7 Tricks To Learn Any Language In 7 Days (From The Superpolyglot Twins Who Did It)
當你去另一個國家旅行時就必須去學那個國家的語言嗎？會十種語言、住在柏林的語言達人雙胞胎，接受一周學習一種語言的挑戰。我們能從他們的學習當中學到什么呢？
Do you really have to travel to another country to learn the language? The 10-language twins undertook the challenge of learning a language in a week in Berlin, their city of residence. What can we learn from how they learned?
一周之內可能發生些什么事呢？如果你想在七天之內達成一個目標，你有多大的雄心勃勃去完成這個目標呢？這些是多語言雙胞胎馬修和麥克尤登，在他們決定在一周內學習土耳其語，向自己提出的問題。他們試圖想把自己從現代日常生活中的注意力渙散，和責任中解放出來，只是為了把八小時填鴨式的學習時間導入他們每天程式化的生活當中。這就是我觀察世界上最能干的一些語言學習者而學到的七件事情。
What’s possible in a week? If you dedicated seven days to the achievement of one goal, how ambitious could you make this goal? These were the questions that the multilingual twins Matthew and Michael Youlden posed themselves when they determined to learn Turkish in one week. They would attempt to liberate themselves from the distractions and responsibilities of modern-day life in order to cram eight hours of study time into their daily routine. Here are the seven things that I learned by observing some of the world’s most capable language learners.
1、要知道為什么
課堂學習要點: 在最開始的時候，就清楚地定義好你的目標，然后為完成這個目標畫好線路圖。
這個雙胞胎給自己的挑戰，要在一周內學習一種語言是為了更好地伸展他們的能力，然后的問題就是要選擇哪一種語言。土耳其語展示出的似乎是一種天然的選擇，在德國首都有接近30萬人講土耳其語，在克羅茲堡和新克爾恩地區分布了不少帶有土耳其裝飾的商店，要真實地了解這些臨近的居民區的環境，就需要先懂得土耳其語。
1. Get To Know Why
Lesson learned: Clearly define your goal at the very beginning and then plot a route towards this goal’s achievement.
The twins set themselves the challenge of learning a language in a week in order to stretch themselves, and then it was a question of choosing which language to learn. Turkish presented itself as a natural option; there are nigh on 300,000 Turkish speakers in Germany’s capital, and the areas of Kreuzberg and Neuk?lln are dotted with stores adorned with signs in Turkish. Truly understanding one’s environment in these neighbourhoods requires one to first understand Turkish.
2、要貼粘紙貼
課堂學習要點：在你第一時間，就用新的語言在你所處的環境的地圖上標注好標簽，這樣就能在你日常生活中，建立起并且加固被動的聯想。
雙胞胎學習過程運作的第一步就是整個房間里貼滿了粘紙貼，這幾乎像一個儀式一樣，雙胞胎兄弟把每一個標貼的東西都在字典里專研并找出它相應的土耳其語的名稱。在一個小時的時間里不可能完成一些枯燥的任務，只能沖泡一杯咖啡，或者關掉一盞燈，不會有第一步的展示，至少有三個不同的詞語和這個行動相關聯。
2. Get Sticky
Lesson learned: Map and label your immediate environment in the new language from the very first moment. You’ll build and reinforce associations passively while going about your daily life.
The first operational step in the twins’ learning process was to decorate the entire apartment with sticky notes. This had an almost ceremonial touch to it as the twins delved into dictionaries and proceeded to label everything with its corresponding Turkish name. Within the space of about an hour it was impossible to carry out any menial task, be it making a coffee or flicking off a light switch, without first being presented with at least three different words related to this action.
3、找一個伙伴
課堂學習要點：沒有比有一對同伴，擁有共同的目標更好的激發動因了，無論你這個動機是來自于競爭還是相互責任感的意識，這個學習伙伴的存在只是讓你有可能更加努力地運用恰當的壓力來保持你的正確軌道。
雙胞胎兄弟存在的重要性立刻顯而易見，因為馬修和邁克委派了用粘紙貼裝飾房子的責任，這個簡單的任務卻被持續的小測試搞得引起爭論，好像一個要撲倒另一個。事實上是他們分開了，有一點不同，學習不同的主題意味著雙胞胎的每一個人，都成為另外一個知識的來源，問題再一次要怎么說？是令人驚訝的遇見通常有一個答案。一周結束時，最令人意想不到的時刻是，當雙胞胎兄弟簡單地將日常的對話用土耳其語講出來，一個問另一個是要茶還是要咖啡，要準備做晚餐了，或者是第二天什么時候離開。
3. Get A Partner
Lesson learned: There are few better motivations than a peer with the same goal. Whether you’re motivated by competition or a sense of mutual responsibility, the mere presence of a learning partner is likely to exert just the right amount of pressure to keep you on track.
The importance of the other twin’s presence became immediately apparent as Matthew and Michael delegated responsibilities for rooms to decorate with sticky notes. This simple task was augmented by continuous little tests that they would spring on one another, and the fact that they split up their day slightly differently and studied different topics meant that each twin became a source of knowledge for the other; the questionhow do you say that again?was met surprisingly often with an answer. The most extraordinary moment came towards the end of the week when the twins simply switched their everyday conversations to Turkish, asking one another if they wanted tea or coffee, were ready to cook dinner or when they were going to leave the house the next day.
4、準備小小的動機
課堂學習要點：在你通往目標的路上，需要一些里程碑，這些里程碑能組成一些小小的挑戰——真實的生活在語言里相互作用，比如 - 迫使你準備好的關于地點的單詞，去解決它們。完成以后帶給你的滿足感，將激勵你走向更高的高度。
馬修和麥克在整個一周里，經歷了無數的微小的挑戰。第一天，他們的土耳其朋友到訪，用土耳其語跟他們打招呼，并夸獎他們，那么快就能用第一個單詞和詞組了。然后他們學習了水果的名稱和數字，從一到十億，所以他們就可以去克羅茲堡的市場了（雖然他們還必須避免購買90萬種金橘）。雖然是疙疙瘩瘩，第一次能夠用土耳其語進行實用性的交流，他們露出自豪的微笑，在回家繼續深入學習之前，升起明顯的成就感。
4. Prepare Mini-Motivations
Lesson learned: You need landmarks on your route towards your goal. These landmarks can consist of small challenges - real life interactions in the language, for example - which force you to prepare areas of vocabulary to overcome them. The gratification that will come with their completion will serve to spur you on to ever greater heights.
Matthew and Michael had numerous micro-challenges throughout the week. On the first day they were visited by a Turkish friend who greeted them in Turkish and complimented them on how quickly they’d picked up their first words and phrases. They then learned the names of fruits and the numbers from one to a billion so that they could visit the Turkish market in Kreuzberg (although they refrained from purchasing nine hundred thousand kumquats). Displaying their haul after their first functional exchange in Turkish, they beamed with pride and a palpable sense of accomplishment before marching back home to study further.
5、把語言吃下去
課堂學習要點：找到一個方法，把你做的每件事都聯系到學習上去。你的腦海里要布滿食物、音樂和電影，即使是休息的時間，腦子里也要準備好語言，也許就能觸發更多有興趣的領域和動機。
這周我們第二次去見他們兄弟倆是待了24小時，發現他們取樣了幾十種不同的土耳其小吃。就像孩子去上學前，仔細的看著背包里谷物食品包裝袋，吃點心時仔細閱讀包裝袋上的營養說明和提供的各種特別成分分析。在八小時里，這雙胞胎兄弟倆沒有一刻是把自己從語言學習過程完全移開的。雖然這學習的強度會衰退或流動，但不會完全消失。
5. Eat The Language
Lesson learned: Find a way to tie everything you do to learning. Surround yourself with the food, the music and the films, so that even in your downtime you can prime your mind towards the language and perhaps trigger further areas of interest and motivation.
On our second visit to the brothers’ apartment 24 hours into the week, we found them sampling dozens of different kinds of Turkish snacks. Like kids staring at the backs of cereal packs before heading to school, the nutritional information and various special offers and competitions on the packaging were analysed during snack breaks. There was no moment of complete removal from the language learning process during the eight hours that the twins had allotted to it. The intensity ebbed and flowed, but it never dissipated entirely.
6、用你已知的
課堂學習要點：學習過程越深入，學習的內容越容易記住。通過類似于畫出平行線，并把你已學會的語言和正在學的新的語言做對比，會讓你找到很多樂趣。
雙胞胎中的一位最常說的就是，“嗯，這個有一點像在…？”他們不斷使用現有的知識，來支持正在學習并日益增長的土耳其語的相關知識。這些不同詞語的詞源不僅如火花般令活力四射，而且新詞像編織進入了相互關聯的網，肯定不容易忘記。甚至如果你學習第二門語言，很可能碰到的新單詞和你的母語有相同的詞源。
6. Use What You Already Know
Lesson learned: The greater the depth of processing, the more likely the information will be remembered. Find pleasure in drawing parallels and making comparisons between the language(s) you already know and your new language.
One of the twins’ most common phrases was,“ah, that’s a bit like in … ?”They were constantly using their existing knowledge to support the ever-growing knowledge of Turkish. Not only did this spark some energetic exchanges regarding the etymology of various words, but it also ensured new words would never be forgotten once woven into their web of associations. Even if you are learning your second language, you will likely come across words that share common origins with words in your native tongue.
7、變化是生活的調料
課堂學習要點：你有自己繪制的學習路線，也有自己喜歡的方法，但一定要嘗試新的事情，新一種語言也像你的母語一樣有很多資源。
雙胞胎兄弟，花了很多的時間，完全專注在書本上，在他們的電腦上及他們的應用軟件上，通過熱切的練習，有輕重也有急緩，但在另外的時間里面，發現他們在繁忙地搜索土耳其電臺，并且在網絡上撰寫土耳其足球賽。學習語言無定法，也沒有任何工具，或者老師能夠手把手地教你達到令人崇拜如朝圣般的流利程度。語言是聽、說、讀、寫，每一塊都有核心技能，并且需要大量潛在的輸入，所以你還會制約自己只會母語一種語言嗎？人們通常會在一周語言學習班里和老師交談，但是然后就幾乎不再和其他語言的母語者接觸了，也不接觸一些他們所要學習的語言的媒體或廣播。每天都嘗試一些新事物吧，哪怕是聽一首庸俗的歌，讀一些刊有和你政見不同的文章的報紙，為孩子們寫些小故事，試著在劇院表演一些即興演奏或者在做飯的時候和自己說說話。在你的語言學習中，加點佐料，添點特色味道吧！
7. Variation is the spice of life
Lesson learned: So you have your route plotted and an idea of your favored methods, but do remember to try new things; your new language has just as many sources as your native language.
The twins spent a lot of time engrossed in books or on their computers and apps, flicking and swiping their way through exercises eagerly, but at other times they were to be found searching busily for Turkish radio stations and write-ups of Turkish football games on the web. There is no definitive method to learn a language, nor any tool or teacher that will single-handedly deliver you to the holy grail of fluency. Language is written, spoken, read and heard. Each of these areas is considered a core skill within which there are myriad potential inputs; would you restrict yourself to one in your native language? All too often, people enter their weekly language class to converse with their teacher, but then barely have any contact with other native speakers or the media being broadcast in their target language. Try something new every day. Listen to a cheesy song, read a newspaper article from a newspaper whose politics differ from your own, write a story for kids, attempt some improvised theatre and talk to yourself while cooking. Spice it up and add some flavour to your language learning!
原文鏈接：https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/learn-any-language-in-your-hometown?bsc=engmag-a58-vid-bv17-turkishweek-cd-xo-ob&btp=1_eng_out_cd&utm_campaign=cd_engall_gen_cxo_turkishweek_premium&utm_content=7+Tricks+To+Learn+Any+Language+In+Just+7+Days&utm_medium=CON&utm_source=outbrain&utm_term=Guardian+-+World
作者：Ed M Wood
“本譯文僅供個人研習、欣賞語言之用，謝絕任何轉載及用于任何商業用途。本譯文所涉法律后果均由本人承擔。本人同意簡書平臺在接獲有關著作權人的通知后，刪除文章。”
譯者注：原文（英文）是選自《衛報》的一個鏈接，一份電子雜志，但是因我沒有花錢訂閱《衛報》，通常只有當天的文章可以打開，所以我把原文一并列上，逐段翻譯，以供參考。
