语言是“熏”出来的Imbibition in Foreign Language Acquisition

林巍

對于外语的掌握过程，通常用以形容的是“学习” “感受” “实践”等，以得到知识或语感1。但是，反复琢磨，感觉并不完全准确，因为生活中还有大量无形、无声、无语的东西，起着更广泛更深刻的作用。

在外文局工作时，我曾和韩素音女士就这个问题有过交流。她用了一个字—“熏2”，说一个人掌握的地道语言，一定是熏陶出来的。多年以来，我越琢磨这个字，越有味道3。

社会语言学认为，语言其实不是一种自然现象，也不是生理或心理现象4，因而语言学习就不能只从主观意念出发;在本质上，语言是一种社会现象，是一种社会关系。所以，对于语言的掌握，是一种全方位的互动过程。

“学”是主动、单向的智力活动，“熏”则未必都是有意识的，而是个多向、潜移默化的过程;“学”得的东西存在了大脑，“熏”到的效果则融化在全身的细胞、血液之中。

韩素音的母语实为法语，她说，创作法文小说时，她都要回到瑞士家乡，似乎只有在那里她才会思如泉涌5。著名翻译家戴乃迭也曾对我说，她会定期去伦敦的工业区，与那里的蓝领们接触，以丰富自己的文学语言。这些都不是在书本上可以“学”到的。

社会关系在语言交际中的体现，因人而异，色彩斑斓，出乎意料。我上次回澳大利亚，遇到一位熟人，她见面与我打招呼，没有“你好！”“好久不见了，近来怎样？”之类的客套话，而是双手摊开，望天一眼，神秘地说：“是你带来的这些雨吗？”我先是一愣，但马上意识到，澳洲近来持续干旱，人们都眼巴巴地盼着下雨。于是，我说，“是的，因为你们太需要雨水啦！”接着我们都开怀大笑，熟悉如初6。事后想，这是多么生动、幽默的“问候礼”啊，而这又是在任何语言课程中所学不到的。

在澳洲，我的一位德国朋友说，她每次回到母国妈妈那里，都会挨批：“你的德语太糟了，越来越简化成英语啦！”我知道，在语法上，德语比英语复杂得多，但也不至于是种“简化”吧？她被告知，要多去参加当地德语社团的活动，以保持自己母语的纯正。

日语这方面的特点更突出。我在日本的语境里，会自然而然在应答上更加配合7对方，更易用敬语，更多融入肢体语言。进而，在日本待久了，在行为举止上都更像日本人。相反，一旦脱离了那个环境，有些话还真不好意思开口。

对于语言学上的一些概念，有时也要“亲临其境”8才好理解。譬如，对于“双语使用者”9，西方语言学里用了diglossic，让人费解。直至有一天我到了瑞士，接触了那里“法语区” “德语区” “意大利语区”的人们，又同周围讲母语的法国人、德国人、意大利人有了交流，作了对比，才真正知道了什么是“使用高低不同的两种语言的人” “并列官方语”等等。

国内的英语教学，现在时兴一种“浸泡式教学法”，即不接触任何汉语，全封闭的英语灌输。但“浸泡”的原义，是“将物体浸入液体中”，而“液体”是有形、有限的，不如熏的元素弥漫空中，无处不在，且润物细无声，效果既腻且深。

俗话说，“一方水土养一方人”10。在外语学习中，这种“水土”更多是人文的成分。

此次全球大疫情，使得视频交流、会议、讲座盛行起来，成为备受推崇的便捷沟通方式11。然而，若以为12这可以完全代替真情实景，便是忽略了视频中所过滤掉的那些至关重要的“熏”的元素13。      □

In foreign language acquisition， words like “learning”， “feeling”， “practicing” are usually used to describe how learners gain their knowledge， language intuition and experiences. After pondering for quite some time， however， I realized that actually a lot of things happening in life concerning the learning process are beyond visibility， vocalization and speech， playing a far more pervasive and profound role.

When I worked in China International Publishing Group， I had an exchange with Ms. Han Suyin （Rosalie Elisabeth Kuanghu Chow） on the issue. She applied the word “imbibition”， believing that any idiomatic language has to be imbibed by a keen mind， which quite impressed me as a meaningful word ever since.

Sociolinguistics holds that language is not a natural phenomenon， nor a physiological or psychological reflection， so language learning cannot be based solely on subjective ideas. In essence， language is a social phenomenon and social relationship. In this sense， mastering a language is an all-round interactive process.

Learning is a one-way intellectual activity， whereas imbibition is a simultaneously multidimensional and imperceptible process. What is learned is stored in the mind， but the effect of imbibition goes to the cells and blood of the organic body.

As a native speaker of French， Han Suyin said whenever she wanted to write a French novel， she went back to her hometown in Switzerland where she seemed to be best inspired. Gladys Yang， a well-known translator， told me that she would regularly go back to London’s industrial areas， making contact with blue-collar workers to enrich her literary language. None of these in fact can be literally “learned” from any book.

The colorful and surprising embodiment of social relations in daily communication varies from person to person. During my last stay in Australia， an acquaintance greeted me without any of the usual courtesies， such as “Hello my friend！” “Haven’t seen you for a long time. How are you？” Instead， she threw her hands open， looking up at the sky， and said mysteriously： “Have you brought all this rain with you？” I was stunned at first， but immediately realizing that the recent drought had made the locals desperate for rains， I then said “Yes， because I knew you need water so much！” So we all laughed， like we used to joke with each other before. In hindsight， I think that was a lovely and humorous greeting that can never be learned in any language course.

In Australia， a German friend of mine said to me that， every time she returned to Germany， she was grumbled at by her mother： “Your German is so bad now; it’s simplified into English！” I knew that German is grammatically much more complex than English， which nevertheless isn’t itself simple？ She was told to stay true to her mother tongue by participating in local German-speaking communities more often.

Perhaps， Japanese is more prominent in this respect. Living in Japan， you will naturally be more responsive in conversation， more easily use honorifics and body language， even behave more like Japanese people if you stay there long enough. Once you have left the environment， however， some words are hard or even embarrassing for you to utter.

To understand some linguistic concepts， sometimes also requires you to “go-and-see”. “Bilingual adopters”， for example， are described as “diglossic” in Western linguistics， which had always perplexed me. I couldn’t quite figure out the real connotations of this term until the time in Switzerland， when I had contact with people in French-， German- and Italian-language zones and compared them with native speakers in their neighboring countries. Relevant concepts， such as “languages with distinct high and low colloquial varieties”， “multi-official languages” were also readily clarified during this experience.

“Jin pao” or “immersion” as an English teaching method has been popularized recently in China， which refers to students being embraced in a “closed English indoctrination” without a single Chinese character. The original meaning of Jin pao， however， is to immerse objects in liquid， which is tangible and limited; imbibition， on the other hand， denotes a subtle and profound process of sucking in every relevant element， large or tiny.

As the Chinese saying goes， “Inhabitants are nourished and formulated by their particular local soil and water”. In foreign language acquisition， this “soil and water” is composed more of humanity than anything else.

The current global pandemic has made video communication a popular means for holding conferences， meetings and lectures. However， this simple and convenient tool should not be thought of as a complete substitute for the “authentic situation” one has to personally experience， because the use of video may filter out a lot of valuable “imbibed elements” in face-to-face contact.