学了这么多年英语，为什么依然说不好？

Faizal是一个厂长。英语水平很低，但是他可以坐着听任何人说英语，而且能用英语完美地表达他的想法。像Faizal 这样的人为何能说好英语，他们是怎么做到的？

可以想一下，孩子很小的时候，在没有人教他们拼音、认字、句法结构的时候，他们能很好地跟身边的人交流沟通。

演讲者：Penang Road

内容节选：

So to answer that question, I’m going to take you back about 10 years, okay? I was training staff at that time, and my daughter, at that time, was taking piano lessons. And I started to notice two really strong similarities between my daughter’s attitude or thinking towards playing the piano and a lot of Malaysians’ thinking or attitude towards English. Now first of all, I should tell you my daughter absolutely hated piano, hated the lessons, hated practicing. This is my daughter practicing piano, okay? This is as good as it got. This is the real thing. 

为了回答这个问题，我要让你回到10年前，好吗？当时我在培训员工，那时，我女儿正在上钢琴课。我开始注意到两个非常相似的地方。我女儿对弹钢琴的态度或想法，以及许多马来西亚人对英语的思考和态度。首先，我告诉你，我女儿非常讨厌钢琴，讨厌这些课程，讨厌练习。

这是她最好的表现了。这才是真实的情况。她害怕去上钢琴课。

And she dreaded going to piano lessons because to my daughter, going to piano lessons, she was filled with this sort of dread, because it was all about not screwing up, right?Because like for a lot of piano students, to both my daughter and her teacher, her success in piano was measured by how few mistakes she made. Now at the same time, I noticed that a lot of Malaysians went into English conversations with the same sort of feeling of dread. This sort of feeling that they were going to be judged by how many mistakes they were going to make, and whether or not they were going to screw up.

因为对我女儿来说，去上钢琴课这件事本身，就让她充满了这种恐惧。因为一切都是为了不搞砸，对吧？因为像很多学钢琴的学生一样，对我女儿和她的老师来说，她在钢琴上的成功，是以她犯的错误少到什么程度来衡量的。同时，我注意到很多马来西亚人用英语交谈时，都带着同样的恐惧感。他们感觉自己将会被别人评判，依据他们将会犯多少错误，以及他们是否会搞砸对话。

Now, the second similarity that I noticed was to do with self-image. See, my daughter, she knew what good piano sounded like, right? Because we’ve all heard good piano. And she knew what her level was, and she knew how long she’d have to play for to play like that. And a lot of Malaysians, I noticed, had this idea of what good proper English is supposed to sound like, and what their – I see a lot of you nod – and what their English sounded like, and how far they would have to go to get there. And they also felt like they were – like my daughter – just bad, bad piano player, bad English speaker, right? My English not so good, lah. Cannot… Sorry, yah. Cannot… Ah –

现在我注意到的第二个相似之处是自我形象。我女儿，她知道弹得好的钢琴听起来像什么，因为我们都听过好听的钢琴曲。她知道自己的水平怎样，也知道她要弹多久才能弹出那样的钢琴。我注意到，很多马来西亚人都有这样的认知：他们知道好的英语听起来应该是什么样子，他们的-我看到你们很多人点头。而他们自己的英语听起来像什么，以及他们要走多远才能达到那个水平。他们也觉得自己，就像我的女儿一样，水平太差，钢琴弹得不好，说英语也很差，是吧？我的英语不太好，嗯，我做不到。

So I could see these similarities, but I still couldn’t figure out, okay, what is it about these people like Faizal, that are so different, that can just do it smoothly, calmly, with confidence?

所以我可以看到这些相似之处，但我还是搞不懂，这些像Faizal 这样与众不同的人，有什么特别之处呢？他们能顺利、冷静、自信地完成英语沟通。

One day, I discovered that answer, and I discovered it quite by chance. It was a day when my computer broke down, and I had to go to a cybercafe. So I sat down, and I started noticing this guy beside me. And I became very interested in this guy next to me. Now, this guy is playing this game that is basically, it’s like shooting people until they die. And that’s it. That’s the game, right? And I’m noticing that this guy is not very good. In fact, he’s terrible, right? Because I’m looking, and I’m seeing, like, a lot of shooting and not much dying, right? But what really interested me was behind this lousy player were three of his friends, sort of standing there watching him play. What I really noticed was even though this guy was terrible, even though his friends were watching him, there was no embarrassment. There was no feeling of being judged. There was no shyness. In fact, quite the opposite.This guy’s like totally focused on the bad guys, smile on his face. All he can think about is killing these guys, right? And I’m watching him. 

有一天，我发现了这个答案，我很偶然地发现了它。有一天，我的电脑坏了。我不得不去网吧。我坐下来，开始注意到我身边的这个人。我对旁边的这个人很感兴趣。现在这个家伙在玩的这个游戏，基本上就是不停地杀人，直到杀死别人。我注意到这家伙不太擅长游戏。事实上，他玩得很糟，因为我在看他玩的时候发现，他开了很多枪，但没杀掉几个人。但我真正感兴趣的是，在这个糟糕的游戏玩家背后是他的三个朋友，站在那里看他玩游戏。我真正注意到的是，即使这家伙水平很差，即使他的朋友们在看着他，他也没有任何尴尬，没有被评判的感觉，一点也不害羞。事实上，恰恰相反，这家伙把注意力都集中在坏人身上了。他脸上挂着微笑，满脑子想的都是杀了这些敌人。我在看着他。

And I suddenly realize: this is it. This is the same attitude that people like Faizal have when they speak English, just like this guy. When Faizal goes into an English conversation, he doesn’t feel judged. He is entirely focused on the person that he’s speaking to and the result he wants to get. He’s got no self-awareness, no thoughts about his own mistakes.

我突然意识到：就是这个。这是同样的态度，像Faizal 这样的人说英语的时候，就像这家伙一样。当Faizal开始英语对话时，他不觉得自己受到了审判。他全神贯注于和他交谈的人。他想要得到的结果。他没有自我意识，不考虑自己的错误。

I want to share with you a real, true example, to paint a picture, of somebody who speaks English like they are playing piano and someone who speaks English like they are playing a computer game. And this is a true story. It happened to me.

我想和你们分享一个真实的例子。来描绘一幅画面：一个人说英语就像在弹钢琴，另一个人说英语就像在玩电脑游戏。这是一个真实的故事，它发生在我身上。

A while ago, I was in a pharmacy. I had to buy omega; my doctor said I should get omega. And I go to the shelf, there’s tons of omega, there’s omega that’s high in DHA, omega that’s high in EPA, and I don’t know which one to buy. Now, the sales rep happened to be there. And I saw she’s like this well-dressed, professional woman. I walk over to her, and I see this look as she sees me, this sort of – it’s a look I recognize very well. Her eyes go all wide. It’s sort of that panic: Oh my God! I’ve got to speak to a native speaker; she’s going to judge me and notice my mistakes.I go up to her, and I explain my situation: which omega do I get? And she starts explaining to me everything about DHA and EPA you could possibly imagine. She speaks very quickly, goes all around in circles. And when she finishes, no idea what to buy.

不久前，我在一家药店。我不得不去买omega（药品），医生说我应该吃omega。我走到架子前，有好几吨的omega，有富含DHA的omega和高EPA含量的omega，我不知道该买哪一个。现在销售代表碰巧在那里。我看到她是个穿着考究，职业的女人。我走向她，我看到她看到我的表情，这种，这是我很熟悉的一种表情。她的眼睛睁得大大的。有点像恐慌，我的天啊，我要和一个说英语的人说话；她会对我评头论足，注意到我的错误。我走到她跟前，向她解释我的处境：我要吃哪个omega？她开始向我解释，所有你能想象到的DHA和EPA的事情。她说话很快，周而复始。当她讲完之后，我还是不知道买什么。

So I turn to the girl behind the counter. Now, the girl behind the counter, I heard her before, her English level is very low. But when I walk over to her, this girl, there’s no fear. In fact, she’s just looking at me. You know that look? Like Yeah? Okay So, how? Yeah, I’ve been in Malaysia a long time. So, I go up to her and I explain the problem, EPA and DHA.She looks at me. 

于是，我转向柜台后面的女孩。现在，柜台后面的女孩，我以前了解过，她的英语水平很低。但当我走向她时，这个女孩，没有恐惧。事实上，她只是看着我。你知道那表情吗？就像，Yeah? Okay So, how? Yeah。我在马来西亚呆了很久了。所以，我去向她解释这个问题，EPA和DHA。她看着我。

she says, “Okay, yeah, Ah, EPA for heart. DHA for brain.Your heart okay or not?”

她说：“好吧，是的。啊，EPA是针对心脏的。DHA是给大脑用的。你的心脏还好吗？”

So I said, “Yeah, yeah,” I said, “my heart is really, I think it’s pretty good.”

我说：“是啊，是啊，我的心脏是真的，我认为是相当好的。”

She says, “Your brain okay or not?”

她说：“你的脑子还好吧？”

I said, “No. No, my brain is not as good as it used to be.”

我说：“不，不，我的脑子不像以前那么好了。”

She looks and says, “Okay lah, you take Omega DHA!”

她看着我说：“好啦，你吃omega DHA 吧！”

Problem solved, right? 

问题解决了，对吧？

 And students are judged more on correctness than on clarity. Some of you might remember the old comprehension exam in school. Does everybody remember in school when you’d get a question about a text that you read, you’d have to read through some text, right? And then answer a question to show that you understood the text? And this may have happened to you that you showed that you understood the text, but you got a big X because you made a little grammar mistake. Like this student. Now this student clearly understood paragraph four. But no, not correct! Because he left the letter N off the word “environment.” But in the real world, what would matter? In the real world, what would matter is did you understand the email, or did you understand your customer so that you can go ahead and take action?

对学生的评判更多的是基于正确性，而不是清晰度。你们中的一些人可能还记得，学校里的阅读理解考试。你展示了你理解了课文，但你得到了一个很大的×，因为你犯了一个小小的语法错误。就像这个学生，这个学生清楚的理解了第四段，但不，不对，因为他忘了“环境”一词中的字母n。但在现实世界里，这又有什么关系呢？在现实世界里，重要的是，你能理解邮件的内容吗？或者，你了解你的客户，这样你就可以采取行动了？

Now, the problem that I see here, over and over, is that people take the attitude they developed about English in school, and they bring it into their adult life and into their work. And if you’re in a stressful situation, and you’re having a conversation, and you’re trying to give a result to someone and say it correctly, your brain multi-tasks, it cannot do two things at once. Someone is talking to you, and you’re so busy thinking about how you’re going to respond and express yourself correctly, you don’t actually hear what the other person said. 

人们对英语的态度是在学校里形成的，他们把他带到他们的承认生活和工作中。如果你有压力，你们在谈话，你试图给出一个结果，并正确地说出来，你的大脑多任务，它不能同时做两件事。有人在和你说话，你忙着思考如何正确地回应和表达自己，你根本听不到别人说什么。

So if you want to speak English like Faizal with that great confidence, here’s the one thing that you can do. When you speak, don’t focus on yourself. Focus on the other person and the result you want to achieve.

如果你想像Faizal那样自信地说英语，你能做的只有一件事情：当你说话的时候，不要把注意力集中在自己的身上。关注与你交流的对象，和你们想要的结果。