比利時巧克力 - 「Belgian」Chocolate 🍫
本周的 newsletter,我們來個輕鬆一點的主題~
我經常強調,學習外語,應該要有意識和有系統地透過生活中的真實例子來學習。
當在日常生活中遇到不明白的例子,或者發現一些與自己認知有衝突的情況,我們都應藉此機會去釐清與學習(或轉變自己的固有認知)。
像我昨天為女兒買士多啤梨巧克力時,就想到一個簡單的例子,現在與你們分享一下。
我聽到過許多香港朋友,會把出產自比利時的巧克力(Belgian chocolate),說成「Belgium chocolate*」。
其實表達這種巧克力的正確名詞組是「Belgian chocolate」。是有Belgium(比利時)這專有名詞的單字形容詞版本「Belgian」,意指「來自比利時的」。(這也是十分受歡迎的一款雪糕口味,因此經常會在香港看到這個固定expression。)
「Belgium」是國家名,是專有名詞,「Belgian」則是該國家的形容詞。
書面上,我們能看到兩者串法的不同。至於發音,「Belgium」以鼻音子音 /m/ 結尾,「Belgian」則以鼻音子音 /n/ 結尾。
除了最後的子音,兩個詞的發音是相同的,所以很多人忘了要注意它們的差別。但說錯了,對於母語人士來說卻會很明顯,因為他們正是以最後的子音來區分兩者的。
假如想表達某些東西來自比利時,我們應使用形容詞「Belgian」,例如「Belgian chocolate」、「Belgian waffles」、「Belgian beer」等。
許多國家都有一個用以表達「來自該國家」的形容詞,例如「Germany → German」、「Switzerland → Swiss」「Japan → Japanese」,諸如此類。而「Belgium」和「Belgian」比較容易使人混淆,主要因為它們相似的字形和發音。
我想指出的重點是,假設你以往一直以為應該說「Belgium chocolate*」,發音也以為是以 /m/ 收尾,但當看到像附圖中寫著「Belgian chocolate」的標籤,便應該要嘗試找出原因,以及確認哪一個才是正確的版本。(例如,簡單地在網上搜尋一下~)
一旦釐清了,你便能改正錯誤,而且永不再犯 – 這是自學外語時需具備的一種重要心態和技巧。
下次當你在生活中發現正確的英語例子,就主動地挑戰一下自己吧。 🙂
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“Belgian” Chocolate 🍫
This week’s newsletter is a light-hearted one, haha.
I just want to remind everyone that, when we are learning a foreign language, we should always try to learn consciously from every real-life example of that language that we encounter.
When we see something that we don’t understand in a real-life example, or if we see something that seems to contradict what we thought we knew, we should always seek clarification and then learn -- or change our understanding -- accordingly.
I just want to give an easy example that came to mind when I bought some chocolate strawberries for my daughters yesterday.
I have heard many people from Hong Kong say “Belgium chocolate*” to refer to “Belgian chocolate” -- that is, chocolate produced in the country Belgium.
The correct noun phrase expression for this type of chocolate is “Belgian” chocolate, with the single-word adjective form of the country Belgium “Belgian,” which means “from Belgium.” (This is a popular ice-cream flavor in Hong Kong as well, so the expression comes up quite often.)
“Belgium” is the name of the country, and “Belgian” is the adjective for this country.
In writing, we can see that the two words are spelled differently. In pronunciation, “Belgium” ends in the nasal consonant /m/, whereas “Belgian” ends in the nasal consonant /n/.
The words are identical in pronunciation except for the final consonant, so many people forget to pay attention to the difference, but it is quite jarring to native speakers because this difference in final consonant differentiates the two words.
When we want to express that something is from Belgium, we would use the adjective “Belgian” -- for example, “Belgian chocolate,” “Belgian waffles,” “Belgian beer” etc.
Many countries have an adjective form that expresses “from that country” -- for example, “Germany → German,” “Switzerland → Swiss,” “Japan → Japanese” etc. “Belgium” and “Belgian” are just easier to mix up because of their similarity in form and in pronunciation.
My point is that, if you had previously thought that the expression is “Belgium chocolate*” and had been saying it with a final /m/, and you encountered “Belgian chocolate” written out on a label like the one I attached below, you should try to find out why it is this way and which one is the correct version. You can do this by doing a simple online search.
When you have clarified this, you can correct yourself and never make the same mistake again. This is a very important skill to master in self-learning when it comes to foreign languages.
Challenge yourself to do this when you encounter examples of English in real life next time. 🙂
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