実践ビジネス英語 ディクテーション (4/12,13)
こんにちは。NHKラジオ「実践ビジネス英語」”Talk the Talk”のディクテーションです。
Lesson 1のテーマは、’The Benefits of Being Bilingual’（バイリンガルであることのメリット）でした。Vignetteでは、バイリンガルであることは脳の機能にも経済的にもメリットが大きいことや、アメリカ人の10人に8人は英語しか話さないことなどが話題になりました。アメリカ人には外国語を学ぶ動機がほとんどないそうです・・・。
Talk the Talkでは、Heatherさんはやっぱりお嬢さんの話をされています。
*英文の終わりに語注をつけました。
The Benefits of Being Bilingual
（S: 杉田敏先生 H: Heather Howardさん）
S: Our current vignette talks about the benefits of being bilingual.
It really is a great thing.
It’s a brain stretcher, and provides an undeniable advantage in today’s interconnected and globalized world.
Plus, speaking more than one language can prevent or at least minimize the effects of Alzheimer’s disease.
I’ve encouraged my children to learn English and my grandchildren, who were raised in the States and in Singapore, have happily retained their command of the language.
You’re raising your daughter to be bilingual too, aren’t you, Heather?
I remember us speaking about that a few years back.
H: Yes, she’s six now, and I’m happy to say that her English is coming along pretty well.
My husband and I have basically kept using the one-parent, one-language approach: I speak entirely in English and he speaks about 70 percent Japanese.
It’s been fascinating to watch how her English ability has developed.
There are chunks of time where outwardly, she doesn’t seem to be making any progress, and then one day, out of the blue, she starts using all these words and grammatical patterns that she never did before.
Though, of course, it’s not “out of blue,” is it?
She’s been listening all that time, to me, to my husband, to English movies and TV shows we let her watch.
All that input builds up in her brain until one day she’s ready to bring it out.
S: Are there any principles that you’ve kept in mind while teaching her English?
H: I make a point of not correcting her.
I have a very good book about raising bilingual children, and it recommends “recasting” children’s utterances instead of overtly correcting them.
This works for general language development, apparently, as well as teaching a second language.
My daughter hates getting her hair brushed, for example, and for a long time, she would say in English, “I not like it.”
Obviously, that’s wrong, but I made a conscious effort not to directly correct her.
Instead I recast her statement by saying, “I know you don’t like it, honey. I’m trying to be gentle.”
And then one day, she just started saying, “I don’t like it” and has used the correct English ever since.
The book also recommends associating the minority language with fun as much as possible.
So I play with her in English a lot, we watch TV shows and movies together and talk about the content, and we meet up with other bilingual families for playdates.
S: Very interesting.
She’ll have a definite advantage over the about 80% of US students who aren’t study any foreign language.
H: Oh, that’s an awful statistic.
I’ve said before that, if possible, I’d have everyone live abroad for at least a year.
Well, I’d also have everybody study a foreign language all through high school and college.
You know, I’ve always been very impressed by your English skills, Mr. Sugita.
S: Like Ueda Shota, English is an acquired language for me, so whenever I speak it, I have to make a conscious effort to watch my grammar, syntax and pronunciation.
It’s mentally tiring for me at times.
My English tends to get a bit rusty when I don’t have a chance to speak it on a day-to-day basis.
It improves whenever I go to the States even for a short period of time because I’m speaking English all the time.
H: Well it may be acquired but it is very well acquired.
And that makes sense about going to the States.
When May (Mei) gets a little older, I’d like to take her to America for school vacations.
If she has sudden bursts of progress while here, I can just imagine hoe much she’ll improve if she’s surrounded by English everywhere she goes.
Words and Expressions
outwardly: 表面上は
out of blue : 突然、前触れもなく
recast : 作り（書き、練り）直す：本文では「言い直す」の意
overtly : あからさまに、公然と
お疲れさまでした。お読み下さり、ありがとうございます♪
