2-1 大山——语言学习有感

Dashan’s Feeling about Language Learning¹

 

Zhao Wei: You have been in China for so many years, what’s your feeling about living in China? Do you enjoy it?

 

Dashan: Well, actually, I lived in China full time for 7 years, from 1988 to 1995. But now since 1995, I live half in Canada and half in China. I really enjoy that, because I enjoy my work in China and my friends and everything here. But I also enjoy Canada. So I find the best thing for me is to go back and forth², because that way I can continue with my career here and have my normal life in Canada where nobody recognizes me. For me, both of those together are really the best combination³.

 

Zhao: I think Chinese people are more familiar with you speaking Chinese, but our magazine needs you to speak English. So it’s lucky for us to hear your English this time. I just wonder which language do you speak more in your daily life, Chinese or English?

 

Dashan: It’s hard to say, because sometimes it depends on what you are doing, whom you are talking with and what subject you are talking about. But I find talking about something very Chinese is difficult to do in English. And also from the opposite way, sometimes trying to explain something about western culture in Chinese is difficult too.

 

Zhao: You are considered a successful foreign language learner, could you share with us your experience in learning foreign languages?

 

Dashan: I studied Chinese for 4 years in my university in Canada. I think one of the things my teacher did very well was to get away from traditional textbooks as soon as possible. We used the standard textbooks for the first 2 years, because you have to learn the pinyin, you have to learn the basic characters and basic grammar. For those things, textbooks are the best, because they are very scientific. Everything is nicely arranged⁴ for you to learn in order. But language itself is not like that. In many ways, it’s not really a very scientific thing. I think many people in China who study English have a mistake. They try to use very scientific methods to study something that itself is very unscientific. So in the third year, my teacher just showed us short stories or newspaper articles or just things for everyday life to learn. Anyway, it’s very difficult at first. But I think the biggest advantage is: textbooks are written by Chinese people for foreigners, while the novels or newspapers are something the Chinese people write for themselves. So the same thing, we will make textbooks for Chinese person probably different from the way we would actually speak to a native speaker. So I think once you get to a certain level, it’s good to get away from the textbooks and just go to the real living language that people actually speak.

 

Zhao: It seems that coming to China helped a lot with your Chinese. And many students believe that if they want to speak foreign languages very well, they have to go abroad. Do you agree with them?

 

Dashan: It helps! Certainly. My personal experience is that it’s possible to learn a language without immersion⁵¹ environment, but it’s much better to have an immersion. When I first came to China, I could talk to people in the street, I could do the basic conversation with no problem, and I could do those skits⁷² on television, but of course, my accent was very strong. I think even if you have the knowledge and the ability to communicate, you don’t have the feeling for the language. And the feeling for the language is something that you’ll get with immersion environment. So for young people, I hope everybody has the opportunity to travel overseas⁸. I find there’s another great benefit⁹ that you can understand your own country much better.

 

Zhao: Could you talk something about your mentor¹⁰³ Jiang Kun? What did he teach you on your class?

 

Dashan: We didn’t have a formal class together. I learn cross talk⁴ from him just by being together with him, watching his performances, talking about it and watching him in daily life.

 

Zhao: Cross talk is a traditional form of Chinese comedic dialogue, and is there any form of comedic dialogue like cross talk in Canada, or any other western country?

 

Dashan: You know I really just prefer to call it Xiangsheng. If you look into the dictionary, you look upon “Xiangsheng,” the dictionary will say “cross talk.” But if you ask a foreigner if he has ever heard of cross talk, he always says no. In English, we never talk about cross talk. Nobody ever calls comedy skits cross talk. But we have stand up⁵ comedy, we have comic dialogue, we have skit⁶. Those are very similar to cross talk. It all depends on your definition¹¹. If you think cross talk is one person or two doing a comedy dialogue or talking jokes, every culture, every language in the world has a similar type of performances. One thing that makes cross talk very interesting is that it’s usually one complete story or one topic whereas¹² the western stand up comedy is usually just a series¹³ of separated¹⁴ jokes.

 

注释：

1.immersion [i5mE:FEn] adj. （学习外语时）沉浸式强化训练的；n. 沉浸，浸没

2.skit [skit] n. 幽默（或讽刺）小品；滑稽短剧

3.mentor [5mentC:] n. 导师；指导者

4.cross talk <英> 巧妙的回答（或反驳）；机智的问答；相声

5.stand up [stAnd5Qp] adj. （喜剧或喜剧演员）单人表演的；滑稽说笑的

大山——语言学习有感

 

赵巍：你在中国生活了这么多年，对在中国生活有何感受？你喜欢这里的生活吗？

 

大山：哦，实际上，我完全在中国生活只有7年，是从1988年到1995年。自1995年以来，我有一半时间在加拿大，一半在中国。我很喜欢这样的生活，因为我喜爱在中国的工作、朋友以及这里的一切。同时我也喜欢加拿大。因此，我发现最好的方式就是来回跑，因为这样我既能继续在这里的事业，也能在加拿大过默默无闻的普通生活。对我来说，两种生活加在一起就是最好的结合。

 

赵：我想在中国，人们更习惯你说中国话，但我们的杂志需要你讲英语。所以这次我们能听你讲英语很幸运。我很想知道你在日常生活中哪种语言讲得多，汉语还是英语？

 

大山：很难说，因为这有时候取决于你在做什么，在和谁谈话，以及你在谈论什么事情。但我发现，谈论某些很中国化的东西时很难用英语讲出来。反之亦然，有时试图用汉语解释一些西方文化也很困难。

 

赵：人们都认为你是一个外语学习的成功者，那么能告诉我们你在学习外语方面的经验吗？

 

大山：我在加拿大读大学时学了4年中文。我认为，我的老师做得很好的一点就是尽早地摆脱传统的课本。在前两年，我们使用标准的课本，因为你必须要学拼音，必须要学基础的汉字和语法。要学这些东西，课本是最好的选择。因为它们非常科学，一切都安排得井井有条，供你有序地学习。但语言本身不是那样的，在很多方面，它实际上并不是很科学的东西。我认为在中国，很多学习英语的人都犯了一个错误，他们试图用很科学的方法学习某些本身并非很科学的东西。因此，到了第三年，我的老师就给我们看一些小故事或是报纸上的文章，或者只是学一些日常生活用语。不管怎样，开头很难。但我想最大的好处就是：课本是中国人为外国人写的，而小说或报纸是中国人为自己写的。同样，我们为中国人写的课本，可能跟我们实际上对以英语为母语的人所说的不一样。所以我认为，一旦你达到了一定的水平，最好摆脱掉课本，去学人们日常说的真正活的语言。

 

赵：看来，到中国来对你的汉语学习大有帮助。很多学生认为，要想说好外语，就要到国外去。你同意他们的观点吗？

 

大山：当然有帮助！我的个人经验是，没有本土语言环境学习一种语言固然可以，但如果有本土语言环境就好多了。当我第一次来中国时，我可以在街头与人交谈，可以毫无问题地进行基本对话，而且可以在电视上演幽默小品，但当然了，我的口音很重。我想，即使你具有与人交流的知识和能力，你还是没有对那种语言的感觉。而这种感觉你可以从本土语言环境中得到。所以，对于年轻人来说，我希望他们都能有机会到海外看看。我发现这样还有一个极大的好处，就是你可以更好地了解你自己的国家。

 

赵：你能谈谈你的老师姜昆吗？他在课上都教你些什么？

 

大山：我们并没有上过什么正式的课。我跟他学相声只是通过和他待在一起，看他表演，谈论表演，还有看他在日常生活中的一言一行。

 

赵：相声是中国一种传统的幽默对话形式，在加拿大或其他西方国家有没有像相声这样的幽默对话形式呢？

 

大山：要知道，我其实更愿意称它为“XiangSheng”（相声）。如果你在字典中查“相声”，它会告诉你是“crosstalk”。但如果你问一个外国人有没有听说过“crosstalk”，他们通常会说没有。在英语中，我们从来不说这个词。没有人管幽默小品叫“crosstalk”。但是我们有滑稽说笑表演，有幽默对话，有滑稽短剧。它们跟相声非常相似。这都取决于你对它的定义。如果你认为相声是一两个人做幽默对话或是说笑话，那么世界上每种文化、每种语言都有类似的表演形式。相声有一点很有意思的是，它通常是一个完整的故事或话题，而西方的滑稽说笑表演通常只是一系列互不相关的笑话。

1 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

2 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

3 combination   

n.组合，合并，联合；

参考例句：

• He carried on the business in combination with his friends.他与朋友们合伙做生意。
• The materials can be used singly or in combination.这些材料可以单独使用也可以混合用。

4 arranged   

adj.安排的v.安排，准备( arrange的过去式和过去分词 )；把…（系统地）分类；整理；改编（剧本等）

参考例句：

• The party was arranged quickly. 聚会很快就安排好了。
• Chairs in rows are not as conducive to discussion as chairs arranged in a circle. 椅子成排摆放不如成圈摆放便于讨论。

5 immersion   

n.沉浸；专心

参考例句：

• The dirt on the bottom of the bath didn't encourage total immersion.浴缸底有污垢，不宜全身浸泡于其中。
• The wood had become swollen from prolonged immersion.因长时间浸泡，木头发胀了。

6 skit   

n.滑稽短剧；一群

参考例句：

• The comic skIt sent up the foolishness of young men in love.那幅画把沉溺于热恋中的青年男子的痴态勾勒得滑稽可笑。
• They performed a skit to amuse the crowd.他们表演了一个幽默小品来娱乐观众。

7 skits   

n.讽刺文( skit的名词复数 )；小喜剧；若干；一群

参考例句：

• One of these skits, "The King of Beasts" resembles a traditional frontier prank. 一出滑稽短剧《兽王》酷似传统的边疆闹剧。 来自英汉非文学 - 民俗
• Kids can develop ad campaigns, commercials and skits to illustrate character traits. 孩子们会发动宣传运动，制作广告宣传片和幽默短剧来说明性格品质。 来自互联网

8 overseas   

adj.海外的；adv.在海外

参考例句：

• Her man has been sent overseas by his employers.她的丈夫已被雇主派往海外。
• Many firms are focusing on increasing their markets overseas.许多商行都专注于扩大国外市场。

9 benefit   

n.好处，益处，福利；vt.有益于，对…有益；vi.受益于

参考例句：

• The money is to be used for the benefit of the poor.这笔钱用来为穷人谋福利。
• He thought he would benefit from going to school.他认为上学对他有好处。

10 mentor   

n.指导者，良师益友；v.指导

参考例句：

• He fed on the great ideas of his mentor.他以他导师的伟大思想为支撑。
• He had mentored scores of younger doctors.他指导过许多更年轻的医生。

11 definition   

n.定义；限定，确定；清晰度

参考例句：

• The book attempts a definition of his role in world politics.该书要阐明的是他在世界政局中的作用。
• I made a definition for this word.我给这个字下了定义。

12 whereas   

conj.而，却，反之

参考例句：

• They want a house,whereas we would rather live in a flat.他们想要一座房子，而我们宁愿住在一套房间里。
• Some praise him,whereas others condemn him.有些人赞扬他，而有些人谴责他。

13 series   

n.连续；系列

参考例句：

• The students have put forward a series of questions.学生们提出了一系列问题。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

14 separated   

adj.分开的v.分开(separate的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• Her parents are separated but not divorced. 她父母分居但没离婚。
• No child should ever be separated from his mother by force. 绝不能强行使任何一个孩子与母亲分开。 来自《简明英汉词典》