2019年经济学人 母语——强迫移民学英语可能适得其反(1)

 

Johnson 

来源于《约翰逊》语言专栏

Mother tongues 

母语

Forcing immigrants to learn English can be counter-productive 

强迫移民学英语可能适得其反

Lev Golinkin left Soviet¹ Ukraine as a nine-year-old in1990.With assistance from HIAS, a Jewish organisation² that helps refugees, his family made its way to Indiana. In America, not having English felt “like having a massive stroke, only instead of being sent to the hospital and getting help you have to go out and get a job.” His experience suggests immigrants don’t have to be told how important it is to speak the language of a new country: they are more painfully aware of it than natives can ever know.

1990年，9岁的列弗·戈林金离开了苏联统治下的乌克兰。在帮助难民的犹太组织HIAS的帮助下，他的家人来到了印第安纳州。在美国，不懂英语“就像患了严重的中风，只是你不得不出去找工作，而不必被送进医院接受治疗”。他的经历表明，移民不必要被告知讲一个新国家的语言有多重要：移民比当地人更加痛苦地认识到这一点。

Yet they are often assumed to need coercion³. On May16th, for example, Donald Trump⁴ vowed⁵ to ensure that immigrants to America learn English and pass a civics exam before arriving.

但是人们通常认为移民讲本地语言需要被强制执行。例如，5月16日，唐纳德·特朗普发誓要确保移民到美国之前要先学习英语，并通过公民考试。

Such strictures might seem to serve national cohesion⁶. In fact, the wrong policies and tone do the reverse, as Vicky Fouka of StanfordUniversity found in a study of German-Americans living a century ago. With its large Germanimmigrant population, Ohiowas the first of several states to permit teaching in German alongside English. By 1900 some 4% of elementary-school pupils in America were taught at least partly in German. After the first worldwar anti-German sentiment led to the end of those programmes and, in Ohio and Indiana, even to a ban on teaching German as a foreign language to young children.

这样的限制似乎有利于国家团结。事实上，正如斯坦福大学的维基·弗卡在对生活在一个世纪前的德裔美国人的研究中所发现的那样，错误的政策和论调适得其反。俄亥俄州有大量的德国移民人口，是第一个允许用德语和英语教学的州。到1900年，美国大约4%的小学生至少部分使用德语授课。第一次世界大战之后，反德情绪导致了这些项目结束，在俄亥俄州和印第安纳州，甚至禁止将德语作为外语教授给幼儿。

1 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

2 organisation   

n.组织，安排，团体，有机休

参考例句：

• The method of his organisation work is worth commending.他的组织工作的方法值得称道。
• His application for membership of the organisation was rejected.他想要加入该组织的申请遭到了拒绝。

3 coercion   

n.强制，高压统治

参考例句：

• Neither trickery nor coercion is used to secure confessions.既不诱供也不逼供。
• He paid the money under coercion.他被迫付钱。

4 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

5 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

6 cohesion   

n.团结，凝结力

参考例句：

• I had to bring some cohesion into the company.我得使整个公司恢复凝聚力。
• The power of culture is deeply rooted in the vitality,creativity and cohesion of a nation. 文化的力量，深深熔铸在民族的生命力、创造力和凝聚力之中。