Which English skill is the most important?

學英語的時候什麼最重要呢？

Let's talk about it.

一起來看看吧。

Which is the most important English skill?

學英語的時候什麼最重要呢？

Speaking, listening, pronunciation, reading, writing?

口說、聽力、發音、閱讀，還是寫作？

Well, I'm not gonna make you wait until the end of this lesson to tell you, I'm not gonna make you wait five minutes.

我沒有要讓你等五分鐘，到影片結束才告訴你。

I'm gonna tell you right now that speaking is the most important English skill, in my opinion.

現在就揭曉答案，我認為口說最重要。

Why is speaking the most important?

為什麼口說最重要呢？

But Vanessa, what about writing business emails?

「但 Vanessa，難道商用郵件技巧不重要嗎？」

I need to write professional emails.

「我得寫正式郵件啊。」

Okay, okay, I understand.

我懂，我懂。

In specific situations, you need to write well, but, you know, you can learn with a few quick tips how to write a decent business email.

特定情況下，的確需要好的寫作技巧，但通過幾個小技巧你就可以習得如何撰寫一封體面的商務郵件了。

You can watch my lesson about how to improve your writing skills, here.

你可以在這裡觀看提升寫作技巧的影片。

So, why is speaking the most important English skill?

那麼，為何口說是學習英語最重要的部分呢？

Let's take a look at the top three situations where you're most likely to use English.

一起來看看前三大可能需要使用英語的場合吧！

Number one: traveling to another country.

一、出國旅遊

If you go to New York City, or even to Berlin in Germany,

假設你去紐約，或甚至德國柏林，

you're gonna need to communicate with the hotel staff, the airport crew, your tour guide.

你一定會需要跟飯店、機場工作人員，還有導遊溝通。

You're not gonna to write down, excuse me, my flight was delayed, can you help me book another flight?

你不能用寫的，寫說「對不起，我的航班延誤了，能幫我訂另一個航班嗎？」

No, no, no, you're not gonna write it down, you're gonna say it.

用寫的是行不通的，你得用說的。

You need to speak with those people.

一定會需要跟人溝通。

If you don't know what to say in those situations, you can watch my travel playlist up here for some essential travel expressions.

如果不知道在這些情況下該說什麼，可以點這觀看我的旅行相關播放列表，學習基本旅遊英語表達。

Number two is: you go on a business meeting internationally

情況二，參加國際商務會議

or maybe you have an American client or representative from the American branch come to visit you in your country.

又或是，也許有位美國客戶或美國分公司的代表來你的國家拜訪。

In this situation, it's even more important to speak English,

此情況下，口說能力就更加重要了。

because, yes, you'll have some business meetings, you'll have some business conversations,

當然，你會有商務會議或商業相關談話，

but you'll probably also take the clients or take the representatives to dinner.

但你也可能需要帶客戶或來訪代表去聚餐。

In these casual situations you're gonna need to speak the whole time together, so speaking is essential.

這種非正式場合，席間將會有不間斷的對話，這使得口說能力更加不可或缺。

Number three: you want to make friends around the world--

三、與世界各地的人交友

and really, who doesn't want to make friends around the world.

誰不想與來自世界各地的人交友呢？

This is truly how we can have more peace in the world.

這是達成世界和平的方式呀。

I know it seems idealistic and like a fantasy,

我知道這聽起來太過理想化，像是童話。

but really when we see other people and talk with other people from other cultures, we can connect more directly,

但當我們能與其他文化背景的人交流時，我們能更直接地產生聯繫，

and we can more directly see what other people are like, and we often learn that people are people everywhere.

我們可以更直接地了解他人樣貌，明白不論來自何處，人都是一樣的。

Now that I've explained why speaking is the most important English skill,

在解釋了為什麼口說是最重要的英語技能後，

I'd like to tell you that the second most important skill in English is listening.

我想告訴大家，英語中第二重要的技能是聽力。

Why?

為什麼呢？

Well, conversations are two way.

這個嘛，對話是雙向的。

You speak, they listen. They speak, you listen.

你說對方聽，對方說你聽。

You have to understand the other person in order to have a conversation.

你得聽得懂對方在說什麼才能構成對話。

But how can you understand fast, natural English conversations?

但如何才能聽得懂語速快的母語者英語呢？

Well, I have some good news.

有個好消息報你知！

You can click on the video up here or in the description and this lesson will help you a lot.

點擊此處或說明中的影片連結，這支影片絕對能幫到你。

It will increase your listening skills, and you'll be on the path to understanding native speakers

幫助你提升聽力，帶你走上輕鬆理解母語人士的道路。

so that you can speak and have a conversation.

讓你流利溝通。

We've talked about speaking, and listening and writing, but what about pronunciation?

我們已經討論過口說、聽力、寫作，那發音呢？

Well, of course you want other people to understand you,

我們當然希望別人能理解我們，

you want your accent to be good enough so that other people can understand you,

希望口音能至少讓人聽得懂我們說的內容，

but how can you improve your accent?

但該如和改善發音呢？

Well, you have to speak.

這個嘛，得開口。

You have to practice speaking.

你得練習開口。

So, everything goes back to speaking.

一切都歸結到口說上。

Speaking is that key point to help you improve your pronunciation, improve your listening skills, improve your vocabulary and everything.

口說是幫助你提升發音、聽力、詞彙量等等的關鍵。

What about reading?

那閱讀呢？

When you're reading, it's a great way to increase your vocabulary and feel more comfortable with natural sentence structure,

閱讀是增加詞彙量和熟悉句子結構的好方法，

but with reading you can take your time.

但閱讀時，你可以慢慢來。

If you're reading a medical article for your studies or you're reading a business email,

如果你正為研究而閱讀醫學文獻，或正在看商務郵件，

or maybe you're reading one of the books that I recommended in last week's video,

或正在讀我上週影片中推薦的書，

you can take your time and review and go over the vocabulary.

你可以花時間重看並複習詞彙。

With speaking, someone else is standing right there, waiting for you to create a sentence, so it's more urgent to improve your speaking.

但說話時，別人就站在那等著你回話，所以提升口語能力的急迫性更高。

I hope that I've convinced you that speaking and listening are the most important skills in English.

希望我已經說服你口語和聽力是英語中最重要的兩項技能。

So now you might have a question: Vanessa, how do I get started?

現在你可能有個問題「那麼 Vanessa，我該如何開始呢？」

I believe that speaking is the most important skill, so what do I do now?

「我相信口說是最重要的技能，那現在該做什麼？」

Well, I have some good news.

我有個好消息。

This is the Speak English with Vanessa YouTube channel, so the goal of this whole channel is to help you improve your speaking skills.

這個頻道的目標就是幫助你提高口語技巧。

So, I'm gonna post a link up here, and also at the end of this video that is to my video that is to my video, "How to Start Speaking Today."

所以，我會在這裡放一個連結，這個影片的結尾也會有影片「今天開始開口說英文」連結。

And I hope that you will watch that video, take those tips and start today.

希望大家看完影片，學習技巧後就能馬上開始開口練習。

Don't waste any time.

別浪費任何時間！

And now it's your turn.

現在，輪到你了。

I want to know which English skill do you think is the most important,

你認為英語中哪個部分最重要？

speaking, listening, pronunciation, reading, writing?

口說、聽力、發音、閱讀，還是寫作？

Let me know in the comments, and I'll see you again next Friday for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel!

請留言告訴我，下週五新集數見喔！

Bye.

掰掰。