素有“英國高考”之稱的A-level考試8月16日正式放榜。今年報(bào)考外語科目的A-level考生中選考漢語的人數(shù)首次超過德語。

Chinese A-level has overtaken German for the first time, as it becomes the UK’s third most popular language.

在英國今年的A-level考試中，選考漢語的考生人數(shù)首次超過德語。漢語成為英國第三大熱門語言。

This year 3,334 students took Chinese A-level, compared to 3,058 taking German. While entries for Chinese have increased by 8.6 percent since last year, German entries have declined by 16.5 percent.

今年有3334名學(xué)生報(bào)考了漢語A-level考試，德語有3058人。選考漢語的報(bào)名人數(shù)比去年增長了8.6%，而德語則減少了16.5%。

Derek Richardson, the senior responsible officer at Pearson, said Chinese has “bucked the trend” of the fall in popularity of modern languages.

培生集團(tuán)高級官員德里克·理查森說，漢語“逆轉(zhuǎn)”了現(xiàn)代語言受歡迎度下降的“趨勢”。

“In languages we are seeing some significant decreases in entries for the main modern languages: French, German and Spanish,” he said

他說：“我們看到一些主要現(xiàn)代語言的報(bào)考人數(shù)大幅減少，包括法語、德語和西班牙語?！?/p>

"But what we are also seeing is an increase in entries across some of the other languages that people study.

“但是我們同時(shí)也看到，報(bào)考其他一些語言的人數(shù)有所增加?！?/p>

“What this means is Chinese…is now more popular than German. So maybe young people are beginning to think about what languages will be useful to them in the future.”

“這意味著漢語現(xiàn)在比德語更受歡迎。也許年輕人開始思考未來哪些語言對他們更有用。

French remains the most popular modern language A-level followed by Spanish, but both have seen a fall in entries compared to last year by eight and four percent respectively.

法語仍然是A-level中選考人數(shù)最多的現(xiàn)代語言，其次是西班牙語。但是與去年相比，這兩種語言的報(bào)考人數(shù)分別減少了8%和4%。

Russian has also increased in popularity since last year by 3.4 percent, from 1,122 to 1,160. Arabic, however, has declined by 5.4 percent, from 782 entries last year to 740 this year.

俄語的報(bào)考人數(shù)也比去年增加了3.4%，從1122人增加到1160人。阿拉伯語的報(bào)考人數(shù)減少了5.4%，從去年的782人減少到今年的740人。

Suzanne O'Farrell, curriculum and assessment specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: "We're seeing German just moving into extinction really. It is in severe decline."

英國校長協(xié)會(huì)的課程與評估專家蘇珊娜·奧法雷爾說：“我們看到報(bào)考德語的人數(shù)正在大幅減少，情況真的很嚴(yán)重?！?/p>

Barnaby Lenon, chair of the Independent Schools Council (ISC), said that whereas pupils used to be told “It will really help your career if you learn German” this is no longer the case.

英國私立學(xué)校理事會(huì)主席巴納比·萊農(nóng)說，過去，學(xué)生們被教導(dǎo)說“學(xué)習(xí)德語，真的會(huì)對你的事業(yè)很有幫助”，但是現(xiàn)在情況不再是這樣了。

“In the 1960s, 70s and even the 80s, Germany was the economic powerhouse of Europe,” he told The Daily Telegraph.

“在20世紀(jì)60和70年代，甚至到了80年代，德國在歐洲經(jīng)濟(jì)發(fā)展中一直起著重要作用?！?/p>

“Pupils were strongly encouraged to study German because of the importance of the German economy. Although it is still strong, that argument has faded, and China has emerged in the last 25 years as the fastest growing economy in the world.”

“以前，因?yàn)榈聡?jīng)濟(jì)的重要性，學(xué)生被大力鼓勵(lì)學(xué)習(xí)德語?，F(xiàn)在，盡管德國經(jīng)濟(jì)依然很強(qiáng)，但是這種觀點(diǎn)正在逐漸消失，中國在過去25年中已經(jīng)崛起為全球發(fā)展最快的經(jīng)濟(jì)體。

Mr Lenon, a former headmaster at Harrow School, said the rise in Chinese A-levels is partly driven by private schools, many of which have invested in the subject in recent years.

曾擔(dān)任哈羅公學(xué)校長的萊農(nóng)說，報(bào)考漢語人數(shù)增長一定程度上是私立學(xué)校推動(dòng)的，許多私立學(xué)校近年來都對這一學(xué)科加大了投入。

“It is not the case that large number of states schools are now teaching Chinese A-levels. They are not,” he said.

他說：“但是，并不是說有大量公立學(xué)?，F(xiàn)在開始教授漢語A-level課程，并不是這樣?！?/p>

He said many of the entries will be Chinese native speakers, adding that independent schools have attracted “l(fā)arge numbers” of Chinese pupils in recent years.

他說，很多報(bào)考漢語的考生母語是漢語。私立學(xué)校近年來吸引了“大量的”中國學(xué)生。

Aspirational middle class families sending their children to be educated in the UK has fuelled a steady increase in Chinese students, with number at fee-paying schools almost doubling in five years according to ISC data.

中國一些有抱負(fù)的中產(chǎn)階級家庭把子女送到英國留學(xué)，來自中國的留學(xué)生人數(shù)穩(wěn)步增長。英國私立學(xué)校理事會(huì)的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，私立學(xué)校的中國留學(xué)生數(shù)量在5年內(nèi)幾乎翻番。

Mark Herbert, director of schools and skills at the British Council, welcomed the rise in Chinese A-level entries.

英國文化協(xié)會(huì)學(xué)校和技能總監(jiān)馬克·赫伯特對報(bào)考漢語人數(shù)增加表示歡迎。

“Against this overall downward trend, the increasing popularity of Chinese proves that our young people can be enthused to study languages,” he said.

他說：“在整體呈下降趨勢的背景下，漢語越來越受歡迎證明我們的年輕人可以充滿熱情地學(xué)習(xí)語言。”

“Our research shows that Mandarin will be one of the most important languages for the UK’s future prosperity and global standing – but we mustn’t neglect Spanish, French and German which will still be vital post-Brexit.”

“我們的研究顯示，漢語將是對英國未來繁榮和全球地位最重要的語言之一，但我們絕不能忽視西班牙語、法語和德語，它們在英國‘脫歐’之后仍將非常重要?！?/p>

Nick Gibb, the schools minister, said: “It has never been more important for young people to learn a foreign language than now.

英國教育部國務(wù)大臣尼克·吉布說：“現(xiàn)在對年輕人來說，學(xué)習(xí)外語比以往時(shí)候都更加重要?！?/p>

“An outward looking global nation needs a new generation of young people comfortable with the language and culture of our overseas trading partners.”

“一個(gè)開放的國際化國家需要新一代的年輕人熟悉海外貿(mào)易伙伴的語言和文化?！?/p>

來源：每日電訊報(bào)、國際在線

翻譯&編輯：yaning