美國語言學專業大學生給英語學習者的建議

Bailey是BondFar的對話夥伴，她也是美國杜蘭大學一名大四的學生，專業是語言學(Linguistics)&人類學(Anthropology)，同時精通法語(French)和祖魯語(Zulu)。

作為一名專門學習語言學的大學生，她對語言學習有更深刻的理解。今天，BondFar小編採訪了Bailey，我們一起來看看她是如何學習語言的，以及對英語學習者的建議吧。

Have you met any difficulties learning a second language?

你在學習第二語言的時候遇到過什麼困難麼？

Bailey：

Learning a second language is very hard but very useful. In university I studied linguistics which means I learned about languages and how people use them all over the world. One thing I learned is that each language has a different point of view. That means every time you learn a language you learn more about the world too!

學習第二語言很難，但卻很有幫助。在大學裡，我的專業是語言學，所以我學習語言，以及瞭解世界各地的人們如何使用它們。從中我學到的一件事就是，每種語言視角不同。這意味著，你每學習一種語言，你也會對這個世界有更多的瞭解！

Also, everyone speaks differently, so it is not so important that you have perfect skills to communicate with someone. For me, reading is the easiest part of learning a language, but speaking is the hardest. Even if I study grammar and learn lots of vocabulary I always forget some of it when I’m speaking! Lots of people have this problem with their second language and it’s ok. The more we practice speaking, the easier it becomes for us express ourselves correctly.

此外，每個人的說話方式都不一樣，所以完美的交流技巧其實並不重要。對我來說，閱讀是學習語言最容易的部分，但口語是最難的。即使我學習了語法和大量的詞彙，我說話的時候還是會忘記一些。很多人在他們的第二語言上都有這個問題，其實這沒什麼大不了的。我們練習的越多，就越能正確自如的表達自己的觀點。

Listening is hard for me too unless they are speaking slowly. But it is ok to ask people to slow down so you can understand them! It is good practice to watch videos in the language you are learning, but if you can’t understand it well yet, you can try watching it with captions. When I watch movies in French I turn on French captions because I can read better than I listen. Everyone learns differently so you have to find what works best for you!

聽力對我來說也是一個難題，除非他們說得很慢。但是你可以讓對方放慢語速，這樣你就可以理解他們了！觀看影片也是學習語言一個很好的做法，但是如果你還不能很好地理解，你可以試著看字幕。當我看法語電影時，我習慣開啟法語字幕，因為我閱讀比聽力強。每個人的學習方式都不一樣，所以你必須找到最適合你的方法！

Do you have any tips on learning a second language?

你對學習第二語言有什麼建議？

Bailey：

The most important thing is that you practice a lot. In the article “How to Learn a Second Language” from forbes.com, a professor at the University of Maryland says that “The only way to learn a language is to make quite a bit of effort on a daily basis… You need to interact with native speakers. Make every possible effort to speak the learned language on a daily basis.” This is definitely true. I learn much faster when I can talk to native French speakers! A linguistics professor at NYU also says “Motivation is a key part of learning a language. The more time that you spend during the day speaking your second language, the better at it you’re going to be”.

我覺得最重要的就是你要儘可能多的練習。Forbes.com有一篇文章《如何學習第二語言》，文章中馬里蘭大學的一位教授說道，“學習一門語言的唯一方法就是每天花相當多的精力學習…你需要與母語者交流，儘可能多的說第二語言。” 這千真萬確。當我能和以法語為母語的人交談時，我學得快多了！紐約大學的語言學教授也說“動力是學習語言的關鍵。你一天中花在說第二語言上的時間越多，你就越擅長它”。

This article also talks about some other things that I learned about in my linguistics classes. Once you are an adult, you probably won’t ever learn a language as naturally as your native language or languages. So don’t be discouraged if it is harder to improve your skills now than it was when you were in primary school. This is normal! It happens to all of us. Some people are naturally good at learning languages and others aren’t. But everyone can learn a second language if they are motivated and practice a lot. It is important to expose yourself to multiple native speakers by talking to many of them or watching different movies and listening to different shows.

這篇文章也提到了我在語言學課上學到的其他東西。在你成年之後，你可能永遠不會像學習母語那樣自然地學習一種語言。所以，如果你發現現在很難像小時候那樣輕鬆的提高語言技能，不要氣餒。這很正常！我們每個人都一樣。有些人天生擅長學習語言，有些人則不然。但是每個人都能夠學習第二語言，只要他們有動力並且進行大量的練習。讓自己有機會接觸到很多母語人士是很重要的，你可以透過和母語人士聊天，看不同的電影和聽不同的節目來提高自己的語言水平。

Everyone speaks a little bit differently so it’s helpful to hear multiple people so you can sound more natural yourself. Richard Simcott, who knows over 14 languages, says that it is important to accept that you are going to feel silly sometimes and say things that sound very wrong, and that “you have to laugh. You can only laugh because if you don’t you cry. Just keep practicing”. Everyone who has learned a second language knows what you are going through. We have all been embarrassed and nervous, and you are not alone!

每個人說話都有一點不同，所以可以儘可能嘗試去聽不同的人講這門語言，這樣你自己聽起來也會更自然。語言學家理查德·西姆科特(Richard Simcott) 會說超過14種語言，他表示，你需要接受自己有時會顯得很傻，說的話聽起來非常有問題，但是”你必須笑，你只能笑，因為如果你不笑，你就會哭。那就繼續練習吧！。“每個學過第二語言的人都知道你正在經歷什麼。我們都曾經感到尷尬和緊張，你不是一個人！

What do you think of BondFar?

你覺得BondFar怎麼樣？

Bailey：

I have been a Conversation Partner with BondFar for almost two years now and I love it! The people who created this app are so nice and they care so much about our students. They think that both China and America are great countries and that our people should talk to each other more because we can learn a lot from each other. I definitely agree with this after talking to so many of you!

我已經成為BondFar的對話夥伴快兩年了，我喜歡BondFar！建立這個app的人非常nice，他們非常關心我們的學生。他們認為中國和美國都是偉大的國家，我們的人民應該多交流，因為我們可以從彼此身上學到很多東西。在和你們這麼多人對話之後後，我更堅信了這一點！

We also know that having English skills gives you so many more education and job opportunities and we want to help as many students as we can achieve their goals. At BondFar we are encouraged to be friendly and supportive to our students. Our job is to help you improve your skills like grammar and speaking but it is also to improve your confidence and encourage you to achieve your goals.

我們也知道，掌握英語技能能給你帶來更多的教育和工作機會，我們希望儘可能幫助更多的學生實現他們的目標。在BondFar，我們需要對學生友好，並且提供幫助。我們的工作是幫助你們提高語言技能，包括語法和口語等，但同時也要提高你們的自信，鼓勵你們實現目標。

My favorite part about BondFar is sharing ideas with so many people from a different part of the world. I have learned so many interesting things from my students and I also enjoy telling them about American things. I love when I get to teach someone a new word or phrase or when a student is curious about life in America. And I love learning about life in China. Now I hope I can visit someday (and try hot pot!).

在BondFar，我最喜歡的部分是與來自世界不同地方的許多人分享想法。我從我的學生那裡學到了很多有趣的東西，我也喜歡告訴他們關於美國的事情。我喜歡教別人新單詞或短語，我也很開心學生對美國的生活感到好奇。我喜歡瞭解中國的生活。現在我希望有一天我能去中國(還要嘗一嘗火鍋！)。

I also love that everyone I meet is different and has different goals. Some students use our app to prepare for exams or interviews. Others use it to practice their English and meet new friends when they are bored or to practice their skills and learn about America before they travel here. I want all our students to know that at BondFar we are here to help you and not to judge you. Talking to native speakers can be scary but BondFar is a great place to start because it’s our job to help you improve. We aren’t expecting you to speak perfectly and we will speak as slowly as you need us to. Some of my students like to prepare answers to the questions provided by the app. Others like to ask me questions they are curious about. And some people like to have a conversation about the selected topic without using the questions. I like to listen to my students and do whatever they think will help them the most.

我遇到的每個人都不一樣，都有不同的目標，我很喜歡這種感覺。有些同學用我們的app來準備考試或面試。有些人用它來練習英語，在他們無聊的時候結識新朋友，或者在他們來美國之前練習他們的技能，更好的瞭解美國。我想讓所有的同學知道，在BondFar，我們是來幫助你們的，而不是來批判你們的。跟native speaker對話可能會很可怕，但BondFar是一個很好的起點，因為幫助你提高是我們的工作。我們不指望你說得完美，我們會盡可能放慢語速。我的一些學生喜歡先把問題的答案都準備好。其他人喜歡問我他們好奇的問題。有些人喜歡就選定的話題進行對話，不參考我們給出的問題。我喜歡傾聽我的學生，做他們認為最能幫助他們的事情。

All of our teachers have descriptions on their profile about what they study and what they like, so you can find someone who is interested in the same things you are if that makes you more comfortable. I love when a student wants to talk about my major or one of my hobbies! Many of my students have told me they feel more confident after talking to me and I love it when a student contacts me to tell me they did a great job on an exam or interview! We care about all of our users and will do everything we can to help you improve and become more comfortable with native speakers!

我們所有的老師在他們的簡介上都有關於他們學習什麼和喜歡什麼的介紹，你可以找到跟你有相同興趣愛好的人來對話，如果這樣會讓你更加舒服。我喜歡學生和我聊我的專業或者我的愛好。我的許多學生告訴我，和我對話完後，他們感覺更加自信，我也很開心有學生告訴我他們在考試或面試中表現出色。我們關心我們的所有使用者，並將盡我們所能幫助您提高，並且和native speaker更自如的交流！