My Fair Lady - Why Can't The English?

延續去年的《教父》系列老片回顧的跨年方式，今年以奧黛麗赫本電影為主，首選《窈窕淑女》（My Fair Lady）。

《My Fair Lady》故事背景以二十世紀初的倫敦為舞台，粗俗的賣花女（奧黛麗赫本飾演） 如何經由一位語言學教授調教後，晉升上流社會。

故事一開始，語言學教授連續丟出好幾個問題

這一段點出"Why Can't the English learn how to speak? "這問題很發人深省。

很值得對語言有興趣，不僅是英文、更可以對比母語。

雖說南腔北調，帶有地方口音不是錯。

但是在英國這階級分明的國家，一般來說，口音能反應一個人的教育、社會背景和出生地。更可以通過英國人講話的口音來判斷所代表的社會等級。（簡單分辨口音就知道出身哪裡，是一般的公立學校state school還是私立寄宿學校public school / boarding school。）

當然，現今的英國不在像以往追求字正腔圓的正統口音，各地都以自己的口音為榮。也因此根據BBC的調查，只剩下百分之三的人說的是標準英式英語。

BBC節目介紹：英國各地口音，從倫敦的"Cockney"、曼徹斯特的"Manchester"、利物浦的"Liverpudlian"（有名的例子：約翰藍農）、北到蘇格蘭大城Glasgow的"Glaswegian"。

"Look at her, a prisoner of the gutters

"Condemned by every syllable she utters

"By right she should be taken out and hung

"For the cold-blooded murder of the English tongue"

Heavens, what a sound!

"This is what the British population

"Calls an elementary education"

Come, sir, l think you've picked a poor example.

Did l?

"Hear them down in Soho Square. Dropping H's everywhere

"Speaking English any way they like

"Hey, you, sir, did you go to school?

"What ya tike me for, a fool?

"No one taught him 'take' instead of 'tike'

"Hear a Yorkshireman, or worse

Hear a Cornishman converse

"l'd rather hear a choir singing flat

"Chickens cackling in a barn

Just like this one

"Garn!

"Garn!

"l ask you, sir, what sort of word is that?

"lt's 'aoow' and 'garn' that keep her in her place

"Not her wretched clothes and dirty face

"Why can't the English teach their children how to speak?

"This verbal class distinction by now should be antique

"lf you spoke as she does, sir, instead of the way you do

"Why, you might be selling flowers, too"

I beg your pardon.

"An Englishman's way of speaking absolutely classifies him

"The moment he talks he makes some other Englishman despise him

"One common language I'm afraid we'll never get

"Oh, why can't the English learn to...

"...set a good example to people

whose English is painful to your ears

"The Scotch and the lrish leave you close to tears

"There even are places where English completely disappears

"Why, in America they haven't used it for years!

"Why can't the English teach their children how to speak?

"Norwegians learn Norwegian,

the Greeks are taught their Greek

"In France every Frenchman knows his language from 'A' to 'Z'

"The French don't care what they do actually

"As long as they pronounce it properly

"Arabians learn Arabian with the speed of summer lightning

"The Hebrews learn it backwards which is absolutely frightening

"Use proper English, you're regarded as a freak

"Oh, why can't the English

"Why can't the English learn to speak?"

故事中間有一段：奧黛麗赫本大使館舞會中因為儀態和發音太好了被誤認為是「異國公主」

"'Her English is too good,' he said
'That clearly indicates that she is foreign

"'Whereas others are instructed in their native language
"'English people aren't
"'Although she may have studied with
an expert dialectician and grammarian

簡而言之：這段對話告訴我們，通常外國人在學語言時，會比本國人發音還清楚仔細。

外國人要學好發音，並不是難事。
因為不是母語，所以會更仔細發音、文法、用詞。

好令人振奮的總結！