多語(yǔ)種人才受歡迎，快來(lái)學(xué)習(xí)外語(yǔ)吧！

隨著英語(yǔ)成為了國(guó)際性語(yǔ)言，很多英語(yǔ)國(guó)家的年輕人逐漸對(duì)學(xué)習(xí)外語(yǔ)失去了興趣。《經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)人》雜志采訪了一些雇主，研究了相關(guān)數(shù)據(jù)和政策。最終的結(jié)果是他們對(duì)這一現(xiàn)象以及國(guó)家的未來(lái)深感擔(dān)憂?？磥?lái)monolingual（只會(huì)單一語(yǔ)言的人）真的是沒有出路了，大家一定要好好學(xué)習(xí)外語(yǔ)！

學(xué)習(xí)語(yǔ)言 再大聲一點(diǎn).mp3

聽力原文：

THE last time she was recruiting for her export-sales team, Sarah Grain hired a Lithuanian who speaks Russian, Polish and German. Her two previous hires for Eriez Magnetics, which makes industrial equipment in South Wales, were an Italian who also speaks French, and a Venezuelan who speaks Spanish and Portuguese. All of them speak fluent English. “There were no British applicants who had the requisite language skills,” she says.

Ms Grain's conclusion is not unusual for a British company. In 2012 a European Commission survey tested the foreign-language proficiency of 54,000 students aged 14 and 15, in 14 nations. Sweden came top, with 82% of pupils reaching an “independent” or “advanced independent” standard. The average for all 14 states was 42%. England came bottom, with just 9%.

Part of the explanation is that many people's second language is English, while many Britons continue to believe that, as native speakers of the lingua mundi, they do not need to bother with foreign languages. They may be right—in terms of communication. But it means that, not only are they missing out on much cultural interaction, they may also be harming their own job prospects.

They have not been helped by the educational policies of successive governments. In 2004 Tony Blair's Labour government abolished the requirement to learn a language after the age of 14, causing the numbers taking a language GCSE exam at 16 to fall by half in state schools over the next seven years.

Concerned about this rapid decline, the coalition government brought in a new performance indicator called the English Baccalaureate, or EBacc, in 2011. A modern language was one of its five core disciplines. Language teachers—an embattled breed—rejoiced. The number of students entering a GCSE language exam in 2013, the first year the changes took effect, rose by 20% (see chart).

Now, however, those gains could be lost, as the government has seemingly loosened the requirement. From 2016, under a new initiative called Progress 8, it has extended the number of core subjects to eight, appearing to make learning a language voluntary. This has pleased some teachers, who felt the EBacc was too narrow, but linguists are aghast.

The decline of languages at GCSE has inevitably had an effect higher up the academic food chain. Though the number of those studying languages to A Level—the exams taken at 18—will increase thanks to the GCSE cohort of 2013-14, it is likely to fall back again. French and German are half as popular as they were 20 years ago. The number of universities offering language degrees has fallen, too: by 50% for German and 40% for French since 1998. The number offering Spanish has also fallen. Degrees in other languages, such as Chinese and Arabic, are becoming more popular, but they are still rare.

The economy and the labour market bear the consequences. In 2012 the British Chambers of Commerce found, in a survey of 8,000 British companies, that 96% had no foreign-language speakers. First-time exporters cited language as a barrier to entering international markets.

Though Britain makes up 12% of the population of the EU, less than 5% of EU civil servants in Brussels are British. Not enough Britons can fulfill the language requirement of being able to work in French or German. And even if monoglot Brits can get jobs at multinationals, claims Richard Hardie, non-executive chairman of the British arm of UBS, a bank, “the chances of getting to the top if you only have English are much lower than before”.

This lack of language skills also lowers growth. By exactly how much is hard to say, but one estimate, by James Foreman-Peck of Cardiff University, puts the “gross language effect” (the income foregone because language barriers alter and reduce international trade) in 2012 as high as ￡59 billion ($90 billion), or 3.5% of GDP.

Meanwhile, in September 2014 the government mandated that all primary schools must teach a language. Getting children started at a young age is admirable. But, with so few language graduates coming out of universities, who is going to teach them?

中文譯文：

最后一次為自己的海外銷售團(tuán)隊(duì)招聘，Sarah Grain聘用了一位可講俄語(yǔ)、波蘭語(yǔ)和德語(yǔ)的立陶宛人。她為藝?yán)盆F—位于南威爾士的一家制造工業(yè)設(shè)備的公司—先前兩次聘用的人分別是會(huì)講法語(yǔ)的意大利人和會(huì)講西班牙語(yǔ)與葡萄牙語(yǔ)的委內(nèi)瑞拉人。而他們都能說(shuō)流利的英文。Sarah表示，“沒有符合必備語(yǔ)言技能的英國(guó)求職者?！?/p>

Grain女士對(duì)一家英國(guó)公司的此般結(jié)論已經(jīng)讓人見怪不怪了。早在2012年，歐盟委員會(huì)就針對(duì)來(lái)自14個(gè)國(guó)家、14到15歲年齡不等的54000名學(xué)生進(jìn)行了外語(yǔ)熟練程度的測(cè)試。瑞典學(xué)生以其中82％的人可達(dá)到“靈活使用”和“駕輕就熟”的程度而位居榜首。所有14個(gè)國(guó)家的平均人數(shù)為42％。英國(guó)墊底，僅僅有9％。

部分原因是許多人的第二外語(yǔ)就是英語(yǔ)，這也是大部分英國(guó)人始終堅(jiān)信的事，而作為以lingua mundi（世界性語(yǔ)言）為母語(yǔ)的人，他們著實(shí)無(wú)需為外語(yǔ)而煩心。他們可能是對(duì)的——從溝通方面來(lái)說(shuō)。但這卻意味著他們不僅會(huì)錯(cuò)失多文化交流機(jī)會(huì)，也會(huì)危及到他們的工作前景。

歷屆政府的教育政策并未使他們獲益。2004年，托尼布萊爾的工黨政府廢除了年滿14歲就要學(xué)習(xí)一門語(yǔ)言的要求，此舉直接導(dǎo)致之后的七年，公立學(xué)校的學(xué)生在語(yǔ)言方面GCSE（普通中等教育證書）考試的通過(guò)率直降一半。

考慮到人數(shù)驟降，聯(lián)合政府在2011年頒布了一項(xiàng)名為英國(guó)文憑證書（EBacc）的技能指標(biāo)?，F(xiàn)代語(yǔ)言是5個(gè)核心學(xué)科之一。語(yǔ)言老師——隨時(shí)嚴(yán)陣以待的一群人—都欣喜若狂。新指標(biāo)頒布后第一年就見成效，2013年參加GCSE語(yǔ)言考試的學(xué)生人數(shù)增長(zhǎng)了20％。

但是現(xiàn)在，隨著政府對(duì)此項(xiàng)要求的逐漸放松，這些成績(jī)可能會(huì)慢慢丟失。自2016年起，在一項(xiàng)名為Progress 8（8步走）的新倡議下，核心學(xué)科擴(kuò)展至8門，這一舉措使得語(yǔ)言學(xué)習(xí)更自主化。這讓部分老師十分欣喜，他們認(rèn)為Ebacc范圍狹窄，而語(yǔ)言學(xué)家卻對(duì)此舉大為震驚。

GCSE中語(yǔ)言的減少，不可避免的會(huì)對(duì)提高學(xué)術(shù)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)有所影響。盡管隨著2013-14年GCSE的人氣回溫，那些語(yǔ)言學(xué)習(xí)高達(dá)A級(jí)—18歲方可參與的考試—的人數(shù)將會(huì)增加，但它仍可能再次降低。相較于20年前，法國(guó)和德國(guó)的人數(shù)已降了一半。提供語(yǔ)言學(xué)位的大學(xué)數(shù)量也已減少：自1998年起，德國(guó)減少了50％，法國(guó)減少了40％。提供西班牙語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)的學(xué)校也已減少。其他語(yǔ)種學(xué)位，比如漢語(yǔ)和阿拉伯語(yǔ)，正變得越來(lái)越多，但它們依然很稀缺。

經(jīng)濟(jì)和勞工市場(chǎng)直接承擔(dān)此般后果。在2012年，英國(guó)商會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)，在一份涉及8000家英國(guó)公司的調(diào)查中，有96％的公司都沒有會(huì)外語(yǔ)的人。首次試水的出口商將外語(yǔ)定為打入國(guó)際市場(chǎng)的一大障礙。

雖然英國(guó)占?xì)W盟總?cè)丝诘?2％，但在布魯塞爾擔(dān)任歐盟公務(wù)員的英國(guó)人卻少于總?cè)藬?shù)的5％。沒有完全合格的英國(guó)人能夠滿足可在法國(guó)或德國(guó)工作的要求。而且即使只會(huì)單一語(yǔ)言的英國(guó)人在跨國(guó)公司工作，來(lái)自瑞銀集團(tuán)—一家銀行—英國(guó)分公司的理查德·哈迪表示，“若你只會(huì)講英語(yǔ)，那么你能高升的機(jī)會(huì)相比于以前已經(jīng)大大降低了。”

在幽暗的語(yǔ)言世界，有些許明亮之處。部分英國(guó)大學(xué)正在從以文學(xué)導(dǎo)向的學(xué)位轉(zhuǎn)變至與類似法律和商業(yè)學(xué)習(xí)的實(shí)踐學(xué)科關(guān)聯(lián)的聯(lián)合學(xué)位。一些科學(xué)家正在學(xué)習(xí)他們學(xué)科需求之外的語(yǔ)言，這會(huì)使他們更加稱職。

與此同時(shí)，政府在 2014年9月要求所有的小學(xué)都要教授語(yǔ)言。讓孩子們?cè)谟g時(shí)期接受語(yǔ)言教育是極好的。但是，從大學(xué)走出的語(yǔ)言學(xué)畢業(yè)生幾近為零，誰(shuí)又能來(lái)教他們呢？

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