汉语学习须知 有最新消息说美国正在策划一个新的在学校推广汉语的活动；最近的一个报告称，在英国估计有500 多所学校在教授汉语。为了便于在北京工作，我已经花了好几年时间学习汉语。上面这两则消息使我想告诉你们一些你们也许不太想听的话：汉语真的特别特别难学。 Unit 9 active reading 1 Lessons to be learned I’ve been spending several years learning Chinese for my work her in Beijing, so the latest news that there’s to be a new campaign to introduce the language into US schools, and a recent report estimating that over 500 schools in the UK are teaching it prompts me to tell you something which you may not want to hear. Learning Chinese is really, really tough. 到2010 年，英国对中国的出口预计将会增加三UK exports to China are expected to quadruple by the 倍。所以英国政府要求英国的每一所大学、中学end of the decade, and its government wants every 和小学都要和中国的相应的教学机构结成伙伴关school, college and university to be twinned with an 系。在接下来的40 年里，英语作为国际语言的主equivalent institution in China. With the dominance of 导地位是注定要衰落的。所以，伴随着英语的衰English as an international language set to decline over 落，人们对学习汉语的兴趣日益高涨。 the next years, it’s not surprising that this fall is matched by a rise of interest in learning Chinese. 中国文化是世界上的一个伟大奇迹。中国的哲学、Chinese culture is one of the greatest wonders of the 艺术、饮食和文学既显示出精妙的艺术，又闪烁world. Its philosophy, art, food and literature show both 着人性的光辉。 subtlety and humanity in equal measure. 但是我要说一句。如果我们把学习汉语比作一段But I have to say that if learning is a journey, it’s 旅程的话，那么有的时候你很难把注意力集中在sometimes hard to keep your eyes on your destination 你的目的地上，因为在通向熟练掌握汉语的路上，when there are so many distractions to slow you down 有太多的东西让你分心，让你走走停停。 on the path towards fluency.
你听说过万里长征吗？和学汉语相比，那简直就是在公园里漫步，不值一提。 既然13 亿中国人在学汉语时没有什么问题，那么为什么像我这样的笨老外会觉得汉语这么难学呢？ 首先，学习几千个汉字就是一件苦差事，除了把它们牢记在心之外，没有别的办法。甚至在查字典的时候也会碰到一堆问题。比如说，你怎么才能在字典里查到一个字的意思呢？为此我曾经花了很多时间。首先我要确定这个词的偏旁部首，然后在我的汉英词典中的部首表里找到这个部首，然后再按照边旁部首找到配有拼音（罗马字母）的这个词，然后再查找字词条，找那个字，把那些意思不对的统统排除，直到找到那个正确的为止。这个过程需要很大的耐心，会让人灰心丧气。说起来很丢人，我自己查汉字的速度每小时还不到20 个字。 You’ve heard of the Long March? Well, that is a stroll in the park, compared to what it’s like to learn Chinese. So, if 1.3 billion Chinese don’t have a problem with their own language, why do dumb foreigners like me find it so hard to learn? First of all, learning thousands of characters is a chore, and there’s nothing for it but to learn them by heart. Even using a dictionary has its own set of problems. For example, how do you look up the meaning of a character? I’ve spent hours trying to match what I think is the radical with the list in the middle of my Chinese-English dictionary, then hunting down the character matched with its pinyin (Roman alphabet) equivalent, then turning to the dictionary entry itself, and looking for the character and eliminating all those with inappropriate meanings until I find the right one. It takes a lot of patience, it can be very disappointing, and my disgraceful strike rate is scarcely 20 characters an hour. Language experts estimate that you ―only‖ need to learn about 5,000 characters to be literate. (I just love that ―only‖) they also say it’s desirable to see and revise a character about seven times in different contexts in order to retain it and use it productively. So do the math. 据语言专家估计，你“只”需要掌握5,000 个汉字就能读写汉语了（我太喜欢这个“只”字了）。他们还说要记住一个字并且能够灵活运用，最好要在不同的语境下看到并温习这个字大概7 次。 要花多少时间，你自己算吧。
学习汉语已经够难的了，可是如果碰上一个不合格的老师，那就是雪上加霜了。在我们的第一堂汉语课上，我们学了第一个汉字“家”。我们的老师告诉我们，中国人能够在这个字里看到它原来所表达的意思。她把这个意思画在白板上。这个字的意思是“家”。没问题。 然后她解释说这个字象征着屋顶下的一只猪。这也没问题。然后她问：“你们能看到猪吗？ Learning Chinese is already tough, but learning with an unqualified teacher makes it even more difficult. In our first lesson, we learnt our first Chinese character 家. Our teacher told us that Chinese people are able to see the original representation of meaning in the character. She drew it on the whiteboard. It means home. Good. She then explained that it’s meant to illustrate a pig under a roof. That’s good too. Then she asked, ―Can you see the pig?‖ No? ―there it is, can’t you see?‖ I see no pig. ―And can you see the roof?‖ Well, I suppose so, but only if I was shortsighted, dyslexic or, possibly, drunk. But to please my teacher I said, yes I can see the roof, just a bit of a blue, that’s all. ―that’s the pig under the roof. That means home!‖ said my teacher triumphantly, as if she had achieved her very first success in teaching us Chinese. 看不到？ “就在这里，你们看不到吗？” 我没看见猪。 “那么，你们能看到屋顶吗？” 嗯，如果我近视，有阅读障碍或者喝得酩酊大醉的话，没准我能看到。但是为了取悦我的老师，我说我看到了，我能看见那个屋顶，就是有点模糊，没别的。 “猪在屋顶下面，那就意味着家！” 我的老师得意洋洋的说，就好像她第一次成功地教我们学会了汉语。
其实，她根本没成功。 我要说的坏消息都说完了吗？ 还没呢。汉语是有音调的，这意味着一个字的意思会随着音调的变化而变化。你一不小心就会犯不可救药的错误。更糟糕的是，如果你去中国各地转一圈儿，你会发现每一个省的音调都不一样。 But she hadn’t. Have I finished with the bad news? Not yet. The tone system means that a single character can have different meanings according to the tone used to pronounce it. And it’s easy to get hopelessly wrong, and even worse if you travel around the country, as the tones can vary from province to province. 那么我有什么好消息要告诉大家吗？ So is there any good news? 好吧，我得承认汉语的语法比绝大多数的欧洲语Well, I concede that grammar is easier than many 言的语法要简单。汉语没有什么动词时态，没有European languages. There are no verb tenses to 单复数，也没有关系从句（令人费解的是，“他”manipulate, no singular and plurals, no relative clauses. 和“她”的发音居然是一样的。我觉得这应该是(Confusingly, there’s also no difference in pronunciation 语言里最基本的区别。但也许是我太挑剔了。） of the character for he and she. For me, it’s a fairly basic 再回到课堂上，我注意到单词表中的每个单词旁distinction, but maybe I’m being Ms Picky.) 都标注了词性，比如名词﹑ 形容词﹑ 动词。我But back in class again, I noticed that by the words in the 再看我的单词笔记，发现有些词既可以用作动词vocabulary list there is a part of speech marked, noun, 也可以用作名词，还有些像“过”﹑“吧”﹑“了”adjective, very. When I look back at my vocabulary 这样的词被称为虚词。不管“虚词”是什么意思，notes, I see that some words can function as nouns and 在我们用来描述语言的术语中找不到与之类似的as verbs, and others such as guo, ba or le are called 功能。汉语中的这些虚词是有意义的。如果没有particles, whatever that means, but don’t have and 这些词，整个句子的意思就变了。但是用一套原indentifiable function in the terms we use to describe 本用来分析欧洲语言的语法体系来描述它们，似language. They have meaning, and without them the 乎有点奇怪。那么为什么我们还要用这么一套有meaning of the sentence is changed. But it seems strange 局限性的体系来分析汉语呢？ to use a system invented to analyze European languages.
So why are we using a system for analyzing Chinese which is so limited. 然后，我就开始想：中国人是如何表达复杂概念Then I begin to wonder how can Chinese express 的呢？以任何一个汉字为例，这个字会有它的字complex concepts? Take one character and it has a 面意思，你可以在字典中找到它的字面意思。把denotational meaning, which you can usually find in a 这个汉字和另外一个汉字组合在一起，你就创造dictionary. Combine this character with another and you 出一个新的﹑ 完全不同的概念。再把这两个词与create a concept which is new and different. Combine 更多的汉字组合，你就可以进一步发展这个概念。 them with more characters and you further develop this concept. 这和英语有很大的不同吗？对，是有很大不同，Is his so different from English? Well, yes, because by 因为到了这个阶段，你需要先理解这些字的组合，this time, you need to interpret the combination of 然后才能理解其意义。而要弄清组合的意思并不characters to understand what it means. It doesn’t mean 是把每个字的字面意思叠加在一起，而是要综合the sum of its isolated, denotational meanings, but the 领会那些字的内涵。 sum of its connotational meanings! 但是所有使用汉语的人需要就每个汉字的内涵达But everyone who uses the language has to agree on the 成共识，否则，就会导致理解理解偏差。那么中connotations of each of the characters, and if they don’t, 国人到底是如何表达复杂而精确的概念的呢？ then surely imprecision and defective comprehension arise. So how does Chinese express complex and precise concepts? 学习汉语就像下国际象棋或者是玩填字游戏，使Learning Chinese is like playing chess or doing the 人全心投入，神魂颠倒，反正我是乐在其中——crossword. It’s totally absorbing, completely captivating, 用“乐在其中”来形容可能并不准确，可我想不and –it’s not the right word, but how else can I say it?—I 出什么更好的词了。学习汉语不仅仅是一个语言enjoy myself. It’s not just a gradual process of language 习得的渐进过程，它也让我不停地去思考交流的acquisition. It inspires ongoing questions about the 意义和语言的力量。汉语学习是一个极其美妙、meaning of communication and the power of language. 极其鼓舞人心、引人深思的挑战。我必须不断前It’s a very beautiful, profoundly inspiring and
进，因为这个旅程本身和到达目的地同样让我着迷。 thought-provoking challenge. I have to keep going, as the journey will fascinate me as much as the arrival at my destination. 但是完成这个旅程要花多少时间呢？ But how long will it take? 有统计数据表明，一个受过教育的英语为母语的Some statistics suggest that an educated English speaker 人需要花1,300 小时才能达到一个受过教育的中needs 1,300 hours to achieve a proficiency 国人的汉语水平。但如果是学法语或西班牙语的corresponding to and educated native speaker of 话，要达到同等语言水平则只需要480 小时。也Chinese, while it would only take about 480 hours to 有人认为1,300 小时还不够，要差不多2,200 小achieve a comparable level in French or Spanish. Others 时。 reckon that 1,300 hours isn’t sufficient, and that it’s closer to 2,200 hours. 这得上不少课。 That’s quite a few lessons to be learnt. 麦克尔·菲尔普斯，这位在北京奥运会上大放异彩的游泳冠军也在学习汉语。在2008 年的一次采访中，他的一番评价了令人印象深刻：“在奥运会上拿八块金牌比学汉语要容易。” 这并非夸张。他说的一点儿都没错。
Michael Phelps, the great Olympic champion swimmer at the Beijing Olympic Games, is learning Chinese too. During an interview in 2008, he made the memorable comment that ―It’s easier to win eight gold medals at the Olympic Games than it is to learn Chinese.‖ It’s no exaggeration. He’s right.
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