金融時報:“歐英語”的崛起？

“歐英語”的崛起？

當(dāng)一些不同母語的人們聚到一起，他們幾乎不可避免會用英語作為溝通語言，如果這兒有英美人，他們很快會發(fā)現(xiàn)這種英語與自己講的不一樣，而他們自己的“標(biāo)準(zhǔn)英語”反而可能是最讓人聽不懂的。這是否意味著一種“歐式英語”的崛起呢？

測試中可能遇到的詞匯和知識：

pidgin English 洋涇浜英語，即受其他語言影響的、不標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的英語。如漢語中的馬達(dá)、水門汀、派對等詞匯就是來源于中式洋涇浜英語。

creole ['kri:?ul] 克里奧爾語，即混合語，這里指的是海地等地混合著英語和法語詞匯、拋棄了正規(guī)語法的一種語言。

transcend [træn'send; trɑ?n-] 超過

figurative ['f?g(?)r?t?v; -gj?-] 比喻性的

Eurish has developed a grammar of its own (686 words)

By Michael Skapinker

When slave traders shipped their human cargo to the Caribbean and to the American coast, they mixed people of different languages together to head off any rebellion, David Crystal says in his book The English Language.

The captives and sailors developed a pidgin English, which, with the next generation, became a creole, which turned into the forms that characterise the language in the Caribbean and among some groups of African-Americans today, with their varying degrees of distance from standard English.

West Indian English speakers, Crystal wrote, “often do not mark plurals (three book) or possessives (that man house) [and] verbs do not use the -s ending (he see me)”.

I frequently observe another group of people with different mother tongues thrown together and required to talk. Free-born and wealthy, they are European business people who speak French, German, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish or Polish at home but, when they get together, almost invariably turn to English.

I listen to them on conference panels, in meetings and at trade shows. I marvel at their competence and confidence, particularly in discussions on stage, under bright lights, when they cannot rely on prepared scripts.

Business people all over the world speak English when dealing with companies in other countries, of course. But the language is not used as intensively as it is in Europe, where many people, at all levels, exchange emails and participate in meetings, telephone calls and Skype conferences in English, often throughout the day.

In spite of their admirable fluency, these business people often say things that native English speakers would regard as wrong. Sometimes these grammatical and lexical quirks are clearly carried over from their own languages. (This is another significant difference between these business people and the descendants of slaves: the Europeans retain their own languages.)

But I began to notice common grammatical tics that transcended mother tongues and united speakers of Romance and Germanic languages. Were we, I wondered, witnessing the development of a new English dialect? Could we call it Eurish?

Realising that attending European meetings and conferences gave me a seat in one of the world's most fascinating linguistic laboratories, I began to take notes and watch online videos of panel discussions.

There are academic researchers doing the same, noting real-life business conversations and examining the collocations and grammatical changes. My sample size may be smaller. But here are variations I have noticed. Some of these may be specific to Europe. Others are, no doubt, happening around the world.

The dropping of the “s” in the third person singular (“it remind me”) is quite common, but most continental European speakers of English have had formal lessons in the language and know that, in conventional grammar, the “s” is required. Those who leave it out sometimes remember it in the next sentence.

More frequent is “I will answer to your question” – rather than the native speaker's “answer your question”– which I have heard from speakers of several languages.

Another common feature of Eurish is the plural uncountable noun. In native-speaker English, uncountable, or mass, nouns are singular. I often hear non-native speakers use them as plurals: “This is showing potentials”; “contractual informations”; “We can accept criticisms”; “We need good infrastructures”. This is not unique to Europe. On Indian government English-language websites, there are references to “legislations”.

Another frequent variation is the use of the “to” form where native speakers use “-ing”. I have noted: “We are looking forward to see you”; “We have experience to deliver this”; “This addiction to feel sorry for ourselves”; “We spend hours to complain”.

Many native speakers will say these are just mistakes. People who learn English properly do not make them. But most of these conversations happen without any native English speakers there.

When Britons, Americans or other native speakers appear at conferences, they are often in a minority and, with their overuse of figurative language, are frequently the least comprehensible people in the room. Eurish is developing behind their backs.

請根據(jù)你所讀到的文章內(nèi)容，完成以下自測題目：

1.What do we know about “creole”?

A.This language is invented by slave traders.

B.Creole is the same as “Pidgin English”.

C.Creole ia not a language, but a category of languages.

D.It is spoken by mainstream African Americans.

答案(1)

2.What do we know about the English spoken by European speakers?

A.They often abolish their own languages and speak English.

B.They usually carry strong accents of their native tongue.

C.They speak in a way that native English speakers do not.

答案(2)

3.Non-native speakers from all countries make some common mistakes. However, which of the following is correct?

A.“it remind me”

B.“legislation of India”

C.“I will answer to your question”

D.“We spend hours to complain”

答案(3)

4.What does the writer think about the “Eurish”?

A.laudable

B.lamentable

C.unbelievable

D.inevitable

答案(4)

* * *

(1)答案：C.Creole ia not a language, but a category of languages.

解釋：第二段中說道，黑奴和水手們發(fā)展出了一種“洋涇浜英語”，而這種語言到他們的下一代就演化成了“克里奧爾語”。

(2)答案：C.They speak in a way that native English speakers do not.

解釋：只有不同國家的歐洲人到一起才會轉(zhuǎn)向英語，不可能所有人都有很重的口音。而任何非英語母語的人都會或多或少帶著一些自己語言的習(xí)慣或詞匯等。

(3)答案：B.“legislation of India”

解釋：In native-speaker English, uncountable, or mass, nouns are singular. “立法”也是不可數(shù)的。 potentials, criticisms, informations, infrastructures其實都是錯誤的。

的確，印度環(huán)保部網(wǎng)站上寫著legislations，而英國國會網(wǎng)站則寫的全是legislation.

(4)答案：D.inevitable

解釋：最后一段作者講，英美等英語國家的人出現(xiàn)在國際會議上時，雖然大家都用英語，但他們的英語是少數(shù)派，而且他們愛用比喻性的說法，這讓他們往往成為最難以理解的。因此，一種簡化形式的“歐英語”正在悄然出現(xiàn)。