TED演讲——不要固执于英语英文字幕

不要固执于英语

I know what you

’

re thinking. You think I

’

ve lost my way, and somebody

’

s going to come on

the stage in a minute and guide me gently back to my seat. I get that all thetime

in Dubai.

“

Here

on

holiday

are

you,

dear?

”“

Come

to

visit

the

children?

”“

How

long

are

you

staying?

”

Well

actually, I hope for a while longer yet. I have been living and teaching in Gulf for over 30 years.

And in that time, I have seen a lot of changes. Now that statistic is quit shocking. And I want to

talk to you today about language loss and the globalization of English. I want to tell you about my

friend

who

was

teacher

English

to

adults

in

Abu

Dhabi.

And

one fine

day,

she

decided

to

take

them

into

the

garden

to

teach

them

some

nature

vocabulary.

But

it

was

she

who

ended

up

learning all the Arabic words for the local plants, as well as their uses, medicinal uses, cosmetics,

cooking,

herbal.

How

did

those

students

get

all

that

knowledge?

Of

course,

from

their

grandparentsand even their great-grandparents. It

’

s not necessary to tell you how important it is

to

be

able

to

communicate

across

generation.

But

sadly,

today,

languages

are

dying

at

an

unprecedented

rate.

A

language

dies

every

14

days.

Now

at

the

same

time,

English

is

the

undisputed global language. Could there be a connection? We don

’

t know. But I do knowthat I

’

ve

seen a lot of changes. When I first came out to the Gulf, I came to Kuwait in the days it was still a

hardship

post.

Actually,

not

that

long

ago.

That

is

a

little

bit

too

early.

But

nevertheless,

I was

recruited

by

the

British

Council

along

with

about

25

other

teachers.

And

we

were

the

first

non-Muslims

to

teach

in

the

state

schools

there

in

Kuwait.

We

were

brought

to

teach

English

because

the

government wanted

to

modernize

the

country

and empower

the

citizens

through

education. And of course, the U.K. benefited from some of that lovely oil wealth.

Okay. Now this is the major change that I

’

ve seen how teaching English has morphed from

being a mutually beneficial practice to becoming a massive international business that it is today.

No

longer

just

a

foreign

language

on

the

school

no

longer

the

sole

domain

of

mother

England.

It

has

become

a

bandwagon

for

every

English-speaking

nation

on

earth.

And

why not? After all, the best education according to the latest World University Rankings is to be

found

in

the

universities

of

the

U.K.

and

the

U.S.

So

everybody

wants

to

have

an

English

education, naturally. But if you

’

re not a native speaker, you have to pass a test. Now can it be

right to reject a student on linguistic ability alone? Perhaps you have a computer scientist

who’s

a