《经济学人》双语：非洲语言难学吗？

《经济学人》双语：非洲语言难学吗？

文/Irene-自由英语之路

标题：
African languages
Free clicks
A language-teaching app is grappling with tongue-twisting Zulu and Xhosa
非洲语言
免费点击吸气音
一款语言教学应用程序正在努力解决拗口的祖鲁语和科萨语（见文末补充资料）
Learning clicking sounds is tough, especially online
学习吸气音很难，尤其是在网上
Paragraph 1：
IN 1991 AMERICAN audiences had an introduction to Xhosa, one of South Africa’s most click-filled languages, when Miriam Makeba (pictured) appeared on “The Cosby Show”.
1991年，当米里亚姆·马克巴（如图）出现在《科斯比秀》上时，美国观众开始了解南非吸气音最多的语言之一科萨语。
When the celebrated South African singer started flicking her tongue as she said her name, four-year-old Olivia asked, “Oh I’m sorry, do you have a cold?”
当这位著名的南非歌手说自己的名字时，她开始轻弹舌头，四岁的奥利维亚问：“哦，对不起，你感冒了吗？”

《经济学人》双语：非洲语言难学吗？

Paragraph 2:
In most parts of the world the clicks of Zulu and Xhosa, the languages spoken most commonly at home in South Africa, sound completely foreign.
在世界大部分地区，人们对祖鲁语和科萨语（南非国内最常用的语言）完全陌生。
Duolingo, the world’s biggest language-learning platform, is hoping to make them more familiar.
世界上最大的语言学习平台Duolingo希望让这些语言更加常见。
Next year it will offer lessons in both to its 40m active users.
明年，它将为4000万活跃用户提供这两种语言的课程。
Paragraph 3:
This poses new challenges.
这带来了新的挑战。
For the first time its course designers will have to figure out how to teach clicks in an app.
首先，它的课程设计者将必须弄清楚如何在APP中教吸气音。
There are three types: c (a ‘tsk tsk’ sound), x (the sound you’d make to get a horse to speed up) and q (a bit like the sound of a champagne cork popping).
有三种类型：c（一种“tsk-tsk”的声音）、x（让马加速时发出的声音）和q（有点像香槟瓶塞爆裂的声音）。
Recording native speakers and using audio lessons will be much like teaching sounds in any other language, says Myra Awodey of Duolingo.
Duolingo的迈拉·阿沃迪说，录制当地人的语言并使用音频课程，这将与教任何其他语言的方法非常相似。
But it will also have to explain how one should thrash one’s tongue about to make the lateral (not to be confused with the alveolar or dental) click that so confounds people trying to say nothing more than “Xhosa”.
但课程也必须解释人们应该如何弹舌头，使侧面（不要与牙槽骨或牙齿混淆）发出咔哒声，这让那些只想说“科萨语”的人感到困惑。
Paragraph 4:
The firm says the courses will have a large potential audience, but migrants and refugees living in South Africa are a group that could particularly benefit.
该公司表示，这些课程将有大量的潜在受众，但生活在南非的移民和难民是一个可能特别受益的群体。
Elsewhere Duolingo has stumbled upon some unexpected uses of its app, such as a large number of people learning Swedish in Sweden.
在其他地方，Duolingo偶然发现了它的应用程序的一些意想不到的用途，例如大量的人在瑞典学习瑞典语。
The reason, it found, was that migrants were trying to integrate into their new country.
调查发现，原因是移民试图融入他们的新国家。
In South Africa there are more than 2.9m of them, including 500,000-1.5m from Zimbabwe.
南非有290多万人，其中包括来自津巴布韦的50万至150万人。
Paragraph 5:
Learning Zulu or Xhosa can help migrants blend in.
学习祖鲁语或科萨语可以帮助移民融入社会。
Those coming to South Africa from elsewhere in Africa often face abuse if they stand out by not speaking an indigenous language.
那些从非洲其他地方来到南非的人，如果很优秀但不会说土著语言，往往会受到歧视虐待。
There is even a derogatory term for black migrants who speak their own languages, Makwerekwere, which supposedly mimics the “kwere kwere” sounds they make that grate on the ears of locals.
甚至还有一个贬义词用来称呼说自己语言的黑人移民，Makwerekare，据说是模仿他们发出的“kwere kwere”音，这激怒了当地人。
Paragraph 6:
Speaking one of these languages has other perks, too.
说其中一种语言还有其他好处。
The two have many similarities, so that people who speak Zulu, say, can easily understand and talk with someone who speaks Xhosa or any of the other tongues in the same family, which includes Swati (spoken in Eswatini) and Ndebele (which is common in parts of Zimbabwe).
这两种语言有许多相似之处，因此说祖鲁语的人可以很容易地理解并与说科萨语或同一家族中任何其他语言的人交谈，其中包括斯瓦蒂语（用埃斯瓦蒂尼语）和恩德贝勒语（在津巴布韦的部分地区很常见）。
Those who pick up Zulu or Xhosa can thus chatter with at least 40% of South Africans.
因此，那些学会祖鲁语或科萨语的人可以与至少40%的南非人聊天。
Paragraph 7:
Ms Awodey says Duolingo has “a role to play in preserving and teaching endangered languages”.
阿沃迪女士说，Duolingo“在保护和教授濒危语言方面可以发挥作用。”
It may be a stretch to call Zulu or Xhosa endangered.
称祖鲁人或科萨人为濒危语言可能有些牵强。
But local non-profits and Trevor Noah, South Africa’s funniest export, have teamed up with the firm to bring them to its platform.
但当地非营利组织和南非最有趣的出口产品特雷弗诺亚已经与该公司合作，将它们带到其平台上。
The polyglottic Mr Noah has a particular interest in one. His Xhosa-speaking mother raised him using English, a fine language, but one that is exceedingly difficult to get a click out of.
通晓多种语言的诺亚先生对其中一个特别感兴趣。他说科萨语的母亲用英语抚养他长大，英语是一种很好的语言，但很难去掉吸气音。
（恭喜读完，本篇英语词汇量552个左右）
原文出自2021年10月30日《The Economist》Middle East & Africa版块。
精读笔记来源于：自由英语之路，仅供个人英语学习交流使用。

【补充资料】（来源于网络）
祖鲁语发音的一大突出特点，是使用吸气辅音（click consonants）。具有这一特点的语言也有除祖鲁语外的其他语言，但只在南非地区。在祖鲁语中，有15个吸气辅音。在科萨语中，也有这种辅音，但不如祖鲁语多。
有三个基本祖鲁弹舌音：
c - dental
q - alveolar
x - lateral
【重点句子】（3个）
Learning Zulu or Xhosa can help migrants blend in.
学习祖鲁语或科萨语可以帮助移民融入社会。
Speaking one of these languages has other perks, too.
说其中一种语言还有其他好处。
It may be a stretch to call Zulu or Xhosa endangered.
称祖鲁人或科萨人为濒危物种可能有些牵强。
【重点词汇】（8个）
clicking sounds
吸气音，嗒声，短声
blend in
混合，加入；调和
derogatory/dɪˈrɒɡətri/
adj. 贬低的，不敬的，持批评态度的
grate on
刺激；激怒
stretch /stretʃ/
n. 言过其实的话（熟词新义：常见意思是“延伸”）
team up with
与……合作，与……协作
polyglottic /ˈpɒliɡlɒtik/=polyglot
adj. 通晓多种语言的；用多种语言写成的
get out of
避免；戒掉（某个习惯）；从……退出
【重点词根】（1+4个）
polyglottic=polyglot =poly-多，复，聚 + glot-语言，舌头。
词根poly- 源自希腊语 polus "much, many."表示“多”，来自希腊语，如：
polygyny/pəˈlɪdʒɪnɪ/ n. 一夫多妻制
polyandry/ˌpɒliˈændri/ n. 一妻多夫制，多雄蕊
polythene/ˈpɒlɪθiːn/ n. 聚乙烯
polysemy/pəˈlɪsɪmi/ n. 一词多义现象