發(fā)現了一個(gè)有點(diǎn)微妙的事：

我們去國外，我們和老外說(shuō)英語(yǔ)。

老外來(lái)中國，我們和他們說(shuō)英語(yǔ)。

……這是為啥？

 

 

來(lái)中國的歪果仁越來(lái)越多了。這其中不乏中文水平不錯、或至少努力在學(xué)習中文的。

但也有一些老外，來(lái)中國明明很多年了，就是不愿意學(xué)中文，非要用英語(yǔ)死磕到底。

尤其是在北上廣這類(lèi)大城市，當說(shuō)英語(yǔ)并不妨礙他們正常溝通生活時(shí)，那更是懶得一塌糊涂，堅決不學(xué)中文……

微信？這么普遍的交流工具那是要用的。

但即使微信有翻譯功能，但也非得要在各個(gè)群里說(shuō)英語(yǔ)——即使群里明明有中國人。

這種情況，讓最近給我們投稿的一位美國漢子看不下去了。

他把這類(lèi)在中國卻不學(xué)中文的老外稱(chēng)為：社會(huì )型發(fā)育遲鈍。

來(lái)看看他是咋說(shuō)的——

Christopher, the US

One of the greatest things about WeChat is how I can share Shanghai and China with my family directly. They get it fresh without filters.

微信這玩意兒吧，最大的有點(diǎn)在于，我可以直接通過(guò)它和家人分享上海乃至中國的見(jiàn)聞。他們能從我這得到新鮮熱乎的資訊，沒(méi)有任何過(guò)濾的那種。

They get their dose of Bund fun or Fuxing Park action strait-up and live from my pictures, voice messages or live chats. Last week was no exception to remind them that China is on the move, as they live in a southern California bubble and need reminding now and again.

外灘，復興公園……他們可以跟著(zhù)我的照片、語(yǔ)音消息和視頻聊天一起浪遍上海。家人們生活在南加州的泡沫里，他們需要時(shí)不時(shí)地被提醒：中國和他們想象的不一樣，它在日新月異地前進(jìn)。上周發(fā)生的事兒也不例外。

Following November 11, China's newly famous "Singles Day" aka Double 11, I sent my sister in southern California a direct link to a story about the $30-billion trade done that day - all online and from a company named after an 18th-century Arabian folk tale headquartered in a little Chinese city called Hangzhou.

上周轟轟烈烈的“雙11”——中國最近知名的“光棍節”結束了，我發(fā)了一個(gè)鏈接給在南加州的妹妹（或姐姐）看。這個(gè)鏈接關(guān)于雙11這天中國多達300億美元的交易——而這筆巨額交易全來(lái)自線(xiàn)上，出自總部坐落在中國一個(gè)名叫“杭州”的小城市里、有著(zhù)18世紀阿拉伯民間傳說(shuō)同款名字的公司。

My sister does online sales and was flummoxed by reading how much money was banked in just 24 hours. She texted back "Crazy!" The timing was fortuitous, as a few days prior she'd asked me if my Chinese wife would help her access China's vast online market. I told her she could text my wife directly about this. After all, my wife speaks and reads English fluently.

我這妹妹就是做網(wǎng)絡(luò )銷(xiāo)售的。當她看到僅僅24小時(shí)就能有這么多錢(qián)時(shí)，她整個(gè)人都懵了。“太瘋狂了！”她回復到。“雙11”的新聞來(lái)得好不如來(lái)得巧，畢竟前幾天她還問(wèn)過(guò)我，我的中國太太能否幫她進(jìn)軍中國巨大的電商市場(chǎng)。我當時(shí)告訴她，我太太的英語(yǔ)還是挺不錯的，可以直接發(fā)消息問(wèn)她這事兒。

But I forgot to tell my sister that, by subscribing to WeChat, she could put her own QR code online and access our social networks in English and Chinese. I neglected to note how my wife can utilize both Taobao and WeChat to fuel demands for her beauty products. We're working on those details now.

不過(guò)我倒是忘了告訴我妹妹，她可以自己訂閱微信、把二維碼放網(wǎng)上去、訪(fǎng)問(wèn)咱們中英雙語(yǔ)的社交網(wǎng)絡(luò )。我也沒(méi)注意到我太太在淘寶和微信是上怎么對美容產(chǎn)品長(cháng)草又拔草的。我們正在琢磨這些細節。

Why mention this? Because I was talking to an expat friend in Shanghai who recently expressed dismay at several foreigners in Shanghai and elsewhere in China who are adopting "English only" policies in their WeChat forums. "Say what?" I asked incredulously.

為什么會(huì )提這個(gè)呢？因為我最近和一枚在上海的老外盆友聊天，他說(shuō)對一些在中國的歪果仁在微信群里“只用英語(yǔ)”的法則感到挺沮喪的。“你說(shuō)啥？”我有些不解。

From small foreign-owned F&B establishments to freelance acting troupes, I've heard that numerous expat WeChat groups are now enforcing an English-only policy. When asking them why, some of these group managers admitted to me that it was just a ploy to hook Chinese users who want to learn English at informal lessons.

從外資的小型餐飲企業(yè)，到一些自由演出劇團，很多老外的微信群都是只用英語(yǔ)的，這個(gè)我有所耳聞。而當我問(wèn)他們原因時(shí)，一些群主表示，“只用英語(yǔ)”是一種策略，可以以此吸引到一些中國人加入。這些中國人往往是想通過(guò)（微信聊天這類(lèi)）非正式的渠道來(lái)學(xué)習英語(yǔ)的。

That way they can skirt Chinese visa laws by teaching English out of their homes from clients they poached for private lessons from these same WeChat forums. "Oh..."I responded.

有了這樣的第一步，歪果仁們就可以繞開(kāi)中國的簽證法律，把微信群里的中國人挖出來(lái)，變成自己教英語(yǔ)的私人客戶(hù)。“這樣啊……”我恍然大悟。

Not only is this poor marketing (making them bilingual seems a far more realistic gambit to attract clients), it smacks of racism. It also shows basic technological ignorance of WeChat, which has a built-in translation tool for Chinese into English and vice-versa. So why are so many of these little groups managed by schoolmarm-made WeChat minders enforcing English only?

這個(gè)套路不僅是糟糕的市場(chǎng)營(yíng)銷(xiāo)（用雙語(yǔ)豈不是吸引客戶(hù)更現實(shí)的方法么？），還帶著(zhù)點(diǎn)兒種族歧視的味道。不僅如此，它還顯示出了這群人對微信最基本的技術(shù)都一竅不通，畢竟微信自帶翻譯工具，能實(shí)現中英文的互譯。那么問(wèn)題來(lái)了……為啥還會(huì )有那么多裝得一本正經(jīng)的群主要勒令大家只用英語(yǔ)呢？

One expat friend of mine with nearly two decades clocked in the country calls it the "Reverse Dashan Reaction Syndrome." Unlike Canadian Mark Rowswell (the brave student who came to Beijing in the 1980s to study Putonghua and became a famous TV celebrity... and an inspiration to millions of foreign and Chinese language students), many millennial expat newbies arriving in today's China are recoiling against the culture and unwilling to learn the language.

我有一位在中國工作了近20年的老外盆友，他說(shuō)這是一種“反大山效應綜合癥”。啥意思呢？大山咱們都知道，他是加拿大人，本名馬克•羅斯韋爾（就是80年代勇敢地來(lái)北京學(xué)普通話(huà)的留學(xué)生，后來(lái)成為著(zhù)名電視明星的那位……他激勵了很多人去學(xué)習語(yǔ)言呢）。而如今，很多千禧一代的年輕老外來(lái)到中國，和大山不同的是，他們不愿意學(xué)習中文，對中國的文化也有些抵觸情緒。

They see no reason to bask in the beauty and complexity of this ancient language, and instead cling to their native lingua like a life raft. They do not have any desire to advance themselves in this society and, thus, do not value adapting to the culture or language. I call this "social retardation."

他們覺(jué)得沒(méi)啥理由沉浸在這古老語(yǔ)言的優(yōu)美繁復之中，倒是像抓住救生筏一樣緊緊抱住自己母語(yǔ)不放。他們沒(méi)啥在這社會(huì )中進(jìn)步的渴望，所以也不重視去適應中國的文化或語(yǔ)言。這些人啊，我稱(chēng)他們?yōu)椋?ldquo;社會(huì )型發(fā)育遲鈍”。

Linguist impotence could easily be remedied should these exclusionary WeChat groups use the proper tech tools to stimulate their communication potency. But they won't! I think weeding out these expats in China and sending them back to their home countries is sage advice, as the wrong sort of foreigners continue to flock to China, abusing its warm hospitality and advanced technology to create their own culturally aloof cabals.

如果那些微信群們能機智點(diǎn)，適當利用一些技術(shù)工具來(lái)刺激他們的溝通能力，或許這群人的語(yǔ)言水平還不至于那么“萎”。但人家就是要“萎”！我覺(jué)得把這群人給淘汰掉、送回自己國家倒是挺好的。要不然，老是這類(lèi)“發(fā)育遲鈍”的老外涌來(lái)中國，仗著(zhù)中國的熱情好客和先進(jìn)技術(shù)，搞著(zhù)在文化上越來(lái)越冷漠疏離的把戲。

It is my hope that responsible WeChat users will eschew these "English Only" policies and properly utilize this awesome technology for its maximum impact - bridging borders for friendship and family and, incidentally, maybe also getting a slice of that yummy $30-billion cake that was made in one day. My sister certainly now is, and she doesn't even live here!

希望那些負責任的微信用戶(hù)們，能無(wú)視這個(gè)“只用英語(yǔ)”的奇怪法則，并適當利用微信這一美妙的技術(shù)，發(fā)揮出它最大的影響力——為友誼與家庭架起橋梁。順便說(shuō)一句哈，搞不好哪天，你就能從300億美元交易額的美味蛋糕里分一杯羹�？窗�，我妹妹即使她人都還不在這里，現在已經(jīng)深諳其道了！

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