Wang Fei: 大家好，歡迎收聽BBC Learning English 為您制作的Question and Answer of
the Week. 我是王飛。
Alice: And I'm Alice Castle. Today we continue our series about Chinese learners'
accents when speaking English. Wang Fei, how is your pronunciation practice going?
Wang Fei: Honestly speaking, I feel a bit frustrated.
Alice: Why?
Wang Fei: My language trainer told me that she couldn't help me change my accent.
Alice: Oh, Wang Fei, do you really want to lose your Chinese accent completely
and sound like a British person?
Wang Fei: Yes. Not only me but many Chinese learners of English have this dream to
sound like a British person. But many English language experts I've interviewed say it's almost impossible for us to lose our Chinese accents. Is
that true Alice?
Alice: Hmm… It's probably true. So, what did they say then? Shall we listen to
them first?
Wang Fei: 好的。我們首先聽一聽英國威斯敏斯特大學英語教學中心主任Ken Paterson 的采
訪。
Insert
Wang Fei: If your students ask you that "I really want to lose my Chinese accent." Do
you think it is possible or…?
Ken: No, in the end probably not. But does it matter? I think intelligibility is the main thing. An accent is only a problem if it stops somebody communicating effectively with another person. I think in that respect Chinese students don't have any more of a problem than students from other countries. I don't think Chinese students should have an ambition to get rid of their accents. I think accent is part of yourself.
Alice: I think Ken made a very important point here. He thinks an accent is only a
problem when it stops somebody communicating effectively with another person.
Wang Fei: 只有口音妨礙了交流的時候，它才會成為一個問題。
Alice: He thinks intelligibility is more important than accent.
Wang Fei: Intelligibility 理解性，讓你說的話容易被人理解遠比口音重要。
Alice: And Ken doesn't encourage his Chinese students to lose their accents
because he thinks accent is part of yourself.
Wang Fei: Part of yourself 你自己的一部分?？谝羰悄阕约旱囊徊糠帧?div style="height:15px;">
Alice: Wang Fei, you speak fluently and you can express yourself really clearly in
English. I don't think it's necessary for you to get rid of your Chinese accent completely and speak like a British gentleman. I really like your accent.
Wang Fei: Alice 建議說我根本就沒有必要把口音改得像英國人一樣。她其實很喜歡我的口音。這
是真的嗎？
Alice: You probably don't believe it yet. Let's hear from Liz Qiu. She is an English
tutor working at Imperial College London.
Wang Fei: 下面的采訪來自Liz Qiu, 她是倫敦帝國理工大學的學術英語教師。
Insert
You could work for maybe I don't know how many years solidly on trying to make your
accent perfect. Is it worth it? I mean what is perfect in the end? If you sound like me then you go to America, they'll think you've got an accent anyway. So, why not have a Chinese accent? You're from China. You should sound Chinese. The important thing is that your accent is easy to understand. My advice is: be proud of your Chinese accent,but make it a good one. One that is clear and as close to standard as possible.
Alice: Liz said you might make your accent perfect after years of hard work, maybe sounding like a British person.
Wang Fei: Liz 認為或許經(jīng)過很多年的刻苦努力，你可能會徹底丟掉自己的中國口音。比如：你說
英語的時候，聽起來很像一個英國人。
Alice: But… if you go to other English speaking countries, you'll still have an
accent, a British accent.
Wang Fei: 英國英語，也是一種口音。Alice, when you're in the United States, what do
American people think of your BBC accent?
Alice: Well, some of them think my accent is very funny. You know, American
people sometimes make fun of British people's accents and British people sometimes make fun of American accents as well. This sounds strange but there is no problem in communicating with either accent.
Wang Fei: OK, so there's no point in being able to speak with a perfect British accent
or American accent then.
Alice: Yes. So, Liz said "be proud of your Chinese accent." You're Chinese, you
should sound Chinese.
Wang Fei: 英國人覺得中國人說英語的時候聽起來要像中國人才好。這確實很有意思。
Alice: OK. Wang Fei, if you still have doubts about your Chinese accent, let's
listen to Dr. John O'Regan. He is a lecturer from the Institute of Education,
at the University of London.
Wang Fei: 下面的采訪來自John O'Regan 博士，他是倫敦大學教育學院的講師。
Insert
I have a lot of students to say "Oh! My accent is too strong. I have to lose my accent. How and what do I do?" I say, "No. No. Your accent is one thing that is very nice about you and that's what makes you interesting as an individual and as a speaker of English". So my advice to students is you need to make yourself comprehensible but you don't have to sound like a British person or an American person or an Australian person. As long as you make yourself understood, that is the most important thing." And keeping your accent in your speech is one of the most valuable things about you as a human being and as a speaker of English.
Alice: Dr. O'Regan said "Your accent is one thing that's very nice about you and
your accent makes you interesting."
Wang Fei: Your accent is something nice about you. 你的口音讓你可愛。Alice, I never
realised that my Chinese accent could be something nice about me!
Alice: That's because when you're learning a language, you seldom think of this
from a native speakers' perspective. If I speak Chinese, what accent do you expect me to have, a Chinese accent? I doubt it. An American accent or a British accent?
Wang Fei: A British accent of course! It would be strange if you spoke Chinese with a
Beijing accent or Dongbei accent.
Alice: That's it! So Dr. John O'Regan's advice is to take your accent as one of the
most valuable things about the way you speak English.
Wang Fei: 口音是你的英語表達中很寶貴的東西。
Alice: Don't feel ashamed of your accent. As long as you can make yourself understood, that's the most important thing.
Wang Fei: Make yourself understood. 把你的意思表達清楚，讓別人明白你的意思是最重要
的。Alice this is absolutely true. Since I've been in London, I've realised that most of the Chinese learners like me need to enlarge our vocabulary and improve the accuracy of our spoken English instead of putting so much effort into losing our accents.
Alice: Yes. I hope our listeners will also realise this.
Wang Fei: 好的，聽眾朋友，我們四集的關于中國人的英語口音的節(jié)目到這里就全部結(jié)束了。我希
望我們的節(jié)目對您的英語學習有所幫助，也希望能夠得到你們的回饋。
Alice: We look forward to hearing from you! Bye for now.
Wang Fei: Bye bye.
