「文字趣談」的開場白

明天(12/21)要在華府書友會的年終同樂會講「文字趣談」，約20至30分鐘，（材料充份、伸縮自如），我的開場白如下：

如果您會說二種語言，您就是bi-lingual；

如果您會說三種語言，您就是tri-lingual；

如果您只會說一種語言，您就是•••？

American（美國人•••呵呵，我在嘲諷美國人的外語能力）

中文字、英文字分屬不同語言系統，以量來說•••

中文字

9,156字，許慎的《說文解字》

47,035字，《康熙大字典》

49,808字，台灣編的［中文大辭典］(謝謝笑笑補充)

85,568字，中華人民共和國最新出版的《中華字海》

6,196字，常用字

英文字

470,000 words, Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged (1993)

1,022,000 words ， a joint Harvard and Google study， Dec 2010

70,000 words，英文常用字

英文字的字數十倍於中文字的字數呢（真不知這是不是美國人外語能力薄弱的原因呀？），這說明了什麼呢？可能至少說明了三件事：

1• 相對於中文，英文字、英文語法沒有效率、效能；

2• 相對於中文，英文字、英文語法易學難精；

3• 相對於中文，英文字肯定同義字、類似字太多。 

同義字、類似字太多，導致用字遣詞不易，以下有三例：

Differences of the words

Complete vs Finish

What is the difference between Complete and Finish? …

When a man marries the right woman, he is COMPLETE.

And when a man married the wrong one, he is FINISHED.

And when the right one catches the man with the wrong one, he is COMPLETELY FINISHED!

Confident vs Confidential

 5^th grader Tammy has homework to compare the difference between Confident and Confidential.  He does not know so he asked his dad.

Son: "Dad what's the difference between confident and confidential?"
Dad: "Hmmmm… You are my son, I am confident of that. Your friend Timmy in the neighborhood,” Dad lower the voice, “is actually your brother… that's confidential!"

Definition of Tragedy

President Bush would like to see how successfully his “No Child Left Behind Act” (有教無類法案) had been implemented! One day President Bush visited an elementary school in the Northern Virginia. All the kids were so excited to get to meet the President. He began to talk to them and asked them to define the word 'tragedy.'

"Well," one girl replied, "my dad’s car ran over my puppy dog last week and it died.  That was a tragedy!"

The President smiled at the little girl and said, "No, sweetie. That was an accident, not a tragedy! Can anyone give it a try?"

A little boy sitting across the room raised his hand and said, "I know! I know! If our bus driver ran off of a cliff and killed everyone!"

The President shook his head and said, "No son. That would be a great loss! Doesn't anyone know of a good example of a tragedy?"

A small girl raised her hand and said, "Well, Mr. President, if you and Laura were in Air Force One and it was hit by a missile and blown to smithereens, most people would think that that was a tragedy!"

"Very good," he said. "And what was your reason for that answer?"

"Well," she said, "It would not be an accident and it sure would not be a great loss!"