This article is inspired by an article by Professor Wang Zongyan entitled "When learning English, I took a detour". There are 5 points mentioned in the text, each of which can be expanded into a separate text.
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Professor Wang Zongyan is an English linguist who is committed to the comparative study of English and Chinese languages, and has been engaged in English teaching and research for a long time. Mr. Wang has published more than 100 academic papers and monographs, and is one of the most influential linguists and foreign language educators in China.
"When learning English, I took a detour"
Text | Wang Zongyan
Learning English, I don't know if there are any shortcuts, but I have taken many detours. The following is divided into five questions.
First, to learn English, do you have to spend a lot of effort to learn pronunciation?
I entered middle school in the 20s, and my English teacher - small white face, gold wire glasses, quite a bit of foreign style - good reading ability, reading books during class, a Chinese accent, every word, every syllable is clearly pronounced. At that time, I enjoyed listening to his lectures, but after listening to them, suddenly a Canadian teacher came, and her English I just couldn't understand. For example, she says tell us as tellers, and our Chinese teacher always pronounces tell us, and every syllable is equally loud.
Nowadays, middle school textbooks talk about pronunciation rules and international phonetic transcription, which is much better than before. However, understanding the phonetic transcription and remembering the phonetic transcription does not mean that the phonetic value is clearly distinguished. Now many people know the phonetic transcription and meaning of sit/seat, pull/pool, bed/bad, face/fish, ship/sheep, but can you distinguish and correctly pronounce these different sounds? Therefore, only pay attention to spelling and do not pay attention to pronunciation, this detour hopes that everyone will not go again.
Second, to learn English, do you want to have a good dictionary? With a good dictionary, can you use it to solve vocabulary problems?
What dictionary do current students use? How reliable is it? Before using the dictionary, did the students carefully read its preface, example sentence description, phonetic instructions, etc.? If it is a double solution, do they know that it is easier and more accurate to learn the meaning of English words and explain English words in annotated English than in Chinese, and will the double-solution dictionary only look at Chinese explanations? Do students think that it is enough to look at the interpretation, and do not know that in a term, the example is more important than the interpretation? For example, glorious is "glorious", but it also means "superb" and "cute". But remember the glorious sunshine, glorious weather, glorious rainbow in the air. With such an example, it is easy to understand the word immediately.
Third, to learn English, do you have to read literature? Should it be limited to literary works?
My view of learning English for literature cannot be opposed, but this is after all a matter for a few people; learning English for technology and learning English for practical purposes is bound to be more and more people on this road.
Fourth, should English be read intensively?
Regarding reading, about learning English, I still think Francis Bacon is right: "Some books just taste, some books to swallow, and a few books to chew and digest." "If chewing and digestion is not intensive reading, what is it?"
Fifth, to study English or literature, do you also have to study a little social science and natural science?
The Asians in the British population mostly refer to people from South Asia, but the so-called Asians in the United States mostly refer to people from East Asia. When we hear the word "Labour Party", we may think that it is a proletarian organization, but some of the important members of the Laborator Party in England are aristocrats.
When we say goovernment, we think of government departments, but Americans include parliament and the courts. Looking at the text, I thought I had understood and understood, but in fact, I didn't know the number.
To learn English, we must learn both within the language and outside the language - in the social context, in the medium of communication, in politics, economy, culture, science and technology, folklore, history - to learn, this is a truth I realized after a long period of detours, I hope you will also consider it.
One
I am very much in favor of the first sentence, after learning English for so many years, I really did not summarize any shortcuts to learning English.
Whenever someone asks me, is there any way to learn English?
I would say that to master the listening, speaking, reading, writing and translating of a language, there is nothing but accumulation over time, and there is no other way. Do not rush to achieve quick success and rush to achieve results.
In fact, the answer is a little irresponsible, but I really can't summarize any specific methods.
So-and-so crash course, seven days to work, an hour to remember 1000 words, and so on, I did not try, do not know the results, do not comment.
Two
The tone of voice bothers many people.
In many cases, the pronunciation of primary and high school teachers affects our pronunciation, which involves the problem of teachers in the big education environment.
If we are lucky enough to meet an English teacher whose pronunciation is more authentic, the pronunciation we have learned will probably not be too much of a problem.
When I was an undergraduate, I had a classmate who sounded very well. She said that when she was in high school, the English teacher's pronunciation was very good, and she was influenced by the English teacher.
During my freshman year, the school set up a special pronunciation class to correct pronunciation problems. Because each student's pronunciation level is uneven, some have obvious local accents.
How to make your voice sound more comfortable in a big environment. A good way to do that is to imitate, to imitate the standard English or American tone.
Sometimes, I also meet some people and talk to me a few words of English. Although not professionally trained, their pronunciation sounds very comfortable. Asked how they did it, the answer was that they learned it when they watched the show.
Three
"If you want to do good, you must first use it", a dictionary suitable for yourself, which is bound to be of great benefit.
You can develop the habit of consulting English-English dictionaries and develop the habit of thinking in English, whether it is a paper dictionary or an electronic dictionary.
Some people say that English majors and non-English majors, people with different basic levels, use different dictionaries. It is possible to transition from a Chinese-English (English-Chinese) dictionary and an English-Chinese dictionary to an English-English dictionary.
This is not unreasonable, but it is not necessary to follow this gradual approach completely, and the sooner you adapt to the British-English interpretation, the better.
The English-English dictionary distinguishes between nuances of synonyms or synonyms.
When study and research are translated as "research," there is no difference, but in English, the difference is obvious.
Study: a thorough enquiry into a particular subject, esp, including a piece of writing on it;
research: serious and detailed study of a subject, that is aimed at learning new facts, scientific laws, testing ideas, etc.
The English-English Dictionary provides authentic annotations and example sentences, equivalent to learning in the context of the source language. Therefore, it is also said that dictionaries are not only searchable, but also readable.
In the initial stage of learning, you can rely on your mother tongue, use the English-Chinese dictionary, and after completing the primary stage, you can throw yourself into a pure English environment as much as possible.
Four
What type of books to read, I think it is mainly based on personal hobbies. As long as you like literature and enjoy the process of reading, then you can read it.
If you find the long English original more difficult to nibble on, you can read a collection of short stories, all according to personal comfort preferences.
Intensive reading is also up to you personally.
Others tell you that this book needs to be read intensively, but you don't like it, and no matter how you read it, it is a torture.
On the contrary, if others think that the book only needs to be tasted and stopped, and you happen to love it, then you read it intensively.
The process of intensive reading can bring a lot of unexpected surprises.
For example, I recently saw a sentence that described in a foreign journal about the scene of Chinese parents waiting outside the examination room anxiously when they took the college entrance examination:
A red banner above the barrier declared the school a "National unified gaokao examination point". At the first sign of movement inside, the parents pushed in closer, cranning their necks to spot their children emerging.
When I first recognized the word crane, it was a noun, meaning "crane". Seeing this sentence now, the scene of parents stretching their necks like "cranes" and looking at the examination room comes to mind.
Immediately remember the specific context of "crane" used as a verb, translated as "elongation" and "probe", and the next time you encounter a similar situation, you know how to express it authentically.
In addition, when you have no resistance to English, are not bored, and can calmly read an article, I think the English level is relatively high.
Five
Learn both within and outside the language.
Learning English in middle and high school, we pay too much attention to the language itself, memorizing words, memorizing sentence patterns, learning grammar, memorizing short texts, and suffering, but this is something that cannot be avoided by test-taking education.
Without these, English grades are not ideal, and therefore may not be able to enter the ideal university.
But english knowledge is definitely not what we learned in middle and high school, and it is definitely not the language itself.
Placing English in the context of society, it is closely linked to politics, economy, culture, science and technology, folklore, history, etc. For example, language hegemony, language colonization, language and national independence, language and culture.
Putting aside the shackles of language itself and understanding the connection between language and other things, we will understand language more deeply.