Reggie 叔叔的故事：我个人的语言之旅（B）：厚着脸皮去说，在职学习，当我去…..

…….continued from URS My Chinese language story (A): Chutzpah and Early Days…
续Reggie 叔叔的故事：我学习中文的故事A “厚脸皮”的早期学习

One defining moment in my language story happened in Beijing, 35 years ago, in 1984. Contacts between China and the outside world had just opened up, and I received an invitation, to speak to pediatricians interested in vitamin D and rickets in childhood. This topic was my super-specialty and expertise, so I quickly accepted. In those days, early 1980s, before emails and smooth international phone calls, correspondence with my host, the Beijing Nutrition Institute, was awkward. I assumed that I was one of many speakers lecturing to a physician group, as I had done many times at other locations.
我的语言故事中很有意义的一节发生在1984年，37年前的北京。那时中国才对外开放，我接到一个邀请，去给对维生素D和儿童佝偻病感兴趣的儿科大夫做报告。这个题目是我最专业、最拿手的，我很快就答应了。在上个世纪八十年代早期，没有和东道主，北京营养研究所进行电邮和无障碍的国际电话交流，结果是有点尴尬的。我还以为我是给医生们做报告的很多讲者中的一员，和我在其他很多地方已经多次演讲的情形一样。

As I got off the plane, the distinguished Institute Director bowed, to ceremonially welcome me to China. After some formalities, he began to clarify to me that, contrary to my imagination, actually I was the only speaker, for 17 lectures to the group! My mind flashed to my mother’s oft reminder to always bring an extra talk, or essentially an extra set of slides, “just in case” I got asked to give another talk. But this was 16 additional lectures! So, after the shock wore off, I quickly realized my 2 small boxes of slides would not work.
我一下飞机，尊敬的研究所所长就向我鞠躬，隆重欢迎我来华。完善一下手续后，他给我介绍流程，出乎我的意料，实际上我是唯一的讲者，要给他们做17场报告！我脑海里闪现出我妈妈经常的提醒，总是要准备额外的讲稿，或者至少一套额外的幻灯片，以防万一被要求再做个报告。但是这次是16场额外的演讲！震惊之余，我很快意识到我的2小盒幻灯片无济于事。

In the hotel room, I began organizing rapidly a series of brand-new talks, totaling 17 in all, by breaking up my talks into focused, detailed sub-talks! Calcium, magnesium, phosphate, vitamin D, excess vitamin D, deficient vitamin D, parathyroid hormone… you get the idea. It was the most I had ever talked continuously around my favorite theme, to a totally “captive audience,” and I never repeated this ever again! No other audience would sit still for 17 lectures, over 5 days, on “vitamin D and rickets.” And, in Mandarin, sort of!
在酒店房间，我开始快速通过将原来的讲课内容拆分为有所择重的、详细的小讲座，以组织出总数达17个之多的全新的系列讲座！钙、镁、磷酸盐、维生素D、维生素D过量、维生素D不足、甲状旁腺激素…您明白了吧。面对全是被吸引的观众，我围绕我最喜欢的领域，我前所未有的连续讲了最多的一次，以后再没有过！再没有其他的观众能够5天里连续静坐在那里听17场关于维生素D和佝偻病的讲座。而且，用一种所谓的“普通话”！

Since my Chinese was so weak, I started off lecturing naturally in my mother language, English, with a hapless translator at my side, translating sentence by sentence. I’m sure the translator-doctor had little translation opportunity in the early 1980s, and had been volunteered, as the only person who had the guts for the job. During the talk, I repeatedly stopped and interrupted her translation, since I knew enough spoken Mandarin to know if it wasn’t correct. (Incidentally, the usual poor westerner has no idea of what is being translated!) By the second lecture, she and I were both getting quite frustrated. So, in a moment of inspiration (!) I asked her, before each talk, to write on the blackboard, 20 to 30 of the most difficult words that I would likely encounter during each talk, in English and Chinese, like a mini-dictionary on the board.
由于我中文不好，我自然而然的用我的母语、英语开始演讲，身边站了一个不幸的译员，一句一句的作翻译。我可以肯定这位唯一自告奋勇的医生翻译在上世纪八十年代初几乎没有翻译的机会。
在演讲过程中，由于我明白足够多的普通话口语，能判断是否翻译正确，因此，我不断的停下或者打断她的翻译。（顺便说说，一般的西方演讲者是毫不知晓他的话究竟被翻译成了什么意思）。第二次演讲的时候，我和她都有点受挫。因此，我灵机一动，在每次演讲前，我要求她在黑板上用中英文写下20到30个我每次演讲中可能碰到的最难的词，好像是在黑板上有了一个微型字典。

Photos 1 & 2: 37 years ago, at my first Beijing lecture, where I learned to give my first lectures ever in Mandarin Chinese, during the course of 17 (!) “spontaneous” lectures on vitamin D.
图1：37年前，我的首次北京演讲，在17场演讲中尝试着第一次普通话演讲！关于维生素D的“自发的”演讲。

During the talk, the now relieved translator did not need to stand awkwardly beside me, but I asked her to sit in the front row, as my consultant, while I gave the talk, in Mandarin! My first time ever. As they say, there’s always a first time, and this was it, unplanned and unlikely. Whenever I got to difficult words, which at first was often, I looked to the blackboard if it was there, or asked the translator for the Chinese words.
演讲中，放轻松了的翻译不用再局促不安的站在旁边，我请她坐在第一排，我普通话演讲时，她是我的顾问。这是我的第一次。正如人们所说，万事皆有开始，我这也是，不期而遇的。最初我经常碰到生词，我碰到生词的时候，我就看看黑板上是否有这个词，或者询问翻译这个词的中文。

Often I made the entire group say the word couplets on the board, together with me, so they learned the words in English, and I in Chinese. It was fun for me to learn Chinese in this lively way (group teaching one person!), while prepping me to teach English to thousands of Chinese 7th graders a decade later.
我经常让所有的人和我一起说出黑板上中英文对照的词，他们因此学会了这个词的英文，而我学会了中文。对我而言用这种生动活泼的方式学中文太有趣了（一群人教一个人），这也是10年后教几千个中国7年级学生英文的预演。

I learned the more difficult technical words step-by-step, as we progressed through 17 lectures! And I could sense my Mandarin, my confidence, my chutzpah (brazen brashness, see story A), amazingly improve during each talk. Plus, the translator also had a real paper dictionary for backup, so I did not have to panic. From that point, I was home free.
通过17场演讲，我们不断进步，我也一步步学到了更难的专业词汇。在每一次演讲中，我感觉到我的普通话、我的自信心、我的无所顾忌的、厚着脸皮的讲（厚脸皮, chutzpah, 参阅故事A）显著进步。另外，翻译也有了真正的纸质的备份的词典，所以我不用再慌乱。从那时起，我就胜利在望了。

It worked so well that afterwards, whenever I lectured in China, I used some variation of that technique. For example, I would prepare a list of difficult words ahead of time on a slip of paper, for myself to peek at during talks. And thereafter, my talks basically were given in Mandarin, usually with bilingual slides. Even my non-Chinese-speaking mother would have been proud! But it was pure chutzpah for me to do that!
那以后，进展顺利，每次我在中国演讲，我变换使用那些技巧。例如，我会在一张纸上提前写好较困难的词汇，演讲时可以偷偷看看。从那以后，我的演讲基本上是普通话，配上双语的幻灯片。甚至我的不会说中文的妈妈也应該感到自豪！但对于我此纯属厚脸皮。

And, of course, today I am following in that chutzpah tradition. I don’t let my relatively weak Chinese inhibit me! I write my uncle Reggie stories, in English, and work closely with a faithful band of translators who translate them into Chinese. Through interacting with translators, plus referring often to Pleco Chinese-English Dictionary App, sometimes Google Translate App, I am continuously learning lots of Mandarin. Some of my readers have even thought I wrote my articles in Chinese, and are rather shocked when I tell them that my Chinese is not truly “presentable.” But I am bold and confident!
当然，时至今日我仍然坚持那个厚脸皮chutzpah 的传统。我不会让我的相对薄弱的中文水平限制了我！我用英文写我的Reggie 叔叔的故事，和一群忠实的把故事翻译为中文的翻译者一起紧密的工作。和翻译者的相互影响，加上借助普利科中英词典App，有时是Google 翻译App，我持续不断的学习了很多的普通话。我的一些读者还以为我用中文写文章，当我告诉他们我的中文有点“拿不出手‘的时候他们都很震惊。但我还是很大胆和自信。

In contrast, I saw vividly how lack of confidence and courage in language just destroys language learning. In our medical mission days, we taught English at many village schools. Sometimes English teachers there were shy to meet foreigners, when we offered to meet in evenings to just chat, and hopefully improve their English.
相反的，我也亲眼目睹了缺乏自信和勇气如何影响语言的学习。在我们的医疗服务的日子里，我们在很多的村校教英语。有时，当我们晚上去会见当地人，和他们交谈，希望提高他们的英语水平，但当地的英语老师羞于见外国人。

Photos 3 & 4: 30 years afterwards, now confidently teaching in Mandarin in the same city. Many, including my dear wife, are surprised at my confidence to teach exclusively in Mandarin, in China or America. I am also surprised!
30年后，在同一个城市自信的用普通话教学。包括我亲爱的太太，很多人都惊讶我在美国或中国只用普通话教学的信心和勇气。我自己也很惊讶！

Language teaching for them was often just reading English words from textbooks, and memorizing phrases on the blackboard, but they were distinctly uncomfortable to actually use English in conversations. It took a while to convince them we were harmless, and it could be a fun experience, which seemed so when we actually did that. Both teachers and kids had had no real chance before that, nor courage to practice English in “real life.” So the language remained foreign, strange, and basically useless to them.
对他们而言英语教学就是经常读课本上的英语单词，记下黑板上的短语，但他们还是明显的不愿意在对话中实际使用英语。花了一点时间去说服他们我们是无害的，这会是一个有趣的经历，我们实际这样干的时候，看起来也确实如此。无论是老师还是学生之前都没有真实的机会，没有胆识在真实的生活中去练习英语。因此这门语言于他们而言一直都是外来的、奇怪的，几乎是无用的。

Even as we ourselves are nearing 80 years of age, in these recent years, we discovered a new language twist. My wife and I have 4 Chinese languages in common between us, though I have been weak in most. After our Seattle move, we began to rotate these languages in daily prayers. Prayer language usually has more sophisticated words, compared to conversations, so it was challenging at first.
尽管我们年过八旬，这些年来，我们发现了一种语言的新花样。我太太和我之间平时可以使用四种中文口语交流。但我大多都比较薄弱。我们搬到西雅图后，我们开始在日常的祷告中混杂使用这些语言。祈祷的语言比谈话往往会有更多的复杂的词汇，所以开始时会有些挑战性。

We were pleasantly surprised however, that, as we prayed, words decades forgotten, magically appeared naturally, as long as we had the chutzpah to speak! Like modern “AI” assisted typing, where words can “just appear, like reading your mind.” As long as the “I” part of AI is intelligent! I think our omni-linguistic Creator wouldn’t mind our brashness in multi-lingual communication, or might even be pleased that we are boldly trying.
但我们喜出望外的发现，我们祷告时，只要我们毫无顾忌地放胆去讲，那些数十年前就遗忘的词，很神奇的、自然而然的浮现！就像现在的人工智能帮助打字输入一样，读懂了你的想法，想要的字随即出现。只要人工智能的智能部分是智慧的，我想我们的总的语言创造者没有在意我们在多种语言交流中的无所顾忌的莽撞，或许更乐于见到我们大胆的尝试。

I will end with one great story about a 10 or 11-year old girl we met in a small Yunnan town, in SW China. She was so confident that she dared intercept us, 3 foreign men, on the streets of her town. She spoke to us confidently in good English, which really surprised us, since schools did not usually teach English until seventh grade, and she was not there yet. She explained she learned English just from listening to tapes on her own! Talk about being bold and brash!
最后我要讲一个在中国西南边陲，云南的一个小镇上遇到的10岁或11岁的小女孩的神奇的故事。她如此信心满满，在她家的那个街上大胆的拦住我们3个外国人。她很自信的用流畅的英文对我们讲话，这让我们很惊讶，因为学校要到7年级才教英文，而她还没有到这个阶段。她解释说她是跟她自己的磁带学的英语。所以要鲁莽的、大胆的讲。

Photo 5: Small town middle school kids just love to learn language when given inspiration. Their chutzpah increases as we energize them and embolden them. 小镇中学的孩子们如果给予鼓励，他们是非常喜爱学习语言的。给予鼓舞和激励，他们无所顾忌的勇气就会大增。

Shockingly, she then invited us to go to her home to chat. Of course, we declined: strange men cannot just be invited home by a little innocent girl. But she insisted, and kept waving to a couple she said were her parents on the other side of the street. She made some wild gesticulations about the invitation, the couple agreed somehow, apparently from their hand gestures, and we found ourselves in her home.
让我们惊讶的是她居然邀请我们到她家去聊聊，当然我们婉拒了：陌生男人是不能被一个天真的小女孩邀请进入家里的。她坚持着，她向街道的另一边的两个人不断挥手，她说他们是她的父母。她做出邀请的夸张的手势，从他们的手势看，那对父母好像是同意了，我们仿佛不由自主的就去到了她家里。

Alone, she entertained us with famous Yunnan Pu-er tea and Mandarin oranges, which was standard adult hospitality, and proudly showed us family photos in neatly laid out photo albums, all the while chatting away in English. I was totally flummoxed, and inspired by her warm chutzpah! This was obviously the new China! More than 20 years ago!
她独自招待我们云南著名的普洱茶和柑橘，俨然有成人般的好客，很自豪的给我们看相册里排列整齐的家庭照，整个过程都是英语交谈。我整个被她的温暖的无所顾忌的大胆搞得既迷惑，又很鼓舞。显然这是新中国！这也是20多年前的事了！

Photo 6: “English corners,” started in China, have migrated to USA, as reminders of how important chutzpah is in language learning, anywhere.
英语角起于中国，传到美国，提示不管在那个地方，语言学习中的“厚脸皮”是多么重要。

Every child has the greatest natural chutzpah, the innate and mysterious ability to precisely learn languages in her surroundings, without a language professor coaching her. It is just an amazing reminder of the genius of the omni-linguistic Creator. May we all have that innate childhood boldness also, and be inspired. Please read my Reggietales.org, “Mystery of language.”
每个小孩都有伟大的无所顾忌的自然天性，与生俱来的、神秘的能力去从身边的环境中准确的学习语言，不需要语言专家辅导。这正是总的语言创造者的天赋的一个惊奇的反映。希望我们都有与生俱来的、孩童般的大胆 ，又被鼓舞。请读我网上的文章，Reggietales.org“神奇的语言”