Name: 失去你的母語 ⏲️ 6分鐘英文 (Losing your mother tongue ⏲️ 6 Minute English)
Uploaded: 2025-11-30T03:45:14.000Z
Duration: 6 min 19 s

Six Minute English from BBCLearningEnglish.com hello, this is Six Minute English from BBC Learning English.

這是 BBC Learning English 的 Six Minute English。

In this program we'll be hearing about an issue experienced by many child refugees who are forced to leave their home.

在這集節目中，我們要聽聽許多兒童難民在被迫離開家園時所經歷的問題。

The loss of their first native language or mother tongue as they start a new life learning to speak a new language in a new country.

當他們在新國家開始新生活，學習說新語言時，失去他們的第一個母語。

Julie Tedivi and her family left their home in what was then Czechoslovakia and is now the Czech Republic during the Cold War when Julie was a small child.

Julie Tedivi 和她的家人在冷戰時期，從當時的捷克斯洛伐克、現在的捷克共和國離開家園，當時 Julie 還是個小女孩。

After several years traveling through Europe, they arrived in Canada as political refugees with no English.

經過幾年在歐洲旅行，他們以政治難民的身分抵達加拿大，當時一句英文都不會。

We'll be hearing about Julie's childhood when learning English started to replace her native language, Czech.

我們將聽聽 Julie 的童年，那時學習英文開始取代她的母語捷克語。

And as usual, we'll be learning some new vocabulary as well.

照例，我們也會學到一些新單字。

不過，Rob，我先問你一個問題。

Julie's family left their home as political refugees, but

Julie 的家人以政治難民的身分離開家園，但是

every year millions of people are also displaced because of war, persecution or the damaging effects of climate change.

每年也有數百萬人因為戰爭、迫害或氣候變遷的破壞性影響而流離失所。

So according to the United nations, how many people around the world are currently living as displaced refugees?

所以根據聯合國的資料，目前全球有多少人是流離失所的難民？

Is it A, 3 million, B 53 million, or, or C 103 million?

是 A，三百萬，B 五千三百萬，還是 C 一億零三百萬呢？

I'll reveal the answer later in the program.

Like many child refugees, Julie spoke only her mother tongue, Czech, at home with her brothers, sisters and parents, who in the beginning spoke no English at all.

就像許多兒童難民一樣，Julie 在家裡和她的兄弟姊妹、父母說的都是她的母語捷克語，一開始他們完全不會說英文。

Here she describes to Michael Rosen, presenter of BBC Radio 4 programme Word of Mouth.

在這裡，她向 BBC Radio 4 節目 Word of Mouth 的主持人 Michael Rosen 描述。

Going to an English speaking school for, for the first time.

So you went into school not to start off with really understanding what was going on, is that right?

所以你進學校時，一開始並沒有真正理解發生了什麼事，是這樣嗎？

I just kind of interpreted things as best I could and my memory of that is that that was not particularly difficult or traumatic.

我只是盡量理解，我記得那並沒有特別困難或創傷。

I think by then I'd had the experience of being dunked into various unfamiliar languages numerous times.

我想那時候我已經有過好幾次被丟進各種不熟悉語言的經驗了。

And I had faith that it would sort itself out and that everything would be just fine.

而且我深信一切都會順利解決，一切都會沒事的。

Of course, at school Julie was dunked into unfamiliar situations, a bit like a biscuit being dunked into a cup of tea.

當然，在學校裡，Julie 被丟進陌生的情境，有點像餅乾被泡進茶裡一樣。

Often dunk means to dip something into a liquid, but

dunk 通常是指把東西浸入液體，但

here the meaning is that Julie was suddenly dropped into a new situation for a while, then taken out as her family travelled through Europe.

在這裡的意思是，Julie 在家人穿越歐洲的過程中，曾被突然置身於一個新環境一段時間，然後又被帶離。

By the time she arrived in Canada, Julie had been exposed to several other languages, including Italian and French.

當她抵達加拿大時，Julie 已經接觸過好幾種語言，包括義大利語和法語。

She had experienced many difficulties but never given up of finding a new home.

她經歷了許多困難，但從未放棄尋找新家。

Julie had faith, in other words, trust or confidence that everything would sort itself out.

Julie 抱持著信心，也就是信任或篤定一切都會迎刃而解。

A phrase meaning to stop being A problem automatically without having to do anything.

這句話的意思是，不必做任何事，問題就會自動消失。

Over the following years, Julie faced many challenges.

在接下來的幾年裡，Julie 面臨了許多挑戰。

Going to school and making friends, helping her parents as they struggled in the English speaking world and grieving for her native language which which she slowly forgot.

去上學、交朋友，幫助在英語世界裡掙扎的父母，並為她漸漸遺忘的母語感到哀悼。

And with it the chance to speak Czech with her dad before he passed away.

也是以失去了能在她父親過世前用捷克語和他交談的機會。

Julie shares her thoughts on losing and refining her mother tongue in her book Memory Speaks Through It All, Julie kept alive her belief that by speaking two, three or even more languages, we don't forget who we are, but

Julie 在她的書《Memory Speaks Through It All》中分享了她關於失去和精煉母語的看法，Julie 堅信透過說兩種、三種甚至更多語言，我們不會忘記自己是誰，

An idea which she talked about with BBC Radio 4's Word of Mouth.

這個想法她和 BBC Radio 4 的 Word of Mouth 節目聊過。

The idea that you can be both of Mexican ancestry, for example, and

像是，你可以同時擁有墨西哥血統，

speak Spanish and be a full fledged American, or in my case, come from a country like the Czech Republic, continue to speak my language and be Canadian, and

說西班牙語，又是一個完全的美國人；或者像我一樣，來自捷克共和國，繼續說我的母語，同時又是加拿大人，

very proudly so and very invested in Canada as a society.

而且非常自豪，對加拿大社會有很深的歸屬感。

There's a number of studies that suggest that the very presence of people with blended ideas in a society seem to lead to greater acceptance between groups.

有不少研究顯示，一個社會中擁有融合觀點的人們，似乎能促進群體間更大的接納度。

It creates the sense that this is not an either or, that we can coexist, perhaps precisely because we have evidence that these cultures can coexist within a single person.

這創造了一種感覺，這不是非此即彼，我們可以共存，或許正是因為我們有證據顯示，這些文化可以在一個人身上共存。

For Julie, there's no contradiction in being a Canadian refugee speaking Czech or a Spanish speaking immigrant who's a full fledged or fully developed American.

對 Julie 來說，身為一個說捷克語的加拿大難民，或是說西班牙語、完全發展成熟的美國移民，這兩者之間並沒有矛盾。

Cases where there is only a choice between two options with no third possibility.

指的是隻有兩種選擇，沒有第三種可能性的情況。

Instead, a peaceful coexistence can develop, as shown in the life of Julie Sadivi herself.

相反地，可以發展出和平共存，就像 Julie Sadivi 本人的人生一樣。

Right, it's time to reveal the answer to my question.

沒錯，是時候揭曉我問題的答案了。

How many people around the world like Julie are living as displaced refugees?

世界上有多少像 Julie 一樣的兒童難民或政治難民流離失所？

A number which, according to the UN is only going to grow.

根據聯合國的數據，這個數字只會持續增長。

Now it's time to recap the vocabulary we've learned from this program about losing our mother tongue, the native language we were brought up speaking by our parents.

現在，讓我們來複習一下我們從這個節目學到的詞彙，這些詞彙跟失去母語、也就是我們從小跟父母學的母語有關。

If something is dunked, it's dipped into a liquid like a biscuit and a cup of tea.

如果某樣東西被 dunked，就像餅乾泡進茶裡一樣，是浸入液體中。

But if someone is dunked into a situation, they're suddenly placed into a new and unfamiliar setting before being removed again after a short time.

但如果一個人被 dunked 到一個情況裡，他們會突然被置身於一個新的、不熟悉的環境，然後在短時間後被移走。

If you have faith in something or someone, you have trust or confidence in them.

如果你對某人某事有 faith，表示你對他們有信任或信心。

The phrasal verb to sort itself out means to stop being a problem without having to do anything.

動詞片語 to sort itself out 的意思是，在不需做任何事情的情況下，一個問題自行解決。

The adjective full fledged means completely developed.

形容詞 full fledged 的意思是完全發展成熟。

And finally, an either or is a situation where only a choice between two options is possible with no third alternative.

最後，either or 是指只有兩種選擇，沒有第三種選項的情況。

And that brings us to the end of this program.

這就代表我們這個節目到尾聲了。