Concepts of foreign language, second language and bilingualism
Professor Zhang Xiangjun of Taiwan Province once distinguished foreign languages from second languages. Taking English as an example, she pointed out that EFL (English as a foreign language) is different from ESL (English as a second language).
She said: English as a foreign language, "refers to a foreign language. Since it is a foreign language, it is not the mainstream language of this society. In other words, it is not an official language, not a language used for communication in newspapers, nor a necessary condition for job-seeking exams, nor is it the mainstream language mainly spoken by ordinary people. "
This passage is very thorough. It can be said that English is an authentic foreign language in China.
Professor Zhang further pointed out that using English as a second language means that children should learn a new language (one of the main languages) after learning their mother tongue (usually an important official language).
Just like Cantonese and Mandarin, Cantonese is the first language blind and Mandarin is the second language, but Mandarin is the official language of China. In China, almost all the local languages in the south are mother tongues, such as Cantonese in Guangdong, Minnan in Fujian and Wu in Shanghai.
Because of the difference between a foreign language and a second language, learning a foreign language is much more difficult than learning a second language.
First of all, as an official language, the second language not only has a good language environment, but also can be found in any official documents, printed matter or living environment in China. Especially in some countries where the official language is single, it is impossible to live without it. Even in countries with many official languages, such as Singapore, Canada and Finland, the existence of each official language has a corresponding value, and it has a corresponding life group and use value. Since it is an officially recognized language in use, it is necessary to have a relatively rich language environment.
Secondly, the second language has a good opportunity and value. Only by learning the official language can people enter the society they live in, which is equivalent to using the language from the beginning of learning it.
The use of these second languages in multilingual countries will be affected to some extent, but they also have a good utilization rate. Television, radio, newspapers and road signs all have the value and conditions to use this language.
However, as a foreign language, it is much less. For example, when people study English in China, they mainly study in the classroom. The real application is that they occasionally have the opportunity to go abroad as adults, and the rest can only cope with exams, especially when speaking, and there are few opportunities for communication, which determines the fundamental difference between learning a foreign language and learning a second language.
Language needs to be acquired under natural conditions. Without parents' earnest expectation and "strong will" for their children's future, I think few children in China can successfully learn English.