學點漢語，學好英語

學點漢語，學好英語

“多學點漢語吧！”英國首相卡梅倫訪華回國后對小學生們說。但FT副主編斯卡平克卻寫道，按照以往的經(jīng)驗，當一個英國試圖用一門外語與人交流時，說者與聽者都會很快發(fā)現(xiàn)，還是講英語節(jié)約時間。那么，英國孩子還該不該學漢語呢？

測試中可能遇到的詞匯和知識：

Mandarin 漢語普通話(音譯自“滿大人”官話)

level pegging 勢均力敵

debunk 拆穿

stopgap 權(quán)宜之計

colloquial 白話的，口語的

idiosyncrasy 個性，特異品質(zhì)

閱讀即將開始，建議您計算一下閱讀整篇文章所用時間，并對照我們在文章最后給出的參考值來估算您的閱讀速度。

Learn some Mandarin but master English too

By Michael Skapinker

Future Chinese executives will hear foreigners struggle with Mandarin and switch to English

* * *

Ditch your French and German textbooks and start learning Mandarin, David Cameron told the UK’s school pupils after his return from a visit to China last week.

The UK prime minister should be happy with any language skills his young compatriots manage to pick up. But it is true that it would be useful if more people spoke the main language of the world’s soon-to-be largest economy.

I asked China-based colleagues if they knew of any foreign business leaders who spoke Mandarin. The list was short and limited to executives working in China. Roland Decorvet, the Swiss head of Nestlé in China, speaks fluent Mandarin. Peter Humphrey, the British fraud investigator who did work for GlaxoSmithKline and who has been detained by the Chinese authorities, also speaks excellent Mandarin.

No doubt there are others, but there don’t appear to be many. A colleague who travelled with Mr Cameron and his large business delegation says he did not hear any of them make a speech in Mandarin.

If they are to make progress, children should start learning early. But Mandarin is very different from European languages and harder for an English speaker to learn than French or German. Also, in the race to learn other languages, the Chinese are way ahead in learning English. Although the English-language component of the Chinese university entrance exam has been reduced, there are 50,000 English-language teaching companies in the country. Internationally-minded companies regard English as important. Lenovo, the Chinese computer company, has made it its official language.

Throughout Europe, English is now essential for anyone wanting to reach a senior corporate position. It is a given, a background skill like knowing how to create a PowerPoint presentation or find your way to the office.

That will be the case in China too. Foreign Mandarin speakers may establish better contacts and win business. But if China follows the European pattern, its future young executives will listen as their anglophone counterparts struggle a while in their school-learnt Mandarin and they will then switch to English because it wastes less time.

The problem, when international business discussions take place in English, is that many English speakers are not much better at using it than they are at foreign languages. Many don’t know how to adjust their English for an international audience.

Here are a few phrases I heard a UK manager use in a speech to some Brazilians: “it’s level pegging”; “the second myth I’d like to debunk”; “we have a stopgap with that”. Some of the Brazilians had chosen to listen to a Portuguese translation through headphones; those who had thought their English was good enough to manage without looked as if they were regretting their choice.

For an English speaker, mastering foreign languages is excellent; being able to speak the international business tongue so that you can be understood is just as important.

When I suggested a while back that English speakers avoid figurative language and phrasal verbs such as “put out”, some readers took issue with me. “Most idioms are intuitive and you can guess?.?.?.?from the context, for example “pin hopes on” or “shrug off” are pretty easy?.?.?.?I actually enjoy learning a new colourful phrase from a Brit and being able to deduce its meaning,” one reader wrote. Indeed, at a conference in Brussels recently, I heard non-native English speakers nonchalantly using phrasal verbs and idioms such as “he touched upon that”, “we’ve laid down detailed rules” and “our ideas in a nutshell”.

These largely came from speakers of Germanic languages, which have their own phrasal verbs, but it also became clear that they were highly competent English speakers and I had to adjust my English accordingly. Patronising your audience is as bad as losing them through being too colloquial.

How can English speakers find the appropriate way to speak their language to non-native speakers? Learning a foreign language, any language, is useful in helping you understand what it is like to work in your non-native tongue. But so is understanding the structure and idiosyncrasies of your own language so you can adjust your use of it to the situation.

Yes, English-speaking children should learn Mandarin. But they need a more sophisticated command of English too.

請根據(jù)你所讀到的文章內(nèi)容，完成以下自測題目：

1. Why should children start learning Mandarin early?

a. China is a soon-to-be largest economy in the world.

b. Chinese children are way ahead in learning English.

c. Few British business leaders can speak Mandarin fluently.

d. It's always better to learn a foreign language early.

2. "Foreign Mandarin speakers may establish better contacts and win business. But if China follows the European pattern..."

What is this pattern?

a. English people and their foreign counterparts end up speaking in English.

b. English people and their European counterparts talk in French or German slowly.

c. The advantages to mastering a foreign language gradually fade away.

d. Non-native speakers learn phrasal verbs quickly.

3. What point does it try to make by the story of a UK manager speaking to some Brazilians?

a. Brazilians' English is quite poor.

b. English is indeed a global language.

c. English spoken by native is different from English learnt by non-native.

d. There's always some people overestimating their language abilities.

4. What is the main reason that Cameron encouraged British pupils to learn more Chinese?

a. English is not going to be as dominant in the future as today.

b. The three European languages are too similar to each other.

c. Good paid jobs will mostly be based in China.

d. It is important to understand and communicate with Chinese(in English).

[1] 答案d. It's always better to learn a foreign language early.

解釋：ABC都更像是“應該學”的理由，而不是“盡早學”的理由，其實作者并未給出解釋，是默認應該如此的。

[2] 答案a. English people and their foreign counterparts end up speaking in English.

解釋：（無）

[3] 答案c. English spoken by native is different from English learnt by non-native.

解釋：英國演講人用了很多非常本地化和口語化的詞匯，這對外國人來說非常難懂。作者顯然不是責備那些巴西人英語差，或者有些人明明聽不太懂卻還拒絕使用同傳。結(jié)合上下文，他是責怪英國人不了解外國人的英語使用。

[4] 答案d. It is important to understand and communicate with Chinese(in English).

解釋：如果你在第二段看到了“英國孩子應該學漢語”的內(nèi)容，那么也許會發(fā)現(xiàn)，接下來作者似乎未作解釋就“跑題”了好多段，解釋英語是如何如何重要。繞了一個大彎到末尾才揭示，作為“全球語”的英語，是與英國人自己講的英語不一樣的，學一門外語對英國人了解外國人講英語時的感受很有幫助，并且可以幫助英國人調(diào)整自己太過口語化的說話習慣。從而可以更好的溝通。想想看，你對一群略懂漢語的外國人說“人艱不拆，喜大普奔”的時候，該是多么“2333”？