美語情景對話 第708期:Two Languages at Home 在家說雙語

Kara: So, Lupe, in your family setting, when you guys are having family get-togethers, you have a large family, do you normally speak English or Spanish or is it a mix, or how does it all work out at a party?

卡拉：盧佩，你擁有一個大家庭，你的家庭成員在聚會時，通常是說英語還是說西班牙語，或者說是兩種語言都有，你們在聚會時是怎樣的情況？

Lupe: It's definitely a big mix, and as some people call it, Spanglish, because I do have some siblings that speak English, that were raised here and speak it well, and sometimes we feel more comfortable speaking in English, so we'll speak in English, but there are a lot of my family members who moved here when they were older, and never had the opportunity to learn to speak English, therefore I speak Spanish to them, and there's also times when I'm talking to a certain person and we will be speaking in English and I'll suddenly forget a word or it pops up into my head faster in Spanish so I'll go from English to Spanish and then right back to English and that's when we call it Spanglish, just because it's a little mixture of both. Sometimes I'm speaking in Spanish and I won't remember how to say something and I'll think of it in English. Therefore I'll say it in English, but I can only do that with the ones that speak both English and Spanish.

盧佩：當然是兩種語言都說，有些人稱之爲西班牙式英語，我有些兄弟姐妹說英語，他們是在這裏長大的，所以英語說的很好，有時我們感覺用英語交談更舒服，所以我們就會說英語，不過也有很多家庭成員是年長以後搬來這裏生活的，他們沒有機會學習英語，所以我和他們說話時會用西班牙語，有時我在和家人用英語交談時會突然忘了有的詞要怎麼說，然後我腦海中就會馬上出現這個詞的西班牙語說法，所以我就會改用西班牙語說出這個詞，然後再換回英語，我們稱之爲西班牙式英語，就是兩種語言混合使用。有時我用西班牙語交談時，會忘了該如何表達一些事，這時我就會想用英語要怎麼說。然後我就會用英語表達出來，不過我只能在和我交談的那個人既懂英語又懂西班牙語的情況下這麼做。

Kara: And what about your nephews and neices. I know as far you and your sibling, you guys were all born in Mexico. Your nephews and nieces, a lot of them were born here in the United States. How is there Spanish, and how do you communicate with them?

卡拉：那你的侄子和侄女呢？我知道你和你的兄弟姐妹都出生在墨西哥。你的侄子和侄女中有許多人出生在美國。他們的西班牙語說的怎麼樣，你和他們怎麼交流？

Lupe: Well, that was actually something that we talked about with our whole family because we decided them being born here, we wanted to make sure that they didn't lose that part of, you know, their heritage and their culture. We wanted them to still be able to speak Spanish, so we decided we'll all talk to them in Spanish, especially for the first five years of their life because once they started school we know it was going to be a little bit tougher once they started learning English. It was going to be easier for them to try to speak English, which most of them do. They come home and they suddenly just speak English and don't want to speak Spanish anymore, so we try really hard to speak only Spanish around them because we know all their English, they're practicing at school, so they really need to keep up with the Spanish at home.

盧佩：實際上我們全家討論過這個問題，我們決定讓他們在這裏出生，但是我們想確保他們不會丟失傳統和文化。我們想讓他們學會西班牙語，所以我們決定和他們用西班牙語交談，尤其是在他們5歲以前，因爲我們知道，他們上學開始學習英語以後，這麼做會有點難。讓他們說英語則會相對容易些，他們中有大部分人都是這種情況。他們從學校回來以後突然只說英語，不想再說西班牙語，所以我們就非常努力地只和他們說西班牙語，因爲我們知道他們可以在學校練習英語，而他們在家就要練習西班牙語。

Kara: And do you feel like that is something you're losing, you're family's losing by being here in the United States, part of your language with the younger generation?

卡拉：你來到美國以後，有沒有覺得你失去了什麼，或者說你的家庭失去了什麼，年輕一代是否失去了母語？

Lupe: I think it's definitely a choice. I know other people who prefer that their children don't speak Spanish. They have the opportunity to teach them and decide not to. Maybe they feel that if their kids only speak English, they won't feel left out at school, or you know, that sometimes what I've heard from other people. They want them to be and feel just like the other kids, so they don't want them speaking Spanish, but I think that is a choice that you make and you make it when they are young and for us, we decided we don't want them to lose that, and I think that we have a big say in that and there's a lot we can do about it and so we're all working really hard to make sure that they don't lose that and so far, you know, out of all my nephews and nieces, you know, maybe a couple are really forgetting their Spanish, but for the most part, all of them are doing really good and speaking both English and Spanish

盧佩：我認爲這是一種選擇。我知道有的人希望他們的孩子不要說西班牙語。他們有機會教他們西班牙語，可是他們卻選擇不這麼做。可能他們覺得如果他們的孩子只說英語，那他們在學校就不會被排擠，我聽說有些人是這樣的。他們想讓自己的孩子和其他孩子一樣自由，所以他們不想讓孩子說西班牙語，我認爲這是一種選擇，是在孩子小時你爲他們做出的選擇，可是對我們來說，我們不想讓孩子們失去母語，我認爲我們在這方面擁有決定權，我們在這方面能做的也很多，所以我們非常努力地去保證孩子們沒有失去母語，目前，我所有的侄子和侄女中，可能只有一兩個完全忘了西班牙語，不過多數人都既會說英語也會說西班牙語。

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重點講解：
1. work out 想出，得到（解決方法）；解（謎）；
例句：'How will you contact me?' — 'We haven'tworkedthatoutyet.'
“你們怎麼跟我聯繫？”——“我們還沒想出來呢。”
2. pop up 突然出現；不意冒出；
例句：She keepspopping upin the most unlikely places.
她老是在最令人不愉快的地方出現。
3. keep up with 跟上（活兒、人等）；同…做（或理解）得一樣好；
例句：Penny tended to work through her lunch hour in an effort tokeep up withher work.
爲了把活兒幹完，彭妮常常午飯時間也要工作。
4. leave out 排除；不包括；
例句：Nobody speaks to him; he 's alwaysleft out.
沒有人和他說話;他總是被冷落。
5. have a say in sth. 發言權；決定權；
例句：Individuals shouldhave a say inthe matter, however, when sensitive and personally identifiable information is collected and shared.
但是當敏感的可確認的個人信息被收集和分享時，個人是應該對此有發言權的。
6. out of （表示比例）每…中；
例句：She was the only black studentout ofa thousand there.
她是那所學校一千名學生中唯一的黑人學生。