實(shí)戰(zhàn)口語(yǔ)情景對(duì)話：Power of Personality 性格的力量

Abidemi: So Rory, in the last conversation we were talking about changing your personality and you never said what you thought of that.

阿比德米：羅瑞，上次我們討論了改變個(gè)性，可是你沒(méi)有說(shuō)你的想法。

Rory: Well, I think, I think when you learn a language often your personality does change. I notice with my students that they often seem quite different when they speak English to when they speak Japanese. I'm not sure if that's a language thing or a cultural thing. But I mean you speak more than one language.

羅瑞：我認(rèn)為，在學(xué)習(xí)其他語(yǔ)言以后，你的個(gè)性就會(huì)發(fā)生改變。我注意到，我的學(xué)生在說(shuō)英語(yǔ)和日語(yǔ)時(shí)完全不同。我不確定這是否與語(yǔ)言或文化有關(guān)。我知道，你不只會(huì)一種語(yǔ)言。

Abidemi: Yes, I do.

阿比德米：沒(méi)錯(cuò)。

Rory: Do you think your personality is different in each language?

羅瑞：你在說(shuō)不同語(yǔ)言時(shí)性格有不同嗎?

Abidemi: That's a really good question. Just thinking of it right now, I think maybe for me it's more a question of the culture because I think when I am in an environment where I'm expected to be more extroverted, I tend to try to live up to that.

阿比德米：這是一個(gè)非常好的問(wèn)題。就目前來(lái)說(shuō)，我認(rèn)為這是文化問(wèn)題，因?yàn)楫?dāng)我在一個(gè)應(yīng)該更外向的環(huán)境中時(shí)，我會(huì)盡量達(dá)到這一預(yù)期。

Rory: Right.

羅瑞：好。

Abidemi: I tend to try to be more cheerful, more open, more friendly or friendlier, I should say. But when I'm somewhere where I know that it's expected of me to be quieter, I do tend to become more quiet.

阿比德米：我會(huì)盡量更開朗、更開放、更友好。但是當(dāng)我在應(yīng)該更安靜的環(huán)境中時(shí)，我會(huì)保持安靜。

Rory: Right.

羅瑞：好。

Abidemi: So I don't know. That's a really good question.

阿比德米：我也不太清楚。不過(guò)這是個(gè)好問(wèn)題。

Rory: And do you think there might be something in languages which make them like a more extroverted language or a more introverted language? Like I think about Italians – maybe it's a stereotype of Italians, but they seem to be very extroverted and the language seems to help them in that extroversion.

羅瑞：在你看來(lái)，是不是語(yǔ)言中的某些東西讓人們的性格發(fā)生了變化?比如更外向的語(yǔ)言或更內(nèi)向的語(yǔ)言?我認(rèn)為意大利人，也許這是人們對(duì)意大利人的刻板印象，不過(guò)意大利人看起來(lái)非常外向，而且看起來(lái)意大利語(yǔ)助推了意大利人的外向性格。

Abidemi: That's true. That's very true. That's a good question because I'm just trying to think of culture and languages in general, and there's that debate of how cultures and languages are intertwined. Is it the culture that came first or is it the language that made the culture the way it is. So I don't know. I really don't know. But I would love to read more research and find out.

阿比德米：沒(méi)錯(cuò)。的確是這樣。這是一個(gè)很好的問(wèn)題，我在從總體上來(lái)考慮文化和語(yǔ)言，人們?cè)谵q論文化和語(yǔ)言是如何互相交織在一起的。是先有文化還是語(yǔ)言塑造了文化?我也不知道。雖然我不知道，但是我很想閱讀更多研究，找出答案。

Rory: Yeah. I mean, I noticed since I moved to Asia, to countries like Japan and Korea, the people do seem more introverted and the language also seems more introverted. So I wonder if the language or like you say, I wonder which came first, the language or the culture?

羅瑞：嗯。我搬到亞洲以后發(fā)現(xiàn)，日本和韓國(guó)等國(guó)家的民眾看起來(lái)更內(nèi)向，他們的語(yǔ)言也更內(nèi)向。就像你說(shuō)的，我也想知道是先有語(yǔ)言還是先有文化?

Abidemi: And I think to add on to that, when I think of Asian students that I've noticed speaking English, which to some people is a more extroverted language, they always seem more confident.

阿比德米：除此之外，我注意到，因?yàn)橛⒄Z(yǔ)是偏外向的語(yǔ)言，所以亞洲學(xué)生在說(shuō)英語(yǔ)時(shí)，看上去也更自信。

Rory: Yeah.

羅瑞：對(duì)。

Abidemi: They seem friendlier. They seem more open to talking about themselves, their family life. But when you talk to them in their native language, it seems like they revert back to their cultural norms which would probably be less...

阿比德米：他們看上去更友好。更愿意談?wù)撟约旱那闆r和家庭生活。但是當(dāng)你用他們的母語(yǔ)和他們談話時(shí)，他們會(huì)回歸他們的文化規(guī)范，不太愿意談太多。

Rory: Right, yes.

羅瑞：對(duì)，沒(méi)錯(cuò)。

Abidemi: Yeah, so maybe there is something there.

阿比德米：對(duì)，也許有值得研究的東西。

Rory: Yeah. And I guess the culture over here in Asian countries is people are less likely to share information. There's less – I mean, in the West especially recently, there's quite a pressure on you to be more open.

羅瑞：對(duì)。我認(rèn)為這是亞洲國(guó)家的文化，人們不太愿意共享信息。在西方國(guó)家尤其是最近，人們面臨著很大壓力，要越來(lái)越開放。

Abidemi: That's true.

阿比德米：沒(méi)錯(cuò)。

Rory: Whereas maybe in Korea, Japan and China, people are more closed and just have different boundaries.

羅瑞：可是在韓國(guó)、日本和中國(guó)等國(guó)，人們更為封閉，有不同的界限。

Abidemi: I'm just trying to think of African countries, like being a Nigerian myself, we've had the issue of colonization and where the Western British culture is valorized. So coming from that aspect, I wonder before how we were. Were we more introverted? Because in a lot of ways we're very similar to Asian cultures and Asian values. We have a lot of that as well. But now it's true that being able to speak English and express yourself in a more Western way is a lot. It weighs a lot. It means a lot, so people really enjoy that. People really take their value from that.

阿比德米：我在想非洲國(guó)家的情況，我是尼日利亞人，我們有殖民問(wèn)題，政府推行西方國(guó)家英國(guó)的文化。所以從這方面來(lái)看，我想知道我們以前是什么樣子的。我們更內(nèi)向嗎?因?yàn)槲覀兊暮芏嗌罘绞胶蛠喼迖?guó)家以及亞洲價(jià)值觀更相似。我們也有很多亞洲的文化。但是現(xiàn)在我們說(shuō)英語(yǔ)，用更西方的方式表達(dá)自己。現(xiàn)在西方的文化更盛行。人們很喜歡。人們從西方文化中獲取價(jià)值觀。

Rory: Right.

羅瑞：好。

Abidemi: So yeah, I think it's a really interesting topic.

阿比德米：我認(rèn)為這是一個(gè)值得深思的話題。

Rory: Because I mean people often see England or British people as a bit introverted and a bit quiet, a bit cold and yet we share the same language as America. And people tend to think that people from North America are quite brash and extroverted.

羅瑞：人們通常認(rèn)為英國(guó)人更內(nèi)向，很安靜，有點(diǎn)冷漠，可是我們和美國(guó)說(shuō)同樣的語(yǔ)言。人們傾向于認(rèn)為北美人很傲慢，更外向。

Abidemi: That's true

.阿比德米：沒(méi)錯(cuò)。

Rory: So like I said it's more cultural than language-based.

羅瑞：所以我認(rèn)為相對(duì)于語(yǔ)言基礎(chǔ)來(lái)說(shuō)，這更像是文化問(wèn)題。

Abidemi: Yeah, maybe. Maybe we've come to a solution then.

阿比德米：可能吧。也許我們可以得出結(jié)論了。

Rory: Okay.

羅瑞：好。

Abidemi: We've found it. It is the culture more than the language then. Okay.

阿比德米：我們找到答案了。結(jié)論就是這不只是語(yǔ)言問(wèn)題，更是文化問(wèn)題。