說英語時千萬不能做的7件事

過去幾年，我在國外旅行和生活。在此期間，我和許多把英語作爲外語的人交談過。在與成千上萬這樣的人用英語交談後，我注意到他們做了幾件事，損害了他們作爲一個語言學習者的進步。

下面是常見的7個問題：

1. Don’t Be too Ashamed to Speak

1.不要羞於啓齒

There is only one way to learn how to speak English, and that is to open your mouth and speak English! The only way you will ever get better at speaking is by speaking, and speaking a lot!

學習如何說英語只有一種方法，就是張開你的嘴說英語！如果你想在說的方面更好，那一定是通過說，而且要多說！

You can make excuses for why you don’t want to speak, like saying that you’re too embarrassed to speak, but these won’t get you any closer to your goal of achieving English fluency. It doesn’t matter if you have no vocabulary, or if your pronunciation isn’t perfect, you need to open your mouth and speak if you want to improve.

你可以爲你不想說話的原因找藉口，比如說你不好意思說話，但這些不會讓你的英語更流利。如果你沒有詞彙，或者你的發音不完美，那也沒關係，如果你想提高的話，你需要張開嘴說話。

Whatever you do, don’t say that you can’t speak English because this will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. By believing that you can’t speak English you close your mind to trying, and never give yourself the opportunity to improve. The only way to improve your English is to practice it, no matter how bad you may or may not be at it.

不管你做什麼，不要說你不會說英語，因爲這將成爲一個自我實現的預言。通過相信你不會說英語，你不會再努力嘗試，永遠不要給自己機會去提高。提高你的英語的唯一方法就是練習，不管你有多糟糕或不好。

2. Don’t Be Afraid of Making Mistakes

2.不要害怕犯錯誤。

Another thing you shouldn’t do when speaking English is to be afraid of making mistakes. Part of being human is making mistakes and sooner or later you’re going to have to accept the fact that you’re not perfect and that you will always make mistakes. The only way you can avoid making mistakes is by not trying at all. If you follow this approach you’ll avoid making mistakes, but you’ll never improve either.

你說英語時不應該做的另一件事是害怕出錯。人的一部分就是犯錯誤，遲早你必須接受你並不完美的事實，你會犯錯誤。你唯一能避免犯錯的方法就是不去嘗試。如果你遵循這種方法，你將避免犯錯誤，但你也永遠不會提高。

This may seem counter-intuitive, but you should try making as many mistakes as possible. If you are making mistakes that means you are actually speaking English and improving. If you aren’t making mistakes every day then you aren’t speaking enough. Of course, you shouldn’t intentionally make mistakes, and you should try to be aware of your mistakes so you can learn from them and improve your skills.

這似乎有違本能，但你應該儘量犯儘可能多的錯誤。如果你犯了錯誤，那就意味着你實際上在說英語，並在進步。如果你每天不犯錯誤，那你就說的不夠了。當然，你不應該故意犯錯誤，你應該儘量意識到自己的錯誤，以便從中吸取教訓，提高自己的技能。

Grammar is the last thing you should be worried about when speaking English. You don’t need to have perfect grammar in order to communicate with someone in English. Native speakers aren’t going to judge you for having bad grammar, they are going to be more focused on understanding your meaning and continuing the conversation.

講英語時你最不應該擔心的是語法。你不需要有完美的語法才能和別人用英語交流。母語爲英語的人不會因爲你的語法不好而評價你，他們會更專注於理解你的意思並繼續交談。

As long as you speak clearly and confidently, it doesn’t matter if you use the wrong article, adjective ending or sentence order.So don’t be discouraged by your mistakes. Learn to embrace them and value them for the role they play in your learning.

只要你說得清楚自信，用錯冠詞、形容詞結尾或句子順序都沒關係，所以不要因錯誤而氣餒。學會擁抱他們，重視它們在你學習中扮演的角色。

3. Don’t Apologize For Your Level

3.不要爲你的水平道歉。

Something that really annoys me when I’m talking to someone in English is when they apologize for how much English they speak. I’ve never been offended by someone’s level of English, and I don’t get upset when someone makes mistakes.

當我和某人用英語交談時，我真的很惱火的時刻，那就是當他們爲說了多少英語而道歉的時候。我從來沒有被別人的英語水平所冒犯，當別人犯錯時我也不會生氣。

Most of the people who apologize for their level of English feel like they should speak better than they do. Its fine to think this, but don’t get upset at yourself for not knowing more than you do. Achieving fluency in any language is a process that takes time, and you can’t expect to become fluent overnight. Whether you’ve been studying English for years or only for a few months, you’ve put in a lot of work to get where you are, so don’t underestimate yourself.

大多數爲自己的英語水平而道歉的人覺得他們應該說得更好。這樣想很好，但是不要因爲你不知道的多而沮喪。在任何語言中達到流利是一個需要時間的過程，你不能指望一夜之間流利。不管你是學了幾年英語還是僅僅學了幾個月，你已經投入了大量的工作來達到你現在的目標，所以不要低估你自己。

4. Don’t get frustrated with yourself

4.不要對自己感到失望

Learning English will come with a certain amount of frustration. At some point you will come to a stage where you won’t be able to fully express yourself like you would be able to in your native language, and there will be times when you won’t be able to find the right word to say.

學習英語總會有一定的挫折感。在某個時刻，你將進入一個你不能完全表達自己的階段，有時你也找不到合適的詞來表達。

Nearly everyone who learns English goes through this phase; it’s just a natural part of the language learning process. This stage may last only a few weeks if you are completely immersed in English, but it could last years if you only use English twice a week at your language school. The only way to overcome this frustration is by practice, practice, practice.

幾乎每個學習英語的人都經歷了這個階段，這只是語言學習過程中的一個自然部分。如果你完全沉浸在英語中，這個階段可能只持續幾個星期，但如果你每週在你的語言學校只使用兩次英語，那麼它可能會持續幾年。克服挫折的唯一方法是練習，練習，再練習。

Keep in mind that this frustration isn’t because you’re not smart enough, or because the language is too difficult, it is something that many people have to go through. By embracing this frustration and feeling it more intensely through increased exposure you can pass through this stage more rapidly.

記住，這種挫折不是因爲你不夠聰明，或者是因爲語言太難，而是許多人必須經歷的事情。通過這種挫折感，通過增加曝光，你會更迅速地通過這個階段。

5. Don’t take it personally when people don’t understand you

5.別人不理解你時，不要把它當回事。

You’ll have this problem a lot when talking with people who aren’t used to dealing with foreigners. If they don’t have this experience they will be used to hearing English spoken in a very specific way, and they won’t have any frame of reference when talking to you. Realize that this isn’t a reflection of your language skills, but rather a reflection of this person’s lack of exposure to different people.

當你和不習慣與外國人打交道的人交談時，你會有很多問題。如果他們沒有這方面的經驗，他們將習慣於用一種非常特別的方式來聽英語口語，在和你談話時他們不會有任何參照。要意識到這不是你語言技能的反映，而是反映了這個人對不同的人缺乏接觸。

This can also happen when talking to English learners who have a lower level of English than you. They won’t be able to understand everything you say because of your more advanced vocabulary. Try to remember that you were once at their level and not everyone is at the same place on their language journey.

這也可以發生在英語學習者比你低英語水平說話的時候。他們不能理解你所說的一切，因爲你有更高級的詞彙。請記住，你曾經也處在在他們的水平，並不是每個人，在他們學習語言的旅程中都處在相同的水平。

6. Don’t compare yourself to other English Speakers

6.不要拿自己和其他講英語的人比較。

No matter what level your English is at, you had to work hard to bring yourself to that level. Be proud of what you’ve accomplished and don’t be too concerned with what other people think about it. They don’t know how many hours you’ve had to work to get to where you are, they don’t know all the struggles you’ve been through to get there.

不管你的英語水平如何，你都必須努力工作，使自己達到那個水平。爲你所取得的成就感到驕傲，不要太在意別人對你的看法。他們不知道你必須工作多少個小時才能到達你所在的地方，他們不知道你爲達到那裏所做的所有努力。

This also means you shouldn’t go around comparing yourself to other people. Everybody is different; some people learn languages more easily than others and some people have spent more time working to improve their English. Just because your friend who lived in London for 3 years can speak really well doesn’t mean that you’re not on the right path.

這也意味着你不應該把自己和別人比較。每個人都是不同的，有些人比其他人更容易學習語言，有些人花更多的時間來提高他們的英語水平。僅僅因爲你在倫敦生活了3年的朋友能說得很好並不意味着你走錯了路。

Some people like to see others fail, and by paying any attention to these people you are just feeding their negativity. Any time you spend worrying about what they think of you is time wasted that could be better spent by working to improve your English.

有些人喜歡看到別人失敗，通過關注這些人，你只是在爲他們的消極情緒而煩惱。任何時候你擔心他們對你的看法都是浪費時間，通過努力提高你的英語會更好。

7. If you are fluent, or just think you are, Don’t Get Cocky (arrogant)

7.如果你很流利，或者只是認爲你是，不要變得傲慢（傲慢）

English is not a chip in your brain. It’s a learning process. Maybe this is gonna seem harsh, and definitely a bit paradoxical, but for the rare English Jedi breed, they realize that there’s never really perfect fluency, only the impassioned and ever-approaching journey toward it.

英語不是你腦子裏的芯片。這是一個學習的過程。也許這看起來很刺耳，當然也有點自相矛盾，但是對於罕見的英國絕地來說，他們意識到從來沒有真正完美的流暢性，只有充滿激情和接近的旅程。

This means that when you finally become fluent, (whatever that really means to you or to the world), you shouldn’t adopt the attitude of somebody who thinks “I already learned English” because there are some fundamental problems and limitations that come from this assumption. Here are just a few:

這意味着，當你終於變得流利，（無論對你或世界意味着什麼），你不應該採取的態度，認爲“我已經學會英語”的人，因爲有一些基本的問題和侷限性，從這個假設。這裏只有幾個類型：

You’re living a lie because you never stop learning a language. It is like calling yourself a fully-realized human being.  There’s always the next level up, and the current level always needs practice.

你生活在謊言中，因爲你從未停止學習語言。這就像把自己稱爲一個完全實現的人。總會有下一個臺階，現在的水平總是需要練習的。

The learner tends to get lazy, and it’s a universal fact about any learning process, that if you aren’t growing, you are probably getting worse.

學習者往往變得懶惰，這是任何學習過程的普遍事實，如果你不成長，你可能變得更糟。

There is a tendency to treat other English learners (or people who are learning their language) in a condescending, totally idiotic way, forgetting what it is like to learn because they themselves are no longer connected to their own learning process.

有一種傾向是以一種居高臨下的、完全愚蠢的方式對待其他的英語學習者（或正在學習他們的語言的人），忘記了學習是什麼樣子，因爲他們自己已經不再與自己的學習過程聯繫在一起了。

Cultural Understanding: You can know everything about grammar, but that doesn’t mean you are fluent. You need to be constantly connected to the source of the language (culture) so that it flows from who you really are.

文化理解：你可以瞭解語法的一切，但這並不意味着你很流利。你需要不斷地連接到語言（文化）的源頭，這樣才能從真正的你身上流淌出來。

So there you have it, 7 things not to do when speaking English. Now that you know what not to do, go out there and speak English!

所以已經告訴你啦，說英語時七件事不要做。既然你知道不該做什麼，就走出去說英語吧！