學習外語的簡單方法

學習外語的簡單方法

Editor』s Note: This is a guest post from Benny the Irish polyglot of Fluent in 3 months.

編者按：本文作者Benny，一位在3個月內便通曉多種語言的愛爾蘭人。

When I was 21 years old, the only language I spoke was English. I had done quite poorly in languages in school and believed that I was too untalented and even too 『old』 to consider ever speaking a foreign language, even basically.

我到21歲還只會說一種語言，那就是英語。在學校的時候，我就在語言學科上學得很不好，以至於我認為自己完全沒有什麼語言天賦，甚至認為自己太老了，學不會外語，即使是基礎的外語也學不會。

Now seven years later I speak eight languages fluently and can get by quite well in several others. In my day-to-day life I almost never speak English and my travels and scope of friendships have been greatly enriched because of this.

然而七年後的今天，我卻可以流利地說八種外語，另外還有幾種外語說的也不錯。現在我在日常生活中基本都不說英語了，而且由於會多種外語而大大擴展了我的朋友圈子。

How I reached this stage was not by studying a lot or investing thousands in software or courses. It was by applying the simple principles outlined here.

有人要問我是如何做到在短時間內精通多種外語的？我沒有經過大量的學習，沒有花錢買各種各樣的學習軟體，也沒有參加各種培訓班。我只是很好的應用了以下這幾條原則:

Having the right learning approach

制定恰當的學習規劃

What mostly surprises people is my confidence that anyone can reach a high level of fluency in a language in just a few months. Many of us will have studied a language for years in school and are barely able to string a sentence together, so this idea might sound nothing short of arrogant.

我認為任何人都有可能在短短几個月內精通一門語言，人們通常會驚訝於我為何如此自信。鑒於大多數人在學校學了多年的外語之後往往還只會簡單的拼出一句話，我的這個觀點可能會顯得有點自誇。

However, considering what you are actually doing in school; a couple of hours of theory, using the language unnaturally for exam purposes, and some half-interested homework – this barely adds up to a few weeks of real work even over half a decade.

但是，想想看我們在學校學外語時都是怎麼學的？幾個小時的理論，為了通過考試而機械地去練習外語，以及一些沒有興趣投入的家庭作業...。按照這樣即使學了好多年，真正學習的時間加起來也不過幾個禮拜而已。

After just two months living in Budapest, with no previous exposure to the language, I was ready to be interviewed entirely in Hungarian on video. I am not smarter or more talented than anyone else who might attempt this, but I am much more committed and serious about reaching my goals.

我以前從未接觸過匈牙利語，但在布達佩斯生活了僅兩個月後，我就可以用匈牙利語進行視頻對話。我並不比其他任何人更聰明或更有天賦，我只是更堅定於更認真地對待自己想要達到的目標。

You don』t have to devote your life to the language, but you must invest at least an hour a day, ideally more, which involves focused use of the language.

你不必把全部精力都投入到學習外語，但必須保證每天至少花一個小時，超過一個小時當然更好，來專註於練習這門外語。

Casual interest can only get you so far – if you just 『want』 to speak a language, that gives you no edge. Who wouldn』t want that? To make real progress, that want has to become a need.

With focus and your full attention you can learn much quicker

僅僅是興趣愛好不會有很大的進展——如果你只是「想要」說一門外語，這沒有給你任何界定。誰不想要多說一門外語呢？想要真正有所進展的話，那這個「想要」就要變成「需要」。

全神貫注會讓你學得更快

And there is only one way the language will become a true necessity: you need to start speaking it with other people, now.

Stop learning the language, and start speaking it!

有一個方法可以把外語變成真正的必需：假如你現在就要用外語和別人交流。

不要再學外語了，開始說出來吧。

If I had to summarize what definitely separates those who fail in attempts to reach conversational fluency and those who succeed, based on my experience of meeting thousands of language learners, it is simply the fact that the latter group actually use the language. Not for exams, not for listening to podcasts or reading, but to communicate with human beings.

我接觸過數千個學外語的人，他們都想要達到能用外語進行流利對話的目標，但有的失敗了有的成功了，如果要我說這兩類人的主要區別是什麼，我會說一個簡單事實就是後者真正的去使用外語了，不是為了考試，不是為了聽廣播或者閱讀，而是用外語去和別人交流。

If your goal is to be able to read perfectly or understand the radio perfectly, then lots of reading and listening will be precisely what you need.

如果你的目標是能夠完全讀懂外文資料或者完全聽得懂外語廣播，那麼你要做的就是大量的閱讀以及聽力練習就夠了。

However, to speak well, you need to speak often! You can』t avoid this, it』s kind of the whole point!

但如果你想要把外語說好，那就需要經常的說外語！這是免不了的，這就是說好外語的關鍵。

Seriously, stop studying the target language so much! A language can』t be treated like a subject in school such as history or biology; in the real world you cannot 『fail』 when you make a certain number of mistakes. Other people are very helpful when you are genuinely trying to speak with them.

說真的，不要過多的去悶頭學外語了！你不能把一門外語看作是類似於諸如歷史或生物這類學校里的學科來學習；在現實生活中，沒有規定說你說外語的時候錯了多少次就算是不及格。如果你誠心用外語去和別人交流，那麼他們對於你學外語是非常有幫助的。

People told me that in Berlin I would find it hard to convince Germans to not speak English to me all the time, but even when I was initially struggling they would be very helpful and patient with me as I spoke. They could see that I was serious about speaking their language and rewarded me for my efforts.

有人告訴我在柏林你會發現很難讓德國人不和你說英語，不過我剛開始德語還不太好時，就算我磕磕碰碰的用德語和他們交談，他們也會很樂意的幫助我而且會很耐心的和我交談。他們能看得出來我是認真地在說他們的語言，而且還會對我做出的努力進行鼓勵。

I can assure you, if you start speaking now with the little you know, you will indeed make mistakes but other speakers and natives will forgive you for this and you will realize that you always had the ability to communicate and get your point across.

我敢肯定，可能對某門外語你只會一點點，但如果你現在就開始盡自己所能去說這門外語，剛開始你肯定會犯一些錯誤，但是其他人以及以此為母語者不會因此而怪你的，而且你會發現自己總是有能力來進行交流並且能表達出自己的觀點。

Thanks to this practice, any studying you do will be focused on real use of the language relevant to your life, rather than theoretical applications recommended in generic courses.

這樣的練習，會讓你的學習側重於在日常生活中真正的使用外語，而不像一般的學習課程那樣側重於理論上的應用。

Don』t wait to finish the course – take matters into your own hands!

不要坐等課程結束——自己動手才最重要！

What so many courses miss is that no matter how much you study, unless you start to use the language with others on a regular basis, it will have no real context in your mind and it』s very hard to make any real progress.

大多數外語課程都容易忽視的一點就是，不管你學的再多，你的意識中都不會有一個真正意義上的語言環境存在，這樣就很難取得實質上的進展。除非你開始定期的運用外語來和別人交流。

I know people who are like walking dictionaries – they know the most obscure words in the foreign language and can explain precisely how the grammar works. And yet they are still not confident enough to speak.

我知道有些人很喜歡口袋字典——這些人知道那些最生僻的辭彙都是什麼意思，他們講起語法來頭頭是道。但他們還是不能自信的張口說外語。

One of these was another foreigner I lived with in Spain who could run circles around me if you put the two of us in an examination. Despite this, Spaniards I met when we were together would tell me that I spoke much better than he did. I wasn』t thinking too much about saying things perfectly – I just let the conversations flow.

在西班牙的時候，我和另一個外國人住在一起，如果我們倆去參加考試的話，他能把我甩得幾丈遠。但西班牙本國人還是覺得我說得比他好的多。我並沒有考慮太多怎樣說才最完美，我只是讓對話能順利地轉起來。

People focused on perfection still need to learn 『just a little more』 and they』ll be ready 』some day』. There are seven days in a week and 』some day』 isn』t one of them!

人們總想要完美，總覺得還需要學的「再多一點」，然後「總有一天」他們就學好了。但你要知道，一個星期有七天，沒有哪一天叫做「總有一天」。

Those with much less theory behind them, but more experience actually speaking, will outdo the academics every time. This has nothing to do with natural talent, it』s about simply opening your mouth and really using the language.

任何時候，雖然缺少理論知識但具有更多實際說外語經驗的人永遠都勝過那些學院派。這和天賦沒什麼關係，只在於是否去張嘴說出來以及真正去使用外語。

A language is a means of communication. If you think of it as a list of vocabulary to learn off, or a table of grammar to memorize, you are missing the point entirely.

語言是交流的工具。如果你把它看成是大量的辭彙去學習，或者是語法表格去死記硬背，那你就大錯特錯了。

When you start practicing, you will improve on your speaking skills dramatically. It won』t be easy, but once you accept that you simply cannot skip the stage of making mistakes and try to enjoy it, then the mistakes will disappear quicker.

你一旦開始練習說外語，就會顯著提高自己說外語的水平。當然這不會很簡單，但是只要你能意識到犯錯誤階段是不可避免的而且嘗試著去好好體驗這個階段，你會發現很快就不會再犯錯誤了。

You don』t need to travel to speak the language

不必出國也可以學好外語

Successful language learners don』t aim to speak well some day – they use it now. Make all of your focus on immediate use of the language. Study can help, but it is most effective when it has immediate applications.

成功的外語學習者不是只盯著將來能說好外語的目標——而是現在就使用外語。把你的所有注意力都集中到立即使用外語。學習是有幫助的，但最有效的是能立即去應用它。

Find natives and other learners to practice with and arrange to meet up with them immediately. It will be hard at first, but you need real pressure if you want to make real progress.

找一些外語的母語者以及其他在學這門外語的人一起練習，安排一些和他們即時的面對面交談。一開始這會比較難，但是如果你真想學好外語的話是需要一些壓力的。

Rather than downloading podcasts and buying too many courses, meet up with actual people and use the language! A few resources I like to use include:

不要再去下載聽力材料或者買各種各樣的學習教程了，找一些人去使用外語當面交談！我個人比較喜歡以下的一些資源：

Meetup.com for language meet-ups in major cities. You can also read advertisements in newspapers and your local library to see if people meet up interested in speaking the language you want to.

 - Meetup.com，通過這個網站可以在各大城市找到一起說外語的人。你也可以通過報紙上的廣告或者當地圖書館來尋找有興趣一起說外語的人。

Join Couchsurfing and host foreign travelers in your home. The same site also has international meetings and a feature to search your city for people who speak a particular language.

 - 註冊Couchsurfing會員，並在家裡招待一些同樣註冊會員的外國旅遊者。同時你也可以在這個網站上搜索在你的城市說某外語的人群。

You can also find native speakers online and practice over Skype, through many language learning social networks available for free online.

 - 你也可以在互聯網的各種語言學習社區找到那些母語者並通過Skype與他們在線交談。

You can do this in your home town.

在自己的家鄉你就能做到這些。

The only reason I feel that travel really does make a difference for some people is because of the pressure to perform being constantly there.

我覺得出國旅行唯一的不同就在於你會有一直處在外語環境中的壓力。

But many expats still waste the opportunity. I met a man who had been living in Prague for ten years and still didn』t speak any Czech, even though his own children did. He had created a bubble of his mother tongue that 『protected』 him via his social circle and routines.

但是，雖然身處異國仍然有很多移居國外的人會浪費這種機會。我曾碰到一個人，他在布拉格住了十年但一點都不懂捷克語，但他的孩子們都會說捷克語。他就是通過自己的社交圈子人為把自己封閉在只說母語的環境中。

If he can do this in a foreign country, why can』t we do it from home with a foreign language? You don』t have to avoid your mother tongue (that is not a realistic solution for many due to work and family / friends), but you can create a 『bubble』 where everything you do is in the target language, even if just for that hour a day.

他在外國都能這樣創造一個母語環境，我們在家為什麼就不能自己創造一個外語環境呢？我們沒必要完全避開母語（由於工作、家庭、朋友的關係這也不太現實），但是我們可以創造一個做什麼事都使用外語的封閉環境，即使是每天只這樣做一個小時也可以。

A positive attitude is the key

積極的態度是關鍵

No matter what language I learn, I always try to look at my cup as 『half full』. It』s possible to answer this post with a list of reasons why learning a given language would be too hard for you, but this bogus focus on excuses is what actually makes it hard for many people.

不管我在學哪門外語，我總會把自己看作是一個「半滿」的杯子（譯者註：我總認為自己還很有遺力來學會這門外語）。你可以有充足的理由來回復這篇文章說自己為什麼學不會某外語，但找出這諸多借口恰恰就是大多數人學不好外語的原因所在。

You can also make it easy by deciding to have a positive attitude accompany you in your language learning journey.

在學習外語的過程中，如果你能保持自己積極的態度，這會讓你的學習變得更加容易。

This positive attitude creates a feedback loop in your mind where you will look for more evidence to support the idea that it isn』t that bad after all and this will further fuel your openness to learn more without creating any invisible barriers. Progress will flow and you』ll be speaking confidently before you know it.

這種積極的態度會在你的意識中形成一個良性循環，你會找到更多的證據來證明其實學外語一點都不難，這就更進一步為你今後能無障礙的學習別的外語奠定了一個良好的開端。這樣你的外語水平就悄悄地在一天天進步，你還沒來得及意識到自己就已經能很自信的說外語了。

So stop reading about it, stop listening to others doing it, and stop over-studying and dreaming about 』some day』. It』s time to get out there and speak it!

所以說，不要再閱讀什麼外語學習材料，不要再聽別人講怎樣學外語，不要再悶頭學習外語而期待著「某一天」自己就學會了。現在就開始，走出去並張開嘴巴說外語吧。