, just more important. Why? Because they are spoken by more people, in more countries. That does not mean that Finnish is not important to the Finns, and Maori is not important to the Maoris. It is just that these languages are not so important to the rest of us.

世界上的語言超過6000種，其中有些更重要些，有些則不是很重要。這不是說那些重要的就是更好的或者更高級的語言，而是因為使用者更多、分布也更廣。芬蘭語對芬蘭人很重要，毛利語對毛利人也很重要，但對于其他人來說就不那么重要了。

On the other hand, Mandarin Chinese is spoken by over one billion people. Chinese origin words account for 60% of Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese vocabulary. Knowing Chinese will help you learn these languages too. It helped me. Chinese culture has influenced the world for thousands of years with its art, philosophy, technology, food, medicine and performing arts. Today China’s economy is booming. Chinese seems well worth learning.

漢語普通話的使用者有十多億，而且日語、韓語、越南語中有60%的詞匯都來源于漢語，掌握了漢語，學(xué)習(xí)這些語言會容易許多，這是我的親身體驗。中國文化——包括藝術(shù)、哲學(xué)、技術(shù)、飲食、醫(yī)藥以及表演藝術(shù)等——幾千年來不斷影響著世界，如今中國經(jīng)濟又日益強大，所以漢語是值得好好學(xué)習(xí)的。

Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese are essentially dialects of the same language. If you learn one, you can learn the others. I did. If you learn Spanish, you open the door to the culture, music, history and possible business dealings with 800 million people in 60 countries, including the US and Canada.

西班牙語、法語、意大利語和葡萄牙語其實就是一種語言的不同方言。學(xué)會了一種，就能學(xué)會其他幾種。我就是這樣。如果你學(xué)會了西班牙語，你就打開了一扇通向8億人的大門，包括他們的文化、音樂、歷史，以及同他們做生意的機會。這些人分布在60多個國家，包括美國和加拿大。

If you get ambitious you could try Russian, as I have been doing for the last two years. Once you have Russian you can probably communicate with other Slav speakers.

如果抱負(fù)夠大，你可以嘗試一下俄語。過去的兩年里，我自己就在學(xué)習(xí)這門語言。一旦學(xué)會了俄語，不僅可以和俄國人交流，甚至可以和其他斯拉夫語系的人溝通。

But hold it here! Before getting carried away, let’s look at the present situation of language teaching. According to one Canadian survey, after 12 years of daily French classes, only one high school graduate out of 147 (0.68%) achieved “intermediate” proficiency. Another survey of immigrants learning English in the US showed that “classroom instructional hours” had little impact on progress.

不過你先別激動，讓我們先看看語言教學(xué)的現(xiàn)狀再說。根據(jù)一項加拿大的調(diào)查，在課堂上日復(fù)一日地學(xué)了12年法語后，每147名中學(xué)畢業(yè)生中只有一名能達(dá)到中等熟練水平，比例是0.68%。根據(jù)另一項針對美國入境移民的調(diào)查，課堂英語教學(xué)對他們的英語水平幾乎沒有什么提高。

If we cannot teach our own official languages in North America, what hope is there for other languages like Chinese or Spanish, let alone Russian, Arabic or Hindi?

如果我們在自己的國家教自己的官方語言都如此失敗，那我們還怎能教別人學(xué)會漢語、西班牙語等其他語言呢？更別說俄語、阿拉伯語和印度語了！

As a speaker of 10 languages I know the benefits of speaking more than one language. We simply have to change the way we go about teaching languages. To start with we need to dispel seven common misconceptions about language learning.

我能說10種語言，我知道會說外語的好處。我們需要做的是改變傳統(tǒng)的語言教學(xué)方式。首先，我們要破除關(guān)于語言學(xué)習(xí)的7個錯誤觀念。

1. Language learning is difficult

外語很難學(xué)

It is only difficult to learn a language if you don’t want to. Learning a language takes time, but is not difficult. You mostly need to listen and read. Believe me, it is that simple. I have done it many times. Soon you feel the satisfaction of understanding another language. Before you know it you start speaking. It is the way languages are usually taught that makes language learning hard to like.

如果你不想學(xué)，那外語的確很難學(xué)。學(xué)語言要花時間，但并不難。你要做的主要就是聽和讀。相信我，就這么簡單，我就是這么學(xué)的。只要不斷地聽和讀，很快就能理解你所學(xué)的外語了，而且不知不覺中你就會說了。之所以很多人不喜歡外語學(xué)習(xí)，是因為我們的教法不對。

2. You have to have a gift for learning languages

學(xué)語言必須要有天賦

No you don’t. Anyone who wants to, can learn. In Sweden and Holland most people speak more than one language. They can’t just all be gifted at languages. Foreign athletes in North America usually learn to speak English faster than people in more formal learning environments. In language learning it is attitude, not aptitude, that determines success.

不對。不管是誰，只要想學(xué)，就能學(xué)會。在荷蘭和瑞典，很多人都會一種以上的語言。他們不可能都有語言天賦。北美的外國運動員學(xué)會說英語的速度往往快于那些在正規(guī)的教學(xué)環(huán)境中學(xué)習(xí)英語的人。學(xué)習(xí)外語，重要的是態(tài)度，而不是能力。

3. You have to live where the language is spoken

必須住在英語國家才能學(xué)會英語

Some immigrants to North America never learn to speak more than halting English. Yet we meet people in other countries who speak flawless English. In 1968, I learned to speak Mandarin fluently while living in Hong Kong, where few people spoke it. With the Internet, language content is available to anyone with a computer, and you can download it to your iPod and listen. Where you live is not an obstacle.

實際上，一些來到北美的移民直到最后也只會說磕磕巴巴的英語。但在其他國家生活的一些人卻能把英語說得很流利。1968年我住在香港時學(xué)會了流利的普通話，雖然那里幾乎沒人說普通話?，F(xiàn)在有了互聯(lián)網(wǎng)，只要有臺電腦，任何人都可以接觸到語言材料，還可以下載到你的ipod里聽。所以，住在哪里已經(jīng)不是障礙了。

4. Only children can learn to speak another language well

只有孩子才能學(xué)好外語

Recent brain research has demonstrated that our brains remain plastic well into old age. Adults who lose their eyesight have to learn a new language, braille, for example. Adults have a wide vocabulary in their own language and are better language learners than children. I have learned 4 languages since the age of 55. Adults only need the child’s willingness to experiment and desire to communicate, without the fear of ridicule.

最近的研究表明，人類大腦的可塑性能一直保持到老年。很多成年人在失明后能學(xué)會盲文就是一個例子。成年人掌握了大量的本族語詞匯，學(xué)外語比兒童更有優(yōu)勢。拿我自己來說，從55歲開始，我已經(jīng)學(xué)會了4種語言。成年人需要做的只是像孩子那樣樂于嘗試，渴望交流，并且不怕被嘲笑。

5. To learn a language you need formal classroom instruction

只有通過正規(guī)的課堂教學(xué)才能學(xué)會外語

This is the crux of the problem. Classrooms may be economical to run and a great place to meet others. They have the weight of history and tradition behind them. Unfortunately, a classroom is an inefficient place to learn a language. The more students in the class, the more inefficient it is. Languages cannot be taught, they can only be learned.Theoretical grammatical explanations are hard to understand, hard to remember, and even harder to use. Drills and exercises are annoying to most people. A majority of school kids graduate unable to communicate in languages that they study for 10 or more years.

這是問題的關(guān)鍵。課堂教學(xué)比較經(jīng)濟，通過課堂學(xué)習(xí)還可以結(jié)交很多人，而且這種教學(xué)方式歷史悠久，已經(jīng)成為傳統(tǒng)。但對語言學(xué)習(xí)來說，這卻是一種低效的方式，而且班里的的人數(shù)越多，就越低效。語言不是教會的，而是學(xué)會的。語法講解讓人難以理解，難以記住，更難以運用，而句型練習(xí)和課后練習(xí)則枯燥無味、令人生厭。結(jié)果是，很多學(xué)生在學(xué)習(xí)了10年甚至更長時間的外語后，還是不能用它進行交際。

6. You need to speak in order to learn (and I have nobody to speak to)

必須通過說才能學(xué)會外語，（沒人跟我說，所以我學(xué)不會）

Speaking the language is usually the goal of language learning, but speaking can wait. Once you have acquired the language, you will find the opportunity to speak. When you are learning the language it is more important to listen. Trying to just pick up a few “handy” phrases to say is likely to just get you into trouble. If you meet a native speaker, you will inevitably spend most of your time listening unless you already know the language. You do not need to speak in order to learn, you need to learn in order to speak.

能說外語一般是外語學(xué)習(xí)的目標(biāo)，但“說外語”可以先等一等。一旦你學(xué)會了一門外語，自然會有說的機會。但在這之前，更重要的是聽，而不是說。記住幾個常用的句子然后就去說往往會讓你陷入麻煩。如果你遇到一個外國人，你將主要是聽對方說，這是難免的事，除非你已經(jīng)學(xué)會了對方的語言。總之，不必為了學(xué)而去刻意說外語，而應(yīng)該為了會說去學(xué)外語。

7. I would love to learn but I don’t have the time

我很想學(xué)外語，但沒時間

How about the time you spend waiting in line, commuting, doing things around the house, going for a walk? Why not use that time to listen to a language on your iPod? Once you get started, even 10 or 15 minutes a day will soon grow to 30 minutes a day, or one hour. If you believe you will achieve significant results, and if you enjoy doing it, as I do, you will find the time.

那么在排隊、坐車、做家務(wù)或者散步的時候你有時間嗎？為什么不在這些時候用你的ipod聽聽外語呢？開始的時候，即便你每天只能聽10或15分鐘也沒關(guān)系，不久后你自然就能延長到30分鐘甚至一個小時。只要有信心，你就能獲得巨大的進步，只要你喜歡這樣做——像我這樣，你自然就能夠找到學(xué)習(xí)的時間。

（來源：滬江英語   編輯：丹妮）