压码鉴赏与评析外语教学法系列《七个外语成功者》为你解惑

4.2.3 Relating available forms and available meanings
n ‘Fossilization.’
n Derek’s maxim: ‘If you can’t learn to say what you
want to say, learn to want to say what you can say.’
Then Derek surprised me. ‘I think I’m against originality in speaking a foreign
language,’ he said.
‘Against originality?!’
‘Yeah, as far as the real world is concerned. What is important for me,
particularly in the early phases, is to know that I have said something right once.
That constitutes a card in my deck for Finnish or whatever language. And if I know
enough about the grammar to manipulate the endings, I will try to use that again. I
will even go so far as to say, “If you cannot learn to say what you want to say, then
learn to want to say what you can say.” By that I mean, do not feel that your
objective is to be able to translate your pure thought into pure Finnish. Be willing to
be a little pedestrian. Get a certain stock of things even if they sound a little trite to
you.’
‘This is where your brother came in handy. He allowed you to want to say things
that you could say.’
‘Yes. Yes, I had a context where I could play around with things that I knew well.
It set limits for the possible, but it still allowed room for spontaneity, which is
important, at least to me. It gives me something to talk about that you don’t already
know. And as adults, we don’t ordinarily talk without that. It wears everyone out.’
‘As you say, both the teacher and the student need to have some sort of support
and some source of energy, and artificial conversation can drain off energy pretty
fast.’
An Imaginative Learner: Derek 73
‘Absolutely!’ Derek agreed. ‘I don’t think there is anything harder than the work
of learning languages. It’s never been easy for me!’
‘You’ve been successful, but with considerable hard work.’
‘It has never been an unconscious learning process. It has always required a
structured approach,’ Derek replied.
‘Going back to your “brother”,’ I said, ‘Do you think it would have been just as
good to work with a printed dialog that was on the same subject as what you had
talked about in one of your conversations about your brother?’
‘No, I don’t think so. It has something to do with intensity or spontaneity. You
know, if you read a magazine or a book, you’ll never be able to say it in the same
way, because it was not imprinted on you that way. There’s a difference between
passivity and activity, between receiving something and making it. I think the
connections are left in our minds only when we make the sentence.’
‘That is to say, you were limited by the Finnish cards in your deck, and if you had
to stick to objective reality you were limited by the things that you had to say, and
these two sets of limitations interacted on one another, and sometimes between
them, they just about choked off all the possibilities.’
‘That’s a good way to describe it, because until I hit on the “brother” idea, I
frequently found myself reaching for cards that weren’t there.’
Comments
In the Natural Approach (see 1.1.4), students are exposed to lots of talk that they
can understand. Then, when they are ready, they begin to say things on their own,
in order to communicate with other people. At no time do they focus on one
grammatical point - on one set of choices - or on language as language. In this way,
they gradually improve their proficiency in the language. Carla was a clear example
of this process.
But how long and how far will the language of people who study in this way
continue to improve? Carla’s supervisor (3.2.4) seemed to think that with continued
exposure she would eventually come to control all of those ‘little endings’ that were
giving her so much trouble at the time. All too frequently, however, we meet people
who have not yet picked up some of the most fundamental features of a language
that they have been hearing around them for years or even decades. Instead, certain
errors seem to have become permanently and inflexibly embedded in their speech,
something like fossils in a rock formation.
One way of preventing this kind of ‘fossilization’ is through the use of drills. This
was typical of Audio-Lingualism (1.1.4). Other methods, including the classic
Grammar-Translation method, relied on intellectual understanding. The CA-OB
method (4.1.5) employs both of these devices.
In this segment of his interview, Derek shows his affinity for the CA-OB method,
according to which language students should be encouraged to be conceptually
creative only with elements they know thoroughly, following rules that they know
thoroughly. In a course taught by this method, the learner at all times knows what is
going on, and knows the basis for the limited choices facing him or her. The
74 Success with Foreign Languages
likelihood of fossilized incorrect forms is reduced.
So Derek says, ‘If you cannot learn to say what you want to say, then learn to want
to say what you can say. He is here recommending the disciplined and conscious use
of two resources: not only the vocabulary and grammar that one has available; but
also the motivations and purposes that one might adopt. This strikes me as an
outstanding maxim, both for wisdom and for practicality.
This segment of the interview contributed toward my idea of Derek as a person. I
was interested to hear that so successful a learner still found languages such hard
work. I also had a hunch that if he were playing bridge or poker, he would be an
expert card-counter.
Like Ann (1.1.3), Derek illustrates the value of working from one’s own mental
imagery rather than from imagery provided by someone else.
Even more clearly than in 4.2.2, Derek here emphasizes the effect that various
activities can have on the energy level of native and non-native speakers alike.
Working with the ideas
1. Here are some purposes that people sometimes have. Which are more
common when a person is being a language student than when one is not?
to amuse to amaze
to speak correctly to sound friendly
to deceive to get a job done
to persuade to give accurate information
to arouse curiosity to evaluate
How could you introduce some of the other purposes into your work as a
language learner?
2. Derek uses the metaphor of ‘cards’ in his ‘deck’ of resources for speaking and
understanding Finnish. Does this metaphor appeal to you intuitively? Why, or
why not?

4.2.4 DEXTER: Making vocabulary stick
n Visual, but non-eidetic, memory for printed words.
n The necessity of putting memorized words into
meaningful use.
Another student, Dexter, was telling me about his unusual gift for learning isolated
words.
‘There are vocabularies for every page in the book,’ he said, ‘so I simply take the
page and look at it.’
An Imaginative Learner: Derek 75
‘You just look at it?’
‘Oh, sure,’ he replied. ‘That’s very easy. It’s what I depend on. I don’t honestly
know that writing a word is going to mean that you will automatically recall it when
you meet it on a page of small print.’
‘And what happens after you have looked at the list?’ I asked.
‘Oh, I can often remember where it was on the page,’ Dexter replied. ‘But it’s by
no means an eidetic memory. That is, it’s not a stable, sharp detailed picture, like
some people get. And it doesn’t last all that long. Nevertheless, the nouns and verbs
are there pretty clearly.’
‘For instance, you can say where it was on the page?’
‘Either that, or I can say what it came before or after.’
‘And right now, can you see anything that you studied last night?’ I asked.
‘Well, that depends,’ Dexter replied. ‘Sometimes you can, and sometimes you
can’t. Sometimes the word and its meaning stay, but the position on the page goes.
Anyway, once you’ve gotten used to the word - once you’ve begun to use a word -
once it has acquired a meaning . . .’
‘Once you’ve attached it to experience rather than to . .’ I suggested.
‘Exactly!’ Dexter replied. ‘Rather than to the position on the page! Then there’s
no real need to retain that visual memory, and as a consequence I think you’forget it
- deliberately, in a way. There’s just no need for it - no room for it.’
‘So this means that you do this sort of visual memorization as a temporary
expedient to have these things available, so that when you have an opportunity to
use them, then you can use them.’
‘Right.’
‘And then the visual part of it sort of drops off, like a rocket booster or
something?’
‘Yes. Yes, that’s right.’
Comments
We learned from Derek how he works through assiduous shuffling and sorting of
noun and verb forms, and through strenuous drill. in order to make the grammar of
Finnish available to him. Now Dexter is telling us about an apparently less stressful
way of being sure he can have access to another part of the language he is studying -
its vocabulary. But both men seem to regard these resources as only temporary. In
order to make them permanent, they must put them to some kind of use. Derek’s
‘imaginary brother’ is only one example of how this can be done. Ann’s Spanish
vocabulary assignments are an example of what happens when this essential step is
postponed too long, or omitted altogether.
Working with the ideas
1. Dexter does not really tell us very much about what goes on as he gazes at a
vocabulary list. What questions might you want to ask him?
2. Dexter says that simply looking at the words produces better results for him
than writing them out would. Is this consistent with your own experience?
76 Success with Foreign Languages

4.2.5 Two ways of focusing on pronunciation
n Finding what one has been looking for.
n DORA and DANIEL: ‘Shadowing’ a speaker.
Finally, Derek turned to pronunciation. ‘For me,’ he remarked, ‘mastering
pronunciation is not anywhere near the conscious problem that mastering grammar
and syntax is. I would say that most languages I have learned have been easy for an
American to pronounce. That’s true of Finnish, too. I suspect that it’s more the rise
and fall of the voice that marks the native speaker, and that’s one thing I have never
been conscious of learning.’
‘You’ve used German and Russian in countries where they are spoken. Have you
ever had any indications - probably indirect indications - as to whether your
pronunciation is near native, or with a certain amount of accent, or . . . ?’
‘Yes, I’ve had numerous indications. In Germany, people could not place me as
an American. After any extended conversation, they could place me as a non-native
German speaker.’
‘Their initial reaction was that maybe you were a German from some other part
of Germany. . .’’ I was reminded of Ann and Carla.
‘Or a European, yes. But I do not have a trace of a distinctive American accent.
And to some extent, the same thing happened in Russian.’
‘Then you’ve been fairly successful with pronunciation.’
‘I gather that I have. Of course one cannot listen constantly both to what people
say and to how they say it, but I will interrupt my listening to content from time to
time and say to myself, “Aha! So that’s how they say it!” I’ll be struck by the way a
word or phrase is pronounced, and I’ll try to imitate that way the next time I use the
phrase.’
‘You seem to be able to hear in your head today what you heard yesterday
through your ears. You’ve still got the sound available.’
‘Mhm. And another thing: I think reading aloud is excellent for developing
pronunciation.’
Comments
Derek is probably better than most people at retaining the sounds of language. What
was most striking to me, however, was his ability and willingness to shift his
attention from what is being said to how it is said. Dora seems to have done the
same sort of thing:
When I was studying Spanish, I found that my teachers considered me to be an exceptional
learner, even though I was receiving grades of B and C on grammar tests. My learning
An Imaginative Learner: Derek 77
took place in the classroom, speaking at every opportunity, and listening very attentively to
the way the teacher pronounced each word. I would also carry on conversations with an
imaginary native speaker. I could reproduce the way my teachers spoke, and ‘hear’ them in
my head. I would also imagine myself speaking with that same accent. The more I
practiced in this way. the better my pronunciation got. I may have an innate ability to
reproduce sounds. but it only came out when I focused on it.
And Daniel, a high-school teacher of French, told me of one of his students who had
an exquisitely good accent. ‘The only thing he seems to do differently,’ Daniel said,
‘is that whatever I say in class, he’s always repeating it quietly to himself as I talk.’
The audibility of the student’s shadowing of Daniel’s pronunciation may have been
the key. More important, I suspect, was the state of mind in which he did it - very
much like Dora’s as she echoed silently. Both Daniel’s student and Dora were giving
close but unthinking attention to what was coming into their ears.
Working with the ideas
1.
2.
3.
4.
Which aspects of Derek’s study, if any, seem to you to have contributed
significantly toward his ‘interactive competence’ (3.1.2)?
In what ways is Derek most like Ann? Like Bert? Like Carla? How is he most
unlike them?
What did you find most surprising about Derek’s way of learning languages’?
What questions would you still like to ask him?

4.2.6 A TECHNIQUE: ‘Shadowing’ a news broadcast
1
2
4.3
Another technique from Derek
Listen to a newscast in your native language. Try repeating along with the
speaker. Do this for at least two minutes.
How did this ‘shadowing’ make you feel? How strenuous, or how relaxing, did
you find it‘?
After you had done it, how much did you remember of the content of what
you had repeated?
Try doing the same thing in a language that is foreign to you. Don’t let your
mind stop to figure out or remember anything that you don’t understand.
How did this compare with ‘shadowing’ in your native language?
How easy, or how hard, did you find it to keep from hanging up on the words
and phrases that you didn’t know?

4.3 Notes
1. The Cognitive Audio-Oral Bilingual method is an interesting attempt by Hector Hammerly
of Simon Fraser University to combine the best (and get rid of the worst) in a number of
well-known approaches to language learning. He describes his method in An Integrated
Theory of Language Teaching, and its Practical Consequences, published in 1985 by Second
Language Publications in Blaine, Washington.
78 Success with Foreign Languages
2. John Rassias. a professor of French at Dartmouth College, gave an account of his system
in A Philosophy of Language Instruction, the second edition of which was published
privately in 1968.

第四个成功者：德里克是一个富有想象力的学习者
   up to bother 是什么意思？这是新闻问的问题。比如，我今天早上看完了第四个成功者德里克的故事，共有15篇文章，看完以后留下了什么印象呢？
   德里克是一位富有想象力的学习者，他很像我，你看，他学习一门外语的时候，他将一个名词和动词进行列表，当做语法学习表，而我辅导新闻的是看完一个英语文章，找一个生词直接通过字母代替单词理解成汉语，然后呢，将这个单词用这个所在的一个英语的段落，翻译成德语、葡萄牙语、挪威语、瑞典语等语言，让她自己看看那个单词是英语的什么单词，通过读音一下子知道了意思，你如果将这些对比的不同语言的单词列一个表，比就是德里克第一章语法列表了吗？你不列表可以直接通过你肯定的一些单词练习掌握语法规律，你就立即可以看懂若干个外语的段落了。
   你再看一下，德里克还很想我的地方，他会采用影子跟随的办法进行跟读一个新闻一两分钟，这就是压码跟读电影的方法呢，自己将它听懂，自己用什么办法学会应用说口语呢？他用“你想要学习你不会说的你想说的，你就用你想说的你能够说的来说”，这就是吧复杂的变成简单的语言。
   怎样将复杂的语言变成简单地语言呢？我是用写压码汉语日记的方法，用自己汉语思维达到英语思维的最高境界，将自己学习中产生的大量联想的思维过程采用最简单的汉语语言写下来，自己只要看着自己的日记，看完一部电影以后，故事情节已经记忆在大脑里面了，自己顺着自己写的汉语日记思考过程，就能顺利地实现整部电影的汉语日记的同声传译，不会卡壳。
  那德里克是怎样做的呢？你看看想不想我？他是练习自己的母语，进行影子练习，进行跟随，就是说他也在压码，不过属于比较初级的压码，就是先用自己的母语练习听完一句跟着读一句，这是一个过渡练习，然后用在非母语上进行影子跟随。
   你看到我是听到西游记的单田方的评书的汉语，进行同声传译听出英语来，而德里克是听着自己的母语听出芬兰语的读音来，听着芬兰语听出自己的母语读音来。差距不过是我可以对任意的外语进行汉语的音译，他只是对一个外语和母语进行变换而已。
  

up to bother怎样理解呢？你可以任意展开想象力进行想象，他说这就像小鸟在空中向下看，这叫做俯视，鸟阚阅读。就是一言望到全貌的阅读，这就是我说的整体阅读到细节理解，他是列了一张语法表，将看到的名字和动词放在那里，到这里就是细节的结构变化了，已经从整体到达局部的细节，深入到底部了。什么样的语法规则可以学这么快呢，这么快速的另外另外一种语言的基本单词的各种连读、略读、变音、断开中心组合，各种细微的变化呢，没有这样的语法规则，但是你只要整体一个英语的文本看一样，就望出来了，你需要给你写各种外语的语法吗，我理解可以给你随便编造若干条，因为这是我自由发现的本质的特征。为什么要写在一张字上呢，为的是一看看到全部的基本名词和动词，我们将它进行句子对比，你将看到的自然理解的单词读音和文字及其意思挑选出来最容易理解记忆的，举一反三，你理解就可以直接理解很多种语言的阅读理解了。
    只是阅读吗？不是你想说简单的外语吗，你可以将这些单词或者短语，说一些简单的话语，你怎么说呢，你只要用自己看到的文本的汉语音译说就可以了，这就是你如果想说你不会说，不知道怎样说的一种或者大量的语言的口语，你只要用学习你自己能够很容易做的的汉语读音说出来就可以了，因为你看到很多外语放在一起都是很类似的表达，你可以更方便地理解英语句子的细节，这是你平时学习英语所没有注意的，一旦看一些其它外语，这些英语的特点都暴露在其他外语里面了。
    

克里特像我的地方还有，他学习一个内容就要想象出来他的兄弟来。这是什么意思呢，这就是想象力啊，不过他有些含蓄而已，只是说看到一个外语可以想象另外一个外语，看到一条意思，可以想象出来另外的一条深层的含义，就是一遍学习一边思考，所以他才是富有想象力的学习者吗？
   而我呢，想象力比他只是更丰富一些罢了。我可以看到一点，就联想出来很多道理，很多方法，很多范例，不但是一种语言而且是大量语言，几乎现在哪一个单词练习几百上千种语言的汉语音译都没有太大障碍，学习他的一篇文章不是当时写下他的兄弟的意思，而是可以天马行空，任意驰骋。可以看到他没有看到，想到他没有想到，知道他想说没有说出来的意思，而且知道那一点是他最本质的能力，可以用一句话概括出来，而且可以追根到底，一连串地足迹深入其中。
    什么是获得呢？acquisition俺可快似神，就是只要他一想我就知道是什么意思，自然理解领悟了，直接就会了了，就是不劳而获获得的，没有任何学习就会的。自然消化了他的意思，吸收他的功能和能力，变成了自己的东西，而且直接一步深入到底层，连续出现几个到几十个不同的层次。
   那么，什么是习得呢？learning临摹呢，模仿练习而得到啊，我如果要习得克里特的语法表的技术，我可以自己拿任意一种语言的这篇文章来模仿，不需要查字典翻译，直接将一个外语和这个英文文章进行转换，将动词和名词直接一个一个选出来进行音译理解，列一张表就可以了，不过我不想他那样只是一种外语，直接做百余种外语都没有问题，这样一来习得就又跑到获得那里去了。
  

隔岸办公
   做梦办公这是第一次，也是练习德里克的超级想象力学习者的第一个成果。
   看英语文章以后可以回忆出来文章一句一句的原文已经有过练习了。今天晚上一点睡觉，入睡以后开始练习隔岸办公，着手隔岸做梦转写案例，通过想象力看自己办公室里面的上百页的原始资料数据图像，一边按照报告的格式撰写报告，一边将调取的资料进行大脑里面整理，将数据资料进行远距离控制分析，实时打字输入到大脑储存的计算机里面，变成文字信息，一晚上也将几天出差的过程重新走了一遍，自己很清楚是在做梦隔岸办公，将出差远距离、多地点和办公室近距离以及、随眠地三地紧密地结合在一起，用自己的想象力提前完成一次模拟工作，闭眼看数据感觉是清晰的，分析问题的能力感觉有了更进一步的提高，特别是联想能力，将数据信息转化为文字信息有了第一次的体验，算是一次预先作业的大脑草图，因为感觉自己的在做梦隔岸办公，看到的是自己的东西，可以自己进行材料的移动和整理，这是一次很好的体验，对于提高真实的作业有了很好的演练。因为做梦办公的文字和数据信息是不能保存的，尽管如此，但是对于提高工作效率还是具有重要意义的一次体验。

德里克利用想象力的习得设计自己语法图标的启示
    如何调动原始的想象力是一本学问，德里克在学习芬兰语种对这一方法有了一些大胆的探索。第一篇文章显示：作为第四位成功者-德里克，是一位超级想象力的学习者，他做的第一件事情是，着手设计自己的语法图标，语法图表，是自发的自己整理芬兰语文章的产物，其主要的手法是根据单词的尾音词的变化，来理解同一单词的各种语法特征的变化，最原始的单词是名词，这是一把通向语法性、数、格三要素的一把金钥匙，是关键词的关键字母组合的变化。
   如何进行整理语法列表？它采用的方法是对一篇文章，根据阅读顺序进行选择名词，复制粘贴到自己的列表里面，调动自己的超级想象力，搜索自己的原始记忆的名词变化成动词、形容词、数词、过去式、现在时和将来时的不规侧动词变换，进行单词尾字母的转化。