Proverbs, Sayings and Language Learning Sprichwörter, Redewendungen und Sprachenlernen Proverbs, Sayings and Language Learning Proverbios, refranes y aprendizaje de idiomas Proverbes, dictons et apprentissage des langues Proverbi, detti e apprendimento delle lingue ことわざ、格言、言語学習 속담, 명언 및 언어 학습 Przysłowia, powiedzenia i nauka języka Provérbios, ditados e aprendizagem de línguas Пословицы, поговорки и изучение языков Ordspråk, talesätt och språkinlärning Atasözleri, Deyimler ve Dil Öğrenimi Прислів'я, приказки та вивчення мови 谚语、谚语和语言学习 諺語、諺語和語言學習

Hi there, Steve Kaufmann here. Привет, это Стив Кауфманн.

Today, I want to talk about what teachers often get wrong. 今天，我想谈谈教师经常犯的错误。 Now, I know a lot of very good language teachers. I’m talking to two of them, Czech tutors via Skype. Some of our best tutors at LingQ are teachers. Lots of teachers get it right, but I wanted to mention where I think they get it wrong, some of them, maybe many of them. 很多老师都做对了，但我想提一下我认为他们做错的地方，他们中的一些人，也许是很多人。 很多老師都說對了，但我想提一下我認為他們錯的地方，其中一些人，也許很多人。 I had a comment from a person called Reeva on my most recent post about the meetup in Prague and she (I’m assuming it’s a she) said that she wishes she had spent more time listening and reading and developing her ability to understand Czech and to enjoy the language rather than doing what she needed to do to pass her tests. Recibí un comentario de una persona llamada Reeva en mi último post sobre el encuentro en Praga y ella (asumo que es ella) dijo que desearía haber pasado más tiempo escuchando y leyendo y desarrollando su capacidad para entender el checo y disfrutar del idioma en lugar de hacer lo que tenía que hacer para aprobar sus exámenes. 我在最近關於布拉格聚會的帖子中收到了一位名叫Reeva 的人的評論，她（我假設是她）說她希望自己能花更多時間聆聽和閱讀，並培養她理解捷克語和捷克語的能力。享受語言而不是做她需要做的事情來通過考試。

The teacher, for example, insisted that they learn certain Czech proverbs. 例如，老師堅持要求他們學習某些捷克諺語。 That’s just one example. I am not the slightest bit interested in proverbs when I learn a language. 在学习语言时，我对谚语没有丝毫兴趣。 I don’t know proverbs, I don’t care about them, but there’s nothing wrong with proverbs. 我不懂諺語，我不關心它們，但諺語並沒有錯。 If the teacher is interested in proverbs that’s great, but why would the teacher insist that the student has to know and learn these proverbs and then be tested on them. 如果老師對諺語感興趣那很好，但為什麼老師會堅持要求學生必須了解和學習這些諺語，然後進行測試呢？ To me, that’s just plain ridiculous. Für mich ist das einfach nur lächerlich. 对我来说，这简直太荒谬了。 It’s far better for the student to spend his/her time on things that are of interest to the student. 對於學生來說，將時間花在學生感興趣的事情上要好得多。 In fact, proverbs are not very important at all if we look at the real goals of language learning which are comprehension and communication. 事實上，如果我們看看語言學習的真正目標是理解和交流，那麼諺語根本就不重要。

The same is true with a lot of the grammar tests that students are given fairly early and, in fact, throughout their period of study in many cases, as is the case in our school system in Canada. 很多语法测试也是如此，学生很早就要参加这些测试，事实上，在很多情况下，这些测试贯穿学生的整个学习阶段，加拿大的学校系统就是如此。 People are tested on the subjunctive in French and things of that nature or on their tenses. 人们要接受法语从句和类似时态的测试。 Again, I have to say when I start learning a language, I’m not that interested. 再說一遍，我必須說，當我開始學習一門語言時，我就沒那麼感興趣了。 I’m kind of aware that there are issues in the Slavic languages with cases and there are issues with verbs of motion. 我知道斯拉夫語言中存在格的問題，並且有運動動詞的問題。 I read the explanations. 我讀了解釋。 I vaguely understand what they’re getting at. Ich verstehe vage, worauf sie hinaus wollen. 我隐约明白了他们的意思。 I’m vaguely conscious of it as I read and listen in the early stages, but I wouldn’t want to have to be tested on it. من همانطور که در مراحل اولیه می خواندم و گوش می دهم ، مبهم از آن آگاه هستم ، اما نمی خواهم روی آن آزمایش کنم. 當我在早期階段閱讀和聆聽時，我隱約意識到這一點，但我不想接受測試。 I wouldn’t want to have to get it right. No me gustaría tener que hacerlo bien. من نمی خواهم که مجبور شوم آن را درست دریافت کنم. 我不想把事情做對。 Some people may want to do that, so then that’s fine, but why should the student who is learning something that’s of interest to him/her, in other words the language where the ultimate goal is to understand what is said and to be able to communicate, have to dance to the teacher’s tune? 有些人可能想这样做，那就没问题，但为什么正在学习自己感兴趣的东西的学生，换句话说，学习语言的最终目的是理解所说的内容并能够进行交流，却要跟着老师的调子跳舞呢？

Why should the student have to write tests on proverbs or on colors or subjunctive or whatever the teacher chooses to test the student on? 為什麼學生必須寫關於諺語、顏色、虛擬語氣或老師選擇測試學生的任何內容的測驗？ To me, it’s meaningless. 對我來說，這毫無意義。 I’ve said it before, I’ve seen the products of French language instruction in the English school system in Canada and the results are abysmal. 我以前就说过，我看到过加拿大英语学校系统的法语教学成果，结果惨不忍睹。 I posted my efforts in Czech and some person said that I’m already better in Czech than many of the people who study the language. 我用捷克語發布了我的努力，有人說我的捷克語已經比許多學習語言的人更好了。

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I enjoy my Czech, I enjoy it so much that I listen every day. 也許這與我喜歡捷克語有關，我非常喜歡它，所以我每天都聽。 I listen to things of interest and I read things of interest and I build up my vocabulary. Now that I have all of that, I’m starting to focus more on the fine points of grammar so that my usage gets better. 现在我已经掌握了这些知识，我开始更加关注语法的细节，以便更好地运用。 But the first 10 months I wasn’t speaking the language, so as long as I can understand more or less. 但前10個月我不會說這種語言，所以只要我能或多或少理解就好了。 I say more or less because I’m quite happy to half understand or 80% understand, but I’m enjoying it. 我說或多或少是因為我很高興能理解一半或80%，但我很享受。 As long as that all is happening and I’m gaining experience in the language, well isn’t that really good enough? 只要這一切都發生了，我在語言上累積了經驗，那還不夠好嗎？ Now, you’re going to say well, yeah, but you can’t do that in the classroom because you have to have a curriculum.

I say, why do you have to have this curriculum? 我說為什麼一定要有這個課程呢？ Can’t they come up with some other test? 他們就不能想出一些其他的測試嗎？ Of course, the teachers want some test that is objective. 當然，老師們希望能有一些客觀的測試。 You either know the proverb or you don’t know the proverb, you either put the right tense down or you don’t put the right tense down, so you’ve got something that is measurable. 你要嘛知道這句諺語，要嘛不知道這句諺語，要嘛用正確的時態，要嘛不用正確的時態，所以你得到了一些可以衡量的東西。 It’s a little more difficult to say this person understands, this person communicates well. 很難說這個人聽得懂，這個人溝通得很好。 It becomes more of a subjective measure. Es wird eher ein subjektives Maß. Se vuelve más una medida subjetiva. 它變得更像是一種主觀衡量標準。 So there is a problem.

I admit there’s a problem, but the solution, in other words trying to force students to learn what the teacher taught, to learn things that the teacher thought were interesting or to learn in the order that the teacher wants the student to learn, I think in many cases that discourages the learner and delays arriving at the ultimate goal, which is the ability to communicate and to comprehend. 我承认这是个问题，但要解决这个问题，换句话说，就是要强迫学生学习老师教的东西，学习老师认为有趣的东西，或者按照老师希望学生学习的顺序来学习，我认为在很多情况下，这会挫伤学习者的积极性，推迟达到最终目标，即交流和理解的能力。 So whether those thoughts of mine have any relevance to the classroom or not I don’t know, but I couldn’t help wanting to talk about it when I saw this comment on my video from Reeva saying that in her Czech classes, if I understand correctly, the students are asked to be able to reproduce Czech proverbs, which struck me as completely ridiculous. Ob diese Gedanken von mir irgendeine Relevanz für den Unterricht haben oder nicht, weiß ich nicht, aber ich konnte nicht umhin, darüber zu sprechen, als ich diesen Kommentar zu meinem Video von Reeva sah, in dem sie das in ihrem Tschechischunterricht sagte, wenn ich richtig verstehen, werden die Schüler gebeten, tschechische Sprichwörter nachsprechen zu können, was mir völlig lächerlich vorkam. 所以我不知道我的那些想法是否与教室有关，但是当我看到我在Reeva的视频中对此评论发表评论时说：正确理解后，要求学生能够复制捷克谚语，这让我感到十分荒谬。 我不知道我的这些想法是否与课堂有关，但当我看到 Reeva 在我的视频上评论说，在她的捷克语课堂上，如果我没理解错的话，学生们被要求能够复述捷克语谚语时，我忍不住想谈谈这个问题。

Not that proverbs are ridiculous, but insisting that students who may have no interest in proverbs, like me, still have to reproduce proverbs struck me as ridiculous. Anyway, thanks for listening. Wie auch immer, danke fürs Zuhören.

Bye for now.