有关英语普通话学习的观点和理念
淳于金章
What is the Queen’s English?
Everybody knows the language of English originates from England, Great Britain, where the Queen not only means the symbol of the British Royal Family, but also the pure, excellent, standard, supreme and the most lofty things. Queen’s English is also a phrase, which means the standard British pronunciation and intonation. The international phonetic alphabets are based on and stipulated by its accent. There are some famous terms and accents can also be referred to as the Queen’s English, for example, RP English, Oxford English and BBC English. The opposite of Queen’s English is American English, which is based on the American phonetic alphabets. This is a set of totally different phonetic marking system that is developing gradually to a totally different English language. In terms of pronunciation and intonation, it differs a great deal from the Queen’s English, let alone its written language. So nowadays people usually just call it the American instead of the American English, same as we call German, French, Korean and so on. Such being the case, when a student starts to learn English today, he must be aware of or the teachers must make him aware of the differences between the two and then decide which one he should follow. Otherwise he’ll always feel confused with the two for his whole life, and always be at a loss as to which one to follow and how to learn.
什么是英语普通话？
众所周知，英语这门语言起源于英国的英格兰地区。在英国，女皇不仅仅是皇家的象征，也是一切纯正、高雅、标准、乃至崇高事物的象征。把“Queen’s English”(女皇英语)译为“英语普通话”是基于“汉语普通话”含义的启示，其所指是标准的英国式语音和语调，国际音标也是基于这种语音制订的。作为“英语普通话”，其同义的著名替代词还有：RP英语、牛津英语和BBC英语。与“英语普通话”相对立的是基于美式音标的美国英语。后者正逐渐向一种独立的语言发展，其注音体系与国际音标相距甚远。仅就语音和语调来说，它与英国英语的区别已众人皆知，更不用说其书面语言了。所以，今天的人们更多直称其为美语，而不是美国英语，如同我们称德语、法语、韩语一样。因此，当学生们开始学习英语时，必须在老师的帮助下首先搞清楚这两者的不同之处，然后再决定到底要学哪一种。否则，终其一生都会为之迷惑，不知哪一种他们应该学或怎么学。
Why should we advocate and learn the Queen’s English?
1. Everybody knows the meaning of the mandarin. Mandarin means the standard Chinese pronunciation and intonation, which is based on the Chinese phonetic alphabets. Why has our central government been trying to popularize the mandarin or Putonghua in the past 5 decades and has even launched a campaign for that across China? Why did China even promulgate a law in 2001，requiring Putonghua to be used in education, broadcasting and public service sectors? That’s because China is a country with 56 ethnic groups. Chinese alone is spoken in seven major dialects, and each in turn has several varieties. The actual situation in Qingdao is also a proof, where people say 青岛、即墨、莱西、胶州. So we can imagine how difficult it is for people from different parts of China to understand each other. The same problem also exists in the English speaking world. Even in London people from the western part often find it difficult to understand the people from the eastern part, not speaking of the English speakers from other parts of the world. If people could not easily understand each other, how can they study, work and live successfully and happily? Therefore, for a better understanding among the people who speak different forms of English, it is highly necessary to advocate the Queen’s English as the standard pronunciation not only in the English-speaking countries but in the other parts of the world as well.
为什么我们应该倡导和学习英语普通话？
汉语普通话的含义众所周知，其定义是以汉语拼音为基础的标准中文语音和语调。为什么我们中央政府在过去五十年里一直致力于普通话的推广，并为此多次发起全国性的运动？为什么我国在2001年甚至通过了一项法律，要求在教育、广播和公共服务行业必须讲普通话。这是因为中国是一个由56个民族组成的国家，仅汉语就有七种不同方言，且每一种又有自己不同的分支及衍生。仅以青岛为例：市区、即墨、莱西、胶州等每个地区都有各自不同的方言。由此，我们可以想象全国不同地方的人们沟通起来会有多么困难。同样的问题也存在于英国。仅在伦敦地区，东部和西部的人们也时常会感到交流困难，更不用说全世界其它讲英语的国家了。如果人们不能自如地交流，又怎能快乐地学习、工作和生活呢？因此，为使讲英语的人们之间能够更容易地相互交流，倡导英语普通话的学习不仅在中国，在世界范围内都极其必要。
2. English in China has already been designated as the first foreign language and a compulsory subject for all the students to learn in primary and secondary schools and even universities. But in fact, students learning English nowadays basically have no concept of what the Queen’s English is and how it differs from American English. In China, only mandarin is accepted as the standard Chinese pronunciation. But as to the standard English pronunciation, many students would think it is the American one. If 10% of the people learning English knew the difference between the two, my promotion for the Queen’s English today would be meaningless.
英语在中国早已被指定为第一外语，即已成为所有中小学及高等院校的必修课。然而，大多数的学生却竟没有标准英语，即英语普通话的概念，更不了解它与美国英语之间的不同之处。在中国，只有汉语普通话被视为标准的中文发音，而当谈及标准的英语发音时，许多学生却荒唐地认为是美国英语而不是英国英语。如果有百分之十的英语学习者知道这两种不同语言的区别，那么我们今天对英语普通话的倡导也就没有任何意义了。