Chapter 4 what is that?

Hua An stood by the bed and watched his mother get dressed. He pointed to the plain skirt and said, "Mom, new one?" Mom nodded: "Yes, it's new." An An said approvingly, "It's beautiful!" The mother stopped moving her hands, looked at the two-year-old child in amazement, and thought to herself: God, this little guy is "chatting" with me, using his only words. Dad came into the bedroom, and the little man ran over happily, took his big hand, and pointed to mother's skirt: "Dad, Schau neue, schon," he said in German: "Look, the new one is very beautiful. "

An An's mother is from Taiwan, China. Since the day An An was born, she has been speaking to her child only in Mandarin, without any foreign language in her sentences.An An's father is German and speaks standard German, so An An and her father speak German.However, Mom and Dad spoke English to each other, and no one taught Ann to speak English. The family lives in Switzerland. The Swiss speak a dialect of German. Just as people who speak Mandarin cannot understand Hokkien, Germans often cannot understand the Swiss dialect.When An An was in the kindergarten, she spoke Swiss with the teacher and the children.

Little An An, with round eyes, round nose, and round face, lives in these four languages.What was that like? In the kindergarten, Hua An murmured to himself, but the big-eyed Susan couldn’t understand, she thought: “Well, Andreas must be speaking Chinese, so I can’t understand, wait for his mother to come Ask her to see." At home, An An said a sound to herself, a new sound that her parents had never heard before, and her mother couldn't understand it, so she asked her father: "Is it German?" "No." Dad said, and then asked, "Is it Mandarin?" "no."

"That must be Swiss!" Mom and Dad said together like a chorus. An An ignored her parents' confusion, and went to knead clay and make a piglet by herself. Susan asked when her mother came to pick up the child: "What is Ouzi?" Mom smiled happily: "It's 'monkey'! Andreas said monkey in Chinese!" Then Mom asked Susan, "What's Lowe? What's Willow?" Susan explained: "It means "lion" and "bicycle" in Swedish." At the dinner table, Dad suddenly realized: "Oh, I can't think of it, the same German, there is such a big difference. I have never heard such a saying!"

In this way, Xiao Huaan keeps everyone busy: Susan learns Chinese, mother learns German, and father learns Swiss.Only after mastering all the languages ​​can adults fully understand Hua An's words.Dad said with a little comfort: "Fortunately, he can't understand English..." One day, there was a beautiful black man standing on the bus, and An An asked excitedly, "Mom, who?" My mother said: "Black, that's a black." As she answered, she thought, if a person who has never seen a black before understands the meaning of the word "black", and his eyes can distinguish colors and have the concept of color, once he Hearing the word "black", you should immediately recognize the characteristics of black people and define black people-those with dark skin are black people.But the little head next to him doesn't know the meaning of "black", and he doesn't know that there are so-called white people, yellow people, red people, etc. in this world. How can he understand the black person in the carriage?The little head obviously noticed that the human being in front of it is different from its father and mother, but does it have the ability to observe, compare, and classify?

Back home, my mother picked up the English version of "Pioneer Forum", sighed and said, "Hey! James Baldwin is dead!" Baldwin is a famous African-American writer. In the photo, he is wearing a big straw hat and smiling innocently , showing white teeth. "Mom!" A loud cry startled the mother who was reading the newspaper. An An was pointing to Baldwin's photo and said in surprise: "Black man, look, another black man!" Mom looked at the photo carefully: since it is a black and white photo, even the skin color of the person cannot be seen. How could this person, a two-year-old villain, know that he is a "black man"?

An An has long forgotten about black people. She was flipping through pictures of bears and big wild wolves, commenting on them as she watched them: "It's so big! Biting! Sleeping! Falling down..." Mother stared at his beautiful head shape, her heart churning Emotions of admiration and touch: children are the verification of Tianxin, the pinnacle of beauty.What kind of cosmic opportunity created the life of "man"? Mom didn't know that it wasn't just black people that An An could distinguish.When a visitor comes to the house, if it is a Westerner, An An blurts out German without thinking; if it is an Easterner, the first sentence is Mandarin.It seems that there are several buttons in the brain, and you can press different buttons when you see different people, and you will never get confused.How can a small person distinguish between Westerners and Easterners?

A dachshund dog was walking towards him, with extremely short limbs, propping up a long cylinder-like body, its belly almost touching the ground.Hua An pointed to the dog and raised his head and asked his mother, "What is that?" Mom said, "Dachshund." Hua An vaguely read "Ya Changgou"; when he was satisfied, he raised his head and asked his father: "Das?" "Ein Dackel," Dad said. Hua An nodded.In his mind, every plant and tree in this world has several different names at the same time; the two wheels that can run, the mother calls it "bicycle", the father calls it "Fahrrad", but Susan in the kindergarten says It is "Velo".Hua An took it for granted, so every new encounter, he had to ask three times, and then remember three answers.

The fourth type, English, parents are afraid to confuse the little ones, so they never teach it, and English becomes the secret language among adults.One morning, An An cracked a raw egg, and the yolk flowed on the floor, spreading to the white carpet.The perpetrator cheered: "Mom, Look—" When my mother saw it, she yelled "Oops", and hurried to the rescue.While wiping the floor vigorously, he suddenly thought of something and looked for Hua An: "What did you just say?" "Look, Mom!" The little man proudly admired his mother's surprise, "Look!"

Mother threw down the rag and said dejectedly: "It's over, he's starting to understand English!"