跟读练习: Listening part four (The impact of digital technology on the Icelandic language) - 通过视频学习英语口语
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Part 4.
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You will hear a lecturer on a languages course talking about the impact of digital technology on Icelandic,
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the native language of Iceland.
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First you have some time to look at questions 31 to 40.
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Now listen carefully and answer questions 31 to 40.
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Right, everyone, let's make a start.
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Over the past few sessions, we've been considering the reasons why some world languages are in decline,
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and today I'm going to introduce another factor that affects languages, and the speakers of those languages,
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and that's technology, and in particular, digital technology.
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In order to illustrate its effect, I'm going to focus on the Icelandic language, which is spoken by around 321,000 people,
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most of whom live in Iceland, an island in the North Atlantic Ocean.
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The problem for this language is not the number of speakers, even though this number is small, nor is it about losing words to other languages, such as English.
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In fact, the vocabulary of Icelandic is continually increasing, because when speakers need a new word for something,
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they tend to create one, rather than borrowing from another language.
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All this makes Icelandic quite a special language.
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It's changed very little in the past millennium, yet it can handle 21st century concepts related to the use of computers and digital technology.
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Take, for example, the word for web browser.
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This is Vafri in Icelandic, which comes from the verb to wander.
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I can't think of a more appropriate term because that's exactly what you do mentally when you browse the internet.
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Then there's an Icelandic word for podcast, which is too hard to pronounce, and so on.
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Icelandic, then, is alive and growing, but, and it's a big but, young Icelanders spend a great deal of time in the digital world,
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and this world is predominantly English.
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Think about smartphones.
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They didn't even exist until comparatively recently, but today, young people use them all the time to read books,
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watch TV or films, play games, listen to music and so on.
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Obviously, this is a good thing in many respects because it promotes their bilingual skills,
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but the extent of the influence of English in the virtual world is staggering, and it's all happening really fast.
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For their parents and grandparents, the change is less concerning because they already have their native speaker skills in Icelandic, but for young speakers, well,
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the outcome is a little troubling.
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For example, teachers have found that playground conversations in Icelandic secondary schools can be conducted entirely in English,
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while teachers of much younger children have reported situations where their
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classes find it easier to say what is in a picture using English rather than Icelandic.
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The very real and worrying consequence of all this is
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that the young generation in Iceland is at risk of losing its mother tongue.
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Of course, this is happening to other European languages too.
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But while internet companies might be willing to offer, say, French options in their systems, it's much harder for them to justify the expense of doing the same for a language
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that has a population the size of a French town, such as Nice.
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The other drawback of Icelandic is the grammar, which is significantly more complex than in most languages.
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At the moment, the tech giants are simply not interested in tackling this.
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So what is the Icelandic government doing about this?
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Well large sums of money are being allocated to a language technology fund
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that it is hoped will lead to the development of Icelandic-sourced apps and other social media and digital systems.
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But clearly this is going to be an uphill struggle.
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On the positive side, they know that Icelandic is still the official language of education and government.
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It has survived for well over a thousand years, and the experts predict that its future in this nation-state is sound and will continue to be so.
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However, there's no doubt that it's becoming an inevitable second choice in young people's lives.
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This raises important questions.
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When you consider how much of the past is tied up in a language, will young Icelanders lose their sense of their own identity?
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Another issue that concerns the government of Iceland is this.
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If children are learning two languages through different routes, neither of which they are fully fluent in.
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Will they be able to express themselves properly?
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That is the end of part four.
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You now have one minute to check your answers to part four.
這個視頻適合誰？
無論你是準備雅思口語練習的學員，還是想提高英語發音的初級學者，這段關於數字技術對冰島語影響的講座視頻都很合適。它的語速適中，內容圍繞文化與技術的熱點話題，非常適合用來練習shadow speak（影子跟讀）。通過模仿講者的語調和節奏，你能在提升聽力的同時，鍛煉口語流利度，可謂一舉兩得。
值得積累的詞匯和短語
- in decline：衰落。影片中提到部分語言"in decline"，指它們的使用範圍逐漸縮小。
- staggering：驚人的。用來形容英語在數字世界的影響力"staggering"，強調程度之深。
- uphill struggle：艱難的鬥爭。冰島政府推廣本國語言技術的努力被稱為"uphill struggle"，形象地表達了挑戰之大。
如何練好發音？
講者的口音清晰標準，非常適合做shadowspeak練習。注意以下兩點：一是重讀，比如"digital technology"中的"digital"要輕讀，"technology"重讀；二是連讀，像"the extent of"會讀成"the extent uhv"，避免生硬斷句。建議反復跟讀"the young generation in Iceland is at risk of losing its mother tongue"這句，體會語調的起伏和節奏的變化。堅持練習，你的英語口語會越來越自然！
什么是跟读法？
跟读法 (Shadowing) 是一种有科学依据的语言学习技巧，最初开发用于专业口译员的培训，并由多语言者Alexander Arguelles博士普及。这个方法简单而强大：您在听英语母语原声的同时立即大声重复——就像是一个延迟1-2秒紧跟说话者的影子。与被动听力或语法练习不同，跟读法强迫您的大脑和口腔肌肉同时处理并模仿真实的讲话模式。研究表明它能显着提高发音准确性，语调，节奏，连读，听力理解和口语流利度——使其成为雅思口语备考和真实英语交流最有效的方法之一。