Seven Common Misconceptions About Language Learn-ing

王志強(qiáng)

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 im- portant to the Maoris. It is just that these languages are not so important to the rest of us.

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 econo- my is booming. Chinese seems well worth learning.

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.

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.

世界上的語(yǔ)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(jí)的語(yǔ)言，而是因?yàn)槭褂谜吒?、分布也更廣。芬蘭語(yǔ)對(duì)芬蘭人很重要，毛利語(yǔ)對(duì)毛利人也很重要，但對(duì)于其他人來說就不那么重要了。

漢語(yǔ)普通話的使用者有十多億，而且日語(yǔ)、韓語(yǔ)、越南語(yǔ)中有60%的詞匯都來源于漢語(yǔ)。掌握了漢語(yǔ)，學(xué)習(xí)這些語(yǔ)言會(huì)容易許多，這是我的親身體驗(yàn)。中國(guó)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(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)又日益強(qiáng)大，所以漢語(yǔ)是值得好好學(xué)習(xí)的。

西班牙語(yǔ)、法語(yǔ)、意大利語(yǔ)和葡萄牙語(yǔ)其實(shí)就是一種語(yǔ)言的不同方言。學(xué)會(huì)了一種，就能學(xué)會(huì)其他幾種。我就是這樣。如果你學(xué)會(huì)了西班牙語(yǔ)，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(jī)會(huì)。這些人分布在60多個(gè)國(guó)家，包括美國(guó)和加拿大。如果抱負(fù)夠大，你可以嘗試一下俄語(yǔ)。過去的兩年里，我自己就在學(xué)習(xí)這門語(yǔ)言。一旦學(xué)會(huì)了俄語(yǔ)，不僅可以和俄國(guó)人交流，甚至可以和其他斯拉夫語(yǔ)系的人溝通。

But hold? it here！ Before? getting? carried? away，? let’slook at the present situation of language teaching. According to one Canadian survey， after 12 years of daily Frenchclasses， 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.

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

As a speaker of 10 languages I know the benefits ofspeaking? more? than? one? language. We? simply? have? tochange the way we go about teaching languages. To startwith? we? need? to? dispel? seven? common? misconceptionsabout language learning.

1. Language learning is difficult

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

2. You have to have a gift for learning languages

No you? don’t. Anyone who wants to，? can learn. InSweden and Holland most people speak more than one language. They can’t just all be gifted at languages. Foreignathletes? in North America usually? learn to? speak Englishfaster than people in more formal learning environments. Inlanguage learning it is attitude， not aptitude， that determinessuccess.

不過你先別激動(dòng)，讓我們先看看語(yǔ)言教學(xué)的現(xiàn)狀再說。根據(jù)一項(xiàng)加拿大的調(diào)查，在課堂上日復(fù)一日地學(xué)了12年法語(yǔ)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(xiàng)針對(duì)美國(guó)入境移民的調(diào)查，課堂英語(yǔ)教學(xué)對(duì)他們的英語(yǔ)水平幾乎沒有什么提高。

如果我們?cè)谧约旱膰?guó)家教自己的官方語(yǔ)言都如此失敗，那我們還怎能教別人學(xué)會(huì)漢語(yǔ)、西班牙語(yǔ)等其他語(yǔ)言呢？更別說俄語(yǔ)、阿拉伯語(yǔ)和印度語(yǔ)了！

我能說 10 種語(yǔ)言，我知道會(huì)說外語(yǔ)的好處。我們需要做的是改變傳統(tǒng)的語(yǔ)言教學(xué)方式。首先，我們要破除關(guān)于語(yǔ)言學(xué)習(xí)的7個(gè)錯(cuò)誤觀念。

1.外語(yǔ)很難學(xué)

如果你不想學(xué)，那外語(yǔ)的確很難學(xué)。學(xué)語(yǔ)言要花時(shí)間，但并不難。你要做的主要就是聽和讀。相信我，就這么簡(jiǎn)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(yǔ)了，而且不知不覺中你就會(huì)說了。之所以很多人不喜歡外語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)，是因?yàn)槲覀兊慕谭ú粚?duì)。

2.學(xué)語(yǔ)言必須要有天賦

不對(duì)。不管是誰(shuí)，只要想學(xué)，就能學(xué)會(huì)。在荷蘭和瑞典，很多人都會(huì)一種以上的語(yǔ)言。他們不可能都有語(yǔ)言天賦。北美的外國(guó)運(yùn)動(dòng)員學(xué)會(huì)說英語(yǔ)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(yǔ)的人。學(xué)習(xí)外語(yǔ)，重要的是態(tài)度，而不是能力。

3. You have to live where the language is spoken

Some immigrants to North America never learn tospeak more than halting English. Yet we meet people in other countries who speak flawless English. In 1968， I learnedto 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 candownload it to your iPod and listen. Where you live is notan obstacle.

4. Only children can learn to speak another language well

Recent brain research has demonstrated that our brainsremain 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 andare better language learners than children. I have learned 4languages since the age of 55. Adults only need the child’swillingness to experiment and desire to communicate， without the fear of ridicule.

5. To learn a language you need formal classroominstruction

This is the crux of the problem. Classrooms may beeconomical to run and a great place to meet others. Theyhave 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 inefficientit 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 andexercises are annoying to most people. A majority of schoolkids graduate unable to communicate in languages that theystudy for 10 or more years.

3.必須住在英語(yǔ)國(guó)家才能學(xué)會(huì)英語(yǔ)

實(shí)際上，一些來到北美的移民直到最后也只會(huì)說磕磕巴巴的英語(yǔ)。但在其他國(guó)家生活的一些人卻能把英語(yǔ)說得很流利。1968年我住在香港時(shí)學(xué)會(huì)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(tái)電腦，任何人都可以接觸到語(yǔ)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.只有孩子才能學(xué)好外語(yǔ)

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(huì)盲文就是一個(gè)例子。成年人掌握了大量的本族語(yǔ)詞匯，學(xué)外語(yǔ)比兒童更有優(yōu)勢(shì)。拿我自己來說，從55歲開始，我已經(jīng)學(xué)會(huì)了4種語(yǔ)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.只有通過正規(guī)的課堂教學(xué)才能學(xué)會(huì)外語(yǔ)

這是問題的關(guān)鍵。課堂教學(xué)比較經(jīng)濟(jì)，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(duì)語(yǔ)言學(xué)習(xí)來說，這卻是一種低效的方式，而且班里的人數(shù)越多，就越低效。語(yǔ)言不是教會(huì)的，而是學(xué)會(huì)的。語(yǔ)法講解讓人難以理解，難以記住，更難以運(yùn)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(zhǎng)時(shí)間的外語(yǔ)后，還是不能用它進(jìn)行交際。

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

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.

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

How about the time you spend waiting in line， com- muting， 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.

6.必須通過說才能學(xué)會(huì)外語(yǔ)，（沒人跟我說，所以我學(xué)不會(huì)）

能說外語(yǔ)一般是外語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)的目標(biāo)，但“說外語(yǔ)”可以先等一等。一旦你學(xué)會(huì)了一門外語(yǔ)，自然會(huì)有 說的機(jī)會(huì)。但在這之前，更重要的是聽，而不是 說。記住幾個(gè)常用的句子然后就去說往往會(huì)讓你 陷入麻煩。如果你遇到一個(gè)外國(guó)人，你將主要是聽 對(duì)方說，這是難免的事，除非你已經(jīng)學(xué)會(huì)了對(duì)方的 語(yǔ)言?？傊槐貫榱藢W(xué)而去刻意說外語(yǔ)，而應(yīng)該 為了會(huì)說去學(xué)外語(yǔ)。

7.我很想學(xué)外語(yǔ)，但沒時(shí)間

那么在排隊(duì)、坐車、做家務(wù)或者散步的時(shí)候你有時(shí)間嗎？為什么不在這些時(shí)候用你的 ipod 聽聽外語(yǔ)呢？開始的時(shí)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(zhǎng)到30分鐘甚至一個(gè)小時(shí)。只要有信心，你就能獲得巨大的進(jìn)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(shí)間。