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面對(duì)著一屋子非英語(yǔ)母語(yǔ)者，英語(yǔ)母語(yǔ)者可能根本聽(tīng)不懂他們?cè)谡f(shuō)什么。這雖然是他們的語(yǔ)言，但其中的關(guān)鍵信息常被遺漏。
正文
本文選自 BBC
譯者：鄧小雪&曾擎禹
校對(duì)：楊靄琳&徐嘉悅
策劃：徐嘉悅
Native Englsih Speakers Are the World's Worst Communicators
英語(yǔ)為母語(yǔ)的人是世界上最糟糕的交流者
It was just one word in one email, but it triggered huge financial losses for a multinational company.
一封郵件中的一個(gè)單詞，造成了一家跨國(guó)公司巨大的財(cái)務(wù)損失。
The message, written in English, was sent by a native speaker to a colleague for whom English was a second language. Unsure of the word, the recipient found two contradictory meanings in his dictionary. He acted on the wrong one.
這封郵件是由一位英語(yǔ)母語(yǔ)者發(fā)送給他的一名非英語(yǔ)母語(yǔ)的同事。同事不確定單詞的意思，在查字典后發(fā)現(xiàn)有兩個(gè)完全相反的意思，然后他按照錯(cuò)誤的一個(gè)辦了事。
Months later, senior management investigated why the project had flopped, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. “It all traced back to this one word,” says Chia Suan Chong, a UK-based communications skills and intercultural trainer, who didn't reveal the tricky word because it is highly industry-specific and possibly identifiable. “Things spiralled out of control because both parties were thinking the opposite.”
一個(gè)月后，上級(jí)調(diào)查了項(xiàng)目失敗并巨額虧損的原因?！捌鹨蚓褪且?yàn)檫@一個(gè)詞，事情失去控制，因?yàn)殡p方理解了相反的意思?！?Chia Suan Chong表示。她是英國(guó)一位跨文化交流技能培訓(xùn)員，由于具有行業(yè)特殊性和識(shí)別性，她并沒(méi)有透露具體是哪個(gè)單詞。
When such misunderstandings happen, it’s usually the native speakers who are to blame. Ironically, they are worse at delivering their message than people who speak English as a second or third language, according to Chong.
Chong表示，當(dāng)這樣的誤解發(fā)生時(shí)，通常都是母語(yǔ)英語(yǔ)者的責(zé)任。諷刺的是，他們和以英語(yǔ)為第二語(yǔ)言的人相比傳遞信息的能力更差。
“A lot of native speakers are happy that English has become the world’s global language. They feel they don’t have to spend time learning another language,” says Chong. “But… often you have a boardroom full of people from different countries communicating in English and all understanding each other and then suddenly the American or Brit walks into the room and nobody can understand them.”
Chong 說(shuō)，“很多英語(yǔ)母語(yǔ)者對(duì)于英語(yǔ)成為世界通用語(yǔ)言很高興，因?yàn)樗麄冇X(jué)得這樣就不用再花時(shí)間學(xué)別的語(yǔ)言了。通常，如果屋子里都是一群來(lái)自世界各地的人用英語(yǔ)交流，他們都能理解對(duì)方，但這時(shí)如果突然進(jìn)來(lái)一個(gè)英國(guó)人或者美國(guó)人，大家就都聽(tīng)不懂他/她在說(shuō)什么了?！?/p>
The non-native speakers, it turns out, speak more purposefully and carefully, typical of someone speaking a second or third language. Anglophones, on the other hand, often talk too fast for others to follow, and use jokes, slang and references specific to their own culture, says Chong. In emails, they use baffling abbreviations such as ‘OOO’, instead of simply saying that they will be out of the office.
Chong認(rèn)為，非英語(yǔ)母語(yǔ)者，尤其是那些把英語(yǔ)作為第二或第三語(yǔ)言的人，講話的時(shí)候更有目的性也更謹(jǐn)慎。英語(yǔ)母語(yǔ)者卻經(jīng)常在講話中語(yǔ)速過(guò)快，使其他人難以跟上。在郵件中他們經(jīng)常使用令人困惑的縮寫，例如“OOO”而不明確說(shuō)明他們只是要離開(kāi)辦公室。
“The native English speaker… is the only one who might not feel the need to accommodate or adapt to the others,” she adds.
她接著補(bǔ)充道：“英語(yǔ)母語(yǔ)者可能是唯一一個(gè)覺(jué)得不需要去適應(yīng)或包容其他人的人。”
Relating to your audience
和你的聽(tīng)眾進(jìn)行溝通
With non-native English speakers in the majority worldwide, it’s Anglophones who may need to up their game.
全世界絕大多數(shù)人都不是英語(yǔ)母語(yǔ)者，所以對(duì)于生來(lái)就說(shuō)英語(yǔ)的人來(lái)說(shuō)，他們應(yīng)該也學(xué)著適應(yīng)。
“Native speakers are at a disadvantage when you are in a lingua franca situation,” where English is being used as a common denominator, says Jennifer Jenkins, professor of global Englishes at the UK’s University of Southampton. “It’s the native English speakers that are having difficulty understanding and making themselves understood.”Non-native speakers generally use more limited vocabulary and simpler expressions, without flowery language or slang. Because of that, they understand one another at face value. Jenkins found, for instance, that international students at a British university understood each other well in English and swiftly adapted to helping the least fluent members in any group.
英國(guó)南安普頓大學(xué)研究世界英語(yǔ)的教授Jennifer Jenkins 表示，英語(yǔ)作為全球通用語(yǔ)言，“其母語(yǔ)使用者在混合語(yǔ)言環(huán)境中反而處于劣勢(shì)。他們很難理解別人的意思，也很難讓別人理解自己。”非母語(yǔ)者通常會(huì)使用有限的詞匯和簡(jiǎn)單的表達(dá)，而非花哨的修辭或俚語(yǔ)。正因?yàn)槿绱耍麄兡芾斫鈱?duì)方明顯想要表達(dá)的意思。例如，Jenkins發(fā)現(xiàn)在英國(guó)大學(xué)里，國(guó)際學(xué)生能用英語(yǔ)很好地交流并很快開(kāi)始幫助組里語(yǔ)言不那么流利的成員。
‘What the hell is ETA?’
“ETA是什么玩意？”
Zurich-based Michael Blattner’s mother tongue is Swiss-German, but professionally he interacts mostly in English. “I often hear from non-native colleagues that they do understand me better when listening to me than when doing so to natives,” says the head of training and proposition, IP Operations at Zurich Insurance Group.
蘇黎世的Michael Blattner是蘇黎世保險(xiǎn)集團(tuán)知識(shí)產(chǎn)權(quán)運(yùn)營(yíng)部門的首席培訓(xùn)員，他以瑞士德語(yǔ)為母語(yǔ)，但在專業(yè)交流上主要還是用英語(yǔ)。他說(shuō)“我經(jīng)常聽(tīng)那些英語(yǔ)非母語(yǔ)的同事告訴我，相比于理解英語(yǔ)母語(yǔ)者，他們能更好地理解我說(shuō)的話?！?/p>
One bugbear is abbreviations.
難題之一是縮寫
“The first time I worked in an international context somebody said ‘Eta 16:53’ and I thought ‘What the hell is ETA?’,” says Blattner. “To add to the confusion, some of the abbreviations in British English are very different from American English.”
Blattner說(shuō)：“當(dāng)我第一次在一家國(guó)際背景的公司中工作時(shí)，有人在郵件里說(shuō)‘ETA：16:53’，我當(dāng)時(shí)想的是ETA是什么鬼？ 更糟糕的是，有一些縮寫在英式英語(yǔ)和美式英語(yǔ)中有不同的意思?！?/p>
注:ETA= Estimated time of arrival,預(yù)計(jì)到達(dá)時(shí)間.
And then there’s cultural style, Blattner says. When a Brit reacts to a proposal by saying, “That’s interesting” a fellow Brit might recognise this as understatement for, “That’s rubbish.” But other nationalities would take the word “interesting” on face value, he says.
還有就是文化風(fēng)格的差異，布拉特表示。當(dāng)一個(gè)英國(guó)人評(píng)論某項(xiàng)提案“That’s interesting?！?，真正的英國(guó)人可能會(huì)意識(shí)到這句話的意思是“那個(gè)提案就是一個(gè)垃圾?！钡瞧渌麌?guó)籍的人可能會(huì)僅僅從字面上理解“有趣”這個(gè)詞。
Unusual words, speed of talking and mumbling don’t help, he adds — especially if the phone or video connection is poor quality. “You start disengaging and doing something else because there isn’t any chance of understanding,” he says.
他同時(shí)表示，使用不常見(jiàn)的詞，語(yǔ)速或者喃喃自語(yǔ)對(duì)理解對(duì)話完全沒(méi)有幫助——尤其當(dāng)電話信號(hào)或者視頻連接不穩(wěn)定的時(shí)候。他說(shuō)：“這種時(shí)候你就開(kāi)始偏離對(duì)話的真正含義了，因?yàn)楦緵](méi)有機(jī)會(huì)去正確理解其中的含義?！?/p>
At meetings, he adds, “typically, native English speakers dominate about 90% of the time. But the other people have been invited for a reason.”
他補(bǔ)充道：“在會(huì)議上，英語(yǔ)母語(yǔ)者的發(fā)言要占據(jù)90%的時(shí)間。但其他人被邀請(qǐng)都是有原因的。 ”
Dale Coulter, head of English at language course provider TLC International House in Baden, Switzerland, agrees: “English speakers with no other language often have a lack of awareness of how to speak English internationally.”
來(lái)自瑞士巴登TLC國(guó)際語(yǔ)言學(xué)校的英語(yǔ)課程主任 Dale Coulter贊同這種說(shuō)法：“那些不會(huì)說(shuō)其他語(yǔ)言的英語(yǔ)母語(yǔ)使用者，通常缺少如何更國(guó)際化使用英語(yǔ)的意識(shí)。”
In Berlin, Coulter saw German staff of a Fortune 500 company being briefed from their Californian HQ via video link. Despite being competent in English, the Germans gleaned only the gist of what their American project leader said. So among themselves they came up with an agreed version, which might or might not have been what was intended by the California staff.
在柏林，庫(kù)爾特看到一家世界財(cái)富500強(qiáng)的公司的德國(guó)員工正通過(guò)遠(yuǎn)程視頻與他們加利福尼亞總部的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)溝通。盡管主管一直在使用英語(yǔ)，但是德國(guó)人也只是領(lǐng)會(huì)到了他們的美國(guó)項(xiàng)目主管人的中心思想。所以他們自己內(nèi)部對(duì)這一項(xiàng)目達(dá)成了某種意見(jiàn)，卻可能與他們遠(yuǎn)在加利福尼亞的同事所想的完全不同。
“A lot of the information goes amiss,” Coulter says.
庫(kù)爾特說(shuō)：“很多信息都是錯(cuò)誤的”
When simpler is better
何時(shí)應(yīng)該簡(jiǎn)化
It’s the native speaker who often risks missing out on closing a deal, warns Frenchman Jean-Paul Nerriere, formerly a senior international marketing executive at IBM.
IBM 前國(guó)際市場(chǎng)部高級(jí)執(zhí)行官，來(lái)自法國(guó)的Jean-Paul Nerriere 警告說(shuō)：“英語(yǔ)母語(yǔ)使用者，在溝通時(shí)經(jīng)常會(huì)有喪失商機(jī)的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)?！?/p>
“Too many non-Anglophones, especially the Asians and the French, are too concerned about not ‘losing face’ — and nod approvingly while not getting the message at all,” he says.
他說(shuō)：“很多非母語(yǔ)英文使用者，尤其是亞洲人和法國(guó)人，并不太過(guò)于擔(dān)心‘丟臉’——而且有時(shí)候，點(diǎn)頭贊許并不能獲得任何有效信息?！?/p>
That’s why Nerriere devised Globish — a distilled form of English, stripped down to 1,500 words and simple but standard grammar. “It’s not a language, it’s a tool,” he says. Since launching Globish in 2004 he’s sold more than 200,000 Globish text books in 18 languages.
這就是為什Nerriere 設(shè)計(jì)了世界語(yǔ)——一種英語(yǔ)的精簡(jiǎn)形式，將詞匯量降低到1500個(gè)同時(shí)又擁有簡(jiǎn)單而完善的語(yǔ)法體系。他說(shuō)：“這不是一種語(yǔ)言，它其實(shí)是一種工具?！?。 自從世界語(yǔ)2004年出版以來(lái)，他已經(jīng)賣出了用18種語(yǔ)言編寫的超過(guò)20萬(wàn)本教材書籍。
“If you can communicate efficiently with limited, simple language you save time, avoid misinterpretation and you don’t have errors in communication,” Nerriere says.
Nerriere說(shuō)：“如果你能使用有限且簡(jiǎn)單的詞匯進(jìn)行高效的溝通，你就能避免誤解而且不會(huì)在交流中犯錯(cuò)?！?/p>
As an Englishman who’s worked hard to learn French, Rob Steggles, senior marketing director for Europe at telecommunications giant NTT Communications, has advice for Anglophones. Based in Paris, Steggles says, “you need to be short, clear and direct and you need to simplify. But there’s a fine line between doing that and being patronising.”
Rob Steggles 現(xiàn)在是歐洲電信巨頭NTT的高級(jí)營(yíng)銷總監(jiān)，作為一個(gè)努力學(xué)習(xí)法語(yǔ)的英國(guó)人，他對(duì)英語(yǔ)母語(yǔ)使用者提出了一些建議。 Steggles說(shuō)：“就在巴黎而言，你需要盡量簡(jiǎn)短、清晰、直接地表達(dá)你的需求。但是這一點(diǎn)和趾高氣昂地說(shuō)話是有明顯的界限的?！?/p>
“It’s a tightrope walk,” he adds.
他補(bǔ)充說(shuō)：“這就像走鋼絲”
Giving others a chance
給別人一個(gè)機(jī)會(huì)
When trying to communicate in English with a group of people with varying levels of fluency, it’s important to be receptive and adaptable, tuning your ears into a whole range of different ways of using English, Jenkins says.
Jenkins說(shuō)：“當(dāng)我們和一群英語(yǔ)流利程度相差很大的人一起交流時(shí)，接受和適應(yīng)是非常重要的一部分內(nèi)容，豎起你的耳朵接受廣泛且大不相同的英語(yǔ)方式?！?/p>
“People who’ve learned other languages are good at doing that, but native speakers of English generally are monolingual and not very good at tuning in to language variation,” she says.
她說(shuō)“多語(yǔ)言學(xué)習(xí)的人通常很擅長(zhǎng)這樣做，但是那些英語(yǔ)母語(yǔ)使用者通常習(xí)慣了單一語(yǔ)言的使用而且不擅長(zhǎng)轉(zhuǎn)換語(yǔ)言變化?！?/p>
In meetings, Anglophones tend to speed along at what they consider a normal pace, and also rush to fill gaps in conversation, according to Steggles.
根據(jù)Steggles 的說(shuō)法：“在會(huì)議中，英語(yǔ)母語(yǔ)使用者傾向于使用他們認(rèn)為正常的語(yǔ)速進(jìn)行交流，并且急于填補(bǔ)對(duì)話中的空白?！?nbsp;
“It could be that the non-native speaker is trying to formulate a sentence,” he says. “You just have to wait a heartbeat and give them a chance. Otherwise, after the meeting they come up and say, ‘What was all that about?’ Or they walk away and nothing happens because they haven’t understood.”
他說(shuō)：“對(duì)于那些非母語(yǔ)英語(yǔ)使用者來(lái)說(shuō)，他們可能正在試著組織一個(gè)句子。你只需要等一等，給他們一個(gè)機(jī)會(huì)。否則，在會(huì)議結(jié)束后，他們會(huì)說(shuō)：‘這些是什么東西？’又或者他們會(huì)徑直走開(kāi)，當(dāng)成什么事都沒(méi)發(fā)生一樣。因?yàn)樗麄儾](méi)有聽(tīng)懂其他人的言論?！?/p>
He recommends making the same point in a couple of different ways and asking for some acknowledgement, reaction or action.
他的建議是對(duì)同一種觀點(diǎn)采取多種表達(dá)方式，并且向聽(tīng)眾確認(rèn)，或者征詢一些反應(yīng)或者行為。
“If there’s no participation,' Steggles cautions, “you don’t know whether you’ve been understood or not.”
Steggles提醒說(shuō)：“如果大家不參與其中，你就不知道自己是否真的理解它了?！?/p>
外媒簡(jiǎn)介
英國(guó)廣播公司 (BBC)，成立于1922年，是英國(guó)最大的新聞廣播機(jī)構(gòu)，也是世界最大的新聞廣播機(jī)構(gòu)之一。在相當(dāng)長(zhǎng)的一段時(shí)間內(nèi)BBC一直壟斷著英國(guó)的電視、電臺(tái)。在1955年獨(dú)立電視臺(tái)和1973年獨(dú)立電視臺(tái)成立之前，BBC一直是英國(guó)唯一的電視、電臺(tái)廣播公司。
學(xué)習(xí)筆記
1、lingua franca
（母語(yǔ)不同的人之間使用的）通用語(yǔ)、交際語(yǔ)。
Native speakers are at a disadvantage when you are in a lingua franca situation, where English is being used as a common denominator.
英語(yǔ)作為全球通用語(yǔ)言，其母語(yǔ)使用者在混合語(yǔ)言環(huán)境中反而處于劣勢(shì)。
2、denominator
n. 共性，共同特征，標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，衡量的尺度。
3、bugbear
n. 使人煩惱的東西，難題。
One bugbear is abbreviations.
難題之一是縮寫。
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