英语，不能只学不用

English Must Be Used, Not Just Learned

> By Li Xiaolai · 2008-01-07 · [Original (web archive)](https://web.archive.org/web/20111113104149/http://www.lixiaolai.com/archives/258.html) (Chinese)
> Our translation from the Chinese original.

For most ordinary people, English is merely a tool, or, to put it in a slightly more complicated way, English is a skill. To be even stricter, for most ordinary people English **can only be a tool**, and at most **can only be a skill**. After all, only a few people will become linguists or men of letters (in a second language, of all things)—because although many people dream of becoming linguists, most of them end up fizzling out, just as many people who dream of becoming painters end up reduced to mere artisans.

People often assume that so-called skills must all be practiced to a certain level before they can be applied safely. This assumption is indeed correct in many cases. For example, if you want to be a doctor by profession, you must pass exams and obtain a license to practice medicine before being allowed to heal the wounded and rescue the dying; if you want to be a lawyer by profession, you too must pass exams and obtain a lawyer's license before you can go and uphold justice. Even somewhat simpler skills may be like this: for example, if you buy a car and want to use it as a means of transport, you must pass an exam and get a driver's license before you are allowed on the road—driving without a license is illegal.

However, this assumption doesn't apply to the acquisition and application of the skill of English (or, for that matter, of other second languages). An important reason why drivers, doctors and lawyers need to pass exams before they can apply the skills required is that if mistakes occur in the application of these skills, they may very well harm others—perhaps even irreparably. But **the application of the skill of English in most cases can hardly harm others**. However awful your English pronunciation, the listener won't faint dead away because of it; however many grammar mistakes your English has, the reader won't feel pain because of it; if someone speaks English to you and you don't understand, or shows you English and you can't read it, then, except in extreme cases, you won't really be too ashamed to show your face ever again because of it.

The skill of English doesn't have to be learned to a certain level before it can be used. Originally you could, even from the very beginning, and should, from the very beginning, use it directly. But we didn't. For many Chinese students, actually, having studied English for so many years, it's not that they've never used it; it's just that they've used it on something rather absurd, something eight poles' lengths away from the real application of language—exams. In this world there has never existed any truly "fair, reasonable and accurate" exam; all exams contain some degree of absurdity. And English exams in China are even more so—this fact is almost an axiom; everyone knows it, to the point that it needs no further proof.

Second-language acquisition is very different from native-language acquisition. In acquiring our native language, we first can "listen," only afterward can "speak," start to "read" only once listening and speaking are already very fluent, and "writing" is the last to be acquired. Because "writing" in essence most requires the ability to think (another thing that is even harder to learn to use), in fact many people (the proportion may be astonishingly high) never truly learn to "write" to the day they die—at most they are "literate." [Translator's note: the original writes 致死 ("fatal"), a slip for 至死, "until death"; translated by the intended sense] In acquiring a second language, not only is this natural order disrupted, but for many people none of listening, speaking, reading or writing is ever truly acquired.

For a second language, most people will quite naturally first be able to "read," then to "listen," and after that will find it hard to "speak." As for "writing," they haven't even figured it out in their native language, so the second language goes without saying. But in fact, **"reading" is already the most important function of language as a tool** (as for why overemphasizing the importance of spoken English and mocking "mute English" is more or less absurd, I'll write a separate article). In a second language, "being literate" in itself is already enough; "being eloquent and good at arguing" is of course very nice, but counts only as "adding flowers to brocade"—even without the flowers, it's already quite splendid brocade. [Translator's note: the original writes 在第二语言是 ("in a second language is"), a slip for 在第二语言上, "in a second language"; translated by the intended sense] We often say that a great many opportunities essentially come from information asymmetry—"You know what I don't know, so I have no choice but to pay you in exchange for information." So, if you can get more information through English, isn't that already an exceptionally good deal?

Moreover, "reading" is the foundation of "speaking and writing." It's hard to imagine a normal person who can only "read," and is especially proficient at "reading," yet can't "understand" a bit by listening or "say" anything. Because "reading" is the most important and most effective way of accumulating input in second-language acquisition. After accumulating input through "reading" up to a certain amount, with just a little practice it is hard not to "understand" by listening or not to be able to "say" things. Without "input" it's hard to produce "output"—this is a simple principle. It's just that **[people often underestimate the amount of input accumulation needed—and underestimate it far too much](http://www.lixiaolai.com/?p=732)**. The most crucial fact is that language phenomena can never be covered by dictionaries and grammar books, so a grasp of language can only be fully gained through use, and for a second language the most effective way of using it is "reading": while getting information, you gain a more comprehensive, practical skill in handling this tool. The best of both worlds.

You must read a lot—read a great, great deal. Treat the dictionary as a phone book, the grammar book as a map, and each English book as an unfamiliar yet fascinating city. Think of it as traveling: wander through every corner of them, and enjoy the process.

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