| Whose language? 英語是誰的語言？ By Michael Skapinker Wednesday, January 16, 2008 Chung Dong-young, a former television anchorman and candidate to be president of South Korea, may be behind in the opinion polls but one of his campaign commitments is eye-catching. If elected, he promises a vast increase in English teaching so that young Koreans do not have to go abroad to learn the language. The country needed to 「solve the problem of families separated for English learning」, the Korea Times reported him saying.
前電視節目主持人、韓國總統候選人鄭東泳(Chung Dong-young)在民意調查中選票或許落後，但他的一項競選承諾卻非常引人注目。當時，鄭東泳承諾如果當選，要大幅增加英語教育，讓韓國年輕人不必出國去學英語。據《韓國時報》(Korea Times)報道，鄭東泳稱，韓國需要「解決英語學習造成家庭分開的問題」。 In China, Yu Minhong has turned New Oriental, the company he founded, into the country"s biggest provider of private education, with more than 1m students over the past financial year, the overwhelming majority learning English. In Chile, the government has said it wants its population to be bilingual in English and Spanish within a generation. 在中國，俞敏洪已將創建的公司新東方(New Oriental)打造成中國最大的私人教育提供商，過去一個財年，該校擁有逾100萬學生，其中絕大多數是學英語的。在智利，政府已表示希望在未來二三十年內其人民能同時掌握英語和西班牙語。 No one is certain how many people are learning English. Ten years ago, the British Council thought it was around 1bn. A report, English Next, published by the council last year, forecast that the number of English learners would probably peak at around 2bn in 10-15 years. 沒人可以確定有多少人在學英語。10年前，英國文化協會(British Council)認為這個數字大概在10億。該協會去年發布了一份報告《英語走向何方》(English Next)，預測英語學習者數量可能在10年至15年內達到約20億的峰值水平。 How many people already speak English? David Crystal, one of the world"s leading experts on the language and author of more than 100 books on the subject, estimates that 1.5bn people – around one-quarter of the world"s population – can communicate reasonably well in English. 有多少人會說英語？全球知名英語專家戴維?克里斯特爾(David Crystal)已就該主題撰寫了逾100本著作。他估計，15億人（約佔全球人口的四分之一）可以用英語很好地進行交流。 Latin was once the shared language over a vast area, but that was only in Europe and North Africa. Never in recorded history has a language been as widely spoken as English is today. The reason millions are learning it is simple: it is the language of international business and therefore the key to prosperity. It is not just that Microsoft, Google and Vodafone conduct their business in English; it is the language in which Chinese speak to Brazilians and Germans to Indonesians. 拉丁語曾在一片廣袤的地區上充當共同語言，但這僅限於歐洲和北非。歷史上從未有哪種語言像今天的英語那樣得到廣泛的使用。數百萬人學習英語的原因非常簡單：英語是國際商業語言，因此也是走向繁榮的關鍵。英語不僅是微軟(Microsoft)、谷歌(Google)和沃達豐(Vodafone)做生意時使用的語言；它也是中國人與巴西人、德國人同印尼人交流的語言。 David Graddol, the author of English Next, says it is tempting to view the story of English as a triumph for its native speakers in North America, the British Isles and Australasia – but that would be a mistake. Global English has entered a more complex phase, changing in ways that the older English-speaking countries cannot control and might not like.
《英語走向何方》的作者大衛·葛拉多爾(David Graddol)表示，人們很容易將這看作是北美、不列顛群島及澳大拉西亞等地以英語為母語的人士的勝利——但這是錯誤的。全球英語已進入一個更為複雜的階段，以一些老牌英語國家無法控制、可能也不喜歡的方式不斷變化著。 Commentators on global English ask three principal questions. First, is English likely to be challenged by other fast- growing languages such as Mandarin, Spanish or Arabic? Second, as English spreads and is influenced by local languages, could it fragment, as Latin did into Italian and French – or might it survive but spawn new languages, as German did with Dutch and Swedish? Third, if English does retain a standard character that allows it to continue being understood everywhere, will the standard be that of the old English-speaking world or something new and different? 全球英語的評論人士問及三個主要問題。首先，英語是否可能遭遇其它發展迅速的語言的挑戰，如漢語、西班牙語或阿拉伯語？其次，隨著英語不斷傳播並受到地方語言的影響，它是會被分化——像拉丁語分化為義大利語和法語一樣，還是會繼續存在但滋生出新的語言——就像德語與荷蘭語和瑞典語的關係？第三，如果英語確實能保留標準特性，使之繼續為全球各地的人所理解，那麼這個標準將是老牌英語世界的標準，還是一個不同的新標準？ Mr Graddol says the idea of English being supplanted as the world language is not fanciful. About 50 years ago, English had more native speakers than any language except Mandarin. Today both Spanish and Hindi-Urdu have as many native speakers as English does. By the middle of this century, English could fall into fifth place behind Arabic in the numbers who speak it as a first language. 葛拉多爾表示，英語作為世界語言的地位被取代，這種想法並非不切實際。大約50年前，除了漢語之外，以英語為母語的人口超過了其它任何語言。今天，以西班牙語和印度-烏爾都語為母語的人口已經和以英語為母語的人口一樣多。到本世紀中葉，以英語為第一語言的人口可能少於阿拉伯母語人口，跌倒世界第五位。 Some believe English will survive because it has a natural advantage: it is easy to learn. Apart from a pesky 「s」 at the end of the present tense third person singular (「she runs」), verbs remain unchanged no matter who you are talking about. (I run, you run, they run; we ran, he ran, they ran.) Definite and indefinite articles are unaffected by gender (the actor, the actress; a bull, a cow.) There is no need to remember whether a table is masculine or feminine. 一些人相信英語會流傳下去，因為它有一個天然優勢：容易學習。除了現在時第三人稱單數後面那個討厭的「s」以外(「she runs」) ，不管你談到誰，動詞形式保持不變。(I run, you run, they run; we ran, he ran, they ran.)定冠詞和不定冠詞不受性別的影響(the actor, the actress; a bull, a cow)。沒有必要去記住一張桌子是陽性還是陰性。 There is, however, plenty that is difficult about English. Try explaining its phrasal verbs – the difference, for example, between 「I stood up to him」 and 「I stood him up」. Mr Crystal dismisses the idea that English has become the world"s language because it is easy. In an essay published last year, he said Latin"s grammatical complexity did not hamper its spread. 「A language becomes a world language for extrinsic reasons only, and these all relate to the power of the people who speak it,」 he wrote. The British empire carried English to all those countries on which the sun never set; American economic and cultural clout ensured English"s dominance after the British empire had faded. 不過，英語還是有很多難點。例如，試著解釋一下動詞片語「I stood up to him」（在他面前，我堅持了自己的原則）與「I stood him up」（我爽約了，沒去見他）之間的區別。克里斯特爾並不認為，英語成為世界語言的原因是它易於學習。他在去年發表的一篇論文中表示，拉丁語的複雜語法並未妨礙它的傳播。「一種語言成為世界語完全是由外部原因造成的，與說這種語言的人的實力密切相關，」他在文中寫到。大英帝國將英語帶到了那麼多的國度——在這些國家，太陽永遠不會落下；在大英帝國沒落之後，美國的經濟和文化影響力確保了英語的統治地位。 So could China"s rise see Mandarin becoming the world"s language? It may happen. 「Thinking back a thousand years, who would have predicted the demise of Latin?」 Mr Crystal asks. But at the moment there is little sign of it, he says. The Chinese are rushing to learn English.
那麼中國的崛起是否能讓漢語成為世界語言呢？這是有可能的。「回想一千年前，誰能預見到拉丁語的消亡呢？」 克里斯特爾問道。但他表示，目前還幾乎沒有這種跡象。中國人正在爭先恐後地學習英語。 Mr Graddol agrees that we are unlikely to see English challenged in our lifetime. Once a lingua franca is established, it takes a long time to shift. Latin may be disappearing but it remained the language of science for generations and was used by the Roman Catholic church well into the 20th century. 葛拉多爾同意，在我們這一代，可能還不會看到英語的地位受到挑戰。通用語言一旦形成，它的地位就不會在短時間內受到撼動。拉丁語也許正在消亡，但它在很長的時間裡都是科學界的通用語言，在進入20世紀很多年之後，羅馬天主教還在使用拉丁文。 As for English fragmenting, Mr Graddol argues it has already happened. 「There are many Englishes that you and I wouldn"t understand,」 he says. World Englishes, a recent book by Andy Kirkpatrick, professor at the Hong Kong Institute of Education, gives some examples. An Indian teenager"s journal contains this entry: 「Two rival groups are out to have fun . . . you know generally indulge in dhamal [a type of dance] and pass time. So, what do they do? Pick on a bechaara bakra [poor goat] who has entered college.」 Prof Kirkpatrick also provides this sample of Nigerian pidgin English: 「Monkey de work, baboon dey chop」 (Monkeys work, baboons eat). 至於英語的分化，葛拉多爾認為，這一過程已經開始了。「有很多種英語都是你我所不能理解的，」他表示。香港教育學院(Hong Kong Institute of Education)教授安迪?科克帕里克(Andy Kirkpatrick)在最近出版的新書《世界英語》(World Englishes)中列舉了一些例子。一個印度青少年刊物里有這樣一段話：「兩個對立的團體出去玩……你知道，他們一般都沉浸在dhamal（一種舞蹈）里消磨時間。那麼他們做什麼呢？作弄一隻進了大學的bechaara bakra（可憐的山羊）。」科克帕里克教授還提供了一個奈及利亞混雜英語的例子：「Monkey de work, baboon dey chop」（猴子工作，狒狒吃東西）。 It is unlikely, however, that this fragmentation will lead to the disappearance of English as a language understood around the world. It is common for speakers of English to switch from one or other variantto a use of language more appropriate for work, school or international communication. Mr Crystal says modern communication through television, film and the internet means the world is likely to hold on to an English that is widely understood. 然而，這種分化不大可能導致作為全世界都理解的語言——英語的消失。對於英語使用者來說，從一種或另一種變化轉向更適合工作、學校或是國際交往的語言運用，這種做法很常見。克里斯特爾表示，電視、電影和互聯網等現代溝通方式意味著，這個世界可能會堅持使用一種可以被廣泛理解的英語。 The issue is: whose English will it be? Non-native speakers now outnumber native English-speakers by three to one. As hundreds of millions more learn the language, that imbalance will grow. Mr Graddol says the majority of encounters in English today take place between non-native speakers. Indeed, he adds, many business meetings held in English appear to run more smoothly when there are no native English-speakers present. 問題在於：它將是誰的英語？目前，在講英語的人中，非英語母語人士和英語母語人士的比例是3比1。隨著數以億計的人開始學習這種語言，這種不均衡將得到進一步增強。葛拉多爾表示，如今大多數英語交流發生在非英語母語人士之間。事實上，他補充道，很多用英語召開的商業會議在沒有英語母語人士在場時似乎運作得更加平穩。 Native speakers are often poor at ensuring that they are understood in international discussions. They tend to think they need to avoid longer words, when comprehension problems are more often caused by their use of colloquial and metaphorical English.
在國際討論中，英語母語人士常常不能確保別人能明白自己的意思。他們往往認為自己需要避免使用長單詞，而實際上，理解問題更多地是由他們使用口語和比喻造成的。 Barbara Seidlhofer, professor of English and applied linguistics at the University of Vienna, says relief at the absence of native speakers is common. 「When we talk to people (often professionals) about international communication, this observation is made very often indeed. We haven"t conducted a systematic study of this yet, so what I say is anecdotal for the moment, but there seems to be very widespread agreement about it,」 she says. She quotes an Austrian banker as saying: 「I always find it easier to do business [in English] with partners from Greece or Russia or Denmark. But when the Irish call, it gets complicated and taxing.」 維也納大學(University of Vienna)英語與應用語言學教授芭芭拉?賽德爾霍弗 (Barbara Seidlhofer)表示，人們通常感覺沒有英語母語人士在場會更輕鬆。「當我們和人們（通常是專業人士）談起國際交流時，他們確實經常會提到這一點。我們還沒有對此現象展開系統研究，所以我說的這些目前只能算是軼事，但人們似乎對此已達成共識，」她表示。她引用了一位奧地利銀行家的話稱：「我總是發現，（用英語）和希臘、俄羅斯或丹麥人做生意更容易一些。但當愛爾蘭人來電話的時候，情況就變得複雜而費力。」 On another occasion, at an international student conference in Amsterdam, conducted in English, the lone British representative was asked to be 「less English」 so that the others could understand her. 在另一個場合，在阿姆斯特丹用英語舉辦的國際學生大會上，人們要求唯一的一位英國代表「不要太英國化了」，要讓其他人可以理解她的意思。 Prof Seidlhofer is also founding director of the Vienna-Oxford International Corpus of English (Voice), which is recording and transcribing spoken English interactions between speakers of the language around the world. She says her team has noticed that non-native speakers are varying standard English grammar in several ways. Even the most competent sometimes leave the 「s」 off the third person singular. It is also common for non-native speakers to use 「which」 for humans and 「who」 for non- humans (「things who」 and 「people which」). 賽德爾霍弗教授還是維也納牛津國際英語（聲音）庫[Vienna-Oxford International Corpus of English (Voice)]的創始人，英語庫正在對世界各地的英語使用者的英語口語交流進行錄音和筆錄。她表示，她的團隊注意到非英語母語人士在幾個方面改變著標準英語語法。即便是那些英語非常好的人有時也會忘記在第三人稱單數形式後加上「s」。非英語母語人士對人用「which」，對物用「who」（「things who」與 「people which」），這種情況也很常見。 Prof Seidlhofer adds that many non- native speakers leave out definite and indefinite articles where they are required in standard English or put them in where standard English does not use them. Examples are 「they have a respect for all」 or 「he is very good person」. Nouns that are not plural in native-speaker English are used as plurals by non-native speakers (「informations」, 「knowledges」, 「advices」). Other variations include 「make a discussion」, 「discuss about something」 or 「phone to somebody」. 賽德爾霍弗教授補充稱，在標準英語要求使用定冠詞和不定冠詞時，許多非英語母語人士會忘記這一點，或是在標準英語不使用定冠詞和不定冠詞時加上冠詞，例如：「they have a respect for all」 或 「he is very good person」。非英語母語人士將英語母語人士視為沒有複數形式的名詞以複數形式使用(「informations」，「knowledges」，「advices」)。其它變異包括「make a discussion」、「discuss about something」或 「phone to somebody」。
Many native English speakers will have a ready riposte: these are not variations, they are mistakes. 「Knowledges」 and 「phone to somebody」 are plain wrong. Many non-native speakers who teach English around the world would agree. But language changes, and so do notions of grammatical correctness. Mr Crystal points out that plurals such as 「informations」 were once regarded as correct and were used by Samuel Johnson. 很多英語母語人士的典型回應是：這些不是變異，而是錯誤。「Knowledges」和「phone to somebody」完全是錯誤的。世界各地許多教授英語的非英語母語人士也會同意這種觀點。但語言會變化，語法正誤的概念也會變化。克里斯特爾指出，「informations」等複數形式曾被認為是正確的，賽繆爾?約翰遜(Samuel Johnson)就曾經這麼用過。 Those who insist on standard English grammar remain in a powerful position. Scientists and academics who want their work published in international journals have to adhere to the grammatical rules followed by the native English-speaking elites. 那些堅持標準英語語法的人仍處於強大地位。科學家和學術人員如果想要國際刊物上發表文章，就必須堅持英語母語精英人士遵循的語法規則。 But spoken English is another matter. Why should non-native speakers bother with what native speakers regard as correct? Their main aim, after all, is to be understood by one another. As Mr Graddol says, in most cases there is no native speaker present. 但英語口語就完全不同了。非英語母語人士為什麼要在意英語母語人士的看法呢？畢竟，他們的主要目的就是了解彼此的意思。正如葛拉多爾所說，在大多數場合，根本就沒有英語母語人士在場。 Prof Seidlhofer says that the English spoken by non-native speakers 「is a natural language, and natural languages are difficult to control by 『legislation". 賽德爾霍弗教授表示，非母語人士講的英語「是一種自然語言，而自然語言難以通過『立法"進行控制」。 「I think rather than a new international standard, what we are looking at is the emergence of a new 『international attitude", the recognition and awareness that in many international contexts interlocutors do not need to speak like native speakers, to compare themselves to them and thus always end up 『less good" – a new international assertiveness, so to speak.」 「我認為，與其說我們看到的是一個新的國際標準，不如說是一種新的『國際態度"的誕生，人們意識到並承認，在許多國際場合，對話者不需要像母語人士一樣講話，也不需要去和他們比較，進而總是感覺『遜人一籌"——這可以說是一種新的國際自信。」
When native speakers work in an international organisation, some report their language changing. Mr Crystal has written: 「On several occasions, I have encountered English-as-a-first-language politicians, diplomats and civil servants working in Brussels commenting on how they have felt their own English being pulled in the direction of these foreign- language patterns . . . These people are not 『talking down" to their colleagues or consciously adopting simpler expressions, for the English of their interlocutors may be as fluent as their own. It is a natural process of accommodation, which in due course could lead to new standardised forms.」 當母語人士在國際組織中工作時，有些人表示，他們的語言在變化。克里斯特爾寫到：「有幾次，我遇到一些在布魯塞爾工作、以英語為母語的政治家、外交官和公務員，他們都提到如何感覺自己的英語被引向了這些外國語言模式的方向……這些人不是在『貶低"自己的同事，也不是在有意識地採用更簡單的表達方式，因為對話者的英語可能和他們一樣流利。這是一個互相遷就的自然過程，經過適當的時間，就會形成新的標準形式。」 Perhaps written English will eventually make these accommodations too. Today, having an article published in the Harvard Business Review or the British Medical Journal represents a substantial professional accomplishment for a business academic from China or a medical researcher from Thailand. But it is possible to imagine a time when a pan-Asian journal, for example, becomes equally, or more, prestigious and imposes its own 「Globish」 grammatical standards on writers – its editors changing 「the patient feels」 to 「the patient feel」. 也許書面英語最終也會進行這種調節。目前，對於來自中國的商科學術人士或是來自泰國的醫學研究員，在《哈佛商業評論》(Harvard Business Review)或《英國醫學期刊》(British Medical Journal)上發表文章是一項重大專業成就。但我們可以想像，也許有一天，一個泛亞洲刊物會具有同樣或是更高的聲望，並要求作者採用自己的「國際英語(Globish)」語法標準——它的編輯將「the patient feels」 改成「the patient feel」。 Native English speakers may wince but are an ever-shrinking minority. 英語母語人士也許會厭煩這種情況，但這些人是少數，而且數量在不斷減少。
|
