值得一听--如何才能说好英语？或许你之前的想法都是错的

So for the past 20 years, I've been helping Malaysian and other Southeast Asians to speak better English. And through training thousands of Southeast Asians, I've discovered a very surprising truth.

过去的20年，我一直在教马来西亚人和东南亚人如何提高英语口语能力。通过培训数以千计的东南亚人，我发现了一个惊人的现实。

I've discovered that how well somebody communicates in English actually has very little to do with their English level. It has a lot to do with their attitude towards English.

我发现一个人的英文沟通能力，其实跟他的英文水平几乎无关。而是跟他说英文的态度息息相关。

There are people out there who have a very, very low level of English, and they can communicate very very well. One of them that I remember was a student, a participant of mine, named Faizal. He was a factory supervisor – English level very very low – but this guy could just sit and listen to anybody, very calmly, clearly, and then he could respond, absolutely express his thoughts beautifully, at a very low level of English.

有些人的英文水平是很差的，却能用英文清楚地表达。我有一个学生名叫Faizal，他是一名工厂主管，英文水平非常低，但他能坐下来听取任何人的意见。冷静沉着，认真听清楚，然后接着回应，非常精准地表达他的想法，仅用程度很低的英文能力。

So, today I want to share with you what is so different about people like Faizal? How do they do it?

今天我想跟大家分享，像Faizal这种人的独特之处在哪里？他们是如何做到的？

And second of all, why is this so important not only to you, but to your children, to your community, and to the future of Malaysia?

第二点就是为什么这件事不仅对你非常重要，也对你的孩子，你的社区以及马来西亚的未来也很重要？

And third of all, what’s one thing you can do, starting today, if you want to speak with that calm, clear confidence that people like Faizal have.

第三点再有一件事，你今天就可以开始做了，如果你想像Faizal一样，以沉着自信的态度说英文。

So first of all, what is so different? How do people like Faizal do it?

首先，你们的差别在哪里？Faizal这样的人是如何做到的？

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.

要回答这个问题，我要先说说十年前发生的事情。当我在培训员工，而我女儿在上钢琴课。我开始发现两个极为相似之处，那就是我女儿学钢琴的态度和多数马来西亚人学习英文的态度。

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.

首先，我要告诉你我女儿非常痛恨钢琴，讨厌上课，讨厌练琴，这是我女儿练琴时的样子（照片里女儿非常调皮，倒挂在凳子上）。她这样已经算好的了，这是真的。

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?

她讨厌上钢琴课，对我女儿来说，上钢琴课让她恐慌不安，因为要小心翼翼不能搞砸，对吧？

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.

就像大多数上钢琴课的学生，包括我的女儿跟她的钢琴师，她在钢琴上的成就是由出错的多少来衡量的。同时我也发现大多数马来西亚人遇到说英文的场合时，也是抱着同样的恐惧，害怕被别人批评，他们到底犯了多少错误，无论他们是否真的搞砸了。

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.

第二个相似之处是跟我的自我意象有关。我女儿知道好的钢琴演奏听起来该是什么样子，对吧？因为我们都听过优美的琴声，她知道自己的水平在哪里，她知道自己还要再练多久才能达到那样的境界。

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 –

我注意到很多马来西亚人，也有这种认为流利的英文该怎么说的想法，还有他们...我看到很多人在点头，还有他们的英文听起来如何，认为自己还有一段很长的路要走才能到达那个高度。他们的想法就跟我女儿一样，觉得差人一等，钢琴弹得很糟，英文说得很烂，对吧？我的英文说得不好啦，没办法，抱歉，没办法啦...

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?

我看到这些相似之处，但我还是没能理清头绪。到底是什么让Faizal这样的人能如此特别，能够流畅、冷静沉着又有自信地说英文？

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. Okay, it was my first time, and I discovered cybercafes are disgusting places, okay? They’re really gross. They’re smelly, and they’re filled with boys. And they’re all playing noisy, violent games. They’re just disgusting places.

有一天我发现了其中的奥秘，其实是偶然发现的。那天我的电脑坏了，我就去了一趟网吧。这是我第一次去，我觉得网吧是个很恶心的地方，真的很恶心。有怪味，挤满了一群男生。他们正在玩吵闹的暴力游戏，真的是让人很不舒服的地方。

But I had to go there. 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?

但我还是得去，我就坐在那里，注意到坐在我旁边的人，渐渐地我对他产生浓厚的兴趣。这个人他在玩的游戏，基本上是一款射杀敌人的游戏，就是这样，就是这样的游戏。

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?

我发现这个人不太会玩，其实他玩得挺烂的。因为就我的观察他射出很多发子弹，但没什么人倒亡在地。

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.

不过让我真正感兴趣的是，这个很烂的玩家身后还站着三个朋友，只是站在那边看他玩。可是我发觉即使这个人玩得很烂，而他的朋友都站在一旁观看，彼此却一点不尴尬，没有批判的感觉，没有害臊。

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. 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.

而实事上正相反，这个人全神贯注地在对付敌人，脸上挂着微笑，满脑子想得都是如何干掉敌人。我看着他，突然明白了，就是这个。就是这种态度，像Faizal这样的人说英文的时候会有的态度，就像这位玩家。

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.

当Faizal遇到说英文的场合，他并不觉得备受批判，他全神贯注聚焦在跟他谈话的人，专心表达他的想法，没有自我意识介入，毫不在意自己犯了多少错。

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.

我来讲一个真实的案例，让你们对这个论点更有概念。到底像弹琴般小心翼翼地说英文和像玩游戏专注地说英文差别在哪里。这是真人真事，我的亲身经历。

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.

前阵子我去了一家药店，打算买点健食品Omega，我的医生建议我多吃点Omega。我走到货架旁，那里有一堆的Omega，有补充DHA的，也有补充EPA的，我不知道该买哪一种。

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.

这时售货员刚好就在旁边，她是一位穿着体面看起来非常专业的女士。我走向她，却发现她看我的时候脸色有点不对劲，就是那种...我很熟悉的表情。她睁大了双眼，内心显得恐慌，“天啦 ，我要跟英语为母语的人说英文了，她一定会评判我，注意到我说英文所犯的错误“。

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.

我走向她，跟她说明我现在的情况，问她该买哪一种Omega？她开始跟我解释，详细解说到底什么是DHA，什么是EPA，你可以想像那种情景。她说得很快，但都是在原地打转，终于她说完了，我仍然不知道该买什么。

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.

于是我转而求助柜台后面的女孩。这位站在柜台后面的女孩，我刚听过她说英文，她的英文水平很差。但当我走向她，这个女孩毫无惧色，事实上，她还直视着我的双眼。你知道那种表情，就像是说，什么事情？好，所以呢，怎样？没错，我呆在马来西亚已经很长时间了。

So, I go up to her and I explain the problem, EPA and DHA. She looks at me, she says, “Okay, yeah” “Ah, EPA for heart.” “DHA for brain.” “Your heart okay or not?”

我走向她，说明我的问题，问她我是该买EPA还是DHA。她看着我说：”好的，了解“”EPA作用于心脏，DHA作用于大脑“”你的心脏好不好？“

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

然后我说：”不错，很好“我说：”我的心脏真的挺好的“

She says, “Your brain okay or not?”

她又问：”你的大脑好不好？“

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

我说：”不，不，我的大脑不像从前那样好了“

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

她看着我说：”那好啦，你应该买含DHA的Omega“

Problem solved, right? So we’ve got two different kinds of communicators. We’ve got the one who’s got a high level, but totally focused on herself and getting it right, and therefore, very ineffective. We’ve got another one, low-level, totally focused on the person she’s talking to and getting a result. Effective. And therein lies the difference.

问题解决了，对吧？所以这是两种截然不同方式的交流者。一个是有英语水平很高的人，她只关注自己说得是否正确，导致沟通无效；而另一个则是英语水平很低的人，但她全神贯注在跟对话的人说，简明扼要的表达并得到结果，非常有效，两者截然不同。

Now, why is this distinction so important not just to you, to your children, but to the future of Malaysia and countries like Malaysia? And to answer that, let’s take a look at who actually is speaking English in the world today, okay?

为什么说这之间的差别不只对于你，对你的孩子，对马来西亚，对很多其他类似的国家都很重要？要回答这个问题，我们先来看看当今世界，哪些人在说英语？

So, if we looked at all of the English conversations in the whole world, taking place right now on planet Earth, we would see that for every native speaker, like me, there are five non-native speakers. And if we’d listen to every conversation in English on planet Earth right now, we would notice that 96% of those conversations involved non-native English speakers – only 4% of those conversations are native speaker to native speaker. This is not my language anymore, this language belongs to you. It’s not an art to be mastered; it’s just a tool to use to get a result.

综观全世界说英语的人，现如今在地球上，像我这样的以英语为母语的人和非英语为母语的人的比例是1：5。如果我们仔细聆听，在这个地球上正在发生的每一个对话，就会发现96%的对话都有非英语为母语者参与，仅有4%是英语母语者和英语母语者之间的对话。英语不仅是我的语言，同样是属于你们的。英文不是必须要掌握的一门艺术，它只是用于沟通的一种工具。

And I want to give you a real-life example of what English is today in the world, real English today. This is another true story. I was at a barbecue a little while ago – this was a barbecue for engineers, engineers from all over the world. And they were making hot dogs.

我来举个真实的生活上的例子说明在当今世界，大家都是如何用英语沟通的，现如今英语的面貌。这是另一个真实的故事。前阵子我参加了一个烤肉派对，这是专门为工程师举办的烤肉派对，参加活动的工程师来自全世界。他们正在制作热狗。

Now some of the hot dogs were regular hot dogs, and some were these cheese hot dogs, you know, with the cheese in the middle. A French engineer is cooking the hot dogs, and he turns to this Korean engineer, and he says, “Would you like a hot dog?”

其中一些是一般的热狗，也有些是有奶酪的热狗，就是中间夹有奶酪的那种。一位法国工程师在烤热狗，他转向一旁的韩国工程师，他问：“你要吃热狗吗？”

And the Korean guy says, “Yes, please!”

韩国工程师回答：“好啊”

He says, “Do you want the cheese?”

法国工程师问：“你要奶酪吗？”

And the Korean guy looks around at the table, he says, “I no see cheese.”

韩国人看了看餐桌，他说：“我没有看到奶酪。”

The French guy says, “The hot dog is contains the cheese.”

法国人说：“这个热狗是包含奶酪的。“

The Korean guy doesn’t understand him, right? So the French engineer tries again: “The hot dog is... making from... with the cheese.”

韩国人不明白他的意思。所以法国工程师又尝试着说：”这个热狗是...制成...用的奶酪。“

Korean guy still doesn’t understand. He tries again, he says, “The hotdog is... coming from...No, the cheese is coming from the hot dog.” Korean guy cannot understand.

韩国人还是听不懂。法国人又说：“热狗是...来源于...不对，奶酪是来源于热狗。”韩国人根本就不懂。

Now there’s a Japanese engineer who’s been listening to this conversation, turns to the Korean engineer and he says, “Ah! Cheese... integrator!” He understands, okay. Everybody understands. So, this is what English is today. It’s just a tool to play around with to get a result, like a computer game.

旁边有个日本工程师听到这段对话，他转向韩国工程师说：“哦，奶酪...是一种成分”韩国人听懂了，大家都懂了。所以这就是现如今大家说英文的方式。英文只是一种工具，尝试用不同的表达方式得到结果，就像是电脑游戏。

Now, the challenge is that we know in schools all around the world, English is not really being taught like it’s a tool to play with. It’s still being taught like it’s an art to master. And students are judged more on correctness than on clarity.

现存的挑战是世界各地的学校没有把英文当成可以玩的工具来教，而是当作一门要掌握的艺术来教。纠正学生要说得正确而非表达到位。

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.

你们有些人可能还记得在学校里的老套的英文测试。记不刻以前学校考的英文阅读测试，你要先看文章，对吧？然后才能作答，回答正确表示看懂了这篇文章。你可能有过这样的经验，明明看懂文章，却因为语法错误而得到一个大大的叉，就像这个学生。

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?

这个学生完全了解段落四在讲什么，但是却不对。因为他把环境environment这个单词中的n漏掉了。但在现实生活中，这又有什么关系呢？在现实 生活中，真正有关系的是你是否了解邮件中的内容，你够不够了解客户，能不能抢先采取行动?

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.

现有的问题层出不穷，大家受限于学校里教的英文，走出社会后依然将这种方式的英文带到生活和工作中。

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. And what I see is the brain just shutting down. And you may recognize these three symptoms of the brain shutting down.

如果你身处压力之中，面对要说英文的场景，要把英文说得正确无误，你的大脑却无法同时处理两件事情。就我的观察大脑会直接关机。你也许认得这三个让大脑关机的征兆。

The first one is that your listening goes. 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. And I can see a lot of nodding in the audience.

第一个是听力消逝。别人在中你说话的时候，你正忙着思考，想着等一下如何用英文准确无误地回答，其实没有认真听对方在说什么，我看到观众席有很多人在点头。

The second thing to go is your speaking. Your mind sort of shuts down, and that vocabulary you do know just disappears, and the words don’t come out.

第二个是你的口语能力。因为你的大脑已经关闭了，原本知道的单词瞬间消失殆尽，让你说不出话来。

The third thing to go is your confidence. And the worst thing about this is you may only be confident because you cannot express yourself clearly, but to the person talking to you, they may misunderstand this as a lack of confidence in your ability to do the job, to perform.

第三个就是你的自信。最糟糕的地方是，你可能只是因为没有自信才无法清楚地表达自己，但跟你对话的人，可能误以为你因缺乏自信而不能完成这项工作，无法呈现你的能力。

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.

如果你想跟Faizal一样非常自信地开口说英文，你可以做一件事，说话的时候，不要专注在自身。而是专注于跟你对话的人，专注于你想要的结果。

Imagine a next generation of Malaysians, all with that wonderful confidence in communication that Faizal has, at any level of English. Because let’s remember that English today is not an art to be mastered, it’s just a tool to use to get a result. And that tool belongs to you.

想像下一代马来西亚人，都能自信满满地像Faizal一样说英文，无论英语水平高低。记住现如今的英文不是必须要掌握的一门艺术，它只是我们用于沟通得到结果的一种工具，而这个工具属于你们自己。

Thank you.

谢谢。