When we talk about learning a language like English, Japanese or Spanish, we speak and think as though the language in question were a fixed unchanging thing.

Translation: 当我们谈到学习一门语言诸如英语、日语或西班牙语时，我们用这种语言说话和思考就好像正在谈论中的语言是一成不变的。

They have in fact embarked on an activity that could last the rest of their lives.

Paraphrase: They have in fact started to take part in an lifelong activity .

Studying any language is, in fact, an endless voyage.

Translation: 其实，学习任何语言就像是一次永无止境的航行。

Many languages do have a standard form--- particularly on paper---- and this is what we learn, but they probably also have a variety of regional dialects and social styles, and many are the products of the historical mingling of other languages.

Translation: 许多语言确实有一种标准形式，特别是我们要学习的书面语。然而，他们也可能有各种各样的地区方言和社会文体，许多是历史进程中和其他语言融合的产物。

The English language is just such a hybrid.

Paraphrase: the English language is just such a mixture of many different languages.

It began its career just under two thousand years ago as a form of ancient German, with a special kind of old French, was subjected to several waves of Latin and a flood of Greek, and since then has acquired bits and pieces of every other language that its users have ever been in contact with.

Translation: 英语是大约二千年前开始演变的。首先是一种古德语形式，与一种特殊的古法语发生了冲突，其后又融合了一些拉丁语和希腊语。自那以后又吸收了它的使用者所接触的其他所有语言的点点滴滴。

Translations:

问题所涉及的公司似乎对严峻的环境应对得不错。

The company in question seems to have responded well to the challenging conditions.

在你开始创业之前,请认真思考一下,自己是否真的具备创业的决心和迫切欲望。

Before you embark on a start-up, think hard if you really possess the resolution and sheer desire to make it happen

该产品在运输过程中应注意轻搬轻放,不能将包装物碰坏,以免影响使用。

These products must be handled with care in transit. Do not collide with packing materials so as not to affect the operation.

这些岛屿经常受到台风侵袭。

Those islands are often subjected to typhoons.

这很难解释，我只知道一点点。

It’s hard to explain .I only know bits and pieces.

Learning a language