经济学人下载:约翰逊语言专栏--如何在家学习一门外语(2)

As for your initially meagre vocabulary, don't be shy about substituting an English word into your muttering—
至于一开始的词汇量贫乏，不要羞于用一个英语单词来代替你的低声咕哝——

but look up the equivalent as soon as you can. (If you have a smart speaker, their "How do you say ‘tree' in Spanish?" features are rather good.)
但要尽快查找这个不会的单词。（如果你的语音助手够聪明，那么它们的“‘树’这个单词用西语怎么说”功能相当不错。）

Keep a list of handy new words on your phone, ideally in a flashcard app. Two more tricks might help you learn more of them.
在你的手机上保存一个方便查看的新单词列表，最好放在一个闪卡应用程序中。另外两个技巧可以帮助你学到更多。

A frequency dictionary has thousands ordered not by the alphabet but how often they are actually used:
一本频率词典中有很多单词，它们不是按照字母排序的，而是按照使用频率排序的：

this quickly gives you the few dozen critical, functional words that glue a language together.
这样你很快就能找到几十个关键的功能词，它们把一门语言粘合在一起。

To enhance your vocab, Memrise is another app that uses spaced repetition to drive words home.
增强你的词汇量，可以用Memrise，另一款使用间隔重复来记忆单词的应用。

New ones are repeated insistently until they stick, then occasionally thereafter as reminders.
新的单词会被不断地重复，直到你记住它们，然后偶尔再重复，以此来提醒自己。

As soon as you can string a few sentences together, study in quarantine offers a consolation:
只要你能把几句话串在一起，隔离学习就能给你带来安慰：

a lot of language teachers are at home, too, and only a video-call away.
许多语言教师也在家，只要一个视频电话就行。

For example, Sara, an Italian tutor in the Piedmont region, says her teaching hours have exploded.
例如，皮埃蒙特地区的意大利家庭教师萨拉说，她的教学时间激增。

Italki is a platform that links teachers and students for surprisingly low hourly rates;
Italki是一个连接老师和学生的平台，他们的小时收费非常便宜；

casual conversation practice is especially cheap, formal instruction slightly pricier.
随意的对话练习尤为便宜，正式指导要稍微贵一些。

Find a highly rated teacher and struggle through a half-hour's conversation, shame-free.
找一位评价很高的老师，在半小时的谈话中打磨，不觉得难为情。

They can use the chat function of video-call apps to write down words that elude you or that you haven't understood.
他们可以使用视频通话应用程序的聊天功能，写下你听不懂或不理解的单词。

Afterwards you can add them to your flashcards.
然后你可以把它们加到你的单词卡里。

Finally, there is reading and writing. Keeping a journal can force you to write clearly those tricky bits you've been mumbling,
最后是读写。写日记可以迫使你把模糊不清的部分写清楚，

making you confront half-learned material. As for reading, graphic novels are good for a realistic conversational style.
让你直面半知不解的材料。至于阅读，图画小说的现实会话风格很棒。

And for no-nonsense written prose, find articles in the new language on Wikipedia on a subject you know well.
至于严肃的书面文章，在维基百科上找一些新学语言的文章，文章要选择你非常熟悉的主题。

Being able to guess unfamiliar terms gives a heartening sense of progress. Browser extensions can make looking up words a snap.
能够猜出不熟悉的术语会给人一种进步的鼓舞人心的感觉。浏览器扩展可以让查找单词变得轻而易举。

Just doubleclick a word with Google Translate enabled on Chrome, for example.
例如，只要用Chrome上的谷歌翻译双击就能查询单词。

There is no way to learn a language without time and effort. What technology does is make that effort pay off faster.
学习一门语言是不可能不花费时间和精力的。科技能做的是回报更快。

Just remember the goal—interacting with native speakers in the flesh. You'll be out in the world again one day.
只用记住这个目标——与母语人士面对面交流。总有一天，你将重回这个世界。