英译中
It was just one word in one email, but it triggered huge financial losses for a multinational company.
区区电子邮件里的一个单词，导致一家跨国公司遭受巨大经济损失。
The message, written in English, was sent by a native speaker to a colleague for whom English was a second language. Unsure of the word, the recipient found two contradictory meanings in his dictionary. He acted on the wrong one.
这封电子邮件是由一位英语母语人士用英语所写，而邮件接收人则是一位以英语为第二语言的同事。该同事收到邮件后，发现该单词在字典里有两个截然相反的意思，他拿捏不准，并最终选择了那个错误的意思。
Months later, senior management investigated why the project had flopped, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. “It all traced back to this one word,” says Chia Suan Chong, aUK-based communications skills and intercultural trainer, who didn't reveal the tricky word because it is highly industry-specific and possibly identifiable.“Things spiralled out of control because both parties were thinking the opposite.”
数月过去，该跨国公司的高管开始调查这个项目失败并损失几十万美元的原因。谢宣童(Chia Suan Chong)是一名交流技能和跨文化培训师，供职于一家总部设在英国的机构，她说：“所有的调查线索最终指向这个单词”。谢宣童没有透露具体这个单词，因为该单词是某行业专用词汇，透露该单词可能暴露这家跨国公司的身份。她还说：“由于双方的理解截然相反，事件不断升级，最终失控。”
When such misunderstandings happen, it’s usually the native speakers who are to blame. Ironically, they are worse at delivering their message than people who speak English as a second or third language, according to Chong.
出现此类误解，责任在于英语母语人士。谢宣童认为，耐人寻味的是，英语母语人士在传递信息方面比以英语为第二语言或第三语言的人士要糟糕。
A lot of native speakers are happy that English has become the world’s global language. They feel they don' t have to spend time learning another language,” says Chong.
谢宣童说：“众多英语母语人士对于英语成为世界通用语感到窃喜，因为他们觉得这省去了学习其他语言的麻烦。”
The non-native speakers, it turns out, speak more purposefully and carefully, typical of someone speaking a second or third language. Anglophones, on the other hand, often talk too fast for others to follow, and use jokes, slang and references specific to their own culture, says Chong.
谢宣童说，事实上，非英语母语人士，特别是会讲第二语言或者第三语言的人士，在传递信息时更加谨慎、目的性更强，而英语母语人士在讲话时通常语速过快导致别人听不懂，并且他们话语中还夹杂着笑话、俚语及自己文化特有的事物。
“The native English speaker… is the only one who might not feel the need to accommodate or adapt to the others,”she adds.
谢宣童补充说：“唯有……英语母语人士认为没必要体谅对方或为对方着想。”
With non-native English speakers in the majority worldwide, it’s Anglophones who may need to up their game.
由于世界上非英语母语人士居多，所以英语母语人士该停止那套旧做法。
“Native speakers are at a disadvantage when you are in a lingua franca situation,” where English is being used as a common denominator, says Jennifer Jenkins, professor of global Englishes at the UK’s University of Southampton. “It’s the native English speakers that are having difficulty understanding and making themselves understood.”
詹尼弗·詹金斯(JenniferJenkins)是英国南安普敦大学的全球英语教授，她说：“母语各不相同的人士在一起采用英语为通用语进行沟通时，英语母语人士处于不利的境地，这是因为英语母语人士在理解其他人讲的英语方面存在障碍，而其他人在理解英语母语人士的英语方面也同样存在障碍。”
Non-native speakers generally use more limited vocabulary and simpler expressions, without flowery language or slang. And then there’s cultural style, Blattner says. When a Brit reacts to aproposal by saying, “That’s interesting” a fellow Brit might recognise this asunderstatement for, “That’s rubbish.” But other nationalities would take the word “interesting” on face value, he says.
非英语母语人士在讲英语时，通常使用数量有限的词汇和简单的表达方式，不花哨，也不夹带俚语。此外，还有文化因素，布拉特纳(Blattner)说。一个英国人在评论一项提议时说“That’s interesting”(“蛮有趣”)，此时，另一个英国人会把这句话把理解为“太垃圾”的含蓄说法，而其他国家的人则只会取“interesting”(有趣)的字面意思进行理解。
“English speakers with no other language often have a lack of awareness of how to speak English internationally.”
“不会讲其他语言的英语母语人士在讲英语时，通常缺乏国际意识。”
In Berlin, Coulter saw German staff of a Fortune 500 company being briefed from their Californian HQ via video link. Despite being competent in English, the Germans gleaned only the gist of what their American project leader said. So among themselves they came up with an agreed version, which might or might not have been what was intended by the California staff.
科尔特(Coulter)在柏林看见一家世界500强公司的德国员工通过视频连线听取加州总部的情况通报。德国员工虽然英语不错，但只留心美国项目领导讲话的要旨。对于该情况通报，德国员工内部达成一致意见，而这个意见与加州项目领导的意思可能相同或者可能相左。
“Too many non-Anglophones, especially the Asians and the French, are too concerned about not ‘losing face’— and nod approvingly while not getting the message at all,” he says.
科尔特说：“太多非英语母语人士，特别是亚裔人士和法国人，他们由于太怕‘丢面子’而只会点头赞同，实际上却一点都没听懂。”
That’s why Nerriere devised Globish— a distilled form of English, stripped down to 1,500 words and simple but standard grammar. “It’s not a language, it’s a tool,” he says. Since launching Globish in 2004 he’s sold more than 200,000 Globish text books in 18 languages.
有鉴于此，奈易耶(Nerriere)发明了全球化英语(Globish)，这是一种简洁英语，将英语词汇限制在1500字左右，并采用简单、标准的语法。奈易耶说：“全球化英语不是一种语言，而是一种工具。”自2004年推出全球化英语以来，用18种语言编写的全球化英语教材销量逾20万册。
“If you can communicate efficiently with limited, simple language you save time, avoid misinterpretation and you don’t have errors in communication,” Nerriere says.
奈易耶说：“能用有限的词汇、简单的语言进行高效沟通，既节省时间，又避免误解，消除了沟通中的错误。”
When trying to communicate in English with a group of people with varying levels of fluency, it’s important to be receptive and adaptable, tuning your ears into a whole range of different ways of using English, Jenkins says.
詹金斯说，在与一群英语流利程度不一的人士用英语进行沟通时，保持包容和体谅，并接受各种各样的英语表达方法，这很重要。
“People who’ve learned other languages are good at doing that, but native speakers of English generally are monolingual and not very good at tuning in to language variation,” she says.
詹金斯说：“学习了其他语言的人士在这点上就做的很好，而英语母语人士通常只会英语这个单一语言，他们不大适应英语的其他变种。”
In meetings, Anglophones tend to speed along at what they consider a normal pace, and also rush to fill gaps in conversation, according to Steggles.
斯戴格尔斯(Steggles)认为，英语母语人士在开会时倾向于按自己认为正常的语速说话，在对话中则急于传递信息。
He recommends making the same pointin a couple of different ways and asking for some acknowledgement, reaction or action.
斯戴格尔斯建议采用多种方式表达同一个意思，并且需要对方做出一些认可、反应或行动。
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