國外的時代新人類 學漢語也要學英語

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.

扔掉法語和德語課本，開始學習漢語吧。戴維•卡梅倫(David Cameron)最近從中國訪問回來之後，這樣對英國的小學生說。

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.

不管英國小同胞們學會什麼語言技能，卡梅倫都應該感到高興。但如果有更多的人會說即將成爲世界最大經濟體的國家的主要語言，確實大有裨益。

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.

我曾問在中國的同事，知不知道哪些外國公司高層會說漢語。列出來的人非常少，並且僅限於在中國工作的高管。雀巢(Nestlé)大中華區的瑞士總裁狄可爲(Roland Decorvet)漢語說得很流利。英國反欺詐調查員、曾爲葛蘭素史克(GlaxoSmithKline)效力、已被中國有關當局拘留的韓飛龍(Peter Humphrey)的漢語也說得很好。

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.

當然也有其他人會說漢語，但顯然不多。我的一名同事隨同卡梅倫及其大型商務代表團訪華，他說，他們沒有一個人講過漢語。

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.

如果要取得進步的話，孩子們應該儘早學習漢語。但漢語與歐洲語言非常不同，對於一個說英語的人來說，漢語比法語和德語要更難學。此外，在學習外語的競爭中，中國人在學習英語方面遙遙領先。儘管英語在中國高考中的比重有所下降，這個國家還是有五萬個英語培訓機構。具有國際視角的公司非常重視英語。中國電腦製造商聯想(Lenovo)就將英語列爲官方語言。

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.

在整個歐洲，英語對於任何想要晉升到公司高層位置的人都很關鍵。它是一種默認的基礎技能，就像知道如何製作PPT或者是找到去辦公室的路。

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.

在中國也是這樣。會說漢語的外國人可能建立更好的人脈並贏得業務。但如果中國像歐洲對待英語那樣對待 漢語，其未來的年輕高管將會聽到，與他們對話的以英語爲母語的高管們，磕磕絆絆地講着學校裏學來的漢語，於是他們會轉而說英語，因爲這樣可以少浪費時間。

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.

在用英語開展國際商務討論的時候，問題則在於，許多說英語的人運用英語的能力並不比運用外語好多少。很多人不知道如何面向國際聽衆調整他們的英文。

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.

下面是我聽一名英國經理對一些巴西人說的話：“這勢均力敵”；“這是我想揭穿的第二個謊言”；“我們有應急措施”。其中一些巴西人選擇戴上耳機聽葡萄牙語翻譯，而那些認爲自己英語很好、不用戴耳機的人，看上去則非常後悔自己的選擇。

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.

對一個說英語的人來說，掌握外語是非常棒的；而能夠操一口國際商務通用的語言並且能夠讓人理解也非常重要。

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”.

不久前我建議說英語的人避免使用比喻和“put out”等動詞短語時，一些讀者就與我爭論了。一位讀者寫道，“大多數習語都是憑直覺就能懂的，可以通過上下文來猜，比如說‘寄希望於’或者‘聳聳肩’都非常簡單。實際上，從英國人那學習新的、豐富多彩的短語並且能夠推斷其意思，讓我覺得很有趣。”最近在布魯塞爾召開的一次會議上，我聽到非英語母語人士非常自然地使用一些動詞短語和習語，比如“他提到那點”，“我們制定了具體的規則”以及“簡要談談我們的想法”。

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.

這些主要是日耳曼語族的人，日耳曼語族有自己的動詞短語。但同樣明顯的是，他們的英語能力很強，而我也必須調整我的英語。以高人一等的態度對待聽衆，與太口語化而失去聽衆一樣糟糕。

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.

說英語的人如何找到恰當的方式對非英語母語者說英語呢？學習一門外語，任何一門外語，對於幫助你理解運用非母語是什麼一種狀態都是有用的。但理解英語本身的結構和特點也很有用，因爲這樣你就可以根據情境來調整你的英語。

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

誠然，以英語爲母語的孩子應該學習漢語，但他們也需要在英語上有更高的造詣。