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One of the biggest differences between Chinese speakers learning English and native English speakers using their own language is the way they learn grammar. 学英文的中国人和英文母语者之间最大区别之一就是他们学习语法的不同方式。 To learners in China, grammar is sacred. It is a code used to make sense of a language that works very differently to Chinese. It is a means of knowing whether the English you are speaking or writing is right or wrong, and a way for teachers to set exams then mark students' answers right or wrong. 在中国人看来，语法的地位近乎神圣，在我们理解与中文迥异的英文上，它成为了解读英文的准则，它是帮我们判断自己口头和书面英文是否正确的方式，也是老师奉为改卷判断正误的圭臬。 But many native English speakers struggle to explain English grammar, yet they still manage to speak and write English accurately. So, why is learning grammar from books so unimportant to native speakers, when learners emphasise it so much? 但是许多以英语为母语的人却感觉真难解释英语语法，但他们仍然能说和写英语时准确无误。那么，为什么对于母语者来说从书中学语法这么不重要，而别国学习者却如此重视呢？ 英美国家的人说英语都几乎没错，而且还不怎么思考语法结构，他们是怎么做到的呢？ When a native English speaker learns English, they are exposed to it all day, every day. They hear it after they wake up, they use it with their family and friends, they read it in the newspaper and online, and they hear it on the radio and television. 英国人他们是要每天都和英语打交道的。他们每天醒来都会听到英文，他们用英文与家人和朋友沟通，他们在报纸上和网上阅读英文，也在广播和电视上收听英文。 In other words, they have so much exposure to English, that they become very used to the language. The human brain is naturally inclined to recognise and respond to patterns. When we hear a phrase or a sentence hundreds of times in different contexts, we learn the patterns of the language. These patterns are in fact grammar, but a native speaker's brain will recognise and use them without thinking, because they have a 'sense for the language'. 换句话说，他们接触英文太频繁了，所以他们已经习惯了这门语言，他们的大脑已经自然地可以识别这种语言模式，并对其做出反应。当我们在不同场合上听到同样一个短语或者句子几百次的时候，我们也就自然地学会了这种语言的模式，这些模式其实是语法。但是一个母语学习者可以不假思索地能识别出它来，并且学会使用，因为他们已经养成了语感。 What's more, when a native speaker sees something that does not confirm to the pattern, they recognise it as a mistake without thinking about the grammar rules themselves - it just 'looks' or 'sounds' wrong. 另外，如果母语者发现一个表达不符合他之前所见到的模式时，他就会觉得这种表达是有问题的，而不是思考背后的语法规则——这样的表达“听起来”或者“看起来”怪怪的。 为什么语法学习常常会产生新问题呢？ Chinese learners of English have very limited exposure to English, therefore they are often taught grammar rules to make the learning process easier, and to help them recognise the difference between right or wrong English. 中国人学英语时，其实暴露在英文环境下的时间很少，因此我们都被告诫要好好学语法，这样学习才会更容易，并且可以帮助我们更好地识别什么是正确的英文。 There is nothing wrong with learning grammar rules, in fact it can be very helpful and make things quicker, but it can also cause problems. 学习语法没有错，事实上对我们很有帮助，帮我们学得更快，但同时也可能产生问题。 This is because English, just like any language, is like a living, breathing entity, because it is created by people. And like other languages, English is evolving and changing all the time. Something that may have been true when a grammar book was written may no longer be the case by the time you read it.
In addition, English is spoken in many areas of the world that are very far away from each other. Consequently, the English language may be used slightly differently in the US to Australia, or in South Africa or New Zealand. English speakers in different areas also have different speaking habits. 另外，世界上许多地区都说英语，而他们却相隔甚远。因此，美国英语和澳洲英语、南非英语、新西兰英语都可能略有不同。不同地区的英语使用者说话习惯也不同。 This is why you will often get the wrong answer if you try to speak English and judge between right and wrong purely based on rules laid down in grammar books. Some rules may no longer be valid, or only in certain situations or in certain places. Other rules will not cover the English that is used by young people, or in music or on the Internet. 所以如果在说英语时，你只是纯粹基于语法书中的规则来判断正误，可能会得到错误的答案。有些规则可能已经不再使用累，可能仅在某些情况下或某些地方使用。有些年轻人使用的英文或在音乐界或互联网上使用的英文也是语法中的特例。 如果说母语的人不太懂语法，那他们如何判对错的呢？ When a native speaker says or writes a sentence in English, they are calling on all the instances of the language they have ever read or heard. 他们说或写一个英语句子时，他们是潜意识里调动了他们曾经读过或听到过的所有例子，然后再表达出来的。 For example, if the sentence is 'I am back to Beijing', a native speaker would know that this should be 'I am back in Beijing', because they have heard the usage 'back in' so many times that they have internalised this rule - they are comparing it to all the usages of this word that they have heard before. They will already know the prepositions 'back' is most commonly used with, and the tenses and constructions that come after it etc. In other words, they have a huge corpus of information about the language in their mind that takes into account the changes and variations in the language - the human aspects of English. 例如，有句话是 'I am back to Beijing'，英国人都知道这其实应该是 'I am back in Beijing'，因为他们听说使用 'back in'的次数太多了，所以早就在心中内化了这个用法——他们其实在拿从前听到的所有储备来和这个做对比。他们早就知道了 “back”一词后最常用哪些介词，时态和结构等等，换句话说，他们大脑中有一个庞大的语料库，储存了语言各种变换的信息——而这，才是英语学习中人性的光辉。 By contrast, English learners who have had very limited exposure to the language are only able to analyse whether the language is being used correctly through logical analysis based on grammatical rules. Because such an analysis does not take into account recent changes in the language, colloquial usages, different registers of the language and so on, it will often lead Chinese learners of English to incorrect conclusions. 与此相反，很多中国人却对英语的接触非常有限，只会通过语法规则的逻辑分析才能正确分析语言是否使用正确。因为这样的分析没有考虑到语言的最新变化，口语习惯，语言的不同语域等，往往会导致中国的英语学习者得出错误的结论。 如何使用母语者的“技巧”来提高你的英语 The best way to make your English much more accurate is not to learn rules, but expose yourself to much more English - just like native speakers do. 让你的英语更准确的最好方法不是学习语法规则，而是让自己更多地接触英语——就像母语者一样。 Try to surround yourself with English, to read in English, listen to content in English, talk to English-speaking friends and think in English as much as you can. By doing so, you will be learning grammar in a much more natural way than from a grammar book - by understanding how it works in the context of sentences from real speech or texts, and very slowly, you will start to acquire the rules without thinking. 试着将自己浸泡在英文环境中，读英文，听英文，说英文，尽可能多地用英语思考。如此你学习语法就会变得更加自然，比从语法书上学到的生硬规则要好得多——了解从真实讲话或文稿上的表达，逐渐你就能不假思索地掌握这些语法规则了。 If you have listened to and read thousands of hours of English, and you continue to do so every day, you will notice a lot of changes. 如果你已经听了或者读了好几千个小时英语，并且日日如此，你会发现自己有很多的变化。 You will find it much easier to judge whether what you are saying is right or wrong. You will speak more naturally, using more of the idioms and ideas that a native speaker would use. 这样下来你就会发现判断英文表达是否准确容易得多。你会跟母语者一样，表达更加流利自然。 Keep up your listening and reading for a number of months and I promise you - you'll notice incredible changes in English and you'll have started to go native - you'll no longer be so dependent on the grammar rules you once found so crucial!
坚持听上和读上几个月，保证你会发现令人难以置信的变化，你会真的开始变得“洋气”了，再也不会像以前那么依赖于语法规则！ 图文排版和翻译：冰夏  |
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