馬修·尤登：一個(gè)精通九國(guó)語(yǔ)言的人

不知從何時(shí)開(kāi)始，“學(xué)霸”一詞悄然成為人們的常用語(yǔ)。雖然“霸”在傳統(tǒng)意義上是個(gè)貶義詞，但網(wǎng)絡(luò)上流傳的“學(xué)霸”一詞卻并無(wú)貶義，它一般用來(lái)指代平時(shí)刻苦鉆研，認(rèn)真學(xué)習(xí)，學(xué)識(shí)豐富，學(xué)習(xí)成績(jī)斐然的一類人。

今天我們就先來(lái)認(rèn)識(shí)一位外語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)上的“學(xué)霸”——馬修·尤登。

Matthew Youlden， a language sponge from Manchester England， can speak so many languages with a perfect accent that the man has been coined the “l(fā)anguage chameleon”：Germans think hes German， Spaniards think hes Spanish， Brazilians think hes Portuguese （he proudly speaks the good-old European variety）.

Matthew Youlden speaks nine languages fluently and understands more than a dozen more. Hes a member of the polyglot club， whose members can speak six or more languages fluently. Hes also a sociolinguist who studies the revitalization of minority languages. To see him in actionon a daily basis-deftly and comfortably talking to native-speakers in their own languages-suggests that hes more than a polyglot.

This Englishman credits his knowledge of languages for allowing him to see the world from multiple perspectives. He can speak Irish， German， Spanish， Catalan， Portuguese， Hebrew， Italianand French as well as， obviously， English. And he adjusts to each language so naturally that when he talks， native speakers assume the language he speaks must be his first.

Currently， hes working on his knowledge of Afrikaans， Dutch， Ukrainian， Galician， Serbianand Croatian. He says that even if languages are closely related， they will still give him a fresh new point of view.

This friendly-faced guy says he learned French in university when he was immersed in his studies as an interpreter. He went to Montreal to study the language more closely. Spanish washis first though， followed by French and then Catalan. Originally， Youlden actually wanted to learn Portuguese upon booking a plane ticket with his brother for vacation in Portugal. But Portuguese wouldnt become his first conquered language after all. His mother suggested Spanish instead， Her reasoning was logical enough： more people in the world speak Spanish and therefore， it would have more uses when travelling.

Thinking his mother had made a reasonable argument， he took on Spanish travelling to Barcelona where he lived for an entire year. As for Portuguese， that came eventually. As a matter of fact， he can also speak Brazilian Portuguese， a version he admits not liking at the beginning. Now hes a master.

By his own account， Matthew has mastered a staggering number of languages by utilizing abilities that we all possess： persistence， enthusiasm and open-mindedness. If your classicpolyg lot is an uber-nerd who studies languages full-time， then Matthew is something different. His version of multilingualism doesnt is olate him in an ivory tower； it connects him to people all over the world.

語(yǔ)言天才馬修·尤登來(lái)自英國(guó)曼徹斯特。他可以說(shuō)多國(guó)語(yǔ)言，且腔調(diào)近乎完美，因此，他被稱為“語(yǔ)言變色龍”：德國(guó)人聽(tīng)他說(shuō)話會(huì)當(dāng)他是德國(guó)人，西班牙人會(huì)當(dāng)他為西班牙人，巴西人會(huì)當(dāng)他是葡萄牙人（他自豪地說(shuō)著各種歐洲大陸上古老而又美好的語(yǔ)言）。

馬修·尤登能流利地說(shuō)九種語(yǔ)言，并了解超過(guò)十二種語(yǔ)言。他就是傳說(shuō)中“多語(yǔ)種精英”中的一員，這些人均能流利地說(shuō)六種或六種以上語(yǔ)言。馬修也是一位社會(huì)語(yǔ)言學(xué)家，致力于少數(shù)民族語(yǔ)言復(fù)興研究。但如果從他日常用當(dāng)?shù)氐恼Z(yǔ)言跟當(dāng)?shù)厝苏f(shuō)話時(shí)那種熟練地道的感覺(jué)來(lái)看，便會(huì)覺(jué)得他不僅僅是一名多語(yǔ)種精英。

馬修認(rèn)為是他的多語(yǔ)言知識(shí)讓他能夠從多個(gè)角度觀看這個(gè)世界。他可以說(shuō)愛(ài)爾蘭語(yǔ)、德語(yǔ)、西班牙語(yǔ)、加泰羅尼亞語(yǔ)、葡萄牙語(yǔ)、希伯來(lái)語(yǔ)、意大利語(yǔ)和法語(yǔ)，當(dāng)然，還有英語(yǔ)。他在這么多語(yǔ)言的轉(zhuǎn)換中游刃有余，以致于人們誤認(rèn)為每種語(yǔ)言都是他的母語(yǔ)。

目前，他正在學(xué)習(xí)南非荷蘭語(yǔ)、荷蘭語(yǔ)、烏克蘭語(yǔ)、加利西亞語(yǔ)、塞爾維亞語(yǔ)和克羅地亞語(yǔ)。他說(shuō)，盡管有些語(yǔ)言關(guān)系密切，但它們?nèi)匀粫?huì)給他一個(gè)全新的視角。

這個(gè)外表友善的小伙子說(shuō)他的法語(yǔ)是他在讀大學(xué)的時(shí)候?qū)W的，當(dāng)時(shí)，他沉浸在自己的翻譯研究之中。后來(lái)，他為了進(jìn)一步地學(xué)習(xí)這種學(xué)語(yǔ)言去了蒙特利爾。盡管如此，西班牙語(yǔ)是他習(xí)得的第一門(mén)外語(yǔ)，緊接著是法語(yǔ)和加泰羅尼亞語(yǔ)。最初，他其實(shí)想學(xué)習(xí)葡萄牙語(yǔ)，因?yàn)樗牒透绺缫黄鹑テ咸蜒蓝燃?，需要預(yù)訂飛機(jī)票。但是，葡萄牙語(yǔ)終究沒(méi)有成為他掌握的第一門(mén)外語(yǔ)。媽媽建議他學(xué)習(xí)西班牙語(yǔ)，理由聽(tīng)起來(lái)相當(dāng)符合邏輯：世界上更多的人講西班牙語(yǔ)，因此在旅行時(shí)西班牙語(yǔ)更能派上用場(chǎng)。

他認(rèn)為媽媽的話很有道理，于是開(kāi)始學(xué)習(xí)西班牙語(yǔ)，去巴塞羅那旅行，并在那待了一整年。至于葡萄牙語(yǔ)，最終他還是學(xué)會(huì)了。事實(shí)上，他還能說(shuō)巴西式葡萄牙語(yǔ)，當(dāng)然，他承認(rèn)最初他很反感巴西式葡萄牙語(yǔ)。而現(xiàn)在，他相當(dāng)精通。

據(jù)馬修自述，他能夠掌握數(shù)量如此驚人的語(yǔ)言，正是靠著我們每個(gè)人都有的能力：堅(jiān)持不懈、熱情和開(kāi)闊思維。如果你眼中的典型多語(yǔ)種精英是不停學(xué)習(xí)的“書(shū)呆子”，那么馬修可能要顛覆你的認(rèn)識(shí)了。他的多語(yǔ)言能力并未將他束縛于象牙塔之內(nèi)，而是讓他跟全世界的人都聯(lián)系起來(lái)。