上星期跟一位英國紳士吃飯，席間提到在英國鄉間遊歷的佚事，紳士說當地人的口音，外來人十之有九聽不懂，包括英倫居民。
中國人學英文，除了注重語法，發音是另一重要環節。君不見港府每年撥款給學校請外藉教師，目的是要提升學生的英語聽說能力？不過，聽完紳士的話，栗就在想，到底我們在香港學習的英文，在外國有多少地方通行？我們認為是英文的聲音，是否只在新聞報導員口中才會吐出來？
跟公司裡一位準大學生聊天，她說高考的英文口試，比日常生活中的應用困難多了。栗對此說法極之認同。日常生活中跟外藉同事交談，文法上有少許錯誤絕不影響溝通；但在試場裡，少許瑕疵便可以令你的成績降一級！
到底對學習英文的學生，我們是該嚴格一點，還是寬容一些呢？
I don't think we need to worry about communicating with provincial Englishmen. As your friend says, even Englishmen couldn't understand some of the provincial accents. But we do need to be able to communicate with people who speak proper English.
回覆刪除[版主回覆06/27/2010 06:28:00]Agree. And Teacher, you just remind me that I need to brush up my Putonghua in order to communicate with colleagues in Shenzhen.
Language should be learn before the age of 7. After 7 we begin to lose the ability to hear the slight in sound. People in HK can't even speak proper Cantonese!
回覆刪除[版主回覆06/27/2010 06:31:00]If Cantonese is an official language, I believe most people will try their best to speak it properly.
And I'm too old to hear the slight in sound. Sigh.
Official or not, it is want people speak at home everyday start learning at birth and yet still not very good. What hope do they have with another language?
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