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One of the biggest differences between Chinese speakers learning English and native English speakers using their own language is the way they learn grammar. 學英文的中國人和英文母語者之間最大區(qū)別之一就是他們學習語法的不同方式。 To learners in China, grammar is sacred. It is a code used to make sense of a language that works very differently to Chinese. It is a means of knowing whether the English you are speaking or writing is right or wrong, and a way for teachers to set exams then mark students' answers right or wrong. 在中國人看來，語法的地位近乎神圣，在我們理解與中文迥異的英文上，它成為了解讀英文的準則，它是幫我們判斷自己口頭和書面英文是否正確的方式，也是老師奉為改卷判斷正誤的圭臬。 But many native English speakers struggle to explain English grammar, yet they still manage to speak and write English accurately. So, why is learning grammar from books so unimportant to native speakers, when learners emphasise it so much? 但是許多以英語為母語的人卻感覺真難解釋英語語法，但他們仍然能說和寫英語時準確無誤。那么，為什么對于母語者來說從書中學語法這么不重要，而別國學習者卻如此重視呢？ 英美國家的人說英語都幾乎沒錯，而且還不怎么思考語法結構，他們是怎么做到的呢？ When a native English speaker learns English, they are exposed to it all day, every day. They hear it after they wake up, they use it with their family and friends, they read it in the newspaper and online, and they hear it on the radio and television. 英國人他們是要每天都和英語打交道的。他們每天醒來都會聽到英文，他們用英文與家人和朋友溝通，他們在報紙上和網(wǎng)上閱讀英文，也在廣播和電視上收聽英文。 In other words, they have so much exposure to English, that they become very used to the language. The human brain is naturally inclined to recognise and respond to patterns. When we hear a phrase or a sentence hundreds of times in different contexts, we learn the patterns of the language. These patterns are in fact grammar, but a native speaker's brain will recognise and use them without thinking, because they have a 'sense for the language'. 換句話說，他們接觸英文太頻繁了，所以他們已經(jīng)習慣了這門語言，他們的大腦已經(jīng)自然地可以識別這種語言模式，并對其做出反應。當我們在不同場合上聽到同樣一個短語或者句子幾百次的時候，我們也就自然地學會了這種語言的模式，這些模式其實是語法。但是一個母語學習者可以不假思索地能識別出它來，并且學會使用，因為他們已經(jīng)養(yǎng)成了語感。 What's more, when a native speaker sees something that does not confirm to the pattern, they recognise it as a mistake without thinking about the grammar rules themselves - it just 'looks' or 'sounds' wrong. 另外，如果母語者發(fā)現(xiàn)一個表達不符合他之前所見到的模式時，他就會覺得這種表達是有問題的，而不是思考背后的語法規(guī)則——這樣的表達“聽起來”或者“看起來”怪怪的。 為什么語法學習常常會產(chǎn)生新問題呢？ Chinese learners of English have very limited exposure to English, therefore they are often taught grammar rules to make the learning process easier, and to help them recognise the difference between right or wrong English. 中國人學英語時，其實暴露在英文環(huán)境下的時間很少，因此我們都被告誡要好好學語法，這樣學習才會更容易，并且可以幫助我們更好地識別什么是正確的英文。 There is nothing wrong with learning grammar rules, in fact it can be very helpful and make things quicker, but it can also cause problems. 學習語法沒有錯，事實上對我們很有幫助，幫我們學得更快，但同時也可能產(chǎn)生問題。 This is because English, just like any language, is like a living, breathing entity, because it is created by people. And like other languages, English is evolving and changing all the time. Something that may have been true when a grammar book was written may no longer be the case by the time you read it.
In addition, English is spoken in many areas of the world that are very far away from each other. Consequently, the English language may be used slightly differently in the US to Australia, or in South Africa or New Zealand. English speakers in different areas also have different speaking habits. 另外，世界上許多地區(qū)都說英語，而他們卻相隔甚遠。因此，美國英語和澳洲英語、南非英語、新西蘭英語都可能略有不同。不同地區(qū)的英語使用者說話習慣也不同。 This is why you will often get the wrong answer if you try to speak English and judge between right and wrong purely based on rules laid down in grammar books. Some rules may no longer be valid, or only in certain situations or in certain places. Other rules will not cover the English that is used by young people, or in music or on the Internet. 所以如果在說英語時，你只是純粹基于語法書中的規(guī)則來判斷正誤，可能會得到錯誤的答案。有些規(guī)則可能已經(jīng)不再使用累，可能僅在某些情況下或某些地方使用。有些年輕人使用的英文或在音樂界或互聯(lián)網(wǎng)上使用的英文也是語法中的特例。 如果說母語的人不太懂語法，那他們如何判對錯的呢？ When a native speaker says or writes a sentence in English, they are calling on all the instances of the language they have ever read or heard. 他們說或寫一個英語句子時，他們是潛意識里調動了他們曾經(jīng)讀過或聽到過的所有例子，然后再表達出來的。 For example, if the sentence is 'I am back to Beijing', a native speaker would know that this should be 'I am back in Beijing', because they have heard the usage 'back in' so many times that they have internalised this rule - they are comparing it to all the usages of this word that they have heard before. They will already know the prepositions 'back' is most commonly used with, and the tenses and constructions that come after it etc. In other words, they have a huge corpus of information about the language in their mind that takes into account the changes and variations in the language - the human aspects of English. 例如，有句話是 'I am back to Beijing'，英國人都知道這其實應該是 'I am back in Beijing'，因為他們聽說使用 'back in'的次數(shù)太多了，所以早就在心中內化了這個用法——他們其實在拿從前聽到的所有儲備來和這個做對比。他們早就知道了 “back”一詞后最常用哪些介詞，時態(tài)和結構等等，換句話說，他們大腦中有一個龐大的語料庫，儲存了語言各種變換的信息——而這，才是英語學習中人性的光輝。 By contrast, English learners who have had very limited exposure to the language are only able to analyse whether the language is being used correctly through logical analysis based on grammatical rules. Because such an analysis does not take into account recent changes in the language, colloquial usages, different registers of the language and so on, it will often lead Chinese learners of English to incorrect conclusions. 與此相反，很多中國人卻對英語的接觸非常有限，只會通過語法規(guī)則的邏輯分析才能正確分析語言是否使用正確。因為這樣的分析沒有考慮到語言的最新變化，口語習慣，語言的不同語域等，往往會導致中國的英語學習者得出錯誤的結論。 如何使用母語者的“技巧”來提高你的英語 The best way to make your English much more accurate is not to learn rules, but expose yourself to much more English - just like native speakers do. 讓你的英語更準確的最好方法不是學習語法規(guī)則，而是讓自己更多地接觸英語——就像母語者一樣。 Try to surround yourself with English, to read in English, listen to content in English, talk to English-speaking friends and think in English as much as you can. By doing so, you will be learning grammar in a much more natural way than from a grammar book - by understanding how it works in the context of sentences from real speech or texts, and very slowly, you will start to acquire the rules without thinking. 試著將自己浸泡在英文環(huán)境中，讀英文，聽英文，說英文，盡可能多地用英語思考。如此你學習語法就會變得更加自然，比從語法書上學到的生硬規(guī)則要好得多——了解從真實講話或文稿上的表達，逐漸你就能不假思索地掌握這些語法規(guī)則了。 If you have listened to and read thousands of hours of English, and you continue to do so every day, you will notice a lot of changes. 如果你已經(jīng)聽了或者讀了好幾千個小時英語，并且日日如此，你會發(fā)現(xiàn)自己有很多的變化。 You will find it much easier to judge whether what you are saying is right or wrong. You will speak more naturally, using more of the idioms and ideas that a native speaker would use. 這樣下來你就會發(fā)現(xiàn)判斷英文表達是否準確容易得多。你會跟母語者一樣，表達更加流利自然。 Keep up your listening and reading for a number of months and I promise you - you'll notice incredible changes in English and you'll have started to go native - you'll no longer be so dependent on the grammar rules you once found so crucial!
堅持聽上和讀上幾個月，保證你會發(fā)現(xiàn)令人難以置信的變化，你會真的開始變得“洋氣”了，再也不會像以前那么依賴于語法規(guī)則！ 圖文排版和翻譯：冰夏  |
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