中國網(wǎng)站品牌欄目（頻道）
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How happy it is to have friends from far away! Fortunately, the Chinese know how hard their language is – which is why efforts like Zuckerberg’s are applauded. I have lost count of the number of times that my dismal Chinese has been praised and complimented, by everyone from taxi drivers to government officials. After decades (or in the Chinese mind, centuries) of arrogant foreigners arriving in China and not bothering to learn the language, it is a mark of respect to have a go. Sadly, as you make progress, the novelty wears off. After seven years here, those who once praised and encouraged me now chide me for getting a tone wrong. I suppose it is a sign of progress to be corrected, rather than simply to win patronising praise, but I miss the old days.
The foolish old man who moved the mountains There is a Chinese folk tale that sums up the effort required to struggle with Mandarin. A man in his nineties began picking up stones in order to level two huge mountains. When told he was an idiot, given the scale of the task and the time he had left, he simply said: “Certainly I cannot do it. But when I die, there will be my children to carry on the work, and the children will have grandchildren, and the grandchildren will again have children. So my children and grandchildren are endless, while the mountains cannot grow bigger in size. Why can’t they be levelled some day?”
You cannot catch a cub without venturing to the tiger’s den For British schoolchildren, there is no short cut. The popular “Chineasy” pictogram cards are charming, but not a magic bullet. You may learn to recognise a few Chinese pictograms, but they do not teach pronunciation and the sea of non-pictographic characters stretches to the horizon. The best way to shorten the slog is the most straightforward. While children will not pick up much Mandarin in English classrooms, it may open their minds to visit China. And here, if they can find a place to immerse themselves, they have a good chance of learning the language. |
有朋自遠方來不亦樂乎 幸運的是，中國人知道漢語是多么的難學(xué)，這也是為什么扎克伯格的努力獲得了一致好評，我已經(jīng)記不清有多少次，我憋足的漢語得到了人們的好評和贊揚，從出租車司機到政府官員。 在傲慢的外國人踏入中國的幾十年（或者在中國人看來是幾個世紀）不學(xué)漢語后，學(xué)習(xí)漢語也是一種值得發(fā)揚下去的對中國的尊重。 可悲的是，當(dāng)你取得進步時，新奇感就會消退。在中國待了7年后，當(dāng)初那些表揚并鼓勵我的人們開始指責(zé)我音調(diào)不對，我把這當(dāng)做一個需要改正以取得進步的標志，而不是簡單的想贏得屈尊俯就的表揚，但不可否認，我懷念從前的日子。
愚公移山 中國有個寓言故事可以用來說明學(xué)習(xí)普通話需要同其做堅定不移的斗爭。一位老人在90歲時開始搬運石頭以夷平兩座大山，考慮到這一巨大工程耗費的時間之久，而他所剩的時間無幾，人們說他太傻，他說：“我死了有兒子，兒子死了還有孫子，孫子過后還有曾孫子，子子孫孫無窮無盡，而山又不會增大，為什么就不會夷平呢？”
不入虎穴焉得虎子 對于英國學(xué)生來說，學(xué)習(xí)漢語沒有捷徑?！昂喴字形摹笨ㄆ浅錆M魅力，但它畢竟不是一顆神奇的子彈，你可能會記住幾個漢字的象形圖，但它不會教會你發(fā)音，并且非象形文字的海洋已經(jīng)延伸到地平線了。 縮短學(xué)習(xí)漢語這一艱難過程的最好方法也是最直接的方法。當(dāng)孩子們不再在英語課堂里學(xué)習(xí)普通話，這可能反而會激發(fā)他們想來中國游玩的好奇心。到了中國之后，如果他們找到了一個自己迷戀的地方，他們就會有個學(xué)習(xí)語言的良好機會。
（譯者 左左夕夏 編輯 祝興媛） 掃一掃，關(guān)注微博微信
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