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How to Talk Like a Native Speaker
學習外語的人，都有個終極目標，那就是能把外語說的像母語一樣好！
在學外語的過程中，我們總會遇到瓶頸期，突破後才能達到精通的水平。想要自然地用外語去思考和溝通，不僅要練成不同語言表達之間切換的能力，更要熟悉不同語言背後的文化。那如何才能做到這一點？
語言學者Marc Green熟練掌握6種語言，他在這個TED演講中提到了三個技巧，幫助你從普通走向精通。我們一起來看看到底是哪三個吧。
Marc Green用他在俄羅斯旅行時的遭遇開場，為大家說明他為什麼會去學習多種語言的起因。並把語言學習過程分成了幾個階段。
01 Basic fluency 基本流暢
And the first one would be when about 25% of the cards are turned up, you reach like a basic level.
第一個階段是當25%的牌展現在你面前的時候，你就達到了基礎水平。
At this level, you have a base vocabulary, some grammar, and you're able to have maybe very simple conversations and communicate a little bit.
在這個水平，你會知道一些基礎單詞，一些語法，你可以進行一些非常簡單的會話，進行一點點的交流。
02 Fluency 流暢
And your study goes on until you reach this magical point of fluency, what we call being fluent in the language. Now what does it mean, being fluent in a language?
你會繼續學習，直到你達到"流利"這個神奇的標準，這是當我們被稱為掌握這門語言的時候。流利地掌握一門語言到底意味著什麼呢？
It means that you've turned up more than 50% of the cards in the deck, and that is the point where you have — where the language becomes part of your subconscious so that even if you don't use it anymore for 10 years or longer, you will not forget it.
這代表著，桌上一半以上的卡都被你翻過來了。到了這一階段——這門語言已經成為你潛意識裡的一部分。所以，即使你10年或者更長的時候都不再用這門語言，你也不會忘記它。
You can get back into it within a very, very short time.
你可以在很短的時間內將這門語言撿回來。
03 Mastery 精通
Now, some people go on and, you know, reach like a mastery level.
當然，也有一些人繼續學習，達到了精通的等級。
By that time, you know classic literature in the other language and have maybe in-depth knowledge of specialized fields.
到那個時候，你可以用其他的語言來讀古典文學，並在一個特定的領域裡擁有大量的知識。
That's often the point taken in academia.
這常常被認為是學術界。
Marc Green還闡明瞭學習、掌握多種語言的好處以及帶來的優勢。
但同時也明確指出，想要學好並掌握一門語言，並沒有捷徑可走，需要投入相當的努力。
The first thing to note is that on your way to reaching fluency, there is not really any shortcut.
第一件需要注意的事是，在達到流利的路上是沒有捷徑的。
The second thing to note is that going from fluency to mastery is a much slower process, and it requires proportionally more effort.
第二件需要注意的事是，從流利到精通是一個緩慢的過程，它需要付出更多的努力。
Work on your pronunciation 練習你的發音
If you communicate without an accent or almost without an accent, this changes how natives behave towards you unconsciously, and it also gives you an ability to adapt to a new self-image.
如果你能夠完全沒有口音或者幾乎沒有口音地交流，這會無意識地改變那些說母語的人對你的態度，這也給了你一個機會去適應這個新的身份。
Because pronunciation helps any stage of the learning process, even in the very beginning.
因為發音對學習過程的任何階段都是有幫助的，即使是在最開始的時候。
It'll speed up everything.
它會加速你的學習進度。
And it also is the key to reaching a native-speaker level, or almost-native-speaker status.
它也是達到母語水平或者近似母語水平的關鍵的一點。
那麼該如何練習發音呢？具體操作如下：
The best way that I've found — the best exercise I've found to improve your pronunciation is what I call the perfect-sentence technique.
我覺得最好的改善發音的辦法就是，我稱作為"完美句子"的方式。（也就是我們經常說的模讀）
What you do is you find a native speaker to help you, and you take a book in the foreign language, you open it at a random page, and you read the first sentence.
你需要找到一個說母語的人來幫助你，然後你找一本外語的書，隨便翻開一頁，將第一句話讀出來。
Then, you ask a native speaker to rate you on obvious accent, slight accent, no accent.
然後，你讓那個說母語的人來給你評分，從有明顯的口音，一點口音以及沒有口音中評判。
Then the native speaker will read this sentence back to you.
然後這個人會給你讀一遍這個句子。
You have to listen carefully and then you repeat. And you repeat this process over and over until the native speaker tells you that he can no longer hear an accent when you read the sentence.
你仔細地聽，並重復。你一直重複這個過程，直到那個人告訴你，在你讀句子的時候，他已經完全聽不出口音。
Now, I realize it can take a very long time even just to get one sentence right. But I promise you if you are persistent, and if you patiently work on this, you'll be amazed by what happens to your accent.
我知道，這會花費很長的時間，即使只為了唸對一個句子。但我向你保證，只要你能夠堅持，耐心地做這個練習，你會對你的口音的變化感到吃驚。
Using verbs and expressions that locals use.
多用本地人才會用的動詞和表達方式
After you reach a critical mass that you're comfortable with, it'll actually be easier when you encounter something new.
當你達到了一個讓你感到舒服的程度後，當你遇上新東西時，實際上會更容易去接受和學習。
You'll just pick it up in one go, like native speakers would, who hear words or expressions that they didn't know before.
你一次只學一個東西，就像那些說母語的人，聽到他們不會的單詞或者表達時，也會這麼做。
Adopting cultural traits.
吸收文化特色
So these kind of traits you have to internalize, and sometimes, they're hard to spot, and it takes a lot of active listening.
像這種文化特色，你需要潛移默化地吸收，有些時候，這些特點並不好發現，這需要你多積極地傾聽。
So all of these three things that I told you which is pronunciation, and colloquial speech and adopting cultural traits, they all require that you interact with natives as much as possible.
我告訴你的這三個點，發音、俚語和文化吸收，這些都需要你儘可能地多跟說母語的人接觸。
Ideally, you should fully immerse yourself in the culture.
理想情況下，你應該讓自己完全沉浸在這種文化中。
I also want to encourage you to learn the lyrics of songs.
我還想鼓勵你去學歌詞。
Songs are really great because they tell stories.
歌曲是很好的選擇，因為它們講故事。
And they not only help your pronunciation when you sing them, but if they're emotional, they can anchor these expressions into your active vocabulary.
當你唱這些歌的時候，它們不僅有助於你的發音，而且如果它們是情緒化的，它們可以把這些表達定格在你的活躍詞彙中。
And it's like speaking all day and really using the expressions unconsciously.
這就像是一整天都在無意識地說，並且使用這些表達。
The other thing you need to move towards native-speaker status is the right mindset, and a belief that if you sound like a native, express yourself like a native, talk like a native and act like a native, you'll actually achieve a native-like level.
為了達到母語水平，你還需要注意的一件事是：一個正確的心態，以及相信自己能夠說的像那些說母語的人一樣，像他們一樣表達自己，像他們一樣說話，表現得像他們的信念，你就真的會達到母語水平。
英文全文
How to Talk Like a Native Speaker
My story starts in Moscow. I was 15 years old. My best friend and I, we were part of a group of Westerners, visiting the Soviet Union. This was in 1987, a few years before the fall of the communist regime. We were given an official tour guide who was assigned to us. And the tour would start in the morning, and we were checked in to our hotel rooms for the night.
My friend said to me, ''Let's go outside and look at the city.'' I thought it was a great idea. Dumb idea. So we grabbed our coats, and we snuck out past security and into the street.
We found the entrance to the metro. The Moscow underground transportation system is the deepest one in the world. The ride down the escalator took a full minute.
Once we were down there, my friend headed right to an open train, and I pulled him back and said, "Wait! Let's write down the name of the station so we can find our way back."
So I had a notepad, and I took a notepad, and I wrote down the letters of the station, and we hopped down the train and went on train hopping.
And that was fun because — Well, actually, it was weird. There were a lot of people, probably all coming home from work. They were all dressed in brown and gray clothes, and it looked very, very different from what we were used to at home.
But the stations were lovely. There were stations with statues, with paintings on the wall, and glass displays.
It was really like museums. We would never have expected that. And everything was perfectly clean.
Well, what was weird though is that the people - nobody seemed to speak, and everyone seemed to be looking at us and it kind of weirded us out.
So after about 20-30 minutes, we'd had enough and we wanted to go home. I showed my note to someone and they directed me over there. Then over there, I showed my note to another person, and they directed us to the other way. And then a third person directed us sideways. That was a little confusing.
Aw, then I saw it. Over the stairs, the sign. It turned out I had written down the Russian word for "Exit."
So we headed upstairs and we found a taxi. That was great. And we told the driver, you know, "In tourist Hotel," and then he was willing to take us.
And I remember sitting next to the driver, handing him 50 rubles. And he looked at me and he said,
(Russian) No, dollar!
Fifty dollars?
That was like I don't know 20 times that amount or something. That was not an option for us.
So we had to get out of the taxi, and he drove away, leaving us standing there.
It was a cold night, and you know everything was strange for us, and we were teenagers, and we were pretty nervous, didn't know what to do.
Well, we started walking. We walked to the end of the block. We turned the corner. And 200 yards in front of us, the In tourist Hotel.
Well, this experience affected me in two ways.
The first is that anytime after this trip that I would hear anyone speak Russian, I was just cringe.
And the second one is that it taught me the importance of understanding the local language when you're traveling.
And it actually led to me learning another four languages fluently over the following years.
Now, before I go on, I'd like to know in the audience — Can we have a little bit of light maybe in the audience?
I'd just like to know who's — By a show of hands, who is not a native English speaker?
It must be 99%.
Anyone who doesn't speak English, stand up!
Alright, so I can assume all of you have, you know, gone through the process of learning a language.
Anybody who speaks three or more languages?
Wow, that's maybe 70%.
Four or more languages, anyone?
That's still quite a bit.
Anyone speak five or more languages?
Wow, come see me during the break.
To me, learning a language is...
For me, it's like a deck of playing cards lying faced down on the table.
As you start learning and understanding, the cards start opening up for you.
Now there's no standard way of classifying this.
But as you learn, you reach certain milestones.
And the first one would be when about 25% of the cards are turned up, you reach like a basic level.
At this level, you have a base vocabulary, some grammar, and you're able to have maybe very simple conversations and communicate a little bit.
And your study goes on until you reach this magical point of fluency, what we call being fluent in the language.
Now what does it mean, being fluent in a language?
It means that you've turned up more than 50% of the cards in the deck, and that is the point where you have — where the language becomes part of your subconscious so that even if you don't use it anymore for 10 years or longer, you will not forget it.
You can get back into it within a very, very short time.
So this is a level where you're comfortable thinking in a language, and comfortable communicating in a language.
Now, some people go on and, you know, reach like a mastery level.
By that time, you know classic literature in the other language and have maybe in-depth knowledge of specialized fields.
That's often the point taken in academia.
For me, when I learned my first foreign language, I had a head start because I was born to a German-speaking mother and an American father.
Now, when I was a baby, I didn't really understand that what my parents were speaking to me were two separate languages.
But by the time I was two years old, I had figured it all out.
Women speak only German.
Men only speak English.
Imagine the fun my parents had when they introduced me to couples.
Being a bilingual was actually pretty helpful in learning my first language. It definitely helped.
If you're — But it also gave me something else.
It gave me two identities and the ability to switch between them.
When you're a native speaker of more than one language, then your personality, your humor, your value system, they change as you switch languages.
This can have huge advantages.
I mean, some studies have shown an increased problem-solving ability or even a higher resistance to Alzheimer's disease.
But what I'm almost interested in is that it's actually given me a lot of social benefits.
When you're a native speaker, then you feel at home among native speakers or in a culture, and also native speakers accept you as one of theirs.
Now is this only relevant to native speakers?
And that's the big question.
But wouldn't it be cool if a person learning a foreign language could actually develop another identity and actually enjoy the social benefits of a native speaker that go beyond communication skills?
Well, that's what happened to me.
I was able to do that, and I want to show you from my experience how I think this can be achieved.
So if we say this green area here is the level of the native speaker, the first thing to note is that on your way to reaching fluency, there is not really any shortcut.
There are some methods that you can use such as the Burrito Principle where you identify 20% of the most effective materials to study.
There are some apps, like stuff for time-spaced learning, that increase vocabulary retention.
They save a little time, but in the end, there's no way around working with the material, practicing it, until you reach the fluency level.
But the second thing to note is that going from fluency to mastery is a much slower process, and it requires proportionally more effort.
That's why most people — they just stop at fluency.
They know how to speak English, good enough, and they don't even attempt to venture on, and I can understand it.
But the good news is, to get the benefits of a native speaker, at a native-speaker level, you don't have to go through mastery in the academic sense.
In fact, you can skip this step altogether.
So if you think about it, there are many native speakers do not have an in-depth knowledge of specialized fields or sophisticated vocabulary.
So, that's not really what is required.
So how do you do it? What is required?
Well, I want to give you three areas to focus on when you're learning and interacting with native speakers.
The first is: work on eliminating your accent.
I'm aware I said eliminating. It should be at least minimizing it.
This is, in my opinion, the most overlooked aspect of language learning today, but it's also the most important one to reach what I call a native-speaker level or a speaker-like level.
If you communicate without an accent or almost without an accent, this changes how natives behave towards you unconsciously, and it also gives you an ability to adapt to a new self-image.
The best way that I've found — the best exercise I've found to improve your pronunciation is what I call the perfect-sentence technique.
What you do is you find a native speaker to help you, and you take a book in the foreign language, you open it at a random page, and you read the first sentence.
Then, you ask a native speaker to rate you on obvious accent, slight accent, no accent.
Then the native speaker will read this sentence back to you.
You have to listen carefully and then you repeat. And you repeat this process over and over until the native speaker tells you that he can no longer hear an accent when you read the sentence.
Now, I realize it can take a very long time even just to get one sentence right. But I promise you if you are persistent, and if you patiently work on this, you'll be amazed by what happens to your accent.
The second area to focus on is using verbs and expressions that locals use.
Now, we all know the situation that vocabulary can be region-specific.
Like, in the US, you use "stand in line." In the UK, you "queue." That's all good.
But sometimes, the spoken word is so different, the speech is so different from what you get in textbooks, that the books are almost useless if you want to converse with natives.
I want to give you an example.
In the French language, there are words like "le travail," which is "my work."
A French person talking to his friend would probably say "mon boulot," which is a completely different word.
The same for "the clothes," "le vestments," but you'll hear "le fringues."
Or money is "l'argent," but people say "le fric," "le sou," or many other expressions for this.
So, obviously I'm only scratching the surface here.
But here you actually have to learn all of these words and expressions one by one.
And of course, you have to interact with natives to do that.
But after you reach a critical mass that you're comfortable with, it'll actually be easier when you encounter something new.
You'll just pick it up in one go, like native speakers would, who hear words or expressions that they didn't know before.
The third area to work on is adopting cultural traits.
What do I mean by that?
So let me ask you: what does this gesture mean to you?
Any Italians here?
OK, now, depending on what culture you're from, this could mean something rude, or it could just mean it's something incredulous, like, "Why did you do that?" Or, "How could you?" Or it could just be signaling food, "Give me food!"
Interesting!
In the Middle East, this is just a standard way of signaling "Please, wait!"
So these kind of traits you have to internalize, and sometimes, they're hard to spot, and it takes a lot of active listening.
I want to give you a few more examples.
So imagine I am with three of my friends: an American, a German, and a Frenchman.
And, like, we're walking and maybe the American bumps his head, and his initial reaction might be, "Ouch!"
That's how you say it in English.
But the German that, you know, gets, I don't know, elbowed in the crowd, he would say, "Ow-ah!"
And the French person might step on the nail and say, "Ay!"
So this, of course, in your target language, this is something you have to observe and also internalize, and it has to become part of you.
If...
Again I'm with these three friends, and I sit with them, and let's say I serve them tea, and I ask the American, "Would you like a biscuit with your tea?"
And if he answers in the affirmative, he might say, "Uh-huh!"
And I can ask the German, "Do you know what tea this is?"
He'll say, ''Mm- hmm!''
And then I ask the Frenchman, "Do you like this?"
He'll say, "Hmm!"
So these difference, they really require active listening.
So all of these three things that I told you which is pronunciation, and colloquial speech and adopting cultural traits, they all require that you interact with natives as much as possible.
Ideally, you should fully immerse yourself in the culture.
Now if you have the chance to live abroad for a while, that will be great.
Or maybe live among natives in your hometown.
Perhaps just have a romantic relationship, or even just spend time, you know, with co-workers.
So, romantic relationships, I could do a whole talk about that.
That works really well for these things.
But yeah — So this will be different for everybody, of course.
But even when you're not around natives, your learning must not stop.
Because what you can do is you can watch TV shows and films, you can mimic the characters, you can write down anything that you haven't heard of before, and practice that.
I also want to encourage you to learn the lyrics of songs.
Songs are really great because they tell stories.
And they not only help your pronunciation when you sing them, but if they're emotional, they can anchor these expressions into your active vocabulary.
And it's like speaking all day and really using the expressions unconsciously.
It's a great way.
So music, definitely.
The other thing you need to move towards native-speaker status is the right mindset, and a belief that if you sound like a native, express yourself like a native, talk like a native and act like a native, you'll actually achieve a native-like level.
So if I could only leave you with one thing today, it would be: work on your pronunciation.
Because pronunciation helps any stage of the learning process, even in the very beginning.
It'll speed up everything.
And it also is the key to reaching a native-speaker level, or almost-native-speaker status.
So before I go, I'd like to tell you how I was able to overcome my fear of the Russian language.
It was a very, very elegant solution.
I married a Russian girl.
And I now have little kids in my home that speak Russian to me every day.
So I want to thank you.
And before I go, I just want to wish you
(Spanish) A lot of success with your language studies.
(French) It was a pleasure to present for you today.
(Hebrew) I wish you lots of success with your studies.
(Yiddish) Thank you for listening.
Good luck to you all and...
(Russian) Thank you.
好啦，今天的英語教學就到這裡啦。
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