語言是“熏”出來的Imbibition in Foreign Language Acquisition

林巍

對于外語的掌握過程，通常用以形容的是“學(xué)習(xí)” “感受” “實踐”等，以得到知識或語感1。但是，反復(fù)琢磨，感覺并不完全準(zhǔn)確，因為生活中還有大量無形、無聲、無語的東西，起著更廣泛更深刻的作用。

在外文局工作時，我曾和韓素音女士就這個問題有過交流。她用了一個字—“熏2”，說一個人掌握的地道語言，一定是熏陶出來的。多年以來，我越琢磨這個字，越有味道3。

社會語言學(xué)認(rèn)為，語言其實不是一種自然現(xiàn)象，也不是生理或心理現(xiàn)象4，因而語言學(xué)習(xí)就不能只從主觀意念出發(fā);在本質(zhì)上，語言是一種社會現(xiàn)象，是一種社會關(guān)系。所以，對于語言的掌握，是一種全方位的互動過程。

“學(xué)”是主動、單向的智力活動，“熏”則未必都是有意識的，而是個多向、潛移默化的過程;“學(xué)”得的東西存在了大腦，“熏”到的效果則融化在全身的細胞、血液之中。

韓素音的母語實為法語，她說，創(chuàng)作法文小說時，她都要回到瑞士家鄉(xiāng)，似乎只有在那里她才會思如泉涌5。著名翻譯家戴乃迭也曾對我說，她會定期去倫敦的工業(yè)區(qū)，與那里的藍領(lǐng)們接觸，以豐富自己的文學(xué)語言。這些都不是在書本上可以“學(xué)”到的。

社會關(guān)系在語言交際中的體現(xiàn)，因人而異，色彩斑斕，出乎意料。我上次回澳大利亞，遇到一位熟人，她見面與我打招呼，沒有“你好！”“好久不見了，近來怎樣？”之類的客套話，而是雙手?jǐn)傞_，望天一眼，神秘地說：“是你帶來的這些雨嗎？”我先是一愣，但馬上意識到，澳洲近來持續(xù)干旱，人們都眼巴巴地盼著下雨。于是，我說，“是的，因為你們太需要雨水啦！”接著我們都開懷大笑，熟悉如初6。事后想，這是多么生動、幽默的“問候禮”啊，而這又是在任何語言課程中所學(xué)不到的。

在澳洲，我的一位德國朋友說，她每次回到母國媽媽那里，都會挨批：“你的德語太糟了，越來越簡化成英語啦！”我知道，在語法上，德語比英語復(fù)雜得多，但也不至于是種“簡化”吧？她被告知，要多去參加當(dāng)?shù)氐抡Z社團的活動，以保持自己母語的純正。

日語這方面的特點更突出。我在日本的語境里，會自然而然在應(yīng)答上更加配合7對方，更易用敬語，更多融入肢體語言。進而，在日本待久了，在行為舉止上都更像日本人。相反，一旦脫離了那個環(huán)境，有些話還真不好意思開口。

對于語言學(xué)上的一些概念，有時也要“親臨其境”8才好理解。譬如，對于“雙語使用者”9，西方語言學(xué)里用了diglossic，讓人費解。直至有一天我到了瑞士，接觸了那里“法語區(qū)” “德語區(qū)” “意大利語區(qū)”的人們，又同周圍講母語的法國人、德國人、意大利人有了交流，作了對比，才真正知道了什么是“使用高低不同的兩種語言的人” “并列官方語”等等。

國內(nèi)的英語教學(xué)，現(xiàn)在時興一種“浸泡式教學(xué)法”，即不接觸任何漢語，全封閉的英語灌輸。但“浸泡”的原義，是“將物體浸入液體中”，而“液體”是有形、有限的，不如熏的元素彌漫空中，無處不在，且潤物細無聲，效果既膩且深。

俗話說，“一方水土養(yǎng)一方人”10。在外語學(xué)習(xí)中，這種“水土”更多是人文的成分。

此次全球大疫情，使得視頻交流、會議、講座盛行起來，成為備受推崇的便捷溝通方式11。然而，若以為12這可以完全代替真情實景，便是忽略了視頻中所過濾掉的那些至關(guān)重要的“熏”的元素13。? ? ? □

In foreign language acquisition， words like “l(fā)earning”， “feeling”， “practicing” are usually used to describe how learners gain their knowledge， language intuition and experiences. After pondering for quite some time， however， I realized that actually a lot of things happening in life concerning the learning process are beyond visibility， vocalization and speech， playing a far more pervasive and profound role.

When I worked in China International Publishing Group， I had an exchange with Ms. Han Suyin （Rosalie Elisabeth Kuanghu Chow） on the issue. She applied the word “imbibition”， believing that any idiomatic language has to be imbibed by a keen mind， which quite impressed me as a meaningful word ever since.

Sociolinguistics holds that language is not a natural phenomenon， nor a physiological or psychological reflection， so language learning cannot be based solely on subjective ideas. In essence， language is a social phenomenon and social relationship. In this sense， mastering a language is an all-round interactive process.

Learning is a one-way intellectual activity， whereas imbibition is a simultaneously multidimensional and imperceptible process. What is learned is stored in the mind， but the effect of imbibition goes to the cells and blood of the organic body.

As a native speaker of French， Han Suyin said whenever she wanted to write a French novel， she went back to her hometown in Switzerland where she seemed to be best inspired. Gladys Yang， a well-known translator， told me that she would regularly go back to London’s industrial areas， making contact with blue-collar workers to enrich her literary language. None of these in fact can be literally “l(fā)earned” from any book.

The colorful and surprising embodiment of social relations in daily communication varies from person to person. During my last stay in Australia， an acquaintance greeted me without any of the usual courtesies， such as “Hello my friend！” “Haven’t seen you for a long time. How are you？” Instead， she threw her hands open， looking up at the sky， and said mysteriously： “Have you brought all this rain with you？” I was stunned at first， but immediately realizing that the recent drought had made the locals desperate for rains， I then said “Yes， because I knew you need water so much！” So we all laughed， like we used to joke with each other before. In hindsight， I think that was a lovely and humorous greeting that can never be learned in any language course.

In Australia， a German friend of mine said to me that， every time she returned to Germany， she was grumbled at by her mother： “Your German is so bad now; it’s simplified into English！” I knew that German is grammatically much more complex than English， which nevertheless isn’t itself simple？ She was told to stay true to her mother tongue by participating in local German-speaking communities more often.

Perhaps， Japanese is more prominent in this respect. Living in Japan， you will naturally be more responsive in conversation， more easily use honorifics and body language， even behave more like Japanese people if you stay there long enough. Once you have left the environment， however， some words are hard or even embarrassing for you to utter.

To understand some linguistic concepts， sometimes also requires you to “go-and-see”. “Bilingual adopters”， for example， are described as “diglossic” in Western linguistics， which had always perplexed me. I couldn’t quite figure out the real connotations of this term until the time in Switzerland， when I had contact with people in French-， German- and Italian-language zones and compared them with native speakers in their neighboring countries. Relevant concepts， such as “l(fā)anguages with distinct high and low colloquial varieties”， “multi-official languages” were also readily clarified during this experience.

“Jin pao” or “immersion” as an English teaching method has been popularized recently in China， which refers to students being embraced in a “closed English indoctrination” without a single Chinese character. The original meaning of Jin pao， however， is to immerse objects in liquid， which is tangible and limited; imbibition， on the other hand， denotes a subtle and profound process of sucking in every relevant element， large or tiny.

As the Chinese saying goes， “Inhabitants are nourished and formulated by their particular local soil and water”. In foreign language acquisition， this “soil and water” is composed more of humanity than anything else.

The current global pandemic has made video communication a popular means for holding conferences， meetings and lectures. However， this simple and convenient tool should not be thought of as a complete substitute for the “authentic situation” one has to personally experience， because the use of video may filter out a lot of valuable “imbibed elements” in face-to-face contact.