My 3-year-old son started to speak a while ago — but only recently in English.
不久前，我三歲的兒子開始講話——但是他最近才開始講英文。

Most Americans who encountered the blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy during his recent summer vacation in the rural United States figured he was babbling rather than attempting to converse with them in Mandarin.
前段時(shí)間他在美國(guó)鄉(xiāng)下過(guò)暑假時(shí)，大部分美國(guó)人遇到這個(gè)金發(fā)碧眼的小男孩，都認(rèn)為他只是在牙牙學(xué)語(yǔ)，未曾想過(guò)他在試圖用普通話與他們交流。

Strangers in northern Michigan would hear me responding to Sagan and at least sometimes presumed we were foreign.
在北密歇根，陌生人會(huì)聽我對(duì)薩根的回應(yīng)，而且有些時(shí)候會(huì)以為我們是外國(guó)人。

Fair enough.
這也說(shuō)得通。

But they were seemingly left guessing at what language we were using, since, when it comes to Chinese, we don’t look the part, to say the least.
但是，他們似乎會(huì)猜測(cè)我們講的是哪種語(yǔ)言。因?yàn)橥艘徊街v，我們的長(zhǎng)相看起來(lái)不像中國(guó)人。

In other words, their eyes and ears would seem to disagree.
換言之，他們看到和聽到的存在矛盾。

“So,” a few asked, “where are you from?”
一些人會(huì)問(wèn)我們：“所以你們來(lái)自哪里呢？”

“Here,” I’d reply.
“就是這里，”我回答道。

Their question purposefully didn’t exclude the provided answer.
他們問(wèn)的時(shí)候自然沒(méi)有排除這個(gè)可能的答案。

I’d then explain we live in China where both kids were born and raised, and we were making our annual visit home to see family.
接著，我解釋道，我們定居在中國(guó)，我的兩個(gè)孩子都在那里出生長(zhǎng)大。我們每年會(huì)回來(lái)探親。

Their faces settled into nods, seemingly as much as an affirmation to themselves as to us.
他們點(diǎn)點(diǎn)頭，似乎是對(duì)自己猜測(cè)的肯定，也是對(duì)我們的肯定。

“Well, that makes sense,” I imagined them thinking.
我猜他們一定會(huì)想：“這樣就說(shuō)得通了。”

Otherwise, it really wouldn’t make much sense in the woodsy communities we were visiting.
否則，在我們所到的北密歇根的這個(gè)森林社區(qū)，這實(shí)在不太合理。

Home.
這里是我們的家鄉(xiāng)。

But understanding Sagan was still a guessing game for family members, who knew the rules but not how to play in his mother tongue.
但對(duì)我們的家人來(lái)說(shuō)，聽薩根說(shuō)話就像是一場(chǎng)猜謎游戲，他們懂得游戲規(guī)則卻不知道如何用他的母語(yǔ)表達(dá)。

“Wo xiang he nai! (I want to drink milk!),” Sagan would announce to my mom.
薩根會(huì)對(duì)奶奶說(shuō)道：“我想喝奶！”

“Are you sleepy?” Grandma would reply in English.
奶奶會(huì)用英文回答道：“你是困了嗎？”

“Hungry? Need a new diaper?”
“餓了嗎？還是要換新的尿不濕？”

When she’d correctly guess, “milk?”, Grandma wouldn’t understand his affirmative response without translation.
就算奶奶猜對(duì)了是“牛奶？”，沒(méi)有翻譯的話，她還是不明白薩根接下來(lái)給她的肯定回答。

After two months in the US, including a birthday, Sagan returned to Beijing speaking English, mostly separately.
在美國(guó)待了兩個(gè)月后（在此期間還過(guò)了個(gè)生日），薩根回到北京，開始零零碎碎地講一些英文。

Still, days after we were reunited, he tugged my sleeve, pointed to the sky and declared: “Baba (Dad!), hai you yi ge (there’s another) airplane flying. Look!”
不過(guò)，在我們重新團(tuán)聚的幾天之后，他拽著我的袖子，指向天空，說(shuō)：“爸爸，還有一個(gè)airplane flying（飛機(jī)在飛）。Look（你看）！ ”

I’d just pointed the first out to him, using only English.
我剛剛指給他看了第一架飛機(jī)，當(dāng)時(shí)我只說(shuō)了英文。

His 7-year-old sister, Lily, also learned Chinese first and then mixed until she, also around 3, unglued the languages, both of which she speaks like a native.
薩根有一個(gè)七歲的姐姐莉莉，她也是先學(xué)會(huì)了中文，然后中英文混著講。莉莉直到三歲左右才將兩種語(yǔ)言分開。她的中英文都說(shuō)得和本地人一樣好。

The only deficiency in her Putonghua (standardized spoken Mandarin) is a Beijing accent in which growling er sounds unfurl the end of many syllables.
莉莉講普通話時(shí)的唯一缺點(diǎn)就是有北京腔。北京腔會(huì)在很多音節(jié)后面帶上兒化音。

Our family has made it a point to circumnavigate a regret many immigrant families in the US, including Chinese friends, repeated to us about raising their kids abroad — that is, allowing the parents’ native tongue to become antipodean.
不少在美國(guó)的移民家庭，包括一些中國(guó)朋友不止一次地提及，在國(guó)外撫養(yǎng)孩子的話，父母的母語(yǔ)將是孩子的外語(yǔ)。而我們家對(duì)此特別注意避開這一遺憾。

Or, at least, we’ve tried to.
或者說(shuō)，我們至少嘗試著去這樣做了。

My wife, daughter and I sprinkle commonly used Chinese words into overwhelmingly English sentences at home.
我的妻子、女兒和我在家講話時(shí)，會(huì)在大量英文句子中夾雜常用的中文詞匯。

Sure, environment is part of the reason our kids picked up Chinese first.
當(dāng)然，環(huán)境是我們的孩子先學(xué)會(huì)說(shuō)中文的原因之一。

But another feature of the language seems to be a major underwriter — Mandarin is easier for beginning speakers to pronounce.
但是中文的另一個(gè)特征似乎是主要原因——對(duì)于初學(xué)者來(lái)說(shuō)，普通話的發(fā)音更容易。

That’s because tykes who are just starting to talk initially can’t annunciate consonant sounds at the end of syllables. Putonghua has only three — n, ng and ’er — but most syllables instead end with vowels.
那是因?yàn)閯倢W(xué)說(shuō)話的小孩子一開始不會(huì)在音節(jié)結(jié)尾處發(fā)輔音。而普通話中只有三個(gè)輔音——n,ng和er, 而多數(shù)音節(jié)都是以元音結(jié)尾的。

So, “horse” is nearly impossible for a nascent chatterbox to pronounce.
因此，對(duì)于一個(gè)牙牙學(xué)語(yǔ)的小孩來(lái)說(shuō)，幾乎不可能說(shuō)出“horse”這個(gè)單詞。

“HO’wuh” is about as close as our kids came, initially. That pesky “rse” ending kicked them in the lips.
“HO’wuh” 是小孩子一開始能發(fā)出來(lái)的音。 而麻煩的尾音“rse”難住了他們的嘴巴。

Ma? No problem.
那么“Ma”呢？這個(gè)發(fā)音完全沒(méi)有問(wèn)題。

But environment’s role in language acquisition recently became clearer as our daughter completed her first month of first grade in a local school.
不過(guò)，環(huán)境在語(yǔ)言習(xí)得中的作用最近更明顯了，因?yàn)槲覀兊呐畠阂呀?jīng)在當(dāng)?shù)貙W(xué)校讀一年級(jí)有一個(gè)月了。

Her Chinese reading and writing will soon surpass her English.
她的中文閱讀和寫作水平將很快超過(guò)她的英文能力。

I’m, frankly, both delighted and dismayed.
說(shuō)實(shí)話，我對(duì)此既欣喜又沮喪。

Could there be a linguistic tradeoff in becoming better than almost all nonnative readers of multiple languages but not as good as most native writers of any one?
能否在勝過(guò)幾乎所有使用多國(guó)語(yǔ)言的非母語(yǔ)讀者的同時(shí)，也能夠和任何一個(gè)母語(yǔ)作者表現(xiàn)一樣優(yōu)秀呢？

Or, will our kids claim the best of both worlds, linguistically and culturally?
或者說(shuō)，我們的孩子能否在兩種語(yǔ)言和文化方面都能做到最好？

Only their lives will tell.
只有他們以后的表現(xiàn)會(huì)給我們答案了。

英文來(lái)源：“CHINA DAILY”微信公眾號(hào)
翻譯：儲(chǔ)鑫（實(shí)習(xí)）
編審：丹妮 董靜
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Author & Broadcaster

Erik Nilsson is an American journalist who has worked in China for over 10 years. His work has won various honors, including the Chinese Government Friendship Award - the highest honor the country bestows on foreigners. He has traveled to every provincial-level jurisdiction except Chongqing and Guangdong, covering such stories as the Wenchuan and Yushu earthquakes, nomadic communities’ development and civil society.