迷思七，学发音不重要
本文英语原文节选自 antimoon，略有删改并增加中文译文 Myth #7: "Studying pronunciation is not important"
Many language learners assume their pronunciation is good enough because their teacher doesn’t correct them too often or because other students can understand them. 很多学外语者以為自己的发音足够好，因為他们没被教师频频纠正，或者因為同学能够理解他们。
事实Fact 1
Those learners are often dead wrong — for two reasons: 这些学习者都大错特错，原因有二：
- Most teachers ignore all but the biggest pronunciation mistakes of their students. Normally, they just let their students speak and interrupt them only if they just said something completely unintelligible. One of the reasons is that there is too little time to work on each student’s pronunciation in class. Another thing is that teachers often don’t know how to help students who have poor pronunciation. As a result, pronunciation is the most neglected subject in language learning.
- If you’re from Iran and other students in your class are from Iran, too, it will be easy for them to understand you, no matter how strong your Iranian accent is.
- 学生发音的毛病，如不是最严重的，绝大多数教师都忽略过去。一般他们会让学生继续说，除非学生说了完全不能理解的话，才打断学生。原因之一是课堂时间非常不足，不能逐一為学生纠正发音。另一原因是教师往往不知道如何帮助发音差劲的学生。结果，在外语学习的各个环节中，发音最為人所忽略。
- 假设你来自伊朗，你的同学也来自伊朗。同学很容易就理解你，不管你的伊朗口音重得多厉害。
Because of the above, if you believe your pronunciation is good enough to communicate because it is good enough for your teacher and other students, you may be in for a nasty surprise when you actually go to a foreign country and try to communicate with native speakers. One of my friends was the best student in his English class in Poland. When he went to work in the United States, he found that Americans didn’t understand half of what he said. 综上原因，如果你因為你的教师同学，就相信你的发音足够好，那麼当你到了外国，尝试与母语者沟通时，你或会意外地震惊。我有个朋友，在波兰他的英语班中，他英语最好。当他去美国工作，他发现他说话美国人听不懂一半。
What if you’re sure you can make yourself understood in a foreign language? Do you have any reason at all to study pronunciation? 要是你肯定你的外语能使他人明白又如何呢？你还有理由要学发音吗？
事实Fact 2
Yes, because your pronunciation may still be quite far from that of a native speaker. If this is the case, other people will have to make an effort to understand what you’re saying, and will not be comfortable with you. They may even avoid you for this reason.
When I went to a language school in England, I myself didn’t enjoy conversing with those students from other countries who kept mispronouncing English words. Sure, they would get their meaning across, but it would take me more effort than usual, and I was often forced to ask them questions to make sure I understood them correctly.
有，因為你的发音可能还是和母语者发音差很远。若是这样，他人还是得费力理解你的话，他们和你一起不感到舒服。他们甚至会因而躲开你。
我从前往英国一间语言学校，我自己不享受和一些来自其他国家、常唸错英语单词的学生交谈。没错，他们能传达他们的意思，但是我要比平时多费心力去听，而且我经常要问他们，以肯定我正确理解他们。
The bottom line: When I had the choice, I preferred to talk with people whose accents were close to British or American English. It was simply a much smoother and more pleasant experience.
A related problem is that if your pronunciation is “unnative”, other people may unconsciously assume you’re slow and treat you in a condescending way — for example, talk to you more slowly and loudly, as if something were wrong with your comprehension.
重点在：如果我有选择，我喜欢与那些操接近英国或美国口音的人说话。与他们说话实在感到顺畅而愉快得多。
一个相关的问题是，如果你的口音「不地道」，他人或潜意识地认為你迟钝，就以紓尊降贵的方式对你说话——例如，说得慢而且大声，好像你的理解出了问题般。
结论Conclusions
In conclusion, don’t think you can communicate in a foreign language until you’ve tested your skills on real native speakers (native speakers who are not your teachers). If you’re sure your accent is understandable, aim for native or near-native pronunciation, so that people you talk to can have a smooth experience interacting with you. In order to achieve these goals, there’s no doubt you will need to start thinking about pronunciation and spend time on it.
总括而言，不要觉得自己能用外语交流，直到你试过和真的母语者（不包括你的教师）谈话。如你肯定自己的口音别人可以理解，就以地道或接近地道发音為目标，使得和你交谈的人都感到彼此交流畅顺。為达到这些目标，你毫无疑问需要开始关心并花时间在发音上了。