实战口语情景对话 第545期:Learning Language 学习语言

Tom: Joel, you speak Thai.
汤姆：乔尔，你会说泰语。

Joel: Yeah, a little bit.
乔尔：对，会说一点儿。

Tom: Your wife speaks English.
汤姆：你妻子会说英语。

Joel: Yep, yep.
乔尔：对，没错。

Tom: So, at home, what language do you use?
汤姆：那你们在家里用什么语言交流？

Joel: We usually speak English when we want to have real communication because her English is much better than my Thai, but I like to practice Thai a lot so when I'm being a little more playful, when the topic isn't serious and we really don't need to communicate, then we'll speak in Thai and I get a chance to practice and it's also fun for her to listen to me speak in Thai and to teach me. What's interesting is that, it depends also on who we're around, so for example if we're with my family and we want to say something in private, then we'll speak in Thai but if we're with her family and we want to say something privately then we'll speak in English so her family can't understand us.
乔尔：一般在我们需要深入交流时会说英语，因为她的英语要比我的泰语好，不过我喜欢多练习一下泰语，所以在谈论轻松好玩的话题时，在我们不需要沟通事情的情况下，我们会说泰语，这样我就有机会练习了，而且对她来说，听我说泰语和教我泰语都是一种乐趣。有意思的是，我们说什么语言要取决于我们和谁在一起，举例来说，如果我们和我家人在一起，我们想说一些私人的事情，我们会说泰语，如果我们和她家人在一起，我们要说私事时就会说英语，因为这样一来她家人就不知道我们在说什么了。

Tom: Don't your family think that's quite rude?
汤姆：你家人不会认为这样太无礼了吗？

Joel: Oh, they don't really, they don't really know what we're talking about so they can't be sure. It gets more complicated, though because she also speaks Japanese and I speak Japanese, so sometimes when we are with her brother who speaks English, we'll speak Japanese if we want to speak privately.
乔尔：哦，他们不知道我们在说什么，所以他们不确定。可能更复杂，因为她会说日语，我也会说日语，所以我们在和她说英语的哥哥在一起时，如果要说私事我们会说日语。

Tom: And then again, there's your little kid. What language does he speak?
汤姆：那你们的孩子呢？他说什么语言？

Joel: I try to speak English most of the time when I'm with him because I want to have him hear me as a model because he lives in Thailand so he's always hearing Thai and I want him to have a chance to hear some English but I find that since I'm around Thai people all the time, they're speaking Thai to him, I start to get used to how they talk to him, and I start to kind of copy their examples, so sometimes it feels natural to me to speak Thai with him, but I try to speak English with him as much as I can.
乔尔：我和孩子说话时尽量大部分时间都用英语，因为我想让学习我的语音，他住在泰国，他听到的都是泰语，所以我想让他有机会听一些英语，不过我发现，因为我们一直和泰国人在一起，那些人都和他说泰语，所以我开始习惯他们和他说话的方式，我开始模仿他们，所以有时和孩子说泰语对我来说也很自然，不过我尽量和他说英语。

Tom: And what do you eat in your family?
汤姆：你们家里吃哪国菜？

Joel: Oh, we eat Thai food all the time, yeah. I like it much better than American food.
乔尔：哦，我们一直吃泰国菜。相比于美国菜，我更喜欢泰国菜。

Tom: Is it because you like it or because your wife is good at cooking it?
汤姆：是因为你喜欢泰国菜，还是因为你妻子擅长做泰国菜？

Joel: I guess both. I mean, you can't really find much American food in Thailand so it's much easier to get and if you were going to go to a restaurant, like Sizler or something, even though it's not so good, it's very expensive, so, both. I like Thai food better and it's just easier to get when you're there.
乔尔：我觉得两种原因都有吧。泰国的美国餐厅不多，所以吃泰国菜相对容易些，而且如果你去Sizler这种餐厅吃饭，食物并不怎么好吃却很贵。所以两个原因都有吧，我更喜欢泰国食物，而且吃泰国菜也相对容易些。

Tom: With the different languages you can't really settle down together in front of the TV.
汤姆：因为语言不同，你们很难一起看电视吧？

Joel: She usually likes to watch English programs, though, so but it's hard for me to watch Thai programs. I usually, I get bored very quickly because I can't understand much.
乔尔：她喜欢看英语节目，不过对我来说泰语节目很难。我很快就烦了，因为我听不太懂。