4 reasons to learn a new language | John McWhorter

翻译人员: Wei Wu 校对人员: Conway Ye

The language I'm speaking right now

我现在说的英语

is on its way to becoming the world's universal language,

正逐渐变成全球通用语言，

for better or for worse.

这有好处也有弊端。

Let's face it,

我们会认同，

it's the language of the internet,

这是互联网标准语言，

it's the language of finance,

是金融界通用语言，

it's the language of air traffic control,

是空中管制标准语言，

of popular music,

流行音乐，

diplomacy --

外交活动。

English is everywhere.

英语无处不在。

Now, Mandarin Chinese is spoken by more people,

实际上，说汉语的人数更多一些，

but more Chinese people are learning English

但是学英语的中国人要比

than English speakers are learning Chinese.

学汉语的英语母语者要多。

Last I heard,

我之前听说，

there are two dozen universities in China right now

现在中国有二十多所大学

teaching all in English.

使用纯英语教学。

English is taking over.

英语已占统治地位，

And in addition to that,

除此之外，

it's been predicted that at the end of the century

预计在本世纪末期，

almost all of the languages that exist now --

绝大多数现存的语言，

there are about 6,000 --

大约6000种，

will no longer be spoken.

将会失传。

There will only be some hundreds left.

只会有几百种剩下。

And on top of that,

另一方面，

现在同传翻译不仅已经成为可能，

it's at the point where instant translation of live speech

is not only possible, but it gets better every year.

而且每年都在变得更好。

The reason I'm reciting those things to you

我跟大家说这么多

is because I can tell that we're getting to the point

是因为我要引出一个问题

where a question is going to start being asked,

一个大家或许已经在问的问题，

which is: Why should we learn foreign languages --

就是：“为什么我们需要学习

other than if English happens to be foreign to one?

除英语的外语？

Why bother to learn another one when it's getting to the point

既然很快英语会成为通用语言，

where almost everybody in the world will be able to communicate in one?

为什么还要去学习新的语言呢？”

I think there are a lot of reasons,

我觉得理由很多，

but I first want to address

但是我首先想要弄清一个概念，

the one that you're probably most likely to have heard of,

可能大家也都听过，

because actually it's more dangerous than you might think.

但它可能比你想象的还要重要。

这个观点是

And that is the idea

that a language channels your thoughts,

语言能塑造你的思维，

that the vocabulary and the grammar of different languages

不同语言的词汇和语法结构

gives everybody a different kind of acid trip,

给了每个人不同的思维方式，

so to speak.

类似于此。

That is a marvelously enticing idea,

这是个挺诱人的观点，

but it's kind of fraught.

但却有点误人子弟。

So it's not that it's untrue completely.

这个说法也不全错。

So for example, in French and Spanish

比如说，法语和西班牙语中

the word for table is, for some reason, marked as feminine.

“桌子”这个单词，由于某些原因， 都是阴性的。

So, "la table," "la mesa," you just have to deal with it.

比如 “la table"、”la mesa”， 你知道就够了。

It has been shown

研究表明

that if you are a speaker of one of those languages

如果这些语言是你的母语

and you happen to be asked

那么当你被问到要

how you would imagine a table talking,

想象一张桌子突然开口说话，

then much more often than could possibly be an accident,

那么大多数情况下，不排除意外，

a French or a Spanish speaker

一位说法语或西班牙语的人

says that the table would talk with a high and feminine voice.

会说桌子说话的声音是女性的高音。

So if you're French or Spanish, to you, a table is kind of a girl,

所以如果你是法国或西班牙人， 你会把桌子看成女孩，

as opposed to if you are an English speaker.

而说英语的人的看法恰恰相反。

It's hard not to love data like that,

我们都很喜欢这种观察结果，

and many people will tell you that that means

而且很多人会告诉你这意味着

that there's a worldview that you have if you speak one of those languages.

当你说话时， 你继承了那种语言的世界观。

But you have to watch out,

但是你要谨慎些，

because imagine if somebody put us under the microscope,

想象一下有人把我们放在显微镜下，

the us being those of us who speak English natively.

我们这些母语是英语的人。

What is the worldview from English?

那么英语的世界观是什么？

So for example, let's take an English speaker.

拿一个母语是英语的人来举例。

Up on the screen, that is Bono.

这是波诺。

He speaks English.

他说英文，

I presume he has a worldview.

他有一个世界观。

Now, that is Donald Trump.

现在这个人是唐纳德·特朗普。

In his way,

他同样也说英文。

he speaks English as well.

(Laughter)

（笑声）

And here is Ms. Kardashian,

这是卡戴珊，

and she is an English speaker, too.

她也说英文。

So here are three speakers of the English language.

现在这里有三位说英文的人。

What worldview do those three people have in common?

他们的世界观有什么共同点吗？

What worldview is shaped through the English language that unites them?

英语塑造了什么样的世界观 让他们有共同之处？

It's a highly fraught concept.

这个问题很难说。

And so gradual consensus is becoming that language can shape thought,

逐渐达成的共识认为 语言能塑造思维，

but it tends to be in rather darling, obscure psychological flutters.

但只是非常模糊的一种心理暗示。

It's not a matter of giving you a different pair of glasses on the world.

它并不是能让你用不同的态度 来看待世界。

Now, if that's the case,

如果这个想法不成立，

then why learn languages?

那么我们为什么要学习外语?

如果外语并不能改变你的思维方式，

If it isn't going to change the way you think,

what would the other reasons be?

那么我们学习的原因是什么?

There are some.

有几个理由。

One of them is that if you want to imbibe a culture,

首先，如果你想学习一个文化，

如果你想吸收并让自己融入这个文化，

if you want to drink it in, if you want to become part of it,

then whether or not the language channels the culture --

那么不论如何， 这个语言是否为此文化的载体，

and that seems doubtful --

或许有人会质疑，

if you want to imbibe the culture,

如果你想汲取这个文化，

you have to control to some degree

你就必须对这个文化使用的语言

the language that the culture happens to be conducted in.

有一定程度的掌握。

There's no other way.

没有捷径。

There's an interesting illustration of this.

举一个有趣的例子。

I have to go slightly obscure, but really you should seek it out.

可能这个例子没那么直观， 但是你应该可以理解。

There's a movie by the Canadian film director Denys Arcand --

加拿大导演Denys Arcand 执导的一部电影，

read out in English on the page, "Dennis Ar-cand,"

如果有兴趣，你可以上网查一下，

if you want to look him up.

英语是Dennis Ar-cand。

He did a film called "Jesus of Montreal."

他拍了一部电影叫 《蒙特利尔的耶稣》。

And many of the characters

电影中很多角色

are vibrant, funny, passionate, interesting French-Canadian,

都是说法语的法语区加拿大女人，

充满活力，为人风趣，充满热情。

French-speaking women.

There's one scene closest to the end,

在影片结尾有一个场景，

where they have to take a friend to an Anglophone hospital.

他们要送一个朋友到讲英语的医院。

In the hospital, they have to speak English.

在医院里他们需要讲英语。

Now, they speak English but it's not their native language,

她们会说英语，但是不是母语，

they'd rather not speak English.

她们不太愿意讲英语。

And they speak it more slowly,

她们的语速慢了下来，

they have accents, they're not idiomatic.

讲的话有口音并且显得生硬。

Suddenly these characters that you've fallen in love with

突然间，这些你已经爱上的角色

become husks of themselves, they're shadows of themselves.

变成了空空的躯壳， 变成了她们自己的影子。

To go into a culture

了解一种文化，

如果只是透过表面那一层面纱，

and to only ever process people through that kind of skrim curtain

is to never truly get the culture.

我们是无法真正理解的。

And so to the extent that hundreds of languages will be left,

所以既然未来几百种语言会存活下来，

one reason to learn them

学外语的一个理由就是

is because they are tickets to being able to participate

它是我们理解和融入一种文化的 一张门票，

in the culture of the people who speak them,

just by virtue of the fact that it is their code.

因为语言就是打开文化的钥匙。

So that's one reason.

以上是第一个原因。

Second reason:

第二个原因：

it's been shown

有研究指出，

that if you speak two languages, dementia is less likely to set in,

同时讲两种语言的人更不容易痴呆，

and that you are probably a better multitasker.

而且你可能更加的擅长多线操作。

And these are factors that set in early,

这些都是目前的研究结论

and so that ought to give you some sense

能够给你一些参考，

of when to give junior or juniorette lessons in another language.

帮助你决定什么时候 让孩子们接触新的语言。

Bilingualism is healthy.

双语教学有益健康。

And then, third --

然后，第三点

languages are just an awful lot of fun.

语言本身非常的有意思。

Much more fun than we're often told.

比人们一般认为的要有意思的多。

So for example, Arabic: "kataba," he wrote,

例如在阿拉伯语中”kataba“ 表示“他写了”，

"yaktubu," he writes, she writes.

”yaktubu“表示“他写，她写”。

"Uktub," write, in the imperative.

”Uktub“，是祈使句中“写”的意思。

What do those things have in common?

这些有什么共同之处呢？

All those things have in common

这几个单词的共同之处

the consonants sitting in the middle like pillars.

在于词里面都有同样的辅音，构成主体。

They stay still,

它们保持不变，

and the vowels dance around the consonants.

元音围绕着辅音变化。

Who wouldn't want to roll that around in their mouths?

谁不想多说这些单词几遍呢？

You can get that from Hebrew,

你能在希伯来语中找到这些，

you can get that from Ethiopia's main language, Amharic.

你能在埃塞俄比亚的 主要语言阿姆哈拉语中找到，

That's fun.

太有意思了。

Or languages have different word orders.

不同语言的语序使不同的。

Learning how to speak with different word order

当你学习语序不同的语言时，

is like driving on the different side of a street if you go to certain country,

就像到某些国家， 在道路另一侧开车，

or the feeling that you get when you put Witch Hazel around your eyes

又像是把薄荷涂在眼睛周围时，

and you feel the tingle.

感受到的那种刺激感。

A language can do that to you.

语言也能给你类似的感觉。

So for example,

例如，

"The Cat in the Hat Comes Back,"

《戴帽子的猫回来了》，

a book that I'm sure we all often return to,

这本书我相信很多人还经常读，

like "Moby Dick."

又如《白鲸记》。

One phrase in it is, "Do you know where I found him?

里面有句台词是， “你知道在哪儿找到他的么？

Do you know where he was? He was eating cake in the tub,

你知道他在哪里么？ 他在浴缸里吃蛋糕，

Yes he was!"

对，没错！”

Fine. Now, if you learn that in Mandarin Chinese,

现在，在中文中

then you have to master,

那么你需要这么说，

"You can know, I did where him find?

“你知道是否你，我哪里他找到？

He was tub inside gorging cake,

他在浴缸里吃蛋糕，

No mistake gorging chewing!"

没错误虎咽狼吞！”

That just feels good.

感觉棒极了。

Imagine being able to do that for years and years at a time.

想象在未来能够做到这样。

Or, have you ever learned any Cambodian?

或者你们学过柬埔寨语吗？

Me either, but if I did,

我也没有，不过要是我学过，

那么我嘴里发出的元音要远多于 英语中的

I would get to roll around in my mouth not some baker's dozen of vowels

like English has,

13个元音，

but a good 30 different vowels

而是整整30个不同的元音，

scooching and oozing around in the Cambodian mouth

在柬埔寨人的嘴里热烈的翻腾着，

like bees in a hive.

就像蜂巢里的蜜蜂一样。

That is what a language can get you.

这是语言能够带给你的。

And more to the point,

更进一步，

we live in an era when it's never been easier to teach yourself another language.

我们现在的时代， 要自学一门语言比过去容易很多。

It used to be that you had to go to a classroom,

过去你要学习外语，就需要去上课，

and there would be some diligent teacher --

或许会遇到勤勉的老师

some genius teacher in there --

以及一些睿智的老师，

but that person was only in there at certain times

但是那个人只在特定的时间出现，

and you had to go then,

你需要去按时上课，

and then was not most times.

除此之外就没有机会了。

You had to go to class.

你只能去课堂。

If you didn't have that, you had something called a record.

如果你没法听课， 你能拿到录音带。

I cut my teeth on those.

我小时候就是这么学的。

There was only so much data on a record,

录音上就那么多信息，

or a cassette,

磁带也是这样，

or even that antique object known as a CD.

或者是已过时的光盘。

Other than that you had books that didn't work,

除此之外你有用处不大的书，

that's just the way it was.

学外语就是这样。

Today you can lay down --

如今你可以躺着，

lie on your living room floor,

躺在卧室地板上，

sipping bourbon,

喝点小酒，

and teach yourself any language that you want to

用丰富的学习材料，例如 Rosetta Stone语言学习软件，

with wonderful sets such as Rosetta Stone.

开始自学你喜欢的语言。

I highly recommend the lesser known Glossika as well.

我强烈推荐Glossika这一个软件。

You can do it any time,

你随时可以学习，

therefore you can do it more and better.

所以你可以不断练习，熟能生巧。

You can give yourself your morning pleasures in various languages.

你可以在早晨感受多种语言。，

I take some "Dilbert" in various languages every single morning;

我每个早上都看 一点不同语言的《呆伯特》漫画，

it can increase your skills.

这可以不断提高你的能力。

Couldn't have done it 20 years ago

在20年前，

when the idea of having any language you wanted

能把你想要学习的任何语言 装进口袋

in your pocket,

放在手机里，

coming from your phone,

是不可能的，

would have sounded like science fiction to very sophisticated people.

对于那些老于世故的人而言 这就如同科幻小说。

So I highly recommend

所以我强烈推荐你

that you teach yourself languages other than the one that I'm speaking,

去学习除我现在说的英语之外的 语言，

because there's never been a better time to do it.

因为现在是最好的时间。

It's an awful lot of fun.

这个过程太有意思了。

It won't change your mind,

它不会改变你的思维，

but it will most certainly blow your mind.

但是它肯定会让你大开眼界。

Thank you very much.

非常感谢。

(Applause)

（鼓掌）