英國(guó)首相卡梅倫：英國(guó)學(xué)生該多學(xué)中文

David Cameron, who has notoriously poor schoolboy French, is urging today's youngsters to abandon the language of Molière and Voltaire to concentrate on the tongue of the future – Mandarin.
卡梅倫的法語(yǔ)水平相當(dāng)一般已經(jīng)是眾所周知了，但他卻呼吁英國(guó)年輕人放棄法語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)，集中精力學(xué)習(xí)“未來(lái)的語(yǔ)言” 漢語(yǔ)。

In a parting shot, as he left China after a three-day visit, the prime minister said that pupils should look beyond the traditional French and German lessons and instead focus on China.
在結(jié)束了為期三天的訪華行程后，卡梅倫表示，英國(guó)的年輕人應(yīng)該打破只關(guān)注法、德語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)的傳統(tǒng)局限，今后應(yīng)集中精力學(xué)習(xí)中文。

To reinforce his message the prime minister quoted Nelson Mandela, who said learning someone else's language is the best way to their heart. Cameron said: 'I want Britain linked up to the world's fast-growing economies. And that includes our young people learning the languages to seal tomorrow's business deals.
為了增強(qiáng)說(shuō)服力，卡梅倫還引用了南非前總統(tǒng)曼德拉的名言：“要了解一個(gè)國(guó)度的精神，最好的方法就是學(xué)習(xí)他們的語(yǔ)言”。卡梅倫表示：“我希望英國(guó)能緊跟世界經(jīng)濟(jì)發(fā)展的腳步，其中之一就是讓我們的年輕一代為了未來(lái)經(jīng)濟(jì)貿(mào)易發(fā)展學(xué)習(xí)語(yǔ)言。”

'By the time the children born today leave school, China is set to be the world's largest economy. So it's time to look beyond the traditional focus on French and German and get many more children learning Mandarin.
“等到這一代學(xué)生畢業(yè)的時(shí)候，中國(guó)很可能已經(jīng)是世界最大的經(jīng)濟(jì)體了。所以現(xiàn)在是時(shí)候?qū)⒆⒁饬膫鹘y(tǒng)的德、法語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)轉(zhuǎn)向漢語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)了。”

Cameron, who visited a school for six- and seven-year-olds learning English in Chengdu, said that a partnership between the British Council and Hanban – the Chinese National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language – will double the number of Chinese language assistants in the UK by 2016 and provide increased funding to lower the cost to schools of offering Mandarin as a language option.
中國(guó)一行中，卡梅倫訪問(wèn)了成都的龍江路小學(xué)。他表示，英國(guó)文化委員會(huì)和中國(guó)漢辦（中國(guó)國(guó)家漢語(yǔ)國(guó)際推廣領(lǐng)導(dǎo)小組辦公室）將會(huì)繼續(xù)合作伙伴關(guān)系，計(jì)劃到2016年將英國(guó)的漢語(yǔ)助教人數(shù)提高一倍，并為開設(shè)漢語(yǔ)教學(xué)的英國(guó)學(xué)校提供資金支持以降低其辦學(xué)成本。
The announcement was welcomed by the British Council and the British Academy, both of which have been pushing for policies to reverse the decline in students taking modern languages at school and university level.
英國(guó)文化委員會(huì)和英國(guó)社會(huì)科學(xué)院非常贊同卡梅倫的上述聲明，這兩個(gè)組織也都在努力扭轉(zhuǎn)英國(guó)大學(xué)和中學(xué)學(xué)生對(duì)現(xiàn)代語(yǔ)言學(xué)習(xí)逐漸喪失興趣的局面。

Martin Davidson, the British Council's chief executive who has been visiting China with Cameron, said: 'The promotion of Chinese language in the UK and the English language in China are both vital to economic and cultural relations between the two countries. This initiative will increase collaboration and is particularly significant given that recent British Council research shows that Mandarin is one of 10 languages not widely spoken in the UK and yet crucial to our future growth and prosperity.'
同卡梅倫一起訪華的英國(guó)文化委員會(huì)執(zhí)行總裁馬丁?戴維森表示：“同時(shí)推進(jìn)中國(guó)的英語(yǔ)教學(xué)和英國(guó)的漢語(yǔ)教學(xué)，對(duì)于加強(qiáng)兩國(guó)的經(jīng)濟(jì)文化聯(lián)系是至關(guān)重要的。卡梅倫首相此次的倡議不僅會(huì)加強(qiáng)兩國(guó)合作，對(duì)于英國(guó)本身也有重要意義。英國(guó)文化委員會(huì)的調(diào)查顯示，在英國(guó)，漢語(yǔ)是普及率最低的10種語(yǔ)言之一，但漢語(yǔ)對(duì)于英國(guó)未來(lái)的繁榮發(fā)展無(wú)疑是十分重要的。”

The estimated 500,000 ethnic Chinese living in Britain make it the largest overseas Chinese population of any European country.
目前，約有50萬(wàn)華裔人士居住在英國(guó)，這一數(shù)字要高于歐洲其他國(guó)家。

Professor Dame Helen Wallace, the British Academy's foreign secretary, said her organisation had been arguing for an improvement in foreign language skills, and had identified Mandarin as one of the extended range of languages to be promoted in schools.
英國(guó)社會(huì)科學(xué)院外事發(fā)言人海倫?華萊士教授說(shuō)：“一直以來(lái)，我們都十分贊成提高公民的外語(yǔ)水平，我們已把漢語(yǔ)列為各大學(xué)校應(yīng)設(shè)立學(xué)科進(jìn)行教學(xué)的語(yǔ)種之一。”

But a lack of qualified teachers could be a barrier to improving its popularity, Wallace said.
華萊士還補(bǔ)充說(shuō)：“不過(guò)現(xiàn)在缺乏專業(yè)的漢語(yǔ)教師，這將會(huì)給普及漢語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)帶來(lái)一定困難。”

And she warned: 'No such strategy works unless you stick at it. There's no use doing this for two or three years and then forgetting about it – you have to make a long-term investment in this kind of change capacity.'Laura Chan, one of the co-founders of the Marco Polo Academy, a bilingual Mandarin-English primary school opening in Barnet next September as part of the free schools programme, said the prime minister's announcement was good news for the status of Mandarin.
華萊士還提醒道：“任何計(jì)劃只有堅(jiān)持才能奏效。推廣漢語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)也一樣，只做個(gè)兩三年然后置之不理是沒(méi)有用的。改變目前的語(yǔ)言學(xué)習(xí)狀況需要長(zhǎng)期的努力。” 明年9月將有一所名為“馬可波羅學(xué)院” 的中英雙語(yǔ)小學(xué)在巴尼特成立，這所學(xué)校也是英國(guó)“免費(fèi)學(xué)校”計(jì)劃的項(xiàng)目之一。作為該校創(chuàng)始人之一的勞拉?陳認(rèn)為，卡梅倫首相此次的呼吁對(duì)于提高漢語(yǔ)在英國(guó)的地位來(lái)說(shuō)是一個(gè)好消息。

From September 2014, studying foreign languages will be compulsory in primary schools under the new national curriculum.
根據(jù)最新修訂的英國(guó)國(guó)家課程大綱，從2014年9月起，外語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)將成為英國(guó)小學(xué)的必修科目。