QA：为什么许多中国人学习英语多年，但仍然不会说英语？

Jayce Tan
When I was studying for my master’s degree in Sweden, an Italian classmate once approached me and asked why Chinese students often kept to themselves and didn’t socialize much with students of other ethnicities. I paused for a moment and gave him an answer he didn’t expect at first: “Because many of us don’t speak English very well.”
From what I’ve observed, many Chinese students abroad lack confidence in speaking English, especially in their first year. Unlike many European countries where people grow up in more diverse, multicultural environments, most Chinese students grow up surrounded by other Chinese. Opportunities to have regular conversations with foreigners in English are rare.
Although we start learning English from primary school, the focus is mostly on memorizing vocabulary and grammar—it’s repetitive and uninspiring. That’s also why many Chinese students are better at reading and writing than speaking. In my own school experience, the "speaking" part of English class usually meant reciting textbook passages aloud with the whole class, like in the picture below. It didn’t help much when it came to having real conversations in everyday life.

我在瑞典读硕士的时候，一位意大利同学问我，为什么中国学生总是独来独往，不怎么和其他族裔的学生交流。我顿了顿，给了他一个他一开始没想到的答案：“因为我们很多人英语说得不太好。”
据我观察，很多中国留学生在英语口语上缺乏自信，尤其是在第一年。与许多欧洲国家不同，这些国家的人们在更加多元化、多元文化的环境中成长，大多数中国学生是在中国人的包围下长大的。用英语与外国人进行日常对话的机会很少。
虽然我们从小学就开始学习英语，但英语的重点主要集中在词汇和语法的记忆上——重复性很强，缺乏趣味性。这也是为什么很多中国学生的阅读和写作能力比口语能力强的原因。在我的学校生活中，英语课的“口语”部分通常是全班同学一起大声背诵课本上的段落。在日常生活中进行真正的对话时，它并没有多大帮助。

Feiron
Not just speaking, many students' listening skill is also not good. Because the schools' improvement to the students' oral skills is very limited.
Most students always spend too much time on memorizing words and grammar, instead of communicating with others. Unfortunately that's my situation. When I learned English in school, I just finished the homework, which was only about words, phrases and grammar. Because in our English class, every training on listening and speaking is based on sets of questions and tests. I have no chance to have a real communication with foreigners. (In fact, I took two English speaking classes taught entirely in English by foreigners online. But they're ineffective, because the class mode was that students answer the questioms from teacher, which has no essential difference to the listening-speaking test. )
Around me, the classmates with good listening-speaking skills, with no exception, all have at least two of the following features:
They come from a very international city, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, etc.. So they have more opportunities to communicate with foreigners, or even go aborad.
(One of) their parents are intellectuals, or even have the experience studying aboard, so that they have good listening-speaking skills.
They took a lot of extracurricular English tutoring classes outside during primary school or junior high school, which teach much more skills than the school's conventional courses.
But I don't have any of these features. In fact, the vast majority of the Chinese students are the same.

不仅仅是口语，很多学生的听力也不好。因为学校对学生口语能力的提升非常有限。
大多数学生总是把太多时间花在记忆单词和语法上，而不是与人交流上。不幸的是，我的情况就是这样。我在学校学英语的时候，只是完成作业，作业内容只有单词、短语和语法。因为在我们的英语课上，所有关于听力和口语的训练都基于一套套的题目和测试。我没有机会与外国人进行真正的交流。 （其实我上过两节老外全英文在线授课的英语口语课，但效果不明显，因为上课模式是学生回答老师的问题，跟听力口语考试没什么本质区别。）
我身边那些听力好的同学，无一例外，都具备以下至少两个特点：
1、他们来自非常国际化的城市，比如北京、上海、深圳、广州、杭州等等，所以有更多机会和外国人交流，甚至出国；
2、他们的父母是知识分子，甚至有出国留学的经历，所以他们的听力口语很好；
3、他们在小学、初中的时候，参加过很多课外英语辅导班，这些辅导班教的技能比学校的常规课程多得多。
而这些特点我都不具备。其实，绝大多数中国学生都一样。

Steven Haddock
Chinese and English are pretty much as different as its possible for two languages to be.

汉语和英语的差异之大，几乎达到了两种语言所能达到最高程度。

Kanthaswamy Balasubramaniam
They have very little exposure to SPOKEN ENGLISH
For instance an average of 30% Screens in India which release Hollywood films show the films in DUBBED LANGUAGE
Around 70% Screens show the film in English with English subtitles
In China only 10% of the Screens show the Films in English (If the Censor approves) while 90% of the screens show Hollywood films in Chinese LANGUAGE with MANDARIN SUBTITLES
Likewise 95% Chinese go to Public Schools which are Chinese Medium where English is just a subject than a spoken language
There is no access to YouTube except by VPN or to English Sitcoms on OTT Platforms
There is no sport like cricket with English commentary
Even Baseball commentary for NBA is Chinese dubbed
In spite of this the Gen Z speak decent English albeit with a strong accent

他们很少接触口语英语。
例如，在印度，平均有30%的好莱坞电影放映厅会播放配音版电影。约70%的放映厅会播放英文电影，并配有英文字幕。在中国，只有10%的放映厅会播放英文电影（前提是审查部门批准），而90%的放映厅会播放中文好莱坞电影，并配有普通话字幕。同样，95%的中国人就读于以中文授课的公立学校，在那里英语只是一门科目，而不是一种口语。除了通过VPN或在OTT平台上观看英文情景喜剧外，无法访问YouTube。
没有像板球这样有英文解说的运动。
甚至连NBA的棒球解说都有中文配音。
尽管如此，Z世代的英语水平还不错，尽管口音很重。

Hollow Cat
That’s right. I am a Chinese person, just like you said, who is not good at speaking English. Maybe I can say I have studied English for fifteen years, but I feel like I never had proper English education, not even for a single day.
I spent my primary school years in a village. There, we had no English teacher. English is taught by Chinese teachers or someone else, who also didn’t know English themsevles. They would try to study some English the night before and then teach us the next day. So they didn’t know how to pronounce words correctly or what was actually right. We had english exam every semester, but they only tested reading and writing.
I still remeber I got 59 out of 100 in the final test in my first year of junior high school. At that time, I moved to a very small city where there was finally a really english teacher. She was very patient and nice, but I lack confidence and didn‘t know how to study it. By the time I realize how importment my grades were for getting into a good school, it was already too late.
Although I study very hard in high school, I still didn’t know how to study English well. I felt ashamed because my English was poor. I was afraid to talk about anything telated to English, and I avoid speak it as much as possible. Fortunately, in my province, the college entrance examination, which is the most important exam in Chinese, didn’t include English listening and speaking. So I focused on reading and writing, and I still remember I got 138out of 150 in that exam, so I was able to enter one of the best university.
But I still poor at listening and speaking English. I’m even more afriad of speaking English now than I was in high school. Now that I’m about to graduate, I finally have the courage to study English again. That’s why I came here(quora) and try to answer some question to improve my english, little by little.

没错。就像你说的，我是一个中国人，英语说得不太好。或许我可以说我学了15年的英语，但我感觉自己从未接受过正规的英语教育，一天也没有。
我的小学是在农村度过的。那里没有英文老师。英语是由中文老师或其他老师教的，而他们自己也不懂英语。他们会在前一天晚上试着学习一些英语，然后第二天再教我们。所以他们既不知道单词的正确发音，也不知道哪些词是正确的。我们每个学期都有英语考试，但考试只考阅读和写作。
我还记得初一期末考试我得了59分（满分100分）。后来，我搬到了一个很小的城市，那里终于有一位真正的英语老师。她很有耐心，也很友善，但我缺乏自信，不知道该如何学习。当我意识到英文成绩对于考入一所好学校有多么重要时，已经太晚了。
虽然我在高中学习很努力，但我仍然不知道如何学好英语。我为自己糟糕的英语感到羞愧。我害怕谈论任何与英语相关的话题，也尽可能避免说英语。幸运的是，在我们省，高考，也就是中国最重要的考试，没有包括英语听力和口语。所以我专注于阅读和写作，我还记得那次考试我得了138分（满分150分），所以我考进了最好的大学之一。
但我的英语听力和口语仍然很差。我现在比高中时更害怕说英语。现在我即将毕业，我终于鼓起勇气重新学习英语。这就是为什么我来到这里（quora）的原因，尝试回答一些问题，一点一点地提高我的英语水平。

Kee
Dude. Do you speak Chinese?
Let me tell you, Chinese is difficult. I grew up in a Chinese family. 75% of my country is Chinese, and I still can barely manage to buy eggs at the market using Chinese. First of all, the sentence structure is totally different, and so are the tenses and pronunciations. Here’s an example of the difference between Chinese and English (A simple sentence because I can’t think of anything better):

我以前最爱吃草莓 means I used to love to eat strawberries. However, when literally translated, it comes out like this: I last time most love eat strawberry. The Chinese don’t have tenses or plurals. Now, imagine if you, as a native English speaker, were suddenly thrown into an environment where everyone speaks as weird as that, and when you speak like you were taught to, people look at you like you’re thick. How’d you feel?

English and Chinese are worlds apart. It’s learning an entirely new language, people! You wouldn’t be able to learn Chinese despite “years” of trying, so don’t expect the same on their part, okay?
Edit II: Many have mentioned that tenses and plurals do exist in Chinese. I must have been quite confusing, stating that tenses don’t exist, having cited an example of a tense, 之前, right before. So to clarify, tenses and plurals do exist in Chinese, but not as suffixes or word modifiers. Instead, they’re more often used optionally, to add context to a sentence. My fault for not being clear, sorry everyone!

哥们，你会说中文吗？
我跟你说，中文很难学。我在中国长大，75%的人口讲汉语，但我现在仍然只能勉强用中文在市场上买个鸡蛋。
首先，句子结构完全不同，时态和发音也完全不同。
以下是中英文差异的一个例子（因为我想不出更好的句子，所以就用简单的句子）：
“我以前最爱吃草莓”
这句话的意思是“我以前最爱吃草莓”。然而，如果直译过来，就是“我上次最爱吃草莓”。中文没有时态和复数。现在，想象一下，如果你，一个以英语为母语的人，突然被扔进一个每个人说话都非常奇怪的环境，当你按照曾经别人教你说话的方式说话时，人们会用看傻子的眼光看着你。你会有什么感觉？
英语和中文是两个截然不同的世界。这就像学习一门全新的语言，朋友们！你即使“努力”了“多年”也学不会中文，所以别指望他们也能做到，好吗？
很多人提到中文里有时态和复数。我肯定有点糊涂了，我明明举了“以前”这个时态的例子，却说中文里没有时态。所以澄清一下，中文里确实有时态和复数，但不是作为后缀或修饰词。它们更多时候是可选的，用来给句子添加语境的。我的错，表达不清楚，各位见谅！

Bob Antbeej
Oh god, this is really a good question…
I am a Chinese and for years I have been asking myself the same question: why English is so difficult for me even after years of studying.
I remember I can speak out English when I had the opportunity to be exposed to the international environment. It was a Master's program, and we had a lot of students from different countries. That time I accumulated vocabularies to express myself. After several months, I can finally speak without pressure.
By then, I finally realized that, I was never really educated to use the language in daily life, but only expected to read and understand academic papers (most of these papers are written in English, so they had to teach you, letting you “learn” the “high technology” from the west, while keep your Chinese identity).
I am not criticizing anyone, just stating my observation. I think this was a clever strategy when China was a backward country. The government spend so many money on education, and they don't want the smart guys flow to US. As a result, a lot of local genius choose to stay in China, just because they cannot “speak English well” and don't enjoy living abroad :)
So, this is my answer: In China, education system only teach English for the purpose of academics and business, not for daily conversation. They expect you to learn hard core techs, rather than western culture.
(Forgive me if I make grammar mistakes.)

天哪，这真是个好问题……
我是中国人，多年来我一直在问自己同一个问题：为什么学了这么多年，英语对我来说还是这么难？
我记得我有机会接触国际环境的时候，英语就可以说得出口了。那是一个硕士项目，我们有很多来自不同国家的学生。那时我积累了足够的口语表达能力。几个月后，我终于可以毫无压力地开口说话了。
那时我才意识到，我从未真正接受过在日常生活中使用英语的教育，而只是被要求阅读和理解学术论文（这些论文大多是用英文写的，所以他们不得不教你，让你“学习”西方的“高科技”，同时保持你的中国身份）。
我不是在批评任何人，只是在陈述我的观察。我认为这在中国还是一个落后国家时，这是一个聪明的策略。政府在教育上投入了那么多钱，他们不希望聪明人流向美国。因此，很多本土人才选择留在中国，仅仅是因为他们“英语说得不好”，而且不喜欢在国外的生活 :)
所以，我的答案是：在中国，教育体系教授英语只是为了学术和商业，而不是为了日常会话。他们希望你学习核心技术，而不是西方文化。
（如果我犯了语法错误，请原谅我。）

Stacie Dong
English is a kind of language,and it need to be used during normal life and practice the usage of volcabulary and grammar.But in China,passing the examination in China is more important than using.
The students pay more attention to how to solve the english grammar and vocabulary problems on paper.And most of the problems are choice problems.They won’t use it in normal life.At the same time,more and more English teacher is focus on how to help students to get high score than use.They even tell the students with some tips to choose the right answer.

英语是一门语言，需要在日常生活中运用，练习词汇和语法的运用。但在中国，考试通过比实际运用更重要。
学生们更注重如何在纸面上解答英语语法和词汇问题。而且大多数题目都是选择题，他们在日常生活中不会用到。与此同时，越来越多的英语老师更注重如何帮助学生取得高分，而不是实际运用。他们甚至会告诉学生一些选择正确答案的技巧。
Sean Landy دانشجوی چینی 陆

From my personal experience, learning English and speaking English are two completely different things.
Although I have obtained a CET-6 English certificate and learned my English pronunciation from South Park, I would be completely unable to speak English if it were not for my job requirements.
I still remember the interesting scene of my first communication with a foreigner, which took place in my own office.
For some reasons, in order to recruit Taobao clothing models, our company sent notices to dozens of model agencies.
A beautiful Eastern European(finally know she’s Russian) model received the notice and made an appointment for an interview with us.
Coincidentally, I was the only interviewer.
The subsequent scene was very dramatic.
I thought her English was very professional, and she also assumed my English was qualified.
Both of us were straining our brain cells to recall all kinds of English words, so much so that our minds couldn't organize grammar or long sentences at all, and we couldn't even focus on the correctness of pronunciation.
Months later, when we got to know each other, she apologized to me, saying that her English vocabulary was insufficient and her accent was too strong.
Can you imagine my shock?
It's like the first time I found out Kanye was my schoolmate.
Yes, Kanye went to the same school as me in China when we were kids.
I shouldn't have followed the trend to make fun of him – those "gayfish" jokes.

从我个人的经历来看，学英语和说英语是两码事。
虽然我考取了大学英语六级证书，也从《南方公园》里学过英语发音，但如果不是工作需要，我可能完全不会说英语。
我至今还记得第一次和外国人交流的有趣场景，就发生在我的办公室里。
因为一些原因，我们公司为了招淘宝服装模特，向几十家模特经纪公司发出了招聘启事。
一位美丽的东欧模特（终于知道她是俄罗斯人）收到了通知，并预约了我们的面试。
巧合的是，我是唯一一位面试官。
接下来的一幕非常戏剧化。
我觉得她的英语很专业，她也觉得我的英语很合格。
我们俩都拼命地回忆各种英语单词，以至于我们的大脑根本无法组织语法和长句，甚至无法专注于发音的正确性。
几个月后，我们认识了，她向我道歉，说她的英语词汇量不足，而且口音太重。
你能想象我当时有多震惊吗？
就像我第一次发现Kanye是我的同学一样。
是的，Kanye小时候和我在中国上同一所学校。
我不该跟风取笑他——那些“gayfish”的笑话。（译注：南方公园节目中的一个笑话）