一位燒烤攤的老闆是我的啟蒙漢語老師 :)

英文版在下邊，語法或錯別字請不要在意，謝謝！

我的一位朋友馬上要搬到加拿大去了，她問我在她到加拿大之後應該如何更快地學習英語。我不是一位好的英語老師，但是我在加拿大的時候確實學過一些語言習得理論。她對於那些枯燥的理論知識並不感興趣。相反，她只想知道我剛來中國的時候是如何提升我的中文水平的。

我這才意識到我學習中文最重要的一個途徑很可能就是：喝啤酒和吃羊肉串兒。

我剛來中國那會兒，我只會說一些簡單的用語，比如你好，再見，向左轉，向右轉，等等。但是在加拿大，我感覺自己是一個非常獨立，非常能幹的人。我在需要做每件事的時候不喜歡求別人幫忙。相反，我喜歡自己去鑽研該如何把那件事情做好。久而久之，我感覺這種態度對於我的職業發展和業務增長十分重要。我既然來到了中國，我就不想讓語言成為我工作生活的障礙。而且，我當時真的很想與我太太的家人清晰地溝通，這樣才能讓他們深入了解我到底是一個怎樣人。

我剛到中國的時候還不允許和我的女朋友（現在的太太）一起住，因為她的姥爺觀念十分傳統，堅決反對婚前同居。所以，我就只好自己租了一間公寓，距離她們家大概有15分鐘的步程。我晚上基本都會和他們一起吃晚餐，飯桌上我始終是那個最寡言少語的人。他們感覺我十分害羞，其實不然，我只是無法和他們交談而已！天色變晚之後，我就步行回家去。她家和我的公寓之間的街道在晚上相當熱鬧。我的小區門口一直有一個烤串兒燒烤攤，前面放著幾張小桌子。我幾乎每晚都會和這裡的老闆坐一會，一邊喝冰鎮青島啤酒一邊吃串兒。我們努力嘗試著與彼此溝通，他是一個友好而且有耐心的人。過了一段時間之後，我意識到我已經能夠理解越來越多的語言模式和辭彙（大多與串兒有關！）。我記得當他問我「你是哪個國家的？」，而同時我又能完全理解並回答他的這個問題時，我是有多麼的開心！

一個星期五的晚上，我的女朋友告訴她的父母要去上海出差，但實際上她是要和我一起共度周末（媽，如果您正讀到這裡，對不起）。我們在夜裡去了這個燒烤攤。她說「你想吃什麼？」我說，「我來點吧。」然後我告訴老闆「嗨！ 哥們兒，我來拉！ 來十個羊肉串兒，多放點兒辣椒！ 少放孜然！還要四個雞翅，烤焦點，啊！ 對了， 先上兩個啤酒，冰的！我們就坐這兒好吧！ 多少錢？」

那是我女朋友第一次聽到我說中文。她十分驚訝地看著我，然後問我「這到底是怎麼一回事...？你會說中文？那你為什麼從來沒有和我的父母講過！」 我回答說 「因為我只知道跟串兒有關的，別的不會！」

吃燒烤的過程中，老闆說他要去方便一下，請我幫忙照看一下燒烤爐子。我說，沒問題！我就這樣開始為其他顧客烤串兒。路過的人看到我在這兒工作都感覺很意外，於是很多人就這樣坐了下來。我會跟他們說 「吃什麼？放辣椒嗎？等等。」 我的女朋友簡直要笑哭了。我不知道老闆去哪兒方便了，但是當他大約在五分鐘後回來的時候，落座的客人明顯多了不少。他很高興，並告訴我我點的東西可以免單！

我想說的是，當你將自己放到一個你必須和其他人進行交流並使用第二語言來解決問題的情境中時，你將自然而然地習得相關的辭彙，語言模式，地道表達，和作態行為，這一切都是不需要刻意去學習的。從這個角度來講，母語使用者只不過是在很多，很多不同的情境中積累起了大量的經驗而已，由此就逐漸掌握了一門語言。這個原理被稱為「主動式學習」，我從那時起就開始多次使用這樣的方法。當然，我的中文並不流利，而且我很可能永遠也達不到那樣的水平，但是我現在感覺自己每天在應對不同的語言情景時都變得更加地得心應手。

是否一定要走出國門才能學好一門外語？我不這樣認為。網上現在有很多免費的工具和素材，我們很容易就能「模擬」英語環境。你要做的只是多一些創造力，多給自己一些動力而已！

Cheers! Thanks for reading,

Daniel

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) - 墨丹的文章 - http://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/29993171

微信聊天/資訊 - weixinhaogaikefu

English version:

A friend of mine is moving to Canada soon, and asked me what she should do to learn English faster after she arrives. Im not a good English teacher, but I did study some language acquisition theory in Canada. She didnt want to know a lot of boring theories. Instead, she asked me what I did when I came to China to improve my Chinese.

I realized probably the most important thing I did was: Drink beer and eat 羊肉串兒。

When I got here, I could say some simple things like hello, goodbye, turn left, turn right, etc. But in Canada, I feel I was a very independent, competent person. I dont like to ask people for help when I need to do something. Instead, I like to learn how to do it myself. Over time, I feel this attitude was important for my career development and for growing my businesses. When I came to China, I didnt want to become handicapped because of language. Also, I really wanted to communicate clearly with my wifes family, so they could deeply know what kind of person I am.

I was not allowed to live together with my girlfriend (now wife) when I arrived here, because her 姥爺 was quite traditional, and said she cant live with me until we are married. So, I rented an apartment about 15 minutes walk away from theirs. Most evenings, I would have dinner with them, I was always the quietest person at the table. They felt I was very shy, but actually I just couldnt talk! Then, when it got

late, I would walk home. The streets between her familys home and my apartment

were quite 熱鬧 in the evenings. At the gate of my 小區 there was always a 串兒 and 燒烤 guy, with several small tables. Almost every night I would sit with the owner, drink some cold 青島s, and eat. We tried hard to communicate with each other, and he was friendly and patient. After some time, I realized I was understanding more and more language patterns and vocabulary (mostly related to 串兒 ). I remember how happy I was when he asked me 「你是哪個國家的?「 and I actually understood and could respond to him!

One Friday evening, my girlfriend told her parents she was going on a business trip to Shanghai, but she actually just stayed with my on the weekend (sorry, 媽, if you are reading this). At night, we went to the shaokao guy. She said 「what do you want?」 I said, 「Dont worry, Ill order.」 Then I told the laoban 「嗨！ 哥們兒，我來拉！ 來十個羊肉串兒，多放點兒辣椒！ 少放孜然！還要四個雞翅，烤焦點，啊！ 對了， 先上兩個啤酒，冰的！我們就坐這兒好吧！ 多少錢？」This was the first time my girlfriend heard me speak Chinese. She looked at me, very surprised, and asked 「How the hell….? So you can speak Chinese? Why dont you ever talk to my parents!」 I replied 「well,

because I only know how to talk about 串兒!」 It was true!

At one point, the laoban said he had to go pee, and he asked me to help him watch the 燒烤爐子. I said, no problem! I started cooking the chuars for the other customers. Other people walking by were surprised to see me working there, and many sat down. I would say 「吃什麼？ 放辣椒嗎？ 等等。「 My girlfriend laughed so hard. I dont know where the laoban went to pee, but when he came back around five minutes later, there were many more customers. He was happy, and told me I dont need to pay for my food. The point is, when you put yourself into a situation where

you must interact with others and solve problems in a different language, you will naturally acquire the relevant vocabulary, language patterns, expressions, and mannerisms, all without studying. From this perspective, a native speaker is just someone who has accumulated a lot of experiences in many, many different situations, thus becoming competent in the language. This principle is called 「active learning,」and Ive used it many times since then. Of course, I am not fluent in Chinese, and I probably wont ever be, but every day I feel more competent in different situations.

Do you have to leave your country to learn a foreign language? I dont think so. With all the free tools and materials online, its quite easy to 「simulate」 and English environment. You just have to be creative, and motivated!

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