留學之後中文退步!留學是否值得?

在給Susan寫了兩篇關於BLM運動和種族歧視的信之後，她終於應邀寫了一封「回信」，並解釋說到英國三年半了，「中文停留在小學生水平」，所以用英文寫成。

/中文退步，Susan 已經不願意用中文寫作了/

文章原文如下（中文是我翻譯的）：

Not long afterthe news of protests for BLM ensuing in the USA, the UK and othercountries have been released onto the Chinese internet, many assumptions have beenprovoked.A great deal of Chinesenetizenshave argued andhypothesisedthat theprotesters would not react similarly if the victim were to be an Asian-American, orspecifically, a Chinese. So why would so many Americans and Britons, in particular, react sostrenuouslytowards the murder of George Floyd?

在美英和其他國家爆發黑命貴運動的消息傳到中國網際網路之後，一石激起千層浪。大批的中國網民主張和推論說如果受害者是一個亞裔美國人甚至就是一個中國人的話，不可能引發相同規模的抗議。為什麼尤其是美英兩國人對於George Floyd之死反應如此激烈？

Well,it cannot be less related tothe American and British history, and the educationreceived by young Americans and Britons.

這當然和英美兩國的歷史以及兩國的年輕人接受的教育高度相關。

It is well-knownthat Africans were exploited for labours in the Americas, caught by British slave traders, then sold to the sugar planters of the Caribbean islands and American colonies.The Middle Passage was, or is still recalled to be, notorious for its hardshipsand cruelties brought to the slaves on slave ships — enslaved Africans were shackled up,crammed together, and treated like animals by crews of the ship for on average, 1 to 2months (the time required to complete thejourney), causing uncountable deaths andsuicides in the journey.Perhaps the best-known notoriety is the Zong massacre; the ship Zong, departed from Accratransporting more than twice the number of people it could safely take which resulted it in running short of food and water in the voyage, and throwing more than 130 enslaved Africans overboard to reduce the consumption of supplies. Slavery in Britain was formally abolished and made illegal in 1833.

眾所周知很多非洲人被英國販奴者抓捕後販賣到加勒比群島的甘蔗園和美洲殖民地並受到殘酷剝削。這段被稱為「中央航線」的跨大西洋航線由於給黑奴們帶來的苦難和殘酷而臭名昭著：在為期1-2個月的航程中販奴者像對待動物一樣把黑人們用鐐銬禁錮並擠在一起，造成無數的黑奴在旅程中死去或自殺。可能最惡名遠揚就是「宗格號大屠殺」，這條叫宗格號(Zong)的販奴船裝載了超過安全載運量兩倍的黑人，從非洲的阿卡拉出發。很快由於超載而導致食物和飲水短缺，販奴者至少把130名黑人拋入大海以減少補給消耗。直到1833年英國正式廢除了奴隸制。

Another factor of this grand reaction isthe history of racism towards African-Americans inAmerica.Racism has been incredibly common andphysically exposedin the USA untiltoday. There are statistics which proves that there is about 76% of black murderdefendants who were wrongfully convicted and 59% of exoneration also goes to blackdefendants who have been accused for sexual assault. Furthermore, inequalities towardsAfrican-Americans are also commonly seen in everyday life; for example, in the 1900s, orfrom even earlier, black children were prohibited to go to schools for white children, andblack bus-riders were only allowed to be seated in the back seats, and were forced togive up their seats if a white person requires one. The famous case of Rosa Parks ignitedthe bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama which resulted in the law whichillegalisedthesegregation on buses and public transportations.

黑命貴風起雲湧另一個重要原因是美國歷史上針對非洲裔美國人的種族歧視。時至今日美國的種族主義行為依然難以置信地普遍存在。統計數字證明被控謀殺罪的黑人被告中76%被錯誤地判刑，因性攻擊罪被起訴的黑人之中有59%最終免除刑事責任。更有甚者，對非洲裔美國人的不平等現象普遍存在於日常生活中。比如1900年甚至更早時，黑人孩子被禁止進入白人的學校上學，黑人乘坐公交車只能坐在後排座位，如果有白人乘客需要座位，黑人也必須讓座。一個著名的案件是Rosa Parks發起了對阿拉巴馬州蒙哥馬利市的公交車抵制運動，最終導致巴士和公交系統的種族隔離政策壽終正寢。

However, without the education of these historical events, there cannot be perception andopinions formed upon the understandings.

即便如此，如果沒有把這些歷史事件納入到教育之中，人們依然不可能基於對事實的了解而建立認知和觀點。

In the curriculum in many subjects such as History in most English schools, students aretaught about the cruelties of the British slave trade and how it was abolished through thesupreme effortsof abolitionists.Moreover, the racism in the US and in particular, RosaParks and the bus boycott, are also educated to children of late primary school or earlysecondary school (late KS3). Similarly, the history of how African-American leaderspropose to combat the racial discrimination and violence during the 1920s are taught tohight schoolers in the USA.Students are given the information of these events, but alljudgements are based on their own knowledges.Ultimately,most pupils will feel that theincidents that had happened are unfair and that they must not reoccur in history.

在大多數英國學校課程的歷史課中，教師會講授英國奴隸貿易的殘酷性，經過廢奴者們如何通過艱苦卓絕的努力導致奴隸制度在英國被廢除。不僅如此，英國的初中課程(Key Stage 3)還會講授美國的種族主義特別是上面提到的Rosa Parks抵制公交車事件。與此類似，美國的高中課程會講授1920年代非洲裔美國領袖們反對種族歧視和暴力的運動。學生們充分了解這些事件的信息, 所有的判斷都建立在學生們對事實的認知之上。最終絕大多數的學生都會認為這些事件是不公正的，再也不應該發生了。

Therefore, this is perhaps why Americans and Britons are showing the most significantresponse to the killing of George Floyd.

至此，這也許就是美英兩國人對George Floyd之死的反應特別強烈的原因。（全文完）

Susan的這篇英語短文令我深為感慨，也是很多（準）留學生家長關注的問題：

低齡留學必定帶來中文的退化，而孩子們又得到了什麼？這代價是否值得？

中文退化

2019年暑假Susan作為志願者參加梅沙夏校就顯現出中文不如英文的趨勢了。她寫了幾篇英語夏校的報導，每次都是先寫好英文，因為我要求她用雙語表達，自己吭哧吭哧把英語翻譯成中文，遣詞造句就顯得吃力，最明顯的是文章的傳遞的關鍵信息和價值在英語版本中更加出色。

今年她乾脆拒絕翻譯了！就如同那個印度裔孩子所說：你努力練習什麼就會擅長什麼。中文閱讀不足肯定會帶來中文表達能力的停滯或下降。Susan小學六年級去英國，難怪她自己說「中文依然是小學生水平」。

英文的突飛猛進

塞翁失馬，焉知非福。這篇短文的英文水著實讓我吃驚。我有點找到了翻譯《泰晤士報》或《每日郵報》專欄文章的那種感覺：比較高級的用詞，大量的複合長句，「否否」形態的表達，等等，試舉幾例：

1，A great deal of Chinesenetizenshaveargued and hypothesisedthat theprotesters would not react similarly if the victimwereto be an Asian-American,orspecifically, a Chinese. 大批的中國網民主張和推論說如果受害者是一個亞裔美國人甚至就是一個中國人的話，不可能引發相同規模的抗議.

這是一個複合長句+虛擬語態的表達。argue和hypothesis是典型的政論文章用詞（後者是英國拼法，美國拼法是hypothesize），netizen也是網絡用語，相當於「網民」，是net+citizen的組合。

2，Well,it cannot be less related tothe American and British history, and the educationreceived by young Americans and Britons.這當然和英美兩國的歷史以及兩國的年輕人接受的教育高度相關。

這一句看似簡單，但她使用了「否定否定」這種典型的英語句式來開頭：itcannotbelessrelated to，直譯是：不會是低度關聯，但中文不會這樣表達，我譯成：高度相關。

3，The Middle Passage was, or is still recalled to be,notoriousfor itshardshipsandcrueltiesbrought to the slaves on slave ships — enslaved Africans were shackled up,crammed together, and treated like animals by crews of the ship for on average, 1 to 2 months(the time required to complete the journey), causing uncountable deaths and suicides in the journey. 這段被稱為「中央航線」的跨大西洋航線由於給黑奴們帶來的苦難和殘酷而臭名昭著：在為期1-2個月的航程中販奴者像對待動物一樣把黑人們用鐐銬禁錮並擠在一起，造成無數的黑奴在旅程中死去或自殺。

61個詞組成的超級長句，通順流暢，一氣呵成。Notorious, hardship是中國學生比較少用的詞。

Susan目前讀十年級（相當於國內初三），經過三年多的學習和環境磨練英文水平進步超過我預期。假以時日，她在大學階段應付大量原文深度閱讀和寫作，與導師、同學無障礙交流應該問題不大，英語能力將有利於學業和事業的深入發展。

獨立思考與批判思維

語言水平更重要的是中學時代獲得在充分了解事實基礎上的價值觀和獨立思考能力，對重大的歷史、實事以及價值理念形成理性成熟的看法而不是隨波逐流做一個頭腦簡單的憤青。Susan這篇文章沒有泛泛而談「黑命貴」運動，而是聚焦英美兩國民眾對弗洛伊德事件為什麼反應格外強烈這個特別的角度，並進行了清晰而視角獨特的觀點闡述：英美兩國販奴和蓄奴的歷史以及兩國教育體系對此的深入反思是關鍵因素。Susan告訴我文章中提到的事件比如宗格號屠殺和Rosa Parks抵制公交事件都是英國學校課堂講過的內容，可見英美學校教育傾向於開放包容，鼓勵學生的獨立思考。

/用於論證觀點的歷史事件在英國課堂都學過/

正如Susan在文章結尾提到：

Students are given the information of these events, but all judgements are based on their own knowledges.(在學校裡) 學生可以充分了解這些事件的信息, 並在事實認知的基礎上建立所有的判斷。

失之東隅，收之桑榆。Susan11歲赴英讀書至今已近四年。中文能力確實落後於國內同年齡學生，這是不爭的事實。但與此同時她在開放包容的教育環境下能夠獲得真實而沒有被篡改的信息和事實，逐漸形成獨立理性的判斷力，有利於形成堅強的人格和人文主義的價值觀，助力她追尋人生夢想。

在中文退步和獨立思考之間，我寧可讓她選擇後者。

再加上「雅思高分」的英文水平，作為父親我覺得很欣慰也很值得。

▼

。。。

文章由 粗粗的桅杆 授權轉發，歡迎關注原作者公眾號