TED演讲:多元化的自己究竟有多大力量(2)

I was born in Korea — the land of kimchi; raised in Argentina,

我在泡菜之国–韩国出生;在阿根廷长大,

where I ate so much steak that I’m probably 80 percent cow by now;

可能因为吃太多牛排,我觉得现在我80%的成分是牛;

and I was educated in the US, where I became addicted to peanut butter.

然后我在美国接受教育,在这儿又对花生酱爱得无法自拔。

During my childhood, I felt very much Argentinian, but my looks betrayed me at times.

小时候,我觉得自己是个地道的阿根廷人,但我的外表时不时会背叛我。

I remember on the first day of middle school, my Spanish literature teacher came into the room.

我还记得上中学的第一天,我的西班牙文学老师走进教室。

She scanned all of my classmates, and she said, “You — you have to get a tutor, otherwise, you won’t pass this class.”

她扫了一眼全班同学,说到,“你,你要请一个家教,否则,你肯定过不了这门课。”

But by then I was fluent in Spanish already, so it felt as though I could be either Korean or Argentinian, but not both.

但当时我的西班牙语已经非常流利了,当时给我的感觉就是,我要么是韩国人,要么是阿根廷人,但不可能两者都是。

It felt like a zero-sum game, where I had to give up my old identity to be able to gain or earn a new one.

这种感觉就像是非此即彼的博弈,我必须放弃自己的旧身份,才能获得新身份。

So when I was 18, I decided to go to Korea, hoping that finally I could find a place to call home.

18岁那年,我决定去韩国,希望找到一个能称之为家的地方。

But there people asked me, “Why do you speak Korean with a Spanish accent?”

但有人问我,“为什么你说韩语有西班牙口音?”

And, “You must be Japanese because of your big eyes and your foreign body language.”

“你肯定是日本人,因为你眼睛很大,肢体动作也像外国人。”

And so it turns out that I was too Korean to be Argentinian, but too Argentinian to be Korean.

原来,作为阿根廷人,我太韩国范儿,作为韩国人,我又太阿根廷范儿。

And this was a pivotal realization to me. I had failed to find that place in the world to call home.

对我来说这是一个非常关键的认识。我找不到一个可以称作老家的地方。

But how many Japanese-looking Koreans who speak with a Spanish accent

但是看起来像日本人的韩国人,讲话又带着西班牙口音,

or even more specific, Argentinian accent — do you think are out there? Perhaps this could be an advantage.

或者更确切地说,带着阿根廷口音,这样的人你们觉得有多少呢?也许这是一个优势。

It was easy for me to stand out, which couldn’t hurt in a world that was rapidly changing,

我更容易在人群中凸显出来,在这个变化迅速的世界,

where skills could become obsolete overnight.

你的技能也许一夜之间就被淘汰了。

So I stopped looking for that 100 percent commonality with the people that I met.

因此我不再在遇到的人身上,寻找100%的共性。

Instead, I realized that oftentimes, I was the only overlap between groups of people that were usually in conflict with each other.

取而代之的是,我常常意识到,自己正好处于交叉地带,位于常常有冲突发生的人群中间。

瑞贝卡·黄的一生都在不停地切换身份–在韩国出生,在阿根廷长大,在美国上学–长久以来,她甚至无法找到一个可以称之为老家的地方。在这个充满挑战的过程中,她有了一个关键的认识:多元化的背景在今天这个全球化的世界中是一个明显的优势。在这个关于她自己的演讲中,黄分享了接受复杂身份所能带来的众多好处,以及她希望建立一个新世界的愿望,在那里身份不再让人们彼此疏离,而是互相靠近。

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