马云的英语学习之路
马云的英语学习之路
相信大家对于马云的英语绝对印象深刻,因为他总是操着一口中式发音,但同时又能够通过非常简单的英语表达来完成和外国人的语言交流。小编在这里整理了马云的英语学习相关文章,快来学习学习吧!
马云的英语学习之路
马云16岁时学英语的经历也许能给我们一些启示,语言只是一种交流工具,而我们在学习英语时要放平心态,找外国人练英语是其次,交朋友的心态才是正确。其次练好英语口语的秘诀就是敢于开口,有多少所谓的英语专业学生在口语课堂上还是扭扭捏捏不敢开口,校园里碰见留学生就躲得远远的,所以开口才是一切提升英语口语的前提。希望这篇文章能够给想提升自己英语口语的同学一些启示。
2月3日,马云访问澳大利亚,向纽卡斯尔大学捐2000万美元成立Ma-Morley奖学金,以报答当年的知遇之恩。
这则消息让我想到了去年读书群读的马云传记,Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built,重新分享给大家。此书文笔流畅,读起来也很容易,可以学习如何利用简单的文字把故事讲清楚。书中提到了很多有关中国的话题,这也给我们从另一个角度看待自己的文化的机会。
马云的成功和他出色的表达能力有很大关系,他可以轻松的用中英两种语言来谈笑风生。
Central to Jack's own distortion field are his skills as a communicator. Jack's speaking style is so effective because his message is easy to agree with, remember, and digest.
在书的第三章"From student to Teacher"中,作者描述了马云早期学英语的经历。
以下为书中的一些摘抄笔记。
As a boy, Jack fell in love with the English language and literature, particularly readings of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer that he listened to on a shortwave radio.
Jack relished any opportunity to practice his English. He started waking up before dawn and riding his bicycle for forty minutes to the Hangzhou Hotel to greet foreign tourists. As he recalled, "Every morning from five o'clock I would read English in front of the hotel. A lot of foreign visitors came from the USA, from Europe. I'd give them a free tour of West Lake, and they taught me English every morning, no matter if it snowed or rained."
早期的兴趣和努力为马云在英语学习上做了很好的铺垫。他是典型的“实用派”,做英文老师的时候的教学特点也是很少讲语法。他对自己的英文这样评价:
He is dismissive of the quality of his English:" I just make myself understood. The grammar is terrible." But Jack never dismisses how much learning the language has helped in life: "English helps me a lot. It makes me understand the world better, helps me to meet the best CEOs and leaders in the world, and make me understand the distance between China and the world.
马云的英文学习和一生的贵人是来自澳大利亚的 Morley 一家人。这家人后来资助了马云读大学的生活费,并且在马云结婚的时候给了他18,000美元帮助他买房子。
Ken Morley的儿子David叙述了他和马云相识的画面。
It was on that free evening, flicking matches in the park, that I was approached by a young man wanting to try his newly acquired English skills on me. He introduced himself; we swapped pleasantries and agreed to meet in the park again.
David 把马云介绍给了他的家人,他也因此和 David 的爸爸 Ken 成为了好朋友。
David's father, Ken Morley, once described his first impressions of Jack as a "barrow boy," or a street hawker. "He really wanted to practice his English, and he was very friendly. Our kids were very impressed."
从那之后马云就和这个家庭一直保持联系,并且开始了书信往来。
"What followed that meeting was a pen pal relationship that I kept up for a few years until my father started to take an interest in helping this young man." Jack would correspond regularly with Ken, referring to him as "Dad," who asked him to "double space his letters so that any corrections could be sent back in the spaces." David explained, "The original with corrections was returned for learning purposes with the reply letter. I believe this greatly helped and encouraged Jack to continue with his English studies.
书中有一幅图片,是当时马云和 David 写的信。那时侯他应该是16岁左右。
这封信大家可能看不清,信上还有一些他自己的修改痕迹。我放大后试着“还原”下,如下文:
Dear David:
It's a pleasure to read your letter and to know about your trip to China. The weather in January in HangChow is in winter. So it is very cold and it maybe have snow. I think it is a good time for you to come. I guess there is no snow in your city. The snowing view in HangChow is very beautiful and very famous in our country. I hope you will come to see us. David, I think April and May are the best season to visit China. There is hale near our city and it is very beautiful. In the hale, it has all kinds of stones. They are very strange. It is like a fairy land. We often go for an spring outing in April or May. On 5th April our school plan to have an outing. I don't know where we should go. I will write to tell you about it.
Thank you for the Rubik cubes. We like them very much. We call it “Mou Fang” (魔方) in China. People enjoy them very much and they often competition each other to see who do them the fastest.
Thank you for the books and diaries and a calendar cloth.
这封信中有一些语法错误,用词用句都非常的简单,但是这并不妨碍他们的沟通。通过这封信我也有些明白了为什么 Ken 觉得这个孩子很 friendly,他的字里行间中展现了他的自信和对他人的尊重 -- 这也是传统英语教学中所缺乏的地方。他不只是在利用他们学英文,而是真正的想和他们交朋友。这一点非常重要,也是学习英文的关键。
马云的学习冲劲
为什么马云会喜欢英语?其实源于中学一位地理老师一次课上的闲谈。马云读中学时,教地理的女老师上课教学方式非常活泼,讲课让人如沐春风,经常给同学讲自己的一些经历和故事。马云和其他同学一样特别崇拜这位地理老师。
有一天上课时,这位老师讲了一件事,使马云受益终生,甚至可以说改变了马云一生。老师说,曾经有一次在西湖边上,几个外国人询问她中国地理,她英语很好,自然对答如流。老师总结说,你们要学好地理,更要学好英语,不然当有外国人问你的时候,你会给中国人丢脸的。老师的话犹如醍醐灌顶,使马云茅塞顿开,对老师的崇拜也使得马云对老师的话深信不疑。
马云由此发奋,开始了他的英语学习之旅。马云苦练英语,每天听英文广播,坚持不懈。那一年,马云刚满12岁。也许对于现在的孩子来说,12岁才开始学英语似乎有些迟了,但在当时的情况下,在刚刚改革开放的年代里,一个孩子才12岁就开始学习英语,这简直就是一件十分稀奇的事情。由于没有家学渊源,马云的父母甚至连ABC都不会,马云起初学英语遇到了许多的困难。但他凭着对英语的热爱,克服了许多困难。凭借着一股子不服输的韧性,马云经常去西湖边老外多的地方,凑上去和那些外国人讲英语,不为别的,就是和老外练口语,有时也会充当一下英语导游。学英语最忌讳的就是一个“怕”字——怕丢脸不敢说,怕丢脸不敢大声说。马云就是借着这种“厚脸皮”精神,借着不怕出丑的大无畏精神,一有机会就在街上逮着外国人开练英语。马云的英语口语就这样一天天流利起来。
1980年,澳大利亚男孩大卫·莫雷(David Morley)和家人在杭州西湖旅游,一名瘦弱的中国男孩主动上前问好,并希望可以和他对话练习英语。于是,莫雷就和男孩成为了好笔友。这个男孩就是马云。当全中国孩子还在死记硬背英语单词,处在哑巴英语的学习泥潭中时,马云早已开启了改变人生的笔友学习之旅。
从此之后,莫雷和马云便成为了笔友,并且保持了长达30多年的友谊。莫雷曾经开玩笑说,他可能无意中启发了日后的中国首富。通过马云自身的案例我们不难看出,学习英语除了自己努力外,还需要长久的坚持和有效的学习方法!