Not only that it lets you get over language barriers with people who don't speak your mother tongue,

它不僅可以讓你克服與你說不同語言的人之間的語言障礙，

but it also unlocks a whole new way of perceiving the world from the point of view of a foreign nation.

也讓你可以從外國的角度看待世界。

In this video, I'd like to talk about why I think language learning is so cool and what are the upsides and downsides of the language learning community.

在這個影片中，我想談談為什麼我認為語言學習這麼酷，以及語言學習的優缺點是什麼。

Perfecting an accent

讓發音變標準

I wouldn't say that forcefully perfecting an accent in a foreign language is the most important thing, at least not right away.

我不覺得強迫讓講外文時的口音變標準是最重要的事情，至少不是現在。

If anything, it demotivates a lot of language learners that are afraid of sounding funny or dumb when speaking a foreign language.

其實，它會讓許多害怕在說外文時聽起來很好笑或很蠢的語言學習者失去學習的動力。

'Cause chances are that the natives will understand you even if you have a foreign accent,

即使你有外國口音，當地人也了解你說什麼，

also because of something I call accent consistency, which we can talk about another time.

因為我稱為「口音一致性」的關係，這個我們下次再談。

I think the best way is just to study the language and the accent will come on its own and improve over time.

我認為最好的方法就是去學語言，口音會自然而然的隨著時間的推移而改善。

And when it does, well, there are some cool things that come with it.

當這個過程發生時，會有一些很酷的事情伴隨而來。

When I speak chinese, I have a slight Beijing accent or when I speak Portuguese, I have a more or less Brazilian accent.

當我說中文時，我帶有輕微的北京口音，或者當我說葡萄牙語時，我或多或少帶有巴西口音。

I feel like with every language that you learn, especially if you learn it in its respective country, you kind of get a sense of identity,

我覺得你學習的每一種語言，特別是如果你在不同的國家學習它，你都會有一種認同感，

based on where you learned it or who taught it to you and where your teacher was from,

這取決於你在哪裡學習的，或者是誰教導你的，以及你的老師來自哪裡，

which I think is so powerful and only achievable through language learning that you get a sense of identity towards the country that you're not even from.

我認為這是非常強有力的，只有透過語言學習才能實現，這讓你對非出身國家有一種認同感。

So for me, embracing the accent of the places where I learned the language rather than speaking a standardized version of it

所以對我來說，接受我學習語言的地方的口音，而不是講比較標準的口音

makes me feel more connected to my teachers and to the cities where I lived.

讓我感覺與我的老師和我居住的城市更加緊密。

And it makes me feel nostalgic as if all those places and my friends and the people were always with me.

這讓我有一種懷舊感，好像這些地方、我的朋友和大家一直都和我在一起。

I know this sounds cheesy, but I'm really passionate about this.

我知道這聽起來很老套，但我真的對此充滿熱情。

Why do I like studying languages?

我為什麼喜歡學習語言？

I had to think long about this question because the first answer that came to mind was because it gives me pleasure.

這個問題我想了很久，因為我想到的第一個答案是因為它為我帶來快樂。

I mean, I think the answer would be the same as if you ask somebody why they like to draw or why they like to play games.

我認為這題的答案就跟你問某人為什麼喜歡畫畫或為什麼喜歡玩遊戲是一樣的。

I think I'm not the only person who feels this way, but speaking in a foreign language with somebody gives me a certain kind of high,

我想我不是唯一一個有這種感覺的人，但是和別人說一門外語為我帶來某種快感，

you know, it's like my mind completely changes, my personality and thoughts to an extent, adapt to the language that I'm speaking.

你懂嗎，這就像我的思想完全改變了，我的個性和思想在一定程度上適應了我所說的語言。

And when I'm speaking with someone and they understand what I'm trying to say and then they respond back and suddenly, I'm having a whole conversation, it's like...

當我和某人交談時，他們明白我想說什麼，然後他們回應我，突然間，我們開始了一場完整的對話，這很衝擊。

My thoughts on the word "polyglot"

我對「多語高手」這個字的看法

I don't consider myself a polyglot. I don't use that word just because I feel like nowadays, there's a lot of people that use it just to boost their own ego.

我不認為自己是一個多語高手。 我不使用這個詞是因為我覺得現在有很多人使用它只是為了提升自己的面子。

Like sometimes, I'll just see people learning the basics in three foreign languages,

有時候，我看到人們明明只學了三種外語的基礎知識，

and suddenly they proclaim themselves as being polyglot, and they, like, put it in their bio and whatnot.

突然間，他們就宣稱自己是多語高手的，甚至寫在他們的履歷和諸如此類的東西中。

I mean I know that we're in the age of Clickbait and using the word polyglot or putting it in your title gets views, but I don't really like using it and here's why.

我知道我們正處於「標題黨」 時代，使用「多語高手」這個詞或將它放在你的標題中可以獲得關注，但我真的不喜歡用它，原因是這樣的。

Firstly, the term polyglot is extremely vague because the definition says something like, "a person who speaks four or more languages."

首先，「多語高手」這個詞的定義非常模糊，因為它的定義是「會說四種或更多語言的人」。

But, like, on what level? Do you have to be fluent in all of those languages or do you have to reach level C1 or is B2 enough? Is A2 enough?

但是，是什麼樣的程度？是必須精通所有這些語言，還是必須達到 C1，還是說 B2 就夠了？ 那 A2 夠嗎？

And before you go googling, I'd honestly say that there's no real answer to that because that's just not how languages work.

在你去谷歌搜索之前，我老實說，這沒有確切的答案，因爲語言不是這樣判定的。

For example, the level B2 in Spanish is way more than the level B2 in English.

例如，西班牙語的 B2 遠高於英語的 B2 。

I'd even say that it's the equivalent of C1 in English.

甚至可以說它相當於英語中的 C1 。

Okay, every language is different.

每種語言都是不同的。

You can't put norms on languages because your fluency depends on so many factors.

你不能給語言設定標準，因為你的流利程度取決於很多因素。

Some people will say that being conversational in the language is good enough and if you ask me, I feel pretty comfortable with my Chinese. I lived in Beijing for ten months.

有些人會說，能夠用該語言進行對談就足夠了，那如果你問我的話，我覺得我中文說得還不錯，因為我在北京住了十個月。

But if you were to put me in a small town in the Hunan province, my Chinese wouldn't be better than a toddler's.

但如果你把我丟在湖南省的一個小鎮上，我的中文並不會比一個蹣跚學步的孩子好。

All things being said, the term polyglot is so vague that I don't associate myself with it.

綜上所述，「多語高手」這個詞太模糊了，我無法將自己和它連結起來。

I do consider myself as someone who is passionate about learning languages, who likes learning them, who likes learning about them, their historical background.

我確實認為自己是一個對學習語言充滿熱情、喜歡學習它們、喜歡了解它們、了解它們的歷史背景的人。

That's what I study in college, philology.

這就是我在大學學習的，語言學。

But I don't need the badge of being a polyglot to enjoy my hobby.

但我不需要「多語高手」的標籤來享受我的愛好。

Yeah.

就是這樣。

Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

謝謝你來聽我的 TED 演講。

Don't get me wrong though, I'm not trying to show a bad light on anybody who is a real polyglot and uses that word, I just personally don't feel comfortable with using it.

不過請不要誤會我的意思，我並不是要醜化真正的多語高手，只是我個人對於使用這個字感到不自在。

Your voice changes with each language.

你的聲音會隨著每種語言而變化

I heard a lot of people tell me that my personality or even my voice changes when I speak a different language.

我聽過很多人告訴我說，當我講不同語言時，我的性格甚至我的聲音都會發生變化。

That is very much possible because with each language, first of all,

這是很有可能的，因為對於每種語言，首先，

as I said before, the place where you learned it or who taught it to you really affect the way that you use that language in your life.

如我之前所說的，你學習它的地方或教導你的地方確實會影響你在生活中使用該語言的方式。

For instance, I often notice that my voice when speaking Japanese is a lot softer and maybe more feminine than (in) other languages,

例如，我經常注意到我說日語時的聲音比其他語言更柔和，可能更女性化，

which is I think because up until this point, all of my Japanese teachers were always a woman.

我認為這是因為到目前為止，我所有的日語老師都是女性。

That's how I learned the language, from a woman. So I kind of also speak a little bit like a woman.

我學日文是由女性教導我的，所以我說話也有點像女生。

When I speak Portuguese, for example, I'm way more like maybe open, I smile a lot more and that's just because all of my memories from Brazil are very happy memories.

當我說葡萄牙語時，我會更開放的，經常微笑，那是因為我在巴西的所有回憶都是非常快樂的回憶。

And yeah, those are truly all factors of me changing my personality every time I speak a different language.

這些都是我每次說不同語言時改變性格的真正因素。

What language do I think in

我用什麼語言思考

I have to say that my fluency in Czech and English are both on the same level.

不得不說，我的捷克語和英語度一樣流利。

I make mistakes in both languages.

我說這兩種語言的時候都會偶爾出錯。

Sometimes I use English even more than Czech, which is my mother tongue.

有時我說英語甚至比我的母語捷克語還要多。

So my thoughts mostly occur in either English or Czech if I'm not speaking another language, that is.

如果我沒有在講別的語言的時候，我主要用英語或捷克語思考。

However, it's interesting that whenever I'm counting something, you know, like I need to count how many eggs I have left in the fridge,

然而，有趣的是，每當我計算一些東西時，比如我需要計算冰箱裡還剩多少雞蛋，

my brain automatically switches to Chinese because counting in Chinese is just so much quicker and easier than in English or Czech.

我的大腦會自動切換到中文，因為用中文數數比用英語或捷克語更快、更容易。

So I always just go one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine.

所以我總是直接數一、二、三、四、五、六、七、八、九、十。

It really depends on the situation because for example, when I need to take notes quickly, need to note something, I usually start writing it in English right away.

所以這要看情況，因為例如當我需要快速做筆記，需要記下一些東西時，我通常會馬上開始用英語寫。

It's also because on the internet, I search everything in English right because there's always more results.

這也是因為在網路上，我都用英語進行搜索，因為這樣搜尋的結果比較多。

I make videos in English, so whenever I think about like social media or like new videos, I'm always thinking in English

還有我用英語製作影片，所以，每當我要用社交軟體或新影片時，我總是用英語思考。

It's like a default language, I think.

我想英語就像是預設值語言吧。

What languages are you planning on learning in the future?

你未來打算學什麼語言？

I'm not really planning on learning any more languages in the future, maybe later on,

我其實不打算在未來學習更多的語言，也許以後會，

but like, right now, I'm really just focused on perfecting the languages that I can already speak, just so I can speak them even more fluently.

但現在，我只想專注於精進我已經會說的語言，這樣我才能說得更流利。

But yeah, I definitely thought about just perfecting my Azbuka, Hangul and like the Arabic script just because I'm really frustrated when I can't read something,

但我確實想過精進我的塞爾維亞語、韓語和阿拉伯文字，因為當我看不懂某些東西時我真的很沮喪，

like even if I can't understand the language, I want to be able to read it, if that makes sense.

就算我不懂這個語言，我也希望能夠讀得出來，不知道我這樣講合不合理。

So I'm just going to learn a bunch of scripts maybe, but not the languages themselves.

所以我可能會學習不同語言的字母，而不是語言本身。

But yeah, that's about it for this video.

以上是今天的影片。

Let me know your experiences with learning languages and also let me know if you enjoy me making videos about them.

讓我知道你學習語言的經驗，也讓我知道你是否喜歡我製作關於語言的影片。，

And yeah, follow me on Instagram, leave a like and I'll see you next week. Bye.

追蹤我的 Instagram，按讚，我們下週見。掰。