A global study of English language proficiency in 60 nations revealed that the ability of the French to master the language of Shakespeare is actually declining. And France's fear of losing its culture is to blame.
一項(xiàng)針對(duì)60個(gè)國(guó)家進(jìn)行的全球性英語(yǔ)流利度研究指出，法國(guó)人掌握莎士比亞語(yǔ)言的能力竟然在衰退，而這應(yīng)歸咎于法國(guó)人害怕失去自己的文化。
While most countries in the world are slowly improving their English proficiency skills, France is one of the few nations where standards are actually declining, a new study has revealed.
一項(xiàng)新研究指出，當(dāng)世界上多數(shù)國(guó)家在慢慢提高國(guó)民英語(yǔ)水平的時(shí)候，少數(shù)幾個(gè)國(guó)家卻降低了對(duì)英語(yǔ)水平的要求標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，法國(guó)則位列其中。
The English Proficiency Index ranked France 35th out of 60 countries where English is not the main language, putting it behind China and Italy and just ahead of the United Arab Emirates in the “l(fā)ow proficiency” grouping.
在英語(yǔ)為非主要語(yǔ)言的60個(gè)國(guó)家中，根據(jù)英語(yǔ)熟練度指數(shù)，法國(guó)排在了第三十五位，位居中國(guó)和意大利之后，在“英語(yǔ)流利度較低”的國(guó)家中，法國(guó)略領(lǐng)先于阿拉伯聯(lián)合酋長(zhǎng)國(guó)。
Most notably it was ranked last out of the European nations studied, falling behind the likes of Germany (14th) and Spain (23rd).
值得注意的是，在所研究的歐洲國(guó)家中，法國(guó)排在了最后，落后于德國(guó)(第14位)和西班牙(第23位)等國(guó)家。
Perhaps unsurprisingly Sweden topped the league table ahead of Norway and the Netherlands.
在排行榜中，瑞典超過(guò)了挪威及荷蘭，位居榜首，這也許并不出人意料。
“What makes the situation more remarkable is that most of Europe has either improved or already demonstrates consistently high English proficiency. France currently has the weakest English skills in Europe,” the study said.
研究指出，“讓這個(gè)局面更顯著的是，歐洲多數(shù)國(guó)家要么在不斷提高英語(yǔ)水平，要么已經(jīng)證明了其國(guó)民較高的英語(yǔ)技能。目前，在歐洲國(guó)家中，法國(guó)人的英語(yǔ)技能最薄弱�！�
The main problem lies with France’s fear of losing its own culture and language. The mentality of trying to protect Gallic culture has knock-on effects that harm the chances of French people learning English.
主要問(wèn)題在于法國(guó)害怕失去自己的文化和語(yǔ)言。試圖保護(hù)法國(guó)文化的心態(tài)間接影響了法國(guó)人學(xué)英語(yǔ)的機(jī)會(huì)。
One of the problems lies in the French school system.
還有一個(gè)問(wèn)題來(lái)自于法國(guó)的學(xué)校制度。
“French schools lack the resources compared to European neighbors. Young pupils learn English in primary school, but often the teachers’ level of English is not high. They are qualified as primary teachers, not language teachers, so often their English is just basic.”
“與歐洲鄰國(guó)相比，法國(guó)的學(xué)校缺少資源。雖然年輕的學(xué)生在小學(xué)的時(shí)候就學(xué)英語(yǔ)，但老師的英語(yǔ)水平往往不夠高。他們是合格的小學(xué)老師，卻算不上合格的語(yǔ)言老師。所以他們的英語(yǔ)往往只是初級(jí)水平。
外國(guó)友人是如何看待法國(guó)人的英語(yǔ)問(wèn)題的?
I think it is mostly because they don't care; there's even blatant animosity towards the English language in France. The French, more than most other nations, take great pride in their language, so there's no perceived prestige in learning a language they subconsciously regard as inferior to their own. There's simply no incentive for them to improve their English.
我認(rèn)為，主要是因?yàn)榉▏?guó)人不在乎英語(yǔ)，甚至有許多法國(guó)人對(duì)英語(yǔ)懷有公然的敵意。與其他大多數(shù)國(guó)家相比，法國(guó)人為自己的語(yǔ)言而感到自豪，因此，去學(xué)一門他們潛意識(shí)里認(rèn)為不如自己母語(yǔ)的語(yǔ)言，對(duì)他們來(lái)說(shuō)并沒(méi)有什么吸引力。他們只是沒(méi)有動(dòng)力去提高英語(yǔ)。
“France's fear of losing its culture is to blame.” I think this is quite debatable. The Swedes generally speak very good English but at the same time are extremely proud about their own culture.
“(法國(guó)人英語(yǔ)不好)應(yīng)歸咎于法國(guó)人害怕失去自己的文化�！蔽艺J(rèn)為這是很有爭(zhēng)議的。瑞典人英語(yǔ)就很好，但同時(shí)他們也非常為自己的文化而自豪。
另一個(gè)小伙伴對(duì)此提出了異議。
The Swedes may be proud of their culture as much as they want but the point is: would you be willing to learn even a bit of Swedish given that you already speak good English? Maybe yes, but most of people would not because English is sufficient to communicate with the Dutch or the Swedes.
也許瑞典人像他們想要的那樣以自己的文化而自豪，但問(wèn)題是：如果你的英語(yǔ)已經(jīng)很好了，你還會(huì)愿意學(xué)哪怕一點(diǎn)兒瑞典語(yǔ)嗎?也許會(huì)，但多數(shù)人不會(huì)，因?yàn)橹v好英語(yǔ)已經(jīng)足夠跟荷蘭人或瑞典人交流了。
日本人的英語(yǔ)也被吐槽了。
I would say that Japanese people's English pronunciation is bad, from my personal experience. This is, as somebody mentioned before, because of the numerous consonant clusters that exist in English, whereas such clusters do not exist in Japanese.
從我個(gè)人經(jīng)驗(yàn)來(lái)看，我得說(shuō)日本人的發(fā)音很爛。就像某個(gè)人先前提過(guò)的那樣，因?yàn)橛⒄Z(yǔ)中有許多輔音連綴，而日語(yǔ)中沒(méi)有這樣的輔音連綴。
有人說(shuō)中國(guó)人的英語(yǔ)很難懂，但也有外國(guó)小伙伴不同意這種說(shuō)法。
I disagree that Chinese speakers' English is difficult to understand - yes, they might have a strong accent, but I think that in general, their English accents are very understandable, and they speak better than the Japanese. This is a very 'sweeping' statement, as I know fully that there are Chinese speakers who speak English so badly that they cannot be understood and Japanese speakers who speak English with no accent at all.
中國(guó)人的英語(yǔ)很難懂，我不同意這種說(shuō)法。是的，他們可能有很重的口音，但我認(rèn)為，他們的英語(yǔ)口音基本上是可以理解的，而且與日本人相比，他們的英語(yǔ)更好。這是一種非�！耙云湃钡恼f(shuō)法，因?yàn)槲彝耆宄_實(shí)有些中國(guó)人的英語(yǔ)很差，讓人無(wú)法理解，而且也有日本人講英語(yǔ)完全沒(méi)有口音。