[美國文化觀察]
川普前幾天說, 以後的移民要在移民美國時, 就要會說英文. 經濟學人這篇文章講的挺好: 其實移民移居美國後, 早晚都會說英文的.
在我身上其實也應證了這說法. 旅居美國十幾年, 雖然平常有跟此地的台灣同胞保持互動, 但因為身處在美語環境, 也為了生存下去, 所以我漸漸地習慣說英文, 聽英文歌, 看美國電視, 看原文書. 我也很清楚地意識到, 自己的母語(中文)能力在退化中. 所以我前幾年開始接英翻中的case, 而兩年前也開始藉著寫中文個股分析與開部落格來彌補這問題. 很多時候不是我故意在秀英文, 而是我真的不知道該用甚麼中文字來表達意思了, 或是我覺得用英文能夠更傳神地表達我的想法.
"Rather than refusing to learn English, today’s immigrants actually abandon their first language much more readily than previous generations. German, the language spoken by the president’s ancestors, is a case in point. Germans arrived in America in big waves in the middle of the 19th century. Generations later, they were still speaking German at home; a small number were even monolingual in German despite being born in America. Only with America’s entry into the first world war did German-speakers drop their suddenly unpopular language.
Today the typical pattern is that the arriving generation speaks little English, or learns it imperfectly; the first children born in America are bilingual, but English-dominant, and their children hardly speak the heritage language. This is as true of Hispanics as it is of speakers of smaller languages—and all without a lecture from the White House."
以下是全文:
DONALD TRUMP’s young administration is adept at one particular manoeuvre. Whenever the president is having a terrible time in the press, for some embarrassing statement, interview or imbroglio, the White House announces a far-reaching policy designed to stoke up his nationalist base while infuriating his opponents. In February it was the proposed ban on visitors from seven mainly Muslim countries. Last month it was the announcement on Twitter that he would not let transgender soldiers serve in the military.
In each case, the new policy tends to hurt people who can be portrayed as threatening outsiders to ordinary Americans who work hard and pay their taxes. Yesterday’s announcement to back a months-old plan to overhaul America’s immigration rules falls in the same category. If implemented, it would reward applicants with sought-after job skills who already speak English, at the expense of low-skilled workers without language skills.
This may seem perfectly sensible: after all, skilled immigrants are a good thing. But as an ongoing shortage of farm workers in California shows, unskilled immigrants are just as crucial. Equally, it is a good thing if immigrants speak English. But they need not speak it before arrival: as it is impossible to participate fully in American life without speaking English, the incentive to learn it quickly is overwhelming.
The administration’s emphasis on English skills therefore harks back to an old myth that the linguistic make-up of America, which has been an English-dominant country for a long time, is changing: that the status of English is somehow threatened, especially by Spanish, but more generally by the notion that English is no longer needed in the economy.
The myth goes something like this: today’s immigrants want to come to America to isolate themselves into communities that do not speak English. American policy tacitly encourages this by not being tough enough in requiring English. In the past, immigrants happily learned English quickly; “my grandpa came here from the old country but he refused to speak his old language; he insisted on getting by in his broken English until he was fluent.” But today’s immigrants no longer do so, as multiculturalism has replaced the melting pot.
All of this is wrong. America began as a thin band of English colonies clinging to the eastern coast, vastly outnumbered by speakers of other languages. The foreign-born percentage of the population peaked not last year—the administration likes to talk of “unprecedented” numbers—but in 1890, when the share of foreign-born residents was at an all-time high of 14.8%. This proportion has risen again after declining in the mid-20th century (it stood at 12.9% in the 2010 census). America today has multilingual big cities with their voting instructions in Korean, Chinese and Russian.
Historically, this is the norm rather than the exception: the years from 1925 to 1965, when immigration was almost completely cut off, were unusual. But those born from the 1940s to the 1960s became used to the low numbers of foreign-born residents, regarding this state as normal. That in turn supported a belief that America has always naturally belonged completely to English.
For most of its history, America was precisely the “polyglot boardinghouse” Teddy Roosevelt once worried it would become. That history has turned out very well not just for America, but for English—the most successful language in the history of the world. Along with American power, English has spread around the globe. At home, wave after wave after wave of immigrants to America have not only learned English but forgotten the languages their parents brought with them.
Rather than refusing to learn English, today’s immigrants actually abandon their first language much more readily than previous generations. German, the language spoken by the president’s ancestors, is a case in point. Germans arrived in America in big waves in the middle of the 19th century. Generations later, they were still speaking German at home; a small number were even monolingual in German despite being born in America. Only with America’s entry into the first world war did German-speakers drop their suddenly unpopular language.
Today the typical pattern is that the arriving generation speaks little English, or learns it imperfectly; the first children born in America are bilingual, but English-dominant, and their children hardly speak the heritage language. This is as true of Hispanics as it is of speakers of smaller languages—and all without a lecture from the White House.
同時也有1部Youtube影片,追蹤數超過3,370的網紅瘋查某尬英文,也在其Youtube影片中提到,YT Caption 更多的英文學習貼文:https://www.instagram.com/crazy_girl_english/ 這次的影片在最後加了一小段新聞擷取來讓大家練練聽力。👇🏻 是中文翻譯喔! 「5月17日,國營台灣電力公司因突然急遽上升的耗電量而於晚間8點50分開始,在台灣特定區...
「power shortage中文」的推薦目錄:
power shortage中文 在 瘋查某尬英文 Youtube 的最讚貼文
YT Caption
更多的英文學習貼文:https://www.instagram.com/crazy_girl_english/
這次的影片在最後加了一小段新聞擷取來讓大家練練聽力。👇🏻 是中文翻譯喔!
「5月17日,國營台灣電力公司因突然急遽上升的耗電量而於晚間8點50分開始,在台灣特定區域實施停電措施。此次耗電量突增起因於在日益增加的國內新冠疫情案例下,大部分人選擇待在家中造成,而興達發電廠發電機的失靈更加劇了此次的停電狀況。緊急的電力配給措施被劃分為 C 區及 D區的範圍進行實施,而這場停電最終總計影響了66 萬戶家庭。此次停電最終於晚間9點40分結束,恢復正常供電。」
小查某複習區:
「停電」
power outage /power failure / power cut / blackout
The power went out.
The power is off.
「恢復供電」
The power is back on.
The power supply is recovered.
「缺水」
water shortage
drought
「停水」
water outage / water cut / water failure
The water supply is suspended
The water got cut off.
「恢復供水」
The water supply is restored.
🎈 其他主題影片:
「滾啦、走開啦」的英文:https://youtu.be/YnF5w7waukk
「我超忙的 / 這週忙翻了」的英文:https://youtu.be/TR4mGnnfXtw
國際職場的窘境:https://youtu.be/RodS_Yfph_Y
新聞擷取來自:
- https://focustaiwan.tw/society/202105170027
- https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2021/05/18/2003757590
#停水停電的英文
#時事英文
#要和IGTV告別了
#學英文
#瘋查某尬英文
![post-title](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/g5cYQcdgAqc/hqdefault.jpg)
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