语言学习经验总结（针对成年学习者）

总论

1. 语言的教材主要有两种可能的编排方式。一是以语法为中心（国内的教材大多倾向这种），二是以交际为中心（引进的教材大多是这种），建议两类教材各选一本。也可以一些网络教材听音频更加方便，也可以参考，比如俄语教材 https://mezhdunami.org/。 学习时，不需要局限于一本教材，可以用不同的教材来交叉检验，巩固基础。可以参考机器学习中的训练集、检验集、测试集的作用。
2. 研究指出语言的被动技能（听读 第二语言->第一语言）和主动技能（说写 第一语言->第二语言）是不同的。被动技能的获得比主动技能更为容易。同时，对于被动技能的锻炼对于提高被动技能更为有效，对于主动技能的锻炼对于主动技能的提升更为有效，也就是说为了提高听读，就要练习听读，提高说写，就要练习说写。和充分输入假设相反的是如果需要进行说写，就应该进行说写的练习，而不能以听读代替。（¹ p.46, 56）
3. 词汇是语言学习的重要组成部分。以英语为例，一个以英语为母语的成年人能掌握超过 20000 个词族（word family）（² p. 62），但是对于一般的外语学习者而言，这个数量是几乎不可能达到的。同样以英语为例，掌握 3000-4000 个词族，足以覆盖 95% 的文本，而 6000-9000 词族足以覆盖 98% 的文本（¹ p. 14）。不同的研究指出认识文本中 95%-98% 的文本对于听读是非常必要的（² p. 62, ¹ p. 162）。
4. 不需要太在意自己无法发出语言中的某些发音，因为语用和重音对于语言的理解更为重要。另一方面，由于语言有着不同的方言，所以所谓的标准发音事实上并不那么重要（² p. 172）。

词汇

1. 阅读是拓展词汇的重要方式，但是这一方法在已经了解文本中 90%-98% 的词汇时达到较好的效果（² p. 171, ¹ p. 380）。同时，研究指出学习者需要重复遇到单词，才能够获得长久的记忆。有时甚至需要遇到 16 次才能记住（² p. 63）。重复阅读已经读过的文本是非常有效的学习方法，如果这种方法过于枯燥，那么，分章节阅读长文本或是只阅读一定领域的文本也是一种可行的替代方法。（¹ p. 109, 230）
2. 对于初级的学习者（词汇量<3000）而言简化后的材料往往难以获得，所以其他教材的文本往往是适合于初学者学习的好材料。值得指出的是，一边听录音，一边重复阅读，可以获得更好的学习效果（¹ p. 167）。
3. 正如很多人所预料的查字典、记笔记和复习能提高学习效果（¹ p. 64）。也可以通过抽词造句，情景造句来熟悉和拓展词汇。
4. 单词卡是有效的学习词汇的方法。在制作单词卡的过程中有几条建议：一，使用母语翻译；二，在可能的情况下使用图片；三，保持卡片简洁；四，需要根据难度控制卡片的学习的数量；五，需要持续间隔复习；六，先进行被动学习（第二语言->第一语言），再进行主动学习（第一语言->第二语言）；七，在练习时进行大声阅读；八，尽可能地提供单词的语境；九，充分使用记忆技巧比如谐音，词根词缀法。
   • 对第四点的进一步解释：对于业余学习者而言，每天背单词的数量不建议超过 15 个，尤其是对于一门全新的语言。半年学习 1000 词，再半年学习 3000 词，对于业余学习者而言是一个合适的进度。但值得注意的是学习者词汇的学习能力是非常强远超一般人想象的，也是很大的个体差异，比如六个小时的时间中以英语为母语的学习者能够记住 198-666 个俄语单词，而且效率没有随时间下降（¹ p. 439）。
   • 对第八点的进一步解释：单词中，动词最重要。名词的迁移性最强，其含义和使用方式往往较为固定。动词是句子的核心，也是语言的核心，动词往往有着特殊的用法。动词不仅要知道含义，更是需要积累介词、名词搭配。介词也要联系其所搭配的格位来记忆。

语法

1. 语法不需要一条一条进行学习练习。语法的学习顺序可以更加自由，因为语法之间往往是互相联系的。（² ）语法的练习可以配合写作和阅读来进行。

流利

1. 流利化是在掌握听说读写能力之后的必要的进一步练习。这一过程的目的不是为了学习新的语言知识，而是将语言知识更熟练地运用起来。
2. 使用录音机来记录自己的读音，并在听后进行修正，是提高语言流利程度的好方法（¹ p. 143）。
3. 要记忆常用句型。常用句型来覆盖自己的口语和书面语表达，达到流利的效果。可以先定一个小目标，比如熟练掌握 300 句。
4. 听力要坚持锻炼。要熟练掌握初级的课文，可以利用 Spotify 等频道的材料进行拓展训练。同时可以通过跟读来提高口语的水平。

题外话

我认为中国教育目前存在的一个问题是过于西化，过于英美化。大多数学生对于世界的认识，实际上只是对于“西方”的认识，对于“西方”的认识事实上是对于英美的认识。即使是来自其他国家的文化也往往经过西方文化的过滤和推介才得以在中国传播。甚至于很多作品（包括很多西方其他国家的作品）并非从它原本的语言译出，而是从英译进行二次翻译。所以，这也导致我们对于世界的认识不由自主地被西方文化所遮蔽，被英美文化所干扰。不同于天生处于多语言环境中的欧洲人和印度人，身在大一统的环境中的中国人有着单语主义的倾向，甚至有人对于英语教学的必要性也充满质疑。但是我个人认为，要了解自身的文化，比较法是一种非常有效的方法，甚至可能是最有效的方法。因此，中国的学生应该努力学习其他的语言，才能不受制于滞后且变形甚至有的时候拙劣的翻译，真正扩展自己的视野，而不是仅仅通过“西方”和翻译开的那一扇窗。

在这里引用 Alexander Argüelles 的几段话³

I have gotten into trouble for this before, so let me begin by clarifying that when I say an educated person ‘should’ know half a dozen languages, I mean this ‘should’ as an attainable goal to be striven for, not as a criterion for judgment that anyone who does not know this many is not well-educated. Since contemporary culture does not hold up this goal, individual products of its educational systems are hardly to blame if they have not attained it. Also, I certainly do not believe that linguistic knowledge is the only measure of a good education’there are many other things I believe a well-educated person ‘should’ know, but since this is a forum about languages, I only discuss this here. I do believe that for self-motivated lovers of languages, this is an attainable goal that should be striven for, and I have several distinctly different reasons for this belief:

1. Ample anthropological evidence that it is normal for normal individuals from truly multilingual societies such as parts of Africa and India to know half a dozen languages. Obvious thus it is in the standard capacity of the human mind to know and use this many languages if the environment is right, and I think that concentrated intelligence and diligence should be able to match the quality of early childhood immersion.

2. Ample textual evidence that this goal was attained in the not-so-distant past. Look at any scholarly tome from the 19th century and you will see that no translations are provided for quotations from other languages’if the book is written in English, translations will certainly be provided for Chinese or Sanskrit or Persian or Arabic, but NOT for Latin or Greek or French or German or Spanish or Italian. Obviously it was a reasonable and justified assumption that anyone who would read such a book would be able to read these languages. There is a common belief that the explosion of knowledge in our era has forced us to become specialists while these old fellows had the leisure to spend time on languages because there was so little breadth in their fields. I used to believe this myself, but it is simply not true. The range, the breadth, the depth, the quality, and the quantity of 19th century scholarship measured against the output of contemporary scholars in the same field is incomparably greater. Obviously, linguistic range facilitated flexibility of mind while its absence narrows it. At any rate, if our great-grandfathers could do this, why can’t we?

3. Ample linguistic evidence that half a dozen languages is a boundary mark. For those who have not reached it, the study of foreign languages is generally a hard task in which success is always uncertain, while for those who have reached it, the acquisition of further languages is no longer difficult. Given that languages are the fundamental element in human thought and communication, In the course of a lifetime, an awakened mind may well wish to acquire a new one, and so knowledge of this many is the fundamental base that one should have in order to assure the ability to acquire others at will.

4. Ample sociological and demographic evidence that the languages of the world are in great and grave danger of extinction now that the era of global languages has arrived. From the standpoint of communication this may well be a good thing, but from the standpoint of cultural preservation, it is a disaster. The only way to prevent the literary and cultural legacies of the past from being lost is to encourage the study of the languages that are their vehicles. If the general expectation that educated individuals should know this many languages can somehow, ideally, be established, then I think there is some hope for cultural preservation, even if the world of the future speaks only one language.

I really like your idea of what your 7 languages should be, taking one language from many different civilizations. This is a true ideal, one that I am consciously trying to provide for my sons, born of a Western father and an Eastern mother, by moving to and raising them in Arabia, with plans to move to India within a decade. However, most human beings are infinitely more culture bound, and when it comes to learning languages, culture is a critical factor. For a European, learning other familiar European tongues is one thing, while mastering exotic tongues is geometrically more difficult and consequently time consuming. The kind of range you suggest is probably attainable only for those such as members of this forum whose major focus is on languages, and I did mean my ‘should’ to refer to all educated individuals, whatever their fields of interest or concentration.

I do not believe there is any particular half a dozen formulaic languages that can be prescribed for all people because the issue is so culture bound. In general, I think that well-educated individuals in my ideal world should know a) the classical language(s) of their own civilization, b) the major living languages of their broader culture, c) the international language (English) if this is not one of these or a semi-exotic if it is, and d) one exotic language of their own choosing. For example:

A well-educated Westerner ‘should’ know: a) Latin & Greek, b) English & French, Spanish or German, c) Russian, and d) Persian or Arabic or Sanskrit or Hindi or Chinese or…

A well-educated Middle-Easterner ‘should’ know: a) Arabic, b) Persian, Turkish, & Hebrew, c) English & French, and d) Latin or Urdu or Japanese or…

A well-educated Indian ‘should’ know: a) Sanskrit & Persian or Arabic, b) Hindi/Urdu & Bengali, Marathi or Gujarati or…, c) English, and d) Italian or Korean or Swahili or…

A well-educated Easterner ‘should’ know: a) Classical Chinese, b) Mandarin, Japanese, & Korean, c) English, and d) Greek or Pali or Persian or…

And so on

我认为上面的建议是有益的，特别是对于文科的学生和研究者。在我看来一个文科的学生，只会三门语言（古汉语、汉语和英语）是可耻的。即使对于理科生而言，学习不同的语言也有益于了解不同的文化，和更多的人交流，拓展对于世界的认识。

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