大膽用英文吧！－shinyshine的部落格

The way we learn English is completely different from the way Western people learn a second or foreign language. In their perception, learning language is for communication or fun; for us, however, learning English is for assessment, or even for the welfare of the whole life. In reality, we can use the marks on tests to get the admission into the so-called elite universities with top-five reputation, but you cannot use them for interpersonally interactive communication.

我們學英語的方式和西方人學英語的方式截然不同。在他們的觀念中，學語言是為了溝通或興趣；然而，對我們而言，學英文是為了考試，甚至是為了一生的幸福。事實上，我們可以用考試獲得的成績上台清交成政，但絕對沒辦法用這些分數來做人際互動的溝通。

We learn English for tests and tests only, which can explain why many people have great difficulty in communicating with great language proficiency in reading and writing. We pay attention to what is going to be assessed, and forget the original function for language is to deal with everything in life. You may find you didn’t know how to say in English the tap is dripping, the showerhead needs cleaning, the drain is blocked, and don’t understand what is tin-opener with wonderful performance on tests.

我們學英文只為了考試，這也許可以解釋續多人儘管讀寫成績斐然，溝通仍然有問題。我們只注意要考的東西，而忘記了語言的本質是用來處理生活的議題。就算英文考試分數很高，我們不知道如何用英語說水龍頭在漏水，蓮蓬頭要清理，排水管塞住了，也不懂英國朋友口中的開罐器。

To make the matter worse, under the influence of assessments, we overemphasize the importance of accuracy rather than fluency, which may hinder the way we express ourselves. To make sure everything is 100 percent correct, we would find us organizing whatever we want to talk in our head, but the right moment to say anything may have passed. That’s why many Westerners consider us the silent people without critical thinking. We tend to have the misconception of “less speech, less errors”. The truth is, native speakers, including our tutors and professors, dare not guarantee that there is any 100 percent correct English, and the diversities of English do exist. From their perspectives, the importance of communicative competence outweighs language accuracy, and language learners should be allowed to learn from any possible mistakes and errors they made.

更糟糕的是，在考試影響下，我們過度強調語言準確度而非流暢度，影響了我們自我表達的能力。為了確定我們說的東西百分之百正確，在說出口之前我們非得把要說的東西在腦海中組織幾遍不可；但是，等到要說出口的一刻，適當的表達時機已經過去了。這就是為什麼西方朋友總覺得我們是沉默的、沒有批判性思考的族群。我們甚至會有一種”多說多錯，少說少錯”言多必失的錯誤觀念。事實上，就算是道地的母語使用者，包括系上的老師和教授，也不敢保證有所謂百分之百正確的英語，而很多不同型式的英語確實存在著。在他們的觀念中，溝通能力的重要性比語言的準確性還要重要，而語言學習者應該被允許在他們的犯錯中學習。

Be daring to use language! Don’t be hesitant, just use it! Don’t always turn to dictionaries for help to check whether you are correct or not. Don’t evaluate others’ English by their accent, including your own! Even native speakers use some lexicon out of range of dictionaries, such as “sub-warden” and “washback”, but still can communicate with immediate feedback and interaction. Even native speakers like our Canadian or South African neighbours make errors in their mother tongue, not to mention us!

大膽使用英文吧！馬上用，不要遲疑！不需要動不動查字典來確定自己是對的，甚至因為字典沒有寫就不敢說。不要用別人的口音來評斷別人的英語，甚至自己的！甚至英語母語使用者都在使用超過字典定義的英文，像sub-warden和washback(這個字還被用在學術領域)字典就找不到，但是他們仍然溝通無礙。就算是我們加拿大或南非的鄰居說他們的母語都會犯錯，更何況是我們！