Exploring Different Types

什么是流利？探索语言流利的不同类型

文章来源：www.italki.com

文章作者：Lynkusu

Fluency. As a member of the language community, you’ve surely heard the term everywhere. People constantly ask you if you’re fluent in your target language yet, or claim fluency in their own. Famous polyglots write books or run blogs about hacking into fluency, and pop-ups on the web assure you that (only with their top secret! method, of course), can you reach fluency in two weeks.

流利。作为语言家族的成员之一，你一定在各种地方听到它的名字。人们不断会问你外语说得流利不流利，或者自称自己说得很流利。精通多门语言的名人也会写书或者博客告诉大家流利的诀窍，许多网站上的弹窗小广告也会告诉大家自己有顶级的诀窍让你在两周内说话流利起来。

You might dream of fluency in this or that language, and maybe you’ve already achieved fluency in a foreign language. But, in all the instances of fluency you encounter in your day to day life as a language enthusiast, have you ever considered what fluency really means? What does fluency mean?

你可能做梦都想要让某种语言流利起来，也许你已经说一种外语说的很流利了。不过，作为一名语言狂热爱好者，对于日常语言流利的各种状况，你有没有想过流利究竟意味着什么？流利到底是什么意思？

Well, actually, I can’t tell you what fluency means. The only person who can tell you what fluency means is you. Fluency, like all abstract terms, has no universal meaning, and each individual must determine what the term means. Think about the subjectivity of the term the next time you encounter it “out in the wild.” Does fluency have the same meaning to the person that used it, the blogger or optimistic pop-up ad as it does to you? Why not? How does it differ? What is your definition of fluency?

可惜我真不能告诉你流利是什么意思唯一你能告诉你流不流利的是你自己。流利，就像所有抽象的术语，并不是某一个通用的概念，每一个人对流利的理解也不同。想想下一次你面对到流利的情况。对于语言使用者来说流利是不是都有同一个标准？博主和广告对流利的定义和你一致吗？为什么不一致？区别在哪里？流利的定义到底是什么？

Establishing your personal definition of fluency is an important step to achieving it. Blindly venturing forward without a concrete idea of what it is that you wish to achieve will get you somewhere. But, you won’t know where, and you may not feel like you’ve gotten very far, especially if you’re not yet a linguistic veteran. Setting a more defined goal will help you to structure your journey through your target language and help you to recognize the progress you make on your way there.

要想达到流利，就要定义你的流利标准，这一步很重要。盲目探索，没有具体目标，可能会让你有改变。但是你也不知道改变在哪里，也许你会觉得进步得并不明显，尤其对于你还是初级水平。确定一个目标，可以帮助你有计划地学习，从而帮助你意识到自己的进步，最终达到目标。

To assist you in determining what fluency is, I’ll describe a few different types of fluency.

为了帮助你定义什么是真正的流利，我会描述几种流利的类型。

Perfect Fluency

完美语流

Perfect fluency is how many people who have little to no language experience tend to define “fluency.” Perfect fluency means knowing every word you encounter. It means speaking quickly, clearly and easily and never stumbling or having to search for words. It means having no accent, or only one that is faint and charming. It means never having any semblance of difficulty with the language anymore.

所谓“完美语流”，许多没有语言基础的人觉得这就是流利。完美语流表示你知道每一个遇到的词。表示说话快、清晰、简单，从不打嗝，或者在脑中寻找词语。也表示说话没口音，或者有轻微但迷人的口音。表示再也不会对这种语言的口语有任何困难。

If this sounds like how you picture fluency, pay attention, because this article was mostly intended for you. Perfect fluency does not exist. Nobody is “perfectly fluent” in any language. You aren’t familiar with every word of your native language, and sometimes you have to search for the right word, even in your mother tongue.

如果你觉得这是你想要的流利，那么就要注意了，这篇文章就是为你度身定做的。完美语流并不存在。没有人可以说任何语言到达完美的水平。你的母语你也不是字字都认识，有时候你会要找合适的词。

Most languages have many regional accents and dialects, and you may sometimes even have trouble understanding someone with the same native language from the same country. And that’s not weird. You already knew that these things happen in one’s native language. Natives are able to take a few seconds to search for their next word, but when foreigners do the same thing, why is it assumed they’re simply not fluent? If imperfect fluency is good enough for native speakers, it’s good enough for you.

许多语言会有方言，有时候来自同一个国家的人方言不同你可能理解起来也会有困难。这并不奇怪。你的母语也是如此。用自己的母语说有时候也会要想想下面要说的词语，但是如果说外语的人这么做了，为什么我们要说他们说话不流利呢？如果不完美的语流对母语者来说足够了，那对你也足够了。

Quick Fluency

快速语流

This is the type of fluency you see in advertisements, because “Master a Language in Two Months!” sounds way catchier than “Fluency in Twenty Years!” It sounds too good to be true, because, well, it mostly is. It is possible, of course, to achieve quick fluency, but the fluency achieved after such a short time frame will be a very thin, superficial fluency.

这种流利你可能在广告中看到过，诸如“在两个月内掌握一门语言”听上去一定比“在两年内掌握”吸引人得多。听上去好像太好了一点。因为确实是有点言过其实了。如果有可能这么快就能流利起来，那么所说的流利也只不过是表面上的流利，经不起推敲。

You’ll only know the most common words and you’ll probably have to make use of key words and context to figure out what natives are saying when they respond to you. However, if you are able to successfully utilize a foreign language to obtain relevant information, then you very well may be “fluent enough” for your purposes.

你只知道大部分的常用词，你必须要通过关键词和情景来理解老外所说的话的意思。不过你如果能够成功利用外语来获得相关信息，那么你的语流也差不多能够达到你交流的目的。

Quick fluency is good if you have some sort of deadline. Say, for example, that you’re visiting the country and you don’t want to flip through a phrasebook, butcher a foreign language, and not understand the response you receive. I would recommend drilling phrases and vocabulary that you determine to be important (and here’s a free, handy flashcard program to help you), and getting as much passive practice (reading, listening) in as possible. You can also use LingQ to read along with texts, read out loud and improve your listening comprehension.

如果有那么一个学习期限，快速流利也不是坏事。就好比，如果你要在一个月之内去一个新的国家，但你又不想看词汇书，扼杀外语学习，不想听不懂对方无以作答。我会建议你钻研一本你觉得很重要的词汇书，这里有方便免费的记忆卡片游戏帮助你学习，尽可能获得足够的被动学习（阅读、听力）。你也可以用LingQ来阅读词组，大声阅读，提高听力理解能力。

Again, listening comprehension is extremely important if you actually want to understand the answers to your questions (which, let’s face it, is probably one of the main reasons you asked them). Of course, make sure to also arm yourself with the ever-important phrases, “Could you repeat that?”, “Could you speak more slowly?” and “Sorry, I didn’t understand that.”

再次声明，如你要听懂别人的回答，听力非常重要，这也正是为什么你会给对方提问的原因把。当然，确保要学一些很可能很重要的词组，比如“你可以重复一下吗？”“你可以说的慢一点吗？”以及，“我不理解你说的话”。

Native-Like Fluency

母语水平的流利

Unlike perfect fluency, native-like fluency is a reasonable and attainable goal. Native-like fluency does not mean that you will be mistaken for a native; very few people ever reach that stage. However, it means that you generally know all the same words that a native knows and can speak at the same pace with the same amount of ease as a native speaker. You will likely have an accent, but as long your conversation partner can understand you without difficulty, it doesn’t matter. Tip: If people can’t figure out where you’re from, your accent is probably pretty good.

不想“完美语流”那样，母语水平的流利是合理的可以达到的目标。母语水平的流利并不代表你就是说母语的人。很少的人可以达到这样的水平。不过，这也就意味着你和说母语者所知道的词差不多多，口语语速基本一致，说话紧张程度也差不多。你可能会有口音，但是只要你说话的对方能够理解你，就没关系。诀窍：如果对方不知道你来自哪里，你的口音应该还不重。

Contrary to popular belief, you do not need to live in the country to achieve native-like fluency. But, you do need connections to the country. Luckily, you have the internet, so that’s not much of an issue. Making friends with native speakers helps immensely. Try to find friends, and not just language partners; look for someone whom you’d still enjoy talking to even in your native language. You’ll get much more out of the relationship if it actually means something to you.

跟大家理解不一样的地方是，你不需要生活在当地来获得母语者的流利水平。但是你确实需要和这个国家有联系。幸运的是我们有网络，所以问题不大。和老外多交朋友帮助很大。试着多交一些朋友，而不是单纯的语言伙伴。找到你能够喜欢用自己母语交流的朋友。那么你可以从这段朋友关系中获益匪浅。

Friends will not only provide you with the opportunity to practice your writing or speaking skills, but they also provide real, casual native input and introduce you to an insider’s view of their culture. They can hook you up with native media and equip you with music and TV series in their language. If you have native friends and consume media made for natives by natives, then you are practically living in the country.

朋友可以让你练习写作和口语技巧，他们还可以为你提供一个真实的外语场景，从业内角度了解他们的文化。他们可以帮你介绍当地的节目、音乐、电视剧。如果你有当地的一些朋友看当地的节目，那么基本就相当于你生活在那个国家了。

Okay, so there are certain aspects of the language that are pretty difficult to learn if you don’t live in the country, but these are also things that you generally don’t need unless you live in the country. Household vocabulary like “burner” or “whisk” doesn’t come up often on TV (unless you’re watching cooking shows, I guess), and they’re probably not the topic of discussion between you and your friends. You won’t learn childhood words either, like the names of the equipment on a playground, unless you’re around native children. However, the fact that these types of words are fairly difficult to learn outside the country also show how little you really need them in practice.

当然，如果你不生活在当地的话，有一些语言比较难学。但是这些东西基本你不需要，除非你真的生活过去了。居家用词诸如“煤气头”、“搅拌器”基本不会在电视上出现（除非你看的时厨房节目），所以也不会是你和朋友交流的主题。你也不会学习儿童用词，比如在操场上的一些设施，除非你要和当地的小孩在一起。

所以，生活在国外不在当地，这些词比较难学，这一点也证明了在现实生活中你不太需要用到。

Literary Fluency

文学流利性

Literary fluency is like graduating from native-like to educated-native-like fluency. Now, all of a sudden, you know words that even natives might not know, and you can string sentences together more eloquently than some natives. If that sounds impossible, just keep in mind that as someone who frequents language learning websites in their spare time, you may be on an intellectually higher level than the average person, and many people really kind of suck at their native language.

文学流利性就好像从当地人过度到了有文化的当地人。突然之间，你所知道的许多词连当地人都有可能不知道。遣词造句比起许多当地人来说你都更厉害。如果这一点你觉得不可能做到，那你要记住了，作为一直利用空余时间在出入各大语言学习网站的人，现身说法是你可能比一般人的智力水平高，许多人连自己的母语都用得不怎么好。

Literary fluency focuses on the more intellectual side of a language: indulging in literature, attending university, composing song lyrics, etc. Native-like fluency is not a required prerequisite; it will just improve your feel for the language. You can, however, certainly master reading literature and writing poetry without the ability to converse casually with a native. Literary fluency calls for an almost exclusively passive input. Read novels and texts from specific fields until it all makes sense. Learn in the language instead of reading about the language in your own native language.

文学的流利性更专注语言的文化水平：在文学作品中，上大学，写歌词等等。达到近似母语水平并不是一个预设要求。这仅仅是提升你对语言的感觉。你当然可以掌握阅读文学作品，撰写诗歌，但还是不不能自然和当地人交谈。文学流利性要求的是比较特定的被动灌输。看某一领域的小说，知道你能够理解。用外语学习而不是阅读外语学习的相关内容。

There are a ton of other things that fluency could potentially be, but that’s up to you to figure out. Considering why you started studying the language in the first place should help you determine what kind of fluency you should target. Once you’ve reached your desired fluency, that doesn’t mean you’re done; you can go for another type of fluency and round off your language skills quite a bit. In the very least, you’ll have to work to maintain what you’ve achieved.

语言流利可能还有许多其他的类型。但这都取决与你自己的理解。想想自己最初是出于什么目的学习语言的，这可以帮助你确定你要哪一种流利。一旦你打到自己想要的流利，这不代表你已经学完了；你可以学学其他类型的流利，这让你的语言技巧更完美。最后，你要学会保持这样的水平。

The question you might have about all these fluencies is, “How long will it take me?” Well, that depends entirely on how you study, how much you study, how similar the language is to the one(s) you already speak, and your personal ability to absorb and retain information. Nobody can answer this for you. Just get studying and figure it out for yourself!

有可能你对各种语流的类型会提出这样的问题“要多久才能达到这样的水平？”这完全取决于你学习的方法，学多少内容，你的母语和外语的接近程度，你对信息获取的能力。没有人能够为你回答这些问题。还是开始学习，才能知道自己要什么！