英國(guó)人的英語(yǔ)最難懂：母語(yǔ)人士請(qǐng)學(xué)會(huì)說(shuō)通用英語(yǔ)

If native speakers of English are not to become international corporate pariahs， they will need to learn how to speak general English—in other words， to communicate with non-native speakers.

如果英語(yǔ)母語(yǔ)人士不想被國(guó)際商業(yè)界所遺棄，他們就需要去學(xué)習(xí)如何講通用英語(yǔ)——換言之，就是和非母語(yǔ)人士溝通。

Resentment at the complexity of native speakers’ English is widespread in international business. During a study carried out at Kone Elevators of Finland， one Finnish manager blurted out， “The British are the worst... It is much more difficult to understand their English than that of other nationalities. When we non-native speakers of English talk， it is much easier to understand. We have the same limited vocabulary.”

How can native speakers of English make themselves more comprehensible and more likeable？ The most obvious way is to learn someone else’s language. The great benefit of learning other languages is that you have some idea of what non-native speakers are up against. However， news that fewer than half of English schoolchildren are learning a foreign language suggests that this is not going to be a profitable route for many.

So what should native English-speakers do to make themselves better understood？ First， slow down， but not to the point where members of your audience think you are patronising them. Second， avoid idiomatic and metaphorical expressions： that’s the way the cookie crumbles， people in glass houses， and the like.

Jokes are a difficult area. You will not forget the silence that follows one that is found baffling. On the other hand， when jokes work， they can be a huge success with a non-native speaking audience. If you have learnt other languages， you will know that very few achievements are as satisfying as understanding your first foreign joke. Try a few out with your non-native speaking audience； you will soon learn which ones are worth repeating.

It is often unnecessary to avoid longer words such as “association” and “nationality”， which are common to the Romance languages and will be widely understood in Europe and Latin America.

Listen to verbal responses for signs of whether you have been understood or not. Make sure your non-native speaking colleagues have the chance to talk； they will often be paraphrasing your words in an attempt to satisfy themselves that they have grasped what you said.

Always remember that the greatest friend of the non-native speaker is repetition. Find more than one way of getting your point across and summarise frequently.

在國(guó)際商界，針對(duì)母語(yǔ)人士英語(yǔ)復(fù)雜性的不滿普遍存在。在芬蘭通力電梯進(jìn)行的一項(xiàng)調(diào)查中，一位芬蘭經(jīng)理人脫口而出：“英國(guó)人最差勁了……他們講的英語(yǔ)是所有國(guó)家中最難懂的。而我們這些非英語(yǔ)母語(yǔ)人士所說(shuō)的話，要容易理解得多。我們都擁有同樣有限的詞匯量。”

英語(yǔ)母語(yǔ)人士怎樣才能使自己更容易為人理解和喜愛(ài)呢？最明顯的方法，就是學(xué)習(xí)其他人的語(yǔ)言。學(xué)習(xí)其他語(yǔ)言的一大好處就是你可以對(duì)其他非母語(yǔ)人士的問(wèn)題有所了解。然而，有消息稱，只有不到半數(shù)的英國(guó)學(xué)童在學(xué)習(xí)一門(mén)外語(yǔ)，說(shuō)明對(duì)很多人來(lái)說(shuō)，以上建議并不是個(gè)好方法。

那么英語(yǔ)母語(yǔ)人士應(yīng)該怎樣做，使自己能夠更好地被別人所理解呢？首先，放慢語(yǔ)速，但是不要慢到使你的聽(tīng)眾覺(jué)得你是在遷就他們。第二，避免使用成語(yǔ)和比喻的表達(dá)方式：例如“餅干就是那么碎的”（意指無(wú)可避免）、“玻璃屋中人”（意指自身有問(wèn)題和身處險(xiǎn)境的人）等表達(dá)方式。

笑話是一個(gè)很難理解的領(lǐng)域。一個(gè)讓人難以理解的笑話會(huì)帶來(lái)一片沉默，這會(huì)使你難以忘懷。而另一方面，當(dāng)笑話起作用時(shí)，它們會(huì)為你在英語(yǔ)非母語(yǔ)人士中帶來(lái)巨大的成功。如果你學(xué)過(guò)其他語(yǔ)言，你會(huì)知道，聽(tīng)懂自己的第一個(gè)外國(guó)笑話，會(huì)帶來(lái)一種無(wú)可比擬的成就感。試著給非母語(yǔ)聽(tīng)眾講幾個(gè)笑話后，你會(huì)很快明白哪些是值得重復(fù)的。

通常沒(méi)有必要去避免較長(zhǎng)的單詞，例如“association”（協(xié)會(huì)、聯(lián)合）和“nationality”（國(guó)家、民族），這些詞在拉丁語(yǔ)系中很常見(jiàn)，在歐洲和拉丁美洲都能被廣泛理解。

從人們的反應(yīng)中找尋自己是否被人理解的跡象。讓非母語(yǔ)同事有說(shuō)話的機(jī)會(huì)；他們常常會(huì)重復(fù)你說(shuō)過(guò)的話，以此肯定自己已經(jīng)理解了你表達(dá)的意思。

切記，非英語(yǔ)母語(yǔ)人士最好的朋友就是重復(fù)。不要只用一種說(shuō)法來(lái)表達(dá)自己的意思，同時(shí)要經(jīng)常進(jìn)行總結(jié)。