母語者比較不會用英文溝通?

Wut...?

★★★★★★★★★★★★

When it comes to communicating in English with an international audience, native speakers don’t always do so well.

若要以「英語」與國際聽眾進行交流，母語者未必能與非母語者進行有效地溝通。

Sometimes, such inability to accommodate non-native speakers can lead to substantial financial losses for multinational companies.

有時，無法考量非母語者的溝通需求，可能會使跨國公司蒙受巨大的經濟損失。

★★★★★★★★★★★★

《ＮＰＲ》報導：

Picture this: A group of nonnative English speakers is in a room. There are people from Germany, Singapore, South Korea, Nigeria and France. They're having a great time speaking to each other in English, and communication is smooth.

•picture(v.) 想像，設想
•have a great time doing sth 做某事很開心
•smooth 順利的，流暢的

想像一下：一群母語非英語的人同在一個房間裡。有來自德國、新加坡、韓國、奈及利亞以及法國的人。他們開心地以英語交談，而整體的溝通也相當流暢。

ᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯ

And then an American walks into the room. The American speaks quickly, using esoteric jargon ("let's take a holistic approach") and sports idioms ("you hit it out of the park!"). And the conversation trickles to a halt.

•esoteric 極不尋常的；只有少數人（尤指內行）才懂的；限於小圈子的
•jargon 行話，行業術語
•a holistic approach 全面性的方法 ; 完整取向、全方位取向
•sports idioms 體育相關的成語，慣用語
•trickle to a halt 遂逐漸停止
•trickle 從…向下滴（或淌）

*hit/knock the ball out of the park 字面上的意思是「把球打出棒球場」，慣用語的意思則是「某事做的非常好，令人驚艷」。

結果，有個美國人走進房間。這位美國人說話很快，使用少數人才懂的的術語（「讓我們採用整全的方式」）以及與體育相關的成語（「你把球打出了公園！*」）。整場談話遂逐漸停止。

ᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯ

Decades of research shows that when a native English speaker enters a conversation among nonnative speakers, understanding goes down. Global communication specialist Heather Hansen tells us that's because the native speaker doesn't know how to do what nonnative speakers do naturally: speak in ways that are accessible to everyone, using simple words and phrases.

•communication specialist 溝通專家
•accessible 可以理解的；易懂的

數十年的研究表明，當母語為英語的人參與非母語者之間的談話時，理解力會下降。全球溝通專家 Heather Hansen 告訴我們，這是因為母語者無法自然地以非母語者的方式來溝通：以大家都能接受的方式交談——使用簡單的詞彙與片語。

ᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯ

And yet, as Hansen points out, this more accessible way of speaking is often called "bad English." There are whole industries devoted to "correcting" English that doesn't sound like it came from a native British or American speaker. …It turns out that these definitions of "good" and "bad" English may be counterproductive if our goal is to communicate as effectively as possible.

•point sth out 指出
•turn out …地發生（或發展）；結果是（尤指出乎意料的結果）
•counterproductive 産生相反效果的；産生相反作用的；事與願違的，適得其反的

惟正如 Hansen 所指出，這種所謂更容易理解的說話方式，通常被稱為「破英語」。也有行業致力於「糾正」那些聽起來不像英國或美國母語者的英語。⋯⋯事實證明，如果我們的目標是盡可能地有效交流，那麼這些對「好」英語與「壞」英語的定義可能會適得其反。

ᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯᕯ

A balance needs to be struck. There is also a clear difference between helping students improve their English in a classroom and being overly judgmental in a business meeting (or on the Internet ><).

就我個人而言，我認為在這種情況下需探求一個平衡點。在課堂上幫助他人提高英語能力，以及在國際商務會議（或網路上）中過於苛刻，這兩者顯然有極大的區別。

However, if the goal is to communicate effectively with an international audience, native speakers could be more accommodating. At least, that's the view taken by the articles below.

但以下文章認為，若母語者的目標是有效地溝通，那麼在以英語與國際聽眾交流時，母語者應表現得更加隨和。

*accommodating 樂於助人的；與人方便的；通融的

完整ＮＰＲ報導：https://n.pr/3y6g9IM

ＢＢＣ相關報導：https://bbc.in/3h5MkCy

★★★★★★★★★★★★

圖片出處: https://bit.ly/3x2lr7X

【你心中的央掘魔罗】THE AṄGULIMĀLA IN YOU
（English writing below)

在我的YOUTUBE頻道上，我每天都收到好一些留言，雖然我不曾在影片中說過：「請按讚、留言和分享！」。

有一部份的觀眾會辱罵我、取笑我或嘲諷我，但我大部份的觀眾都會鼓勵我、感謝我及問一些有深度的問題，提升自己的智慧。

看了這影片後: https://youtu.be/m5l01u-mDIw，

💁🏻‍♂️Patrick先生留言：
老師 不好意思我想請問您 因為那些惡人 今世可以賺到不斐的財富 是因為前世他們累積了不可思議的福報導致 那麼佛教有種說法 就是我們累世輪迴 這一世就是靈魂繼承上世的修行程度

你修的好的地方（善緣福報）你修的不好的地方（惡緣惡報）都會帶來這一世讓你繼續修

最終目的就是修到大圓滿 然後成佛

可是我的問題是 那些惡人如果上世能夠累積到這麼多的福報 那麼本質上他的靈魂就一定是善的居多 怎麼這一世會偏差的這麼遠呢？ 令人費解@@ 不好意思想請教老師...

👩🏻‍🏫 我的回覆：
您好，菩薩有隔世之迷，而且人之初，性混沌，遇到善緣，人會變善，遇到惡緣，人會變惡。

但問題是，修過福報的人，不一定是守五戒的人，因為他們可能不曾修過智慧，習性特重，便不會產生這定力不去犯錯。

打個比方，成龍享有巨大的財富和名氣，和他喜歡做慈善的心性有關係，但他還是犯了淫，因為定力不足，喜色成性。後代房祖名吸毒不爭氣，成龍受千夫所指，也是邪淫果報之一。

喜做善，不代表沒有在行惡。行了惡，又沒有懺悔，就會有這般善惡交叉的命運。但惡人再惡，善緣臨時也會有放下屠刀，立地成佛的一天，如佛陀弟子央掘魔罗。

他曾經是個殺人不眨眼的連環殺手。為了要達到殺一千人的目標，他窮追著佛陀。只要殺了釋迦牟尼佛，央掘魔罗就大功告成，誤認為自己可以升天了。

可是無論他跑得多快，他就是追不上近在眼前緩慢走著的佛陀。

於是，他大聲呵斥要佛陀停下來。佛陀頭也不回地說：「央掘魔罗！我早就停下來了。沒有停下來的是你。」

朋友，你心中的央掘魔罗可也停下來了嗎？

還是你依然在種著惡因，傷害著自己呢？

___________________________________

I get many comments everyday on my Youtube channel, despite me never saying "Please like, comment and share" in my videos.

Some are just scolding/mocking/taunting me but most of my audience thank me, encourage me and make the effort to ask insightful questions, so as to increase their wisdom.

Under this video: https://youtu.be/m5l01u-mDIw

💁🏻‍♂️ Mr Patrick commented:
Excuse me, Teacher, I would like to ask you. Those evil people can earn huge money this life, due to the incredible good fortune they amassed in their past lives. In Buddhism, it is said that our souls in this life inherit our cultivation from our past reincarnations.

The areas that you have cultivated well (positive affinities + good fortune) and the areas that you have not (negative affinities + negative karma) will follow you to this lifetime for you to continue your cultivation.

The eventual goal is reach the Great Perfection and then attain Buddhahood.

So my question is, if those evil people can accumulate so much good fortune, then intrinsically his soul should have more good in it.

Why do they end up deviating so far? This is perplexing. @@ And I would like to seek Teacher's advice.

👩🏻‍🏫 My reply:
When a Bodhisattva is reincarnated, He becomes ignorant of His past life.

Also, Man's nature at birth is muddled. When virtuous affinities arise, Man can become virtuous. When malevolent affinities arise, Man can become evil.

The thing is a person who have cultivated good fortune may not be a person who abide by the Five Precepts. He may not have cultivated his wisdom and retains many undesirable habits, so he lacks the meditative strength to restrain himself from doing wrong.

For example, Jackie Chan enjoys great wealth and fame, which is correlated to his love for philanthropy. However, he still committed sexual misdeeds, due to his inability to control his sexual urges and habitual lust. His only son, Jaycee Chan, unfortunately turns to be a drug addict for 8 years, a huge disappointment to many, and Jackie Chan got universally condemned again. Such is one retribution of sexual misconduct.

A person who likes doing good is not a virtuous man, if he also commits evil. When there is no repentance after evil is done, we will end up with a destiny that crosslinks good and evil.

However, no matter how evil a person is, when his virtuous conditions arise, there will still be a day when the butcher will lay down his knife and become a Buddha.

Just like Aṅgulimāla, who later became Buddha's disciple.

He was a serial killer, who wore the fingers of his 999 victims on a necklace. He was chasing Buddha to murder him, so that he can reach his goal of killing 1000 people. He wrongfully thought that would ascend him to Heaven.

Yet no matter how fast he ran, he could not catch up with Buddha, who seemingly was just walking slowly not that far away from him.

He yelled at Buddha to stop, and Buddha said, without turning his head:

"Angulimala! I have already stopped. It is you who have not stopped.”

My dear friend, have the Angulimala in you stopped?

Or are you relentlessly planting seeds of evil only to inflict misery onto yourself?

【了解、突破英文學習「瓶頸」，你只需要這樣做】

∙ 為什麼在美國住了20年的台灣人，還是講 Thanks for your feedbacks. 誤把 feedback 加上 s 呢 ?

∙ 為什麼在 Stanford Univ. 教了三十年要退休的中國教授，還是戒不了 Although...but 的中式用法呢？

∙ 為什麼老師講了幾百次的 news 不可數，我們還是忍不住地用出 That's a great news! 呢？

5/23 的談論英語學習現象的文章如實破百留言，今天兌現承諾，來談談有關「學習瓶頸」這件事。

在哥倫比亞大學唸第二個碩士時，當時的指導教授諄諄告誡雖然大家都不喜歡談 failure of learning，因為感覺政治不正確。但了解「為什麼學習沒有發生」和「為什麼努力和收穫沒有成正比？」更可以讓我們更了解在學習中，如何提高自己的學習意識、有沒有什麼東西要調整、甚至知道有沒有什麼「好習慣」可以培養、壞習慣要戒除 (例：只注意「意思」不注意「語言形式」的習慣)。

要理解「語言學習瓶頸」或「語言要怎麼學」，可以從幾個領域來了解。不是外國語文學、也不是應用英語。建議大家從「第二語言習得 second language acquisition」、「心理語言學 psycholinguistics」、、「神經語言學 neurolinguistics」和「認知語言學 cognitive linguistics」和稍稍可以幫助的「認知心理學 cognitive psychology」5 個大方向下手。

今天就直接從各領域幫大家整理出來是那些原因，造成我們的學習瓶頸。這些原因不是學者個人的「看法」、不是「學習經驗談」、更不是「直覺」，而是基於嚴密的實證研究 (empirical research) 所得到的。

∙ 缺乏 feedback 或缺乏對 feedback 的深度處理

∙ 對於基本溝通需求的滿足 (satisfaction of communicative needs) （Note: 有些東西錯了，不會對於溝通造成太大的影響，我們就懶得講好、講道地了)

∙ 母語的影響 (L1 influence)

∙ 學習英文的起始點太晚 (age; maturational
constraints)

∙ 沒有辦法注意到自己聽到母語人士用的英文和自己的 output 的差異性 (Inability to notice input-output discrepancies)

∙ 自己身邊的 input 也都是錯的 (quality of input) (Note: 可能周邊的同事、朋友也都狂講 Thank you for your feedbacks.)

∙ 對於語言的敏感度不佳 (Lack of sensitivity to input)

∙ 在理解英文時 (聽力、閱讀) 都是用技巧、策略、圖片、背景知識、大方向的東西幫助自己理解 (Use top-down processes in comprehension)

(Note: 用 bottom-up 的方式理解每一個動詞、子句、乃至於冠詞、介系詞的功能，比較會幫助我們將聽讀能力轉換成說和寫的能力。

∙ 過度簡化語言規則 (oversimplification)

∙ 錯誤用法自動化 (false automatization)
例如 Although...but 這樣不好的口說習慣已經「自動化」，不好戒除

∙ 喜歡注意「內容」，不喜歡注意「語言形式」的習慣 (Natural tendency to focus on content, not on form)

∙ 該用法本身的複雜性 (language complexity)

∙ 缺乏語言分析能力 (Lack of verbal analytic skills)

一長串負面原因的轟炸，稍微可以理解大家說談論failure of learning 的相對政治不正確性了。但是要記得，上述的原因，除了 age / maturational constraints 之外，「全部都是可以改善的」。

例如我常常在看漂亮的文章時，我都會去思考「同一個概念，我會怎樣表達？我的比較好還他的比較好？如果他的比較好，我可以怎樣學習？」

我也會常常提醒學生，學習要有效率，就要去觀察自己每次拿到的feedback，有沒有什麼 tendencies，因為更正系統性錯誤的學習效率是比較高的。

文長了，先講到這。祝福大家都能用對的方式學習、戒除不好的學習習慣，用最有效果、有效率、有成就感的方式學習英文喔！