https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQEWEPIHLzQ

譯者: Helen Chang 審譯者: 宛蓁 謝
我現在要放一個音檔給你們聽
麻煩你們專心聽
不要玩手機
不要分心
然後，我希望你們 盡量把內容全部聽懂
先說一下，它有點長度
所以，你如果感到有點不耐煩
請你們好好品味一下 這個「不耐煩」的感覺
好
聽一下
（播放馬克祖克柏的演講音檔）
（音檔結束）
我現在要請問你們一個問題
你的感覺怎麼樣？
聽完了
都聽懂了嗎？
還是會像我大一的學生說：
「老師，那個音檔 可不可以不要那麼長？」
是不是有些字你要想半天
才想得出他原來要講的意思？
比方說，「法名」要變「發明」
「火窯」要變「火藥」
如果只有這麼一、兩個就算了
可是從頭到尾很多的字
要還原成正確的聲調
是不是有一點累？
要花蠻多的腦力
那我再問你們一下
我是教英文的
為什麼要放這個音檔給你們聽？
你們想得到嗎？
（笑聲）
你們希望在你們講英文的時候
對方有這樣子的感受嗎？
想一下，設身處地
是不是對於英語的學習
尤其是發音的學習 有點不一樣的態度？
這麼累！
你要讓對方有這種感覺嗎？
華人地區，差不多就是
中文節目、中文的電影 幾乎都有字幕看
那我請問一下
你們主要是用聽的還是用看的？
我們來看一個
（影片：你把這些東西帶進來幹嘛？）
可能是還沒聽完，你早就已經讀完了
你們華人厲害呀！
就是學中國字要學三、四年
才有足夠的字來用
我們學英文的拉丁字母 大概一、兩年差不多
拼寫（spelling）不好就不講了
可是，你們花那麼多時間 來學 中國字怎麼寫
可是呢，閱讀以後速度就很快
你們是兩個字為單位
兩個字、兩個字、兩個字 這樣子飛過去
我們還在慢慢地一個子音
一個母音、一個子音這樣拼起來
中文幾乎可以略過 這個語音處理的步驟
就比較快
那這樣子好像就讓很多華人
比較喜歡用閱讀來吸收資訊
而慢慢比較沒那麼習慣
也沒那麼喜歡用聽的來吸收資訊
我現在舉個例子啊
你們現在要學鋼琴
然後你就看這個譜、研究這個譜
背這個譜、分析這個譜
對這個譜很熟，非常的內行
可是，你彈得出來嗎？
你可能是滿肚子的理論
可是手指頭根本沒有訓練好
我再舉另外一個例子
現在假定說
你有一個外國朋友 他同意跟你練習英文會話
你教他中文，要從基礎教起
所以你要教他中文的四個聲調
那你就跟他說：
「每一個字、每一個音 節 都有一個固定的聲調
這個會辨別意思
聲調講錯了，那個不曉得就在講什麼
所以你就拿這個圖表給他
說：「我們就『ㄇㄚ』這個字好了
你照著這個圖表的曲線 唸給我聽吧！
中文的四聲。」
你是外國人的話，唸得出來嗎？
會像中文嗎？
我問過的人都會大笑，說： 「不太可能吧！」
我說：「那你會怎麼教呢？」
他說：「我當然唸給他聽啊！ 要他跟著唸。」
我說：「對呀！」
那我們的英語教學 怎麼是一堆白紙黑字
幾乎是沒有聲音
學生是要用猜的嗎？
會導致什麼呢？
如果這些音沒有抓準
我們就沒辦法分辨你講的是什麼東西
中文是靠四聲 當然子音、母音也重要
可是四個聲調 你們就特別、特別地重視
那英文要靠母音、子音、重音
如果音沒有學得很標準的話 會變成什麼樣子？
你聽聽看這是哪四個字？
（英文發音的四個字）
我保證這是四個不同的字
這是個算有代表性的台灣人唸的
她唸的是這四個字：
rain
ran，「蝴蝶 a」（/æ/）
wren，「倒 3」（/ɛ/）
rang，「蝴蝶 a」加一個「ng」
rain
ran
wren
rang
聽起來都一樣嗎？
像這個樣子嗎？
rain、rain、rain、rain
(笑聲）
其實四個字放在一起的時候 我的學生說：
「嘿，老師，其實差蠻多哦！」
放在一起好好訓練 每個人都可以學得會
可是因為被忽略了 才會講成這個樣子
好，我們再來一組字
這五個字是哪五個英文字？
聽聽看
（英文發聲的五個字）
（笑聲）
又是五個不同的字喔！
是哪五個呢？
你分辨得出來嗎？
其實，bat、bad 是有 「無聲」跟「有聲」的差別
可是不只這樣子
後面的音有聲的話 之前的母音就會變長
所以，是這樣唸的：
bat、bad、bet、bed
是不是差別就很清楚？
可是因為台灣一般沒有教學生說
母音的長度會變，就看後面有聲無聲
所以一般人就是 bet、bet
那下面 a 跟 e 常常無法分辨
那個是下巴要收起來 不是 at 而是 et、et
後面有聲的話，那個 a 要拉長
變：bat、bad
bat、bad
最後是 bait
應該唸成 bat
bad
bet
bed
bait
聽得出差別嗎?
還是要這樣唸？
（英文發聲的五個字）
好，我舉另外一個例子
你剛剛那個外國的、語言交換的朋友
他跟你出去要吃東西
你問他：「想吃什麼啊？」
他說：「我想吃ㄅㄧㄥˊ 」
他想吃什麼？
你確定嗎？
中文沒有「ㄅㄧㄥˊ 」這個字
根本沒有！
所以，你要問他：
「呃，你要吃的是冷的嗎？ 還是熱的？」
（笑聲）
才知道
那…這樣子的教學 只是說是口音的問題嗎？
是有點外國腔的問題嗎？
很多人說：
「唉，發音不重要，聽得懂就好啦！」
聽得懂，也許懂
可是花了多少腦筋跟猜測才聽懂？
其實不是一個口音跟外國腔的問題
是這些被用來辨別意思的成分 根本被忽略了
同一個句子裡面
這四個字都通
a little bit
a little bid
a little beat
a little bead
都通
全部都講成「a little bit」
我們怎麼知道是哪一個？
還有，如果你問人家說： 「欸，你去哪裡旅遊？」
他回答說：
（英文發音的回答）
（笑聲）
那到底是講一個國家嗎？
還是在罵人？
他絕對不是故意的
實際上很多英文字 母音講錯了，就是變粗話了
我不再舉例子囉！
（笑聲）
這樣子的教學
如果我們這樣子教
數學、物理、歷史、音樂
有這樣不精準，這樣可以嗎？
這會是什麼樣的教育？
可是基於英語的教學
好像這是家常便飯，是常態
就是這個樣子，大家就覺得：
反正學不好嘛，那就乾脆放棄
反正考試又不考
真的有那麼難學嗎？
我舉個例子
/i/ 跟 /I/ 這兩個母音
有點接近，可是是完全不同的母音
中文有嗎？
/i/ 中文有嗎？
一、二、三、一
中文有，應該沒問題
可是， /I/ 中文有嗎？
/I/ 、/I/ 、/I/ 、/I/
中文有嗎？
（做出踏步的動作）
有嗎？有
有
特殊的情況之下，一、二，一、二
（笑聲）
那個「一」，百分之百 就是英文的短的 /I/
所以說你不會區別，其實我不相信
好。那…學語言 需要具備什麼樣的條件？
最重要的是 一個很強烈的慾望跟需要
需要訂好目標
你的目標是什麼啊？
可是一般台灣人所定的目標是什麼？
可是考試又不需要聽力好到哪裡去
而且發音完全不用
所以誰會「浪費」時間在口說上面？
到時候去了美國，說：
「噢！我都聽不懂，我也講不出口。」
會驚訝嗎？
可是，如果真的有一個很重要的目標
你一定要達到
是不是會不一樣？
有沒有碰到很多 東南亞來的一些看護？
來台灣沒有很久 本來他們都不會中文
可是，誒，奇怪！ 中文講得不錯，能溝通
而且不只國語 很多台語「嘛欸通」，也不錯
他們也…
為什麼呢？
因為他離開了家裡
自己的子女還交給父母了
來到台灣，他一定要成功
他必須要學中文 才能執行他的工作
所以他就想辦法學
我問他們怎麼學得這麼好？
菲律賓的、印尼的。他說：
「我就是這樣子每天用聽的。」
害我佩服不已，我自己都辦不到
可是除了一個很強的一個慾望
你需要一個好的學習法
我在教書的時候 我唸一句話，要學生跟著唸
我發現，我唸到一半的時候
他們已經打岔了，已經開始跟著唸
這個代表什麼呢？
他們完全沒有在聽
他可能只是在閱讀啦
或是把它背起來啦
只是，我自己開始講的時候 當一個信號
等一下我要表現，等一下我要表現
注意力全部放在自己的身上
根本沒有用心聽 實際的那個聲音是什麼聲音
所以我想到
我們人腦有個非常奇妙的一個功能
叫做「回音記憶」
當我們聽到一個聲音
不管是一句話啦
或者東西摔到地上的聲音
我們的頭腦自動地 會重播一次同一個聲音
所以如果我說： 「Please come in」
事後你馬上聽得到我剛講的那句話
而且是我的聲音
後來我想，如果這可以 應用在語言的學習上
是不是會很有幫助？
是會讓學生充分地吸收那個聲音
做深度的聆聽
這個方法就叫做「回音法」
the echo method
它有三個步驟
第一個：你要找到一個 有文字稿的音檔
然後只要拿短短的一段
然後，句子裡面所有的單字、片語
一些文化典故，你就 Google 好
你就把整個...這個段落把它看懂
然後，開始練習的時候
你就按「Play 」一下
聽三四個字，「停」
不要馬上跟著唸
你就聽一下心裡的
剛剛我們聽到的那個回音
然後，聽完自己心裡產生的回音以後
你才開口跟著唸
三個步驟：listen、echo、repeat
listen、echo、repeat
我們現在來試試看吧！
這是個很短的一段對話
你們聽一下
（播放英語對話音檔）
（音檔結束）
最後那一句「But it is nice.」
那音調比較特別
你沒有聲音做一個範本的話
你可能就
(不自然的唸法）
可能就這樣子唸
實際上不是
我們來試試看
我來示範
然後，我這個手勢代表說「echo」
先讓他回音一下
我說、echo、repeat
OK？不要偷跑
這個時候你不要先講
好，試試看
But it is nice.
（手勢以及眾人唸）
But it is nice.
（手勢以及眾人唸）
But it is nice.
（手勢以及眾人唸）
漂亮！講得很好了
那就是你聽到
你是充分聽懂原來怎麼唸的
自己心裡把它內化了
那就變自己了
然後，你講的時候
就會很像原本的那個原聲帶
第二個步驟
就是這個做完了
你可以直接跟著唸
然後最後就同步
你就看我的手勢
But it is nice.
（手勢以及眾人唸）
But it is nice.
（手勢以及眾人唸）
同步
But it is nice.
But it is nice.
你會覺得好像重複蠻多遍
確實是這樣子
一定要 overlearned
你要學過頭，你才能把它記起來
才會把它變成你的長期記憶
需要的時候，才會自動地蹦出來
什麼東西作為你的教材是最好的呢？
我是建議好的、優良的電視影集
對，像《宅男行不行》、 《奇異果女孩》還不錯
然後，你這樣子，每天這樣子練
不只是發音，還有單字、文法
一次搞定
那你有那麼多時間來練嗎？
每天有一兩個小時嗎？
一般人沒有
可是你有沒有十分鐘？
十分鐘其實就夠了
可是要每天練
你今天可以帶回家的有這三樣：
第一個，你學語言不要只想到自己
你要想到對方的感受
第二個，你設目標的時候
不要為了考試而學英文
你是為了想要很舒服地、 很愉快地跟別人溝通
最後，你就是要持之以恆
你不要抱佛腳
每天一點點，每天十分鐘、
十分鐘、十分鐘地這樣練習
保證你的英語會突飛猛進
謝謝
（掌聲）

Translator: 宛蓁 謝 Reviewer: Helen Chang

I’m going to play a recording for you.

Please listen very attentively,

and please don’t play with your cell phones!

Don’t let yourself be distracted,

just try your best to understand the content.

I’ll warn you beforehand that it's a bit long.

If you start to feel a bit impatient,

please try to savor that feeling of impatience.

OK, here we go.

(Mark Zuckerberg giving a speech in Chinese with tone errors)

Karen Chung: So, now let me ask you:

How do you feel about what you just heard?

Did you understand it all?

Or maybe, like my freshmen, you're asking,

"Uh, could you maybe make the sound clip a bit shorter?"

Were there words you had to think about for a while

before you could figure out what he meant to say?

When you heard fǎmíng 法名 [dharma name] instead of fāmíng 發明 [invention]?

Or huǒyáo 火窯 [kiln] instead of huǒyào 火藥 [fireworks]?

When it's just a few words, it's little matter.

But did you find

correcting the tones of so many words from start to finish in your head

was actually rather tiring

and consumed quite a bit of brain energy?

So let me ask you,

I teach English, why would I be playing a recording like this for you?

Can you figure out why?

When you speak English,

would you like your conversation partner to feel this way?

Think for a minute, and put yourself in the other person's shoes, empathize.

Does it at all change your attitude towards English learning,

especially pronunciation?

Would you want your partner to feel this tired talking with you?

In Chinese-speaking regions,

Chinese TV shows and movies mostly display Chinese subtitles.

So let me ask you: Do you usually listen to the program, or read it?

Let's watch this clip.

(Video clip)

I expect you probably finished reading the subtitle

before you heard the line spoken.

Chinese speakers are shrewd.

It does take around three to four years to learn enough Chinese characters

to read most things,

For us English speakers using the Latin alphabet,

it takes just a year or two,

leaving aside the issue that lots of us are not wonderful spellers.

However, although you have to spend a lot more time learning to write Chinese,

ultimately you will read Chinese faster than English speakers read English.

You sail through a written text in units of two characters at a time,

while we plod along,

slowly putting the consonants and vowels together into words.

When reading Chinese,

you can largely skip over the step of phonetic processing

and thus you read faster.

For this reason, many Chinese prefer to acquire information by reading

rather than more slowly by listening.

As an example, say you are learning to play the piano.

You learn to read the printed notes,

you study the piece, memorize it, analyze it.

You become intimately familiar with the score.

But can you play it?

You may have a head full of theory,

but you haven’t trained your fingers to play it.

Let's look at another example.

Suppose you have a foreign friend

who agrees to practice English conversation with you,

in exchange for you teaching him Chinese.

You have to start from scratch,

so you teach them the four tones of Mandarin.

You tell them that every character, every syllable, comes with a fixed tone.

Change the tone and you change the meaning;

a character pronounced with the wrong tone is not understood correctly.

So you show them this diagram, and say, "Let's start with 'ma'.

Now, please say 'ma' in the four tones, following the lines in this diagram."

Could you do this if you were a foreigner taking your first Chinese lesson?

Would it sound like Chinese?

Everyone I've asked laughs and says, "Impossible!"

So I ask, "How would you teach it, then?"

They say, "Of course I'd read it aloud to them, then ask them to repeat it."

So I say, "Exactly."

So why is our English curriculum mostly written texts and almost no sound?

Do we expect the students to guess the correct pronunciations?

What does that lead to?

If the words aren't pronounced correctly,

we won’t know what you’re saying.

Mandarin relies on the four tones -

of course the vowels and consonants are important too -

but the four tones are especially important in distinguishing words.

In English, we rely on the correct vowels, consonants and stress.

If the pronunciation isn't right, what do you get?

Listen to these four words:

(Audio file)

I promise you these are four different words.

This was read by a fairly typical Taiwanese learner of English.

These were the four words she read:

rain /reɪn/

ran /ræn/

wren /rɛn/

rang /ræŋ/

rain, ran, wren, rang.

Do they all sound the same?

Or like this:

rain, ran, wren, rang.

When they hear the words in sequence,

my students say, "Wow, there’s actually quite a big difference between them."

If you compare and contrast the words like this,

everyone can learn them correctly.

But since this kind of training is neglected, this is the result we get.

Okay, let's look at another set of words.

Which five English words are these?

(Audio file)

Again, these are five different words. Which five words are they?

Can you tell them apart?

Actually, b-a-t and b-a-d differ

in that the last sound is voiceless in one and voiced in the other.

But that's not the only difference.

If the sound after a vowel is voiced, like "d", the vowel will be lengthened.

So the two words are pronounced "bat", 'ba...d"; "bat", 'ba...d".

Can you hear a clear difference between the two?

But in Taiwan, we mostly don't teach that vowel length changes

depending on whether the next sound is voiced or not,

so most people will say "bat, bat" for "bat, ba...d".

Next, lots of people have trouble differentiating short "a" /æ/ and "e" /ɛ/.

To make a short "e", push your chin up, like this;

it’s not "bat" but "bet", "bet".

If the next consonant is voiced, the short "e" is lengthened.

Compare "bet" to 'be...d'; "bet", "be...d".

The last word is pronounced "bait".

So the five words should be pronounced "bat", "ba...d", "bet", "be...d", "bait".

Do you hear the differences?

Or would you read them like this:

bat, bat, bat, bat, bat.

OK, let me give you another example.

Remember that language exchange partner mentioned earlier?

Let's say you're going out for a meal, and you ask him what he'd like to eat.

He says, "I'm hungry for bíng [second tone]."

What do they want to eat?

Can you be sure?

There is no such word as second-tone bíng in Mandarin. Not at all.

In order to know what he wants, you need to ask him,

"Uh, do you want the cold kind [first-tone 'shaved ice']?

Or the hot kind [third-tone 'flatbread']?"

So, in our English teaching,

can we say it is just an issue of "accent,"

having a foreign accent?

Lots of people say, "Ah, pronunciation doesn't matter that much,

as long as you’re understood."

Sure, you may be understood,

but how much mental effort was spent guessing first?

In fact, it's not a problem of accent.

In reality, some of the key phonetic features

we use to distinguish one word from another are being ignored.

All of these four words can form a phrase:

A little bit? A little bid? A little beat? A little bead?

They all make sense.

How can we tell what is meant

if they are all pronounced as "a little bit"?

Also, if you asked someone, "Hey, where did you go on holiday?"

and he replied, "yuu aas! [meaning U.S.]"

Was he naming a country or insulting you?

He certainly didn't mean to insult you.

In fact, many English words become profanities if you get the vowel wrong.

I'm not going to give any more examples.

(Laughter)

Imagine what would happen

if we taught math, physics, history, or music,

with this level of imprecision.

Would that be acceptable?

What sort of education would that be?

Yet this seems to be par for the course in English teaching - the norm.

Students think, "Since I can't learn pronunciation well,

I might as well just give up on it altogether.

And besides, it won’t be in the exams."

Is it really that hard to learn?

Here's another example:

The two vowels long "ee" /i/ and short "i" /ɪ/ are a bit similar,

but they’re two entirely different vowels.

Do they exist in Mandarin?

Does long "ee" /i/ exist in Mandarin?

We have /i/ in the number '1', yī, as in yī èr sān [one, two, three].

So learning to say the long "ee" /i/ shouldn't be a problem.

But what about short "i" /ɪ/? Is there a short "i" sound in Mandarin?

Yes, under special circumstances.

When marching in the army, you say: "ih uh, ih uh" for "one, two."

(Laughter)

That pronunciation of the number "1" is exactly like the English short "i" /ɪ/.

So if you say you can't tell them apart, I don't believe you.

OK, so what is necessary in order to learn a language well?

Most importantly, you must have a strong desire to learn, and a need.

And you must set a clear goal.

What is your goal?

What is the main goal for most Taiwanese?

Passing exams.

In exams, the listening component isn't all that critical.

You don't need pronunciation at all.

So who’s going to "waste time" working on speaking skills?

So, when you go to the States

and you can't understand or speak English well,

are you going to be surprised?

However, might it be different if you set a clear, concrete goal,

and decide you simply must achieve it?

Have you ever run into caregivers from Southeast Asia

who, not long after arriving in Taiwan with little or no knowledge of Mandarin,

can surprisingly communicate quite well and confidently in Mandarin?

And not just in Mandarin,

but sometimes also in Taiwanese as well?

How are they able to achieve this?

Because they've left home,

with their parents taking care of their kids:

they have to succeed in Taiwan.

They need to learn Mandarin to perform their duties.

So they find ways to learn it.

I've asked them how they learn it so well, Filipinos, Indonesians.

They say, "I learn by listening."

I find that awesome. I couldn't do it myself.

But in addition to a powerful desire, you need a good learning method.

Often when I ask my students to repeat a sentence after me,

they interrupt and start repeating before I’ve even finished giving the model.

What does this mean?

It means that they're not listening at all.

They may be reading the sentence, or they may have memorized it,

or they may be using the model only as a signal

that they need to start preparing their response.

Their attention is completely on themselves.

They're not listening to the actual sounds at all.

When I thought about it,

I realized that the human brain has an amazing function:

it's called "echoic memory."

When we hear a sound,

like a sentence or just something falling to the floor,

our brains will automatically replay that same sound in our head.

So if I say, "Please come in!"

you will immediately hear the sentence repeated in your head, in my voice.

Later, I found that using echoic memory in language teaching

could help students fully absorb the sounds they hear

and enable them to practice "deep listening."

This method is called the "Echo Method."

It has three steps.

First, find an audio file with a written transcription

and choose a short section from it.

Then, read it carefully,

and Google all the words, phrases and cultural allusions you don’t know,

making sure you thoroughly understand everything in the whole section.

When you're ready to practice,

press "play" and listen to three or four words, then press "pause".

Don't repeat the words out loud immediately after hearing them.

Take a moment to first listen to the "echo" in your head.

Then, after you've heard the words echo in your head, repeat them out loud.

Three steps: Listen, Echo, Repeat.

Listen, Echo, Repeat.

Let's try it out now.

Here's a short clip of a conversation.

Let’s listen.

(Movie clip) What's that song they're playing? I love it.

I have no idea. But it is nice.

That last sentence, "But it is nice," has a special intonation.

If you didn't have this audio model to follow,

you might read it choppily, like "But! it! is! nice!"

in a deliberate and stiff way.

But that’s not how it was said.

Now let's try it out.

I will give a model,

and when I put up my hand like this,

it means "Echo!"

Let the sound echo in your head.

So I'll give the model,

you wait for the echo, and then you repeat.

Make sure you don’t jump the gun

and start repeating before you’ve finished listening to the echo.

Let's try: "But it is nice."

Audience: "But it is nice."

KC: "But it is nice."

Audience: "But it is nice."

KC: "But it is nice."

Audience: "But it is nice."

Great, excellent!

You said it beautifully.

What happened was you listened fully to how it sounds,

then you internalized it, making it your own.

Because of this, when you say it, it more closely resembles the original.

The next step after this is to repeat directly after the original.

Then, finally, say it at the same time.

Follow my gestures:

"But it is nice."

Audience: "But it is nice."

KC: "But it is nice." Audience: "But it is nice."

Together now: "But it is nice."

KC and audience: "But it is nice."

You will feel you've repeated the same thing a lot of times.

That is indeed so.

You must "overlearn", you must overdo it in order to remember it,

in order for it to enter into your long-term memory,

so that when you need it, it will pop out by itself.

Now, what sort of learning material is best for Echo practice?

I suggest good television series,

such as "The Big Bang Theory" or "Gilmore Girls."

Practicing daily like this, you will learn,

not just pronunciation, but also vocabulary and grammar at the same time.

But do you have a lot of time to work on your English?

One or two hours a day?

Most people don't have that kind of time.

But do you have 10 minutes a day to spare?

10 minutes is in fact enough, but you need to do it every day.

Here are three takeaways to bring home with you:

First, don't just think of yourself when learning a language:

you also need to think of how the other person feels when listening to you.

Second, when setting your learning goals,

don't decide to learn English just for the exams;

you should be aiming to communicate comfortably and enjoyably with others.

Finally, persist, stick with it.

Don't try to cram at the last minute.

Practice a little every day, just 10 minutes a day.

I guarantee your English will improve beyond your expectations.

Thank you.