【转】为什么一定要学一门外语？

Why you should learn a foreign language

为什么一定要学一门外语？

In China, where I am currently living, a lot of people learn English to pass exams or to get certificates, and even when they pass the test they can often barely speak the language at all, or understand what people are saying. Learning a language becomes boring, tedious and an almost pointless pursuit of a very short-term goal.

目前我在中国生活，看到这里的很多人都是为了考试和拿证书在学英语。很多人通过了考试，却根本听不懂英语，没法开口说。这样一来，学英语就变成了一种无聊、累人、为追求极短期目标而进行的毫无意义的任务。

Learning languages has completely changed my life, so I wanted to make this video to explain why I think you should learn a foreign language.

对我个人而言，掌握一门外语完全改变了我的人生。所以，我想做这个视频来和大家分享一下为什么一定要学一门外语。

Let me start by giving you a few pretty bad reasons for learning a language.

我先跟大家列举一些不好的理由。

1) To get return on investment / to get rich 投资要有回报（赚钱）

If you think about the length of time it takes to learn a language up to a functional business level with good comprehension of what people are saying to and calculate the time or cost to get to that level compared to the extra salary or money that you could get from it, then most of the time you’ll find the ROI of learning a foreign language is quite low. Knowing another language may bring benefits or opportunities, but it might take many years to get any real financial benefits. If you’re only thinking about long term business, it’s far more convenient to hire an interpreter for important situations.

如果算算掌握一门语言并达到能在商务活动中听懂正式对话的水平所需要花费的时间和费用，再对比一下这项外语技能所能给你带来的额外收入，那么大部分情况下，你会发现学语言的投资回报比是很低的。掌握一门语言兴许能给你带来一些好处和机会，但是如果真的说要得到经济利益，也许要经过很多年。如果你只是考虑在业务和生意上的便利条件，那么在重要场合聘一个翻译要划算得多。

2）Just to pass a test 只是为了通过考试

Yes, you might need a good TOEFL or IELTS score to get into a university, but this is a pretty short term benefit of learning a language. You still need to be able to benefit from the course when you get to the country, be able to research in the language and be able to participate in discussions and social events. Otherwise, just having the piece of paper is of pretty limited use.

没错，为了申请国外在大学，你需要拿到一个好的托福或雅思分数，但这只是学语言的短期好处。到了国外，你还要从课程中学到东西，要能用外语做研究，要能用外语参与讨论、参加社交活动。否则，只是拿着一张成绩单起不到什么作用。

I’ve found that people choose to learn languages for a lot of reasons: to boost their abilities at work, to study abroad, to gain more from travel experiences, to speak to a partner or family member or even just out of pure interest in some aspect of culture like French literature or Japanese anime, but here are some of the more powerful and more subtle things you can get from learning a language.

我发现人们学语言的原因很多：增加工作上的能力，出国留学，旅游时有更大的收获，与配偶或家庭成员沟通，甚至纯粹是出于对外国文化的兴趣，比如法国文学，日本动漫。但是这里我想告诉大家一些学习一门语言背后更加有力的理由和一些更不易察觉的收获。

1）You can broaden your field of vision and get access to information you wouldn’t have access to otherwise 开阔自己的眼界，获取其他渠道获取不了的信息。

No matter where you live, the amount of information you have access to is severely limited, and it is often restricted by your culture or the place you live in – and I’m not just talking about the obvious places where this happens, if you get what I mean. In my mind, it’s really important to try to get different perspectives onthings, and sometimes these perspectives can come from different countries or cultures or ‘outside views’.

无论你住在哪里，你能够获取到的信息总量都是有限的，受到你的所在地以及那里的文化的制约。如果你懂我意思的话，这里说的不仅指那些这样的事情经常明显发生的地区。在我看来，试着了解对于一些事情的不同见解是非常重要的，有时候这些见解可能来自不同的国家、文化或一些“外人的看法”。

You have to hear about something from as manysources as possible to really get an idea of the actual situation, otherwise you may only be getting one side of the story. For example, if I wanted to know about British history and find out something new, it would be pretty interesting to read what the French have to say about it. Or if I wanted to know about market conditions in China, wouldn’t it be more informative to read about that market in Chinese, right from the country itself.

你必须要通过尽可能算多的资源和渠道去了解情况，否则很多故事我们听到的只是一面之词。比如说，如果我想了解英国历史，去发现一些新的东西，那么或许去看看法国人是怎么描述这段历史的，会是很有意思的一个角度。如果我想知道中国市场的现状，那么读一些中国出版的中文资料是不是能获取更多的信息?

2) To get access to great literature, films, music and culture in the language itself 接触更多原版的外国优秀文学作品、电影、音乐和文化

Sure, quite a few things are translated, but a lot of information simply may not be available in your native language, let alone a lot of great books, films, music and so on. Learning a new language opens up the doors to a huge range of works written in that language. And even if you can read them in your native language, it might not ‘feel’ the same.

当然，很多内容都已有翻译。但是，还有大量的信息没有被翻译成你的母语，更不用提很多优秀的书籍、影视、音乐等内容。学一门外语可以帮我们打开这扇门，可以大范围的用原本的语言去接触这些作品。此外，用你的母语去读这些作品的译文，可能 “感觉” 会不一样。

3）To meet and interact with people you wouldn’t otherwise be able to interact with 接触那些你原本无法结识到的人

There are many people in this world who don’t speak English at all, or your native language. I have been able to talk to many people though speaking foreign languages that I would not have been able to speak to otherwise, and I’ve been exposed to different opinions, because many of these people have been less internationalized and are certainly less vocal internationally. I’ve been able to make friends, get jobs, create business and find extra opportunities that simply wouldn’t have been open to me if I didn’t speak another language.

很多人在这个世界上是完全不会说英文的（或其他人的母语）。就是因为会说外语，我接触到了很多以前我不可能去接触和交谈的人，我可以倾听到不同的意见，其中很多人的国际化程度并不高，因此也很少会在国际场合发出自己的声音。正因为我会说另外一种语言，我结交了朋友，得到了工作，开始了创业并遇到了更多的机会，这些，如果不会这门外语，是不可能向我敞开大门的。

4）To challenge yourself and keep your mind sharp 挑战自我，保持敏锐的头脑

Learning a foreign language or two is a great way to keep your mind sharp. The act of translating or thinking in a foreign language will keep parts of your brain active and itcan be pretty fun to challenge yourself. You’ll always have more to learn, but that’s part of the fun. The sense of achievement when you are able to understand native speakers and you reach that epiphany point when you feel you can express yourself freely in a language is hard to express.

学习一两门语言可以让你保持思维敏锐。翻译或者用一门外语去思考的行为可以使大脑的某些部分处于活跃状态。挑战自己是一件相当有乐趣的事情。你会一直觉得有很多东西要学，这也是一种乐趣。这种能够理解母语人士所带来的成就感以及当你感觉自己能够用一门不好表达的语言来自如地表达自己的思想所带来的顿悟感，也是溢于言表的乐趣。

5）It will allow you to express yourself in more ways 可以让你有更多表达自己的途径

Some people saythat they have different personalities when they speak different languages orthey adopt the culture of a people or of a country when they are speaking the language. Learning a language that is as different to English as Chinese, I’ve foundthis to be true, because there are many things you learn to say in Chinese that you simply can’t express in the same way in English.

有人说，当他们说一门外语的时候他们会有另外一种性格的感觉，或者说当他们说这门外语的时候会选择进入这个国家或民族的文化。我学过英文和中文这两门截然不同的语言，也深有此感。因为你在说中文时候的一些表达在英文中是找不到对应的。

Even if learning a foreign language doesn’t unlock another side of your personality, it will at least giveyou another way or greater flexibility in expressing yourself. And when you are around somebody who speaks both or all the languages you do, this magic will come alive, and you will suddenly find yourself throwing foreign words into your speech and expressing yourself in several different languages at the same time. That’s where the beauty lies.

即使学一门外语不能打开你性格的另一面，它至少可以给你另外一种途径或者更大的弹性来表达自己。当你在一个能讲和你一样的两种或多种语言的人身边的时候，这种神奇的感觉就会出现，你会突然间发现自己开始在说话时夹杂外语，会同时用几种不同的语言来表达自己。而这种感觉是非常自然的，无需绞尽脑汁考虑这种表达如果换成另一种语言应该怎么说，这就是外语的神奇之处所在。

6） To become a person with greater empathy 成为一个与他人有更多共鸣感的人

When you learn to speak a foreign language as an adult you have to train your brain to handle completely different ways of expressing things, different words, grammar and expressions. There may be things that you have to say completely differently to your native language, new concepts that don’t exist in your native language and you will be exposed to new ideas and ways of thinking about things that you might not have had contact with before.

作为一个成年人，学习外语的时候，你必须要训练自己的大脑处理不同的表达方式、不同的用词、不同的语法和表达。也许有些外语表达与你母语中的说法完全不同，还有些事在你的母语里不存在的新概念，你也许要接触很多全新的理念，很多之前从来没有接触过的思维方式。

In my opinion, learning a foreign language to a high level really helps you understand other cultures, think inother people’s shoes and to have more empathy. During the process you may even becomemore open to new ideas or differing opinions, which can only be a good thing.

在我看来，学习一门外语达到一定水平的时候，确实可以帮助你了解其他文化，帮助你站在他人的位置去思考，与人产生更多的共鸣。在这个过程中，你甚至会对新的思想和不同的意见变得更加开放，这是多么好的一件事情啊。

Being able to speak multiple languages doesn’t make you better than other people, but it doesgive you extra access to a whole range of things in that language or culture. It’s like, in my mind, being a member of a special club, only that anybody can be a member as long as you have the patience, the curiosity and the ambition, to want to learn that language. In many ways, it’s a special privilege that is available to anybody.

能说多种语言不仅能让你超越他人，更能够让你对那门语言或者文化的整体领域有更多的探触。在我看来，这就像是成为一个特殊俱乐部里的会员，唯一的区别就是这是一个任何人都可以成为会员的俱乐部。只要你有这个耐心、好奇心和恒心去学习这门语言，从很多方面来说，这是一个任何人都可以得到的特权。

You will challenge yourself, keep your mind nimble, boost your powers of self-expression, learn to think in other people’s shoes, understand another culture and way of thinking, get access to incredible literature, movies and art, meet new people, create new opportunities, and most importantly you can have a lot of fun while you’re doing it!

你会挑战你自己，保持自己的思维敏锐，大大提高自我表达能力，学会站在别人的角度思考问题，了解另一种文化和思维方式，能够接触到了不起的文学作品、电影和艺术，结交更多的新朋友，创造新的机会，更重要的是，你在学习的过程中能获得很多乐趣。

And you could geta lot more than you can quantify in a monetary value.

你会获得的远远超越能用货币价值来衡量的。

Learning a language takes time, and there’s always more to learn. You can’t just do it for a year thenstop, or take a test then give up. You have to live it, love it and breathe itevery day. But if you keep going, you’ll be surprised how quickly you can progress. So do it. Start learning a language now, then keep it up and make it a part of your life even if you can only spend 15 minutes a day on it. I’m pretty sure you won’t regret it!

学习一门语言是需要花费时间的，而且是永无止境的。你不能只是学一年就停止，然后通过考试就放弃了。你需要享受它，热爱它，每天呼吸着它。如果你始终保持前行的话，你就会惊讶于自己进步的神速。所以，开始学习吧！现在就开始学习一门语言，保持着进步，即使你每天只花15分钟在上面，一定要让它成为你生活中的一部分。我保证你不会后悔的！