Well, hey there! I'm Emma from mmmEnglish! You've been learning English for a while now, so I'm sure that at one time or another you've thought: English is so annoying! 大家好啊,我是Emma,欢迎来到Emma的美味英语! 大家学过一段时间英语了,
Well, hey there! I'm Emma from mmmEnglish!
You've been learning English for a while now, so I'm sure that at one time or another you've thought: English is so annoying!
大家好啊,我是Emma,欢迎来到Emma的美味英语!
大家学过一段时间英语了,我敢保证你们肯定曾经想过:英语太令人烦恼了!
Probably heaps of times! Today, let's get some things off your chest.
可能经常会这么想!今天呢,让我们把你心口的石头给搬开吧。
What annoys you about English? Let's talk about it. . . . . . .
英语的什么方面让你苦恼呢?让我们来讨论一下吧。
English is annoying.
There are complicated rules, and then there's no rules, there's the exception to the rule.
英语很令人烦恼。
有很复杂的规则,有的没有规则,有的在规则之外。
Oh yeah and then there's another exception. Then there's all the silent letters.
是的,还有另一个例外。然后还有不发音的字母。
And the vowels that just make completely different sounds.
Yes English is important, it's the language of the internet, of business, it's spoken around the world but it's not universal.
元音会发出完全不同的音。
是的,英语很重要,这是网络用语,商务用语,全世界都在说英语,但是并不是通用的。
There isn't just one type of English, right?
There's American English and British English, Australian English, Irish English, South African, English from New Zealand.
而且不只是有一种英语,对吧?
有美式英语、英式英语、澳大利亚英语、爱尔兰英语、南非英语和新西兰英语。
We use different vocabulary and slang expressions and of course, we've got different accents.
I mean Americans even use different spelling and grammar rules, and some of the differences are small, like little spelling or pronunciation changes.
我们会使用不同的词汇和俚语表达,当然了,我们的口音也不同。
我的意思是美国人甚至会使用不同的拼写和语法规则,还有一些非常细微的不同,比如说很小的拼写和发音改变。
Some words are completely different like my jumper is called a 'sweater' in the US.
And some words, well they exist in both types of English but they mean totally different things, like this is a thong in Australia, right?
But in the US, and lots of other places, that's a thong.
有一些单词是完全不同的,比如说我的“jumper”在美国被称作“sweater”。
还有一些单词,它们在两种英语中都存在,但是指的却是完全不同的东西,比如说澳大利亚英语中这是“thong”,对吧?
但是在美国和其他的地方,这才是“thong”。
You seen my thong? Can't find it anywhere.
To learn and understand these differences, you need to speak with actual people, right?
你看到我的人字拖了吗?找不到了哎。
为了学习和理解这些不同,必须要和真正的人进行交谈,对吧?
I mean it's fine to use language apps to learn vocabulary but to develop your confidence as an English speaker, and to use those skills in conversation, well, you really need to do that with people, right?
Now if you haven't checked out Lingoda for online classes yet, you should.
我的意思是使用语言软件来学习词汇是没问题的,但是想要提升作为说英语的人的自信的话,想要在对话中使用那些技能的话,你真的需要和人进行交流,对吧?
现在呢,如果你还没有看Lingoda的线上课程的话,那真的应该看看的。
I use Lingoda for all of my Spanish classes, I go each day, I follow their neatly planned and structured lessons and I'm getting certificates as I increase my level.
But most importantly, I'm meeting with actual people and practising speaking with them.
我使用Lingoda学习西班牙语,我每天都会上课,我跟着他们安排得很好、结构清晰的课程一起学习,在水平提升的时候,我也获得了证书。
但是最重要的是,我会见到真实的人,和他们一起练习口语。
And of course, it's all online so I can do it from home at a time that suits me.
For English learners like you, there's native English teachers from the UK and the US, and the class sizes are small, so you'll spend a lot of time participating in the class and actually speaking with other people.
当然了,这都是线上的,所以我可以按照自己的时间在家里上课。
对于像你一样的英语学习者来说,有来自英国和美国的英语母语者老师,以及课堂容量比较小的课程,所以你可以花时间在课堂进行联系,和其他人一起交谈。
Now look, if you can afford to pay a teacher to teach you every day, that's great. But for the rest of us, Lingoda has classes that start from just eight euros.
好的,如果你可以支付得起请一位老师每天教你的话,那肯定是很棒的。
但是对于我们其他的人来说,Lingoda有起价只需要八欧元的课程。
So if you want to check them out, the link's in the description below.
And if you use my code at the checkout, you'll get twenty-five percent off your first purchase.
所以如果你想要看一下的话,链接就在描述区。如果你使用我的邀请码的话,你第一次购买的时候可以有百分之二十五的优惠。
Right so another annoying part about English.
There's lots of great grammar rules, but then, there's also the exceptions, right?
好的,还有关于英语的另外一件事情。有很多很棒的语法规则,但是还有一些例外,是吧?
How many times have you heard an English teacher say: Yep that's the rule, but there's a couple of exceptions.
For example, generally the rule for adding -ing to the end of a word that ends in an E, is you drop the E and you add -ing.
有多少次你听到一位英语老师说:是的,那就是规则,但是还是有一些例外的。
比如说,一般来说在以e结尾的单词结尾加-ing的的话,你需要把e给去掉,然后加-ing。
Caring. Believing.
Caring。Believing。
Canoe. Oh except not canoeing.
Canoe。哦,这是个例外,并不是canoeing。
Or dyeing either. Alright how about this one?
也不是dyeing。好的,那这个呢?
For the recipe, you need to add a cup and a half of milk.
And then you need to add two and a half cups of sugar.
就菜谱而言呢,你需要加入一杯半的牛奶。然后需要加上两杯半的糖。
Now ask any native English speaker why we don't say: "two cups and a half" as well.
They'll say: I don't know, it just sounds a bit weird.
问一下任何一个说英语的人为什么我们不说:“两杯和一半”呢。
他们会说:我也不知道,就是听起来有点点奇怪。
Just don't say it. What? !
只是不会那么说而已。什么?!
'It sounds weird' isn't a rule, what are you supposed to do with that?
Now it's annoying that English doesn't sound like what it looks like.
“听起来很奇怪”并不是规则,那到底该怎么办呢?
令人苦恼的是,英语听起来和看起来并不一样。
Tough. Though.
Tough。Though。
Thought. Thorough.
Thought。Thorough。
Through. All of these words have the same letters through the middle of them.
Through。这些单词中间的字母都是一样的。
So they should at least have the same vowel sound, right? Wrong!
它们至少元音应该相同,对吧?不是的!
Every one of these words has a different vowel sound in it.
And while this is definitely annoying, the English language has a really, really fascinating history with words.
这些单词的元音都不相同,tough,though,thought,thorough,through。
尽管这肯定人苦恼,但是英语这种语言的单词有非常迷人的历史。
All the way through its history. We have words that come from all different origins around the world.
源远流长。我们有来自于世界各地的单词。
Now English words are derived from Germanic languages: Latin, French, Greek and several other languages and dialects as well.
And over time, words were added or they were changed, maybe they were lost and then replaced, but the result is, there's a lot of weirdly spelt words in English.
英语单词源于日耳曼语:拉丁语、法语、希腊语和一些其他的语言和方言。
随着时间推移,新的词汇加入,有一些发生了改变,可能有一些不见了,被取代了,但是结果是,英语中有很多拼写很奇怪的单词。
Like quiche, and hiccough and draught, and Wednesday, and receipt.
Some words have silent letters which were once pronounced, but aren't pronounced anymore.
比如说 quiche,还有 hiccough , draught , Wednesday ,还有 receipt。
有些单词里面有不发音的字母,它们曾经是发音的,但是现在不发音了。
And the pronunciation of some of these words has changed over time.
But the spelling rules haven't, so they don't really make sense anymore.
有些单词的发音随着时间推移改变了。
但是拼写规则并没有,所以它们看起来就很奇怪。
And other words have been taken from other languages like 'cappuccino' from Italian, or 'champagne' from French, and the spelling hasn't changed to reflect the English pronunciation.
In fact, the whole reason why there are two English spelling standards, British English and American English, is because the Americans eventually decided to simplify the spelling of English words to try and make English spelling a little less complicated.
还有一些来自于其他语言的单词,比如说来自于意大利语的 cappuccino ,来自于法语的 champagne ,这些规则没有改变来适应英语的发音。
事实上,为什么有两种英语拼写标准,也就是英式英语和美式英语,是因为美国人最终决定简化英语单词的拼写,试着让英语拼写没那么复杂。
So you can thank Noah Webster for that.
Now if spelling and pronunciation weren't frustrating enough already, then there's homonyms, a whole class of words which sound the same.
大家可以感谢 Noah Webster 。
如果拼写和发音还不够令人沮丧的话,还有同性同音异义词,这些单词听起来是一样的。
Maybe they look the same but actually they're completely different words.
And it's only the context of the sentence and sometimes the spelling are only the way that you'll know which word is being used.
可能它们看起来也是相同的,但是其实它们是完全不同的单词。
只有通过句子的语境和拼写才能知道到底用的是哪个。
Like when I say "too" you don't know if I'm actually saying to, two or too, right?
You have to listen to the context to understand the meaning or see the word written.
比如说,当我说“too”的时候,你不知道我说的到底是“to”、“two”,还是“too”,是吧?
你需要听整个语境来理解意思,或者是看单词的书写形式。
So English spelling is definitely annoying! Well we can agree that it helps to keep life interesting.
所以英语拼写真的很烦人啊!好的,我们同意这会让生活更加有趣。
Don't you think? Prepositions are definitely annoying.
你不觉得吗?介词很烦人。
I get on my bike. I get into my bed.
我上自行车了。我上床了。
She's on the bus. She's in the car.
她在公交车上。她在车上。
We hop off the bus. We get out of the car.
我们下公交车了。我们下车了。
English prepositions are really annoying.
One preposition could have several different meanings depending on the context.
英语介词真的很烦人。
同一个介词在不同的语境会有不同的意思。
And the rules are not always very clear. And there are a lot of exceptions when it comes to English prepositions.
Plus, there's a really good chance that the preposition rules in English are slightly different from the prepositions that you would use in your own language.
这些规则不总是很清楚的。就英语介词而言,有很多例外。
除此之外,有很多情况下英语中的介词规则和你们自己语言中的介词规则可能会有些许不同。
So often they don't just simply translate between languages, right?
Now prepositions also form part of phrasal verbs.
它们经常不能直接在不同语言之间直接翻译,对吧?
介词也是动词短语的组成部分。
And that's a whole 'nother annoying issue about English, right?
So you've learnt that 'take' is a verb that means to grab hold of something or to remove something from a place.
英语中还有人多其他令人苦恼的地方,是吧?
所以你已经知道了‘take’是一个动词,意思是拿到某个东西,或者是将某个东西从某个地方移除。
You also learned the basic definitions of many prepositions.
And as you know, phrasal verbs are a combination of a verb and a preposition, usually.
你们也知道很多介词的基本定义。
你们也知道,动词短语通常是动词和介词的结合。
And the meaning of a phrasal verb is different from the meaning of just the verb on its own.
So phrasal verbs really have to be memorised because they're often really hard to guess the meaning of even in context. I'm going to take off now.
动词短语和里面的动词的意思是不一样的。
所以动词短语需要进行记忆,因为它们通常很难从语境中推测其意思。我现在要脱掉衣服。
I need to take in the waist of my pants a few inches. But you can't take off the waist of your pants.
我要把我裤子腰围给缩一缩。但是你不能把裤子的腰给去掉。
You can take off your pants. And you can take up the hem of your pants.
你可以脱掉裤子。你可以把裤子给改短。
But you can't take up your pants, you have to pull them up, right?
So sometimes a single phrasal verb can have more than one meaning as well which makes them even more annoying.
但是不能拿起裤子,是提裤子,对吧?
有时候一个动词短语会有不止一个意思,这就更令人苦恼了。
So let's just move on for now. If you want to check out my playlist on phrasal verbs, it's right here. Full of it, go nuts.
我们先继续前进吧。如果你想要看一下我关于动词短语的播放列表的话,就在这里。全都是,很疯狂的。
I'm exhausted now but there are so many more reasons why English is annoying.
Can you think of any yourself?
我现在已经累了,但是又很很多英语为什么那么烦人的原因。你自己能想到什么吗?
Formality is not clear in English. We don't use specific pronouns to show formality.
英语中的正式性不是很明显。我们不会使用特定的代词来表示正式性。
We use certain phrases and grammatical structures to show formality. You've got to learn them separately.
我们会使用特定的短语和语法结构来表示正式。你们已经进行学习了。
Syllable stress is also annoying.
The same exact letters can be pronounced in a completely different way like minute and minute.
音节的重音也很烦人。
完全相同的字母可以以完全不同的方式读出来,比如说 minute 的两种读音。
Very, very small. So at this point you just really want to just like strangle English, right?
非常非常小的区别。现在你们都想掐死英语了吧?
Or strangle your English teacher! Okay enough moaning now, we've vented, right?
或者是掐死英语老师!好的,抱怨已经够了,我们已经发泄出来了,对吧?
We've got our frustration off our chests. And it's phenomenally impressive to think just how much of the English language you've already learnt.
我们已经把胸口的积怨发泄出来了。想象一下你已经学习了多少英语,真的很是非常令人印象深刻的。
Yes, there's always going to be room for improvement but the task is a challenging one and you are making progress.
Now I want to know, what do you love about learning English?
是的,总是会有提升的空间,但是任务是艰巨的,你也在取得进步。
现在我想知道,你比较喜欢学英语的什么方面呢?
I want to hear about that in the comments too, I want to hear how much you love learning English.
And if there are any English teachers, I'd love to hear from you as well.
我想要在评论区听一下大家的想法,我想要听一下你们有多么热爱学习英语。
如果有英语老师的话,我也希望听听你们的想法。
Are there some questions that you get from your students which just completely stump you?
Or are there topics that you absolutely hate teaching?
有没有你从学生那里收集到的问题把你给难住了?
或者是你很不愿意教授的话题?
Because they just don't really make much sense, and they're really frustrating for your students.
I'm looking forward to reading some of those comments.
因为它们说不怎么通,你的学生也为之感到苦恼。我很期待读一读大家的留言。
So right now I'm going to head over into this lesson here to remind myself how much I love English.
Are you coming?
现在我要去这节课来提醒我自己有多么喜欢英语了。