Speaking an extra language is always good. It makes it easier to admit that there are different ways of doing things. It also helps to understand other cultures, to see why they are valued and what they have produced. You can discover a foreign culture through traveling and translation. But truly understanding is another thing: that requires some mastery of its language to talk with people of the culture, and to read their most important books. The “not created here” idea comes from fear and dislike of foreign things and culture. It makes people avoid important ideas and new ways of working.

能够多说一种语言总是有好处的。这使得人们更容易接受做事情有不同的方法。这也有助于了解其他文化，知道为什么他们得到尊重以及他们创造了什么。你可以通过旅行和翻译来了解外国文化。但是要完完全全的了解却是另一回事：那需要精通外语，与生长在这个文化里的人们交流，并阅读其最重要的书籍。“非我所创”这种想法来源于对外来事物及文化的恐惧和厌恶。它会使人们错过重要的想法以及新的工作方式。

Native English speakers, of course, speak English most of the time - with their families, the people they work with, their neighbors, and their personal friends. Sometimes they talk to non-native speakers in English, but most English speakers do not do this often. On the other hand, a Portuguese man speaks English most often with non-native English speakers. They all have strange accents. His ears become sympathetic. He learns to listen and understand and not be confused by the accent. He learns to understand a Korean, a Scotsman or a New Zealander with strong local accents. And he learns to understand the pronunciations of others learning English. Often, he understands accents much better than a native English speaker.

当然，英语母语人士大部分时间都在与他们的家人，同事，邻居，以及朋友说英语。有时候他们会用英语与非英语母语人士交谈，但并不是经常。而另一方面，一个葡萄牙人却常常用英语同非英语母语人士交流。这些人的发音都很古怪。于是他的耳朵开始适应别人的口音。他学着倾听并理解别人的话，而不被他们的口音所干扰。他学会理解韩国人，苏格兰人，或新西兰人的浓重口音。同时他也学会了理解其他英语学习者的发音。通常，他会比一个英语母语人士更能听懂别人的口音。

It is a general observation that the person who already speaks five languages has very little difficulty learning the sixth one. Even the person who masters two languages is in a much better position to learn a third one than the countryman or countrywoman who sticks only to the mother tongue. That is why it is too bad people no longer speak their local patois. The practice almost disappeared during the 20th century.

一般来说，一个已经会说五种语言的人在学习第六种语言时并不会遇到什么困难。即使是掌握两种语言的人，在学习第三种语言时也要比他的那些只会母语的同胞们处于更有利的地位。这就是为什么很可惜现在人们都不再说他们的家乡话了。这种习俗在20世纪就消失殆尽了。

Scientists tell us that having a second language seems to enable some mysterious brain connections which are otherwise not used at all. Like muscles with regular exercise, these active connections allow people to learn additional foreign languages more easily.

科学家告诉我们，掌握第二种语言似乎可以激活我们大脑内部之前根本不使用的某种神秘网络。就像经常锻炼的肌肉，这些积极活跃的网络可以使得人们在学习外语时更加轻松。

Now that so many people migrate to English-speaking countries, many of the young people in those families quickly learn English. It is estimated, for example, that 10% of all younger persons in the UK still keep another language after they learn English. Probably similar figures are available in the US. Those children have an extra set of skills when speaking to other new English language learners.

由于许多人移民到了英语国家，那么这些家庭里的年轻人很快就学会了英语。举例来说，据估算英国10%的年轻人在他们学会英语之后仍然保留着另一语言。这个数字可能与美国的相似。这些孩子在与其他英语初学者交谈时就会拥有额外的技巧。

The British Council is the highest authority on English learning and speaking. It agrees with us in its findings. David Graddol of the British Council is the writer of English Next, which is a major study from the British Council. Graddol said (as translated into Globish):

英国文化协会在英语学习和口语方面是最高权威。他们的调查结果与我们的一致。英国文化协会的大卫·格兰多，也是英国文化协会的重要研究项目《英语走向何方》的作者。格兰多说道（翻译成全球语）：

“(Current findings)… should end any sureness among those people who believe that the global position of English is completely firm and protected. We should not have the feeling that young people of the United Kingdom do not need abilities in additional languages besides English.”

“(目前的研究)…应该使那些确信英语的全球性地位是绝对牢固的人放弃他们的想法了。我们不应该觉得英国的年轻人除了英语之外就不再需要掌握其他语言。”

Graddol confirms:

格兰多强调：

“Young people who finish school with only English will face poor job possibilities compared to able young people from other countries who also speak other languages. Global companies and organizations will not want young people who have only English.

刚刚毕业的年轻人如果只会英语的话，那么与来自其他国家，会说其他语言的出色青年相比将会面临较差的就业机遇。跨国公司和机构将不会愿意雇用只会说英语的年轻人。

Anyone who believes that native speakers of English remain in control of these developments will be very troubled. This book suggests that it is native speakers who, perhaps, should be the most worried. But the fact is that the future development of English is now a global concern and should be troubling us all.

那些认为英语母语人士仍然控制着发展方向的人将陷入困境。这本书表明或许英语母语人士最担心的应该是自己。但是事实上，英语未来的发展目前已成为全球关注的问题，而且应该困扰我们所有人。

English speakers who have only English may not get very good jobs in a global environment, and barriers preventing them from learning other languages are rising quickly. The competitive edge (personally, organizationally, and nationally) that English historically provided people who learn it, will go away as English becomes a near-universal basic skill.

只会说英语的英语国家人士在全球环境中可能找不到很好的工作，而且阻碍他们学习其他语言的障碍也在迅速增多。英语在历史上曾经给予那些学习者的竞争优势（个人地，组织上地，以及全国性地）将会随着英语成为普遍性的基本技能而烟消云散。

English-speaking ability will no longer be a mark of membership in a select, educated, group. Instead, the lack of English now threatens to leave out a minority in most countries rather than the majority of their population, as it was before.

会说英语不再标志着你属于杰出的，有文化的人群。相反，与以前不同的是，在大多数国家，缺乏英语能力的少数人将面临被忽略的危险，而不是会英语的大多数人。

Native speakers were thought to be the “gold standard” (idioms remain in this section); as final judges of quality and authority. In the new, quickly-appearing environment, native speakers may increasingly be indentified as part of the problem rather than being the basic solution. Non-native speakers will feel these “golden” native speakers are bringing along “cultural baggage” of little interest, or as teachers are “gold-plating” the teaching process.

英语母语人士曾被认为是“黄金标准”（这一章节仍然保留习语），是好坏的最终裁判及权威。在目前这个全新的，日新月异的环境中，英语母语人士可能被越来越多的人视为问题的制造者而不是解决方案。非英语母语人士会觉得这些“金贵的”英语母语人士正带来令人不感兴趣的“文化包袱”，或作为老师他们正给教学过程“镀金”。

Traditionally, native speakers of English have been thought of as providing the authoritative standard and as being the best teachers. Now, they may be seen as presenting barriers to the free development of global English.

传统观点认为，英语母语人士可以提供权威的标准并成为最好的教师。但现在，他们被视为正在给英语的全球发展制造障碍。

We are now nearing the end of the period where native speakers can shine in their special knowledge of the global “lingua franca.”

英语母语人士凭借他们所掌握的国际通用语知识辉煌一时，而我们现在正处于这个时代末尾。

Now David Graddol is an expert on this subject. But he is also an Englishman. It would be difficult for him - or any native English speaker - to see all that non-native speakers see… and see differently.

如今大卫·格兰多已成为这一学科的专家。但是他也是一位英国人，因此对于他或任何英语母语人士来说，从所有非英语母语人士的相同角度及不同角度看问题是很难的。

For example, non-native speakers see how native English speakers believe that their pronunciation is the only valid one. Pronunciation is not easy in English. There are versions of English with traditional or old colonial accents. Many different British accents were mixed in the past with local languages in colonies such as America, India, South Africa, Hong Kong, Australia, or New Zealand. Today more accents are becoming common as English gets mixed with the accents from other languages. Learners of English often have to struggle to hear “native” English and then to manage the different accents. Learners often learn English with the older colonial accents or newer accents. Not many people now speak English like the Queen of England.

举个例子，非英语母语人士注意到英语母语人士坚信他们的发音才是正确的。但英语的发音并不简单。有的英语带有传统口音，有的带有旧殖民地口音。过去有许多不同的英国口音与殖民地的当地口音相混合，例如美国，印度，南非，香港，澳大利亚，或新西兰。如今随着英语与其他语言的相混合，越来越多的口音变得更加常见。英语学习者们往往需要挣扎着倾听“本土”英语，同时还要应付各种不同口音。这些人学习英语时往往都带有旧殖民地的或新的口音。现在已经没有多少人像英国女王那样说英语了。

Also, native speakers often use their local idioms as if they are universal. (Like saying that someone who dies is “biting the dust”. How long does it take to explain what these really mean? The modern global citizen does not need language like that.)

另外，英语母语人士经常使用习语好像所有人都理解似的。（例如形容某人死了，就说他“咬尘土”。那么要花上多少时间来解释这个习语的意思？现代的世界公民不需要那样的语言。）

Non-native speakers also observe this: that most native speakers believe they are English experts because they can speak English so easily.

非英语母语人士同样注意到：大多数英语母语人士相信自己是英语方面的专家，因为说英语对他们来说轻而易举。

But these native speakers are not always trained teachers. Often all they have is their ability to pronounce words. They do not know what it is like to learn English. In the end result, a teacher needs to know how to teach.

但是这些英语母语人士并不全是训练有素的老师。通常他们所拥有的只是单词发音能力。他们并不知道学习英语是什么滋味。总而言之，一个教师需要知道如何教学。

So sometimes non-native English speakers become better teachers of English than people with the perfect UK, or US, or South African English pronunciation.

In the past, English schools have made a lot of money using native speakers to teach English. Thus the students always work towards a goal that is always out of reach. Probably none of these students will ever speak the Queen’s English. To achieve that you must be born not far from Oxford or Cambridge. Or, at a minimum, you must have learned English when your voice muscles were still young. That means very early in your life, before 12 years old. Learning to speak without an accent is almost impossible. You will always need more lessons, says the English teacher who wants more work.

过去，英语学校通过雇用英语母语人士来教授英语而赚了很多钱。因而学生们总是朝着一个永远也达不到的目标而努力。也许这些学生中没有一个能够说标准英语。想要达到那个目标，你必须生长在距离牛津或剑桥不远的地方。或者，至少在你的发音器官发育成熟之前就已经学习了英语。这意味着在你非常年轻的时候，12岁之前。想要说一口没有口音的英语几乎是不可能的。想要上更多课、赚更多钱的老师说道：你需要不停的学习。

But here is the good news: Your accent just needs to be “understandable”...not perfect. Learners of English often need to stop and think about what they are doing. It is wise to remember to ask: how much English do I need? Do I need all the fine words and perfect pronunciation? Perhaps not….

但是告诉你一个好消息：你的口音不需要完美，而只需要达到“可以理解的”水平。英语学习者们需要时常停下来思考他们正在做什么。聪明的人总会记得问自己：我需要多少英语？我是否真的需要所有的华丽辞藻以及完美发音？或许并不需要….