The best way to learn a language 學習語言最好的方式

Why reading and listening at the same time will help you build your skills quicker.


The best way to learn a language, in my opinion, is to read and listen at the same time. This way you’re maximising your input, and putting a ‘face to the name’, as it were, with spellings, sounds and so on. 

就我個人的經驗而言，學習語言最好的方式是同步地看書和聽書。這樣一來，你能最大化你的資訊輸入，將拼音和發音連結起來。

See, it’s all about input with languages. If you don’t hear it a dozen times first, you won’t be able to produce it. The structures and sounds need time to sink in and form pathways in your brain. 

注意到了嗎? 輸入是學習語言的關鍵。如果你沒有聽聞一個生詞幾十次，你就沒有辦法輸出它。 語言和發音需要時間在大腦沉澱並建立新的路徑。

According to recent research, “Reading while listening has been shown to be an efficient procedure for foreign language learning” (Tragant & Allbona 2018), so I’m not making this stuff up!

根據近期的研究，"同時聽與閱讀被證實是有效的外語學習方式" (Tragant & Allbona 2018)所以，這絕對不是無稽之談。 

There’s a few ways you could capitalise on this method, and take your language to the next level. You could watch videos with the subtitles on, as I’m sure lots of you do, or you could read the book and listen to the audiobook simultaneously. I prefer the latter option.

下面我為你介紹兩種能應用此方式來提升你的語言能力的方法，第一種:開啟字幕觀看影片，但我相信很多人已經這樣做了。第二種:同時聽書和看書。我更偏愛後者一點。

The first one is easy to do, if you’ve got access to YouTube or films on Netflix, but the second one takes a bit more investment, both in finding the right materials, and the concentration needed to do it. But once you do, trust me it’s worth it.

第一種很容易，你只要上YouTube或在Netflix上看電影; 第二種則需要多一點投資。兩者關鍵都在於找到對的材料，加上必要的專注。但相信我，這樣做一定值得。

Taking the time to process each word in front of you and hear it spoken at the same time is an intimate experience with the language. It’s much more intimate than YouTube, because watching videos is a more passive activity. You have the images and facial expressions to help you along, which have nothing to do with the language. Chances are, you’ll probably click out of the video once you don’t know what they’re saying, too. There’s a high chance you’ll lapse in concentration, with so many distractions at your fingertips. 

慢慢地處理眼前每個文字的同時，也同時聽見這個字，是一個非常私密的語言經驗。這是一個比觀看YouTube還要細微很多的體驗，因為觀看影片是較消極的活動。圖像和臉部表情看似在幫助你，其實對語言的吸收無濟於事。你有很大的機會，會在了解影片的內容後直接關閉它。指尖下這麼多能使你分心的資訊，走神是很難避免的。

With books and audiobooks, you have to really take the time to sit down and analyse more deeply. With the words right in front of your face, and no images, you’ll become more aware of just how much detail you’re missing, and that’s great, because if you don’t know the gap between where you are and where you want to get to, you won’t be able to close the gap.

和有聲書就不同了，你必須真的花時間深度的地分析。當文字不帶圖像、白紙黑字地出現在你眼前，你會更加有意識地了解到被忽略的細節。而這是個好消息，因為如果你不曾注意到，你和目的地之間的距離，那麼，差距就沒辦法縮小。

The best way to do this, in my opinion, is to get yourself a Kindle and Audible.

在我看來，最好的方式是同時使用Kindle和Audible。

Why a Kindle? This is my reading method of choice, because you can simply tap on a word you don’t know, and it’ll give you the definition straight away. You can add dictionaries in different languages. It also gives you free samples, usually the whole first chapter, of a book so you can see if it’s for you first. I know lots of people say they prefer reading the proper book, because they like the feeling of a physical book, but in my experience, once you get a Kindle you won’t go back.

為什麼是Kindle呢?這是我個人閱讀的一個選擇，因為你能點選一個你不熟悉的生字，它能馬上給你定義，你還能加入各種語言的字典。更好的是，它能讓你試聽一本書的整個章節，因此，你能以此評估這本書適不適合你。我知道好多人告訴我他們偏好閱讀實體書，因為他們喜歡紙質書的觸感，但就我的經驗來說，一旦你開始使用Kindle，你恐怕就很難回頭了。

And why Audible? Well, unless you can think of a better way of getting a huge selection of popular audiobooks at your fingertips - this is the one!
那為什麼是Audible呢? 動動指尖龐大的藏書就盡收眼底- 除非你能想到其他更好的方式，否則這絕對是你的首選!

Just make sure to find the right version or edition of your book on both Kindle and Audible, so they match!
只要小心檢查購買的Kindle和 Audible是相應對的版本，兩者才能配合的天衣無縫。

I’d recommend sticking with a book for at least a couple or more chapters, before deciding it’s not for you. You have to give it a bit of a chance! Especially in this day and age where we can’t focus on anything for more than 20 minutes. With Kindle, you could also have multiple books on the go at the same time, so you have one to turn to for whatever mood you’re in.

很推薦在閱讀時，至少要看完兩三章節後，再來決定這本書合不合你的胃口。你至少也該給它一點機會吧!特別是在這個當我們很難專注於任何事超過20分鐘的世代。在Kindle上，你還能同時閱讀好幾本書，所以你能根據你的心情來決定投奔哪片書海。

Do what works for you, but honestly, I have to say nothing taught me more, and stretched my language abilities as much as reading ‘Homosapiens’ in Chinese with the audiobook. It was great fun, because I enjoyed the book and had a huge sense of achievement when I actually knew what it was talking about and didn’t need to check the dictionary every other word.

你得選擇適合你的方式，但坦白說，沒有任何事情比閱讀《人類大歷史：從野獸到扮演上帝》中文版教會我的更多，並如此地提升我的語言能力。那個經驗真的是太好玩了，因為我不用每兩三個字就翻字典也能理解含意，這讓我從閱讀中獲得無與倫比的享受和偌大的成就感。

So yeah, that’s my top tip for language learning. Apart from that, obviously my English courses are the best way to learn English ;)

所以，對，那是我學習語言的小技巧，除此之外，當然，上我的英文課還是學英文最好的方法:)

Try it for yourself, and let me know how you get on!

為了自己，試試看吧! 再告訴我怎麼樣!

譯者：Chun-Yin Chu