Language
美国语言
What do you call someone who speaks three languages? Trilingual. What do you call someone who speaks two languages? Bilingual. What do you call someone who speaks one language? An American.
你如何称呼能说三种语言的人?三声带。能讲两种语言的人又如何称呼?双声带。那么,只会一种语言的人呢?美国人。
To people in many countries, being bilingual or even trilingual is a way of life. But since the mother tongue of most Americans is English-a language widely spoken around the world-they often don't feel the need to learn a foreign language. Moreover, people who live in the heartland ofAmericahave little contact with other linguistic groups, making foreign language skills irrelevant.
对许多国家的人而言,说两种或三种语言,是家常便饭。但在美国,由于大多数人的母语为英语--一个世界上广泛通用的语言--因此美国人都不觉得有必要学习外语。此外,居住于美国大陆内地的人,较少与其它语言族群接触,因此外语能力更显得无关紧要。
Actually, though, this "land of immigrants" has always had people of many different nationalities-and languages. The 1990 census indicates that almost 14% of Americans speak a non-English language at home. Yet only 3% reported that they spoke English "not well" or "not at all." That means that slightly more than one out of 10 Americans could be considered bilingual. Besides that, many high school and college students-and even some elementary school students-are required to take a foreign language as a part of their curriculum. In addition to old standbys like Spanish, German and French, more and more students are opting for Eastern European and Asian languages. Of course, not all students keep up their foreign language abilities. As the old saying goes, "If you don't use it, you lose it." But still, a growing number of Americans are coming to appreciate the benefits of being multilingual.
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