我6歲的孩子覺得我像一個小寶寶，至少是當我說普通話的時候。最近，她對我說：「我喜歡你說中文，你的中文有點笨笨的，像一個嬰兒。我喜歡嬰兒。」
By Erik Nilsson
My 6-year-old thinks I’m a baby — at least when I speak Mandarin.我6歲的孩子覺得我像一個小寶寶，至少是當我說普通話的時候。
「I like it when you speak Chinese,」 she recently told me.最近，她對我說：「我喜歡你說中文」。
「It’s a little awkward. It’s like a baby. And I like babies.」「你的中文有點笨笨的，像一個嬰兒。我喜歡嬰兒。」
Chinese is the blonde, blue-eyed girl’s first language. Lily, who was born in Beijing, started to speak English later, after mixing the two tongues. (Her mother isn’t Chinese.)中文是這個金髮碧眼小女孩的母語。Lily生在北京，以前總是會把兩種語言混在一起說，之後才開始說英語。（她的媽媽不是中國人）
「Baba (Daddy) eats jirou (chicken). Baba looks at xiongmaode (the panda’s) hand."「爸爸eats雞肉。爸爸looks at大熊貓的hand。」
By age 3, she』d separated the languages.直到3歲，她才能區分兩種語言。
Her 2-year-old brother recently acquired his first several words — nearly all Chinese.而Lily兩歲的弟弟最近也學會說話了——說的幾個詞幾乎都是中文。
He nai (drink milk), baobao wo (hug/hold me), jiejie ku (sister is crying).「喝奶，抱抱我，姐姐哭。」
He uses both 「ball」 and its Chinese equivalent, 「qiu」.他會說英語裡的「ball」和中文裡的「球」。
「No」 is one of his few — and favorite — English words. It’s worth noting, Chinese doesn’t have a direct equivalent to 「yes」 and 「no」 but uses other grammatical constructions to affirm and negate.「No」是他會的為數不多的幾個英文單詞，也是最喜歡的一個。值得一提的是，中文裡沒有和「yes」、「no」對應的詞彙，而是用其他語法結構來表達肯定和否定。
My Chinese is perhaps less like a toddler’s and more like an immigrant’s (a concept my daughter hasn’t developed. She must soon to explain her parents.)也許，我的中文說得並不像小孩，而更像是外來的移民。移民這個概念我的女兒還不清楚，不過她肯定很快就能替父母解釋了。
I’m certified as intermediate in reading and writing, since I passed the national Chinese Proficiency Test’s Level 4 before Lily was born. (Level 6 is the highest.)在Lily出生之前，我就通過了全國漢語水平四級考試，達到了中級讀寫水平。（六級為最高等級。）
And my spoken Chinese is multiplications better than my character proficiency.我的中文口語能力比書面表達能力好太多。
I can converse about, say, (basic) economics but with grammatical flubs, tone errors and a funny accent. The second two are common among native Chinese with less-than-perfect Putonghua (standardized Mandarin).我可以談論基本的經濟學，但是有語法錯誤，聲調錯誤，口音滑稽。而後面兩個問題在普通話不標準的中國人中也很常見。
There’s a theory that language shapes how we perceive the world.有一種理論認為，語言決定了我們看待世界的方式。
I』ve observed, for instance, that after using only Chinese for a period, two things happen.比如說，我發現，在講中文一段時間後發生了兩件事。
First, I start to think simple thoughts in Chinese. I notice because I sometimes talk to myself. Say I’m traveling and haven’t spoken English in days — I』ll mutter 「Wode shouji zai nali?」 rather than 「Where’s my phone?」.第一是我開始用中文來表達一些簡單的想法。因為我有時會自言自語，所以注意到了這點。比如我在旅行時幾天沒說英語了，我會嘟囔著「我的手機在哪裡？」而不是「Where is my phone」。
Second, I think about the world differently in such ways as, in my mind’s eye, 「opening」 rather than turning on the light — a direct translation into English that retains the Chinese language’s conceptualization of the phenomenon.第二，我開始用不同的角度感知世界，比如，我會想到「opening」而不是「turning on」電燈，這就是直譯成英文，保留了中文語言對開燈這一動作的概念。
I was wondering how this works for Lily, since she’s a native speaker of both but acquired Chinese first.我想知道Lily是不是也有這種感受，因為中英文都是她的母語，只是她先學會了中文。
She says she only thinks in English and translates in her head.她說她只用英文思考，然後在腦子裡翻譯出來。
She claims to never dream in Chinese, which I sometimes do.她說自己從來不會做說中文的夢，而我有時候會這樣。
That seems counterintuitive.這似乎和直覺相悖。
She told me in English the other morning: 「I’m not afraid of the cold. I’m afraid of being hot.」某天早上，她用英語告訴我：「I'm not afraid of the cold. I'm afraid of being hot.（我不怕冷，我怕熱）。」
This is a direct translation into English. Chinese typically conveys an aversion to temperature extremes using the word for fear (pa), rather than a synonym for dislike.這句話是直譯成英文的。中文中通常用「怕」這個詞傳達對極端溫度的厭惡，而不是用「不喜歡」之類的同義詞。
And I』ve noticed how our family mixes the languages at home.而且我注意到我們在家裡也會混合兩種語言。
I』ll ask my wife: 「Mind if I kai (open) the kongtiao (air conditioner)? Did you mai (buy) the piao (tickets)?」我會問我的妻子：「Mind if I開空調？Did you買票？」（介意我開空調嗎？你買票了嗎？）
My daughter only calls me Baba— never Daddy — whichever language or mix we’re using.不過，不論我們用哪種語言交流或是混合使用，我的女兒只叫我「爸爸」，從來不會叫「Daddy」。
That said, I’m still a baby to her.雖說如此，和她相比，我的中文依然是嬰兒水平。
Perhaps I am —in the way of rediscovering the world like children do, through another language. It’s like 「opening」 the light that illuminates a new perspective.或許我現在就如小孩一般，通過另一種語言重新認識這個世界。就像是「開」了盞燈，照亮一個全新的視角。