1、经济学人:学习语言再大声一点Britain英国Studying languages学习语言Shout louder再大声一点A woeful approach to language education continues苟延残喘的语言教育THE last time she was recruiting for her export-sales team, Sarah Grain hired a Lithuanian whospeaks Russian, Polish and German. Her two previous hires for Eriez Magnetics,
2、 which makesindustrial equipment in South Wales, were an Italian who also speaks French, and a Venezuelanwho speaks Spanish and Portuguese. All of them speak fluent English.“There were no Britishapplicants who had the requisite language skills,” she says.最后一次为自己的海外销售团队招聘，Sarah Grain聘用了一位可讲俄语
3、、波兰语和德语的立陶宛人。她为艺利磁铁—位于南威尔士的一家制造工业设备的公司—先前两次聘用的人分别是会讲法语的意大利人和会讲西班牙语与葡萄牙语的委内瑞拉人。而他们都能说流利的英文。Sarah表示，“没有符合必备语言技能的英国求职者。”Ms Grain's conclusion is not unusual for a British company. In 2012 a European Commissionsurvey tested the foreign-language proficiency of 54,000 students aged 14 and 15, in 1
4、4nations. Sweden came top, with 82% of pupils reaching an “independent” or “advancedindependent” standard. The average for all 14 states was 42%. England came bottom, withjust 9%.Grain女士对一家英国公司的此般结论已经让人见怪不怪了。早在2012年，欧盟委员会就针对来自14个国家、14到15岁年龄不等的54000名学生进行了外语熟练程度的测试。瑞典学生以其中82％的人可达到“灵活使用”和“驾轻就熟”
5、的程度而位居榜首。所有14个国家的平均人数为42％。英国垫底，仅仅有9％。Part of the explanation is that many people's second language is English, while many Britonscontinue to believe that, as native speakers of the lingua mundi, they do not need to botherwith foreign languages. They may be right—in terms of communication. Bu
6、t it means that, notonly are they missing out on much cultural interaction, they may also be harming their own jobprospects.部分原因是许多人的第二外语就是英语，这也是大部分英国人始终坚信的事，而作为以lingua mundi为母语的人，他们着实无需为外语而烦心。他们可能是对的——从沟通方面来说。但这却意味着他们不仅会错失多文化交流机会，也会危及到他们的工作前景。They have not been helped by the educational pol
7、icies of successive governments. In 2004 TonyBlair'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 overthe next seven years
