前所未有的漢語(yǔ)熱：中文成“英國(guó)高考”第三大外語(yǔ)科目

Category: A-level課程, 國(guó)際課程 Date: 2018年8月23日下午6:27

在很多人印象中，中文曾被視為最難學(xué)的語(yǔ)言之一。但從諸多國(guó)家近年逐漸掀起的“漢語(yǔ)熱”來(lái)看，學(xué)習(xí)漢語(yǔ)和漢學(xué)儼然成為了新趨勢(shì)。素有“英國(guó)高考”之稱(chēng)的A-level考試于本月16日發(fā)榜，據(jù)英國(guó)考試委員會(huì)最新公布的數(shù)據(jù)，今年報(bào)考漢語(yǔ)的英國(guó)學(xué)生人數(shù)首次超過(guò)德語(yǔ)，成為“英國(guó)高考”第三大外語(yǔ)科目。

The Chinese language might be widely-known as being hard to learn, but tones and logograms are not stopping students from honing their tongues in Mandarin. More British students opted to sit Chinese tests than German in this year's A-level examinations, showing a great curiosity in the ancient Asian language amid a growing disinterest in foreign languages.

This is the first time that Mandarin Chinese has overtaken German at A-levels, a British public exam taken by high school students, making it the third most popular language in the UK.

據(jù)英國(guó)廣播公司中文網(wǎng)報(bào)道，今年的A-Level考試，有3334名考生選擇漢語(yǔ)為考試科目，和去年相比增長(zhǎng)8.6%。法語(yǔ)仍是最受歡迎的第一外語(yǔ)，排名第二的是西班牙語(yǔ)。但是與去年相比，選擇這兩門(mén)語(yǔ)言作為A-level考試科目的學(xué)生數(shù)量都呈下降趨勢(shì)，德語(yǔ)排在第五。

A total of 3,334 candidates chose Mandarin as their foreign language, up 8.6 percent from 2017, while around 3,058 sat A-level German, down 16.5 percent year-on-year.

French and Spanish still remain the most popular foreign languages, but the former slipped by eight percent to 8,713 this year, while the latter decreased by four percent to 8,255, according to The Telegraph.

The German language is followed by Russian and Polish.

A foreign student learns calligraphy from a Chinese middle school student in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region

近年來(lái)，隨著中國(guó)的經(jīng)濟(jì)發(fā)展，漢語(yǔ)比德語(yǔ)更受歡迎。年輕人也會(huì)思考到底什么語(yǔ)言在將來(lái)會(huì)更實(shí)用。

Barnaby Lenon, chairman of the Independent Schools Council (ISC) said that due to the economic power of Germany in the 1960s and 1970s, students were encouraged to study German, but now China has emerged as the world’s fastest growing economy.

2017年一項(xiàng)針對(duì)一千多名未成年學(xué)生家長(zhǎng)的調(diào)查顯示，在英國(guó)家長(zhǎng)心目中，漢語(yǔ)是印歐語(yǔ)系之外最重要的語(yǔ)言。一半以上的家長(zhǎng)認(rèn)為，學(xué)習(xí)漢語(yǔ)不僅僅可以幫助學(xué)生了解東方文化，更有助于未來(lái)事業(yè)的發(fā)展。根據(jù)中國(guó)國(guó)家漢辦粗略估算，目前中國(guó)（含港澳臺(tái)）之外，全球?qū)W習(xí)使用漢語(yǔ)的人數(shù)已經(jīng)超過(guò)1億，其中包括6000萬(wàn)海外華人華僑，以及4000萬(wàn)各國(guó)主流社會(huì)的學(xué)習(xí)和使用者。

Chinese language and culture have been accessible to students around the world thanks to the spread of Confucius Institutes.

According to the Office of Chinese Language Council International (Hanban), as of 2017, some 100 million people, excluding native speakers, use Chinese globally, while Chinese teaching centers have surpassed 70,000.

Candidates take part in a HSK test

中文也逐漸成為韓國(guó)人從小學(xué)習(xí)的語(yǔ)言。在韓國(guó)，以中文和英語(yǔ)進(jìn)行雙語(yǔ)教學(xué)的私立幼兒園以及單以中文教學(xué)的私立幼兒園每年都在增加。很多私立小學(xué)也把中文列為學(xué)校的必修課。

South Korea has the largest population of Chinese language learners in the world with the number estimated at around 10.6 million. Last year alone, over 170,000 people signed up for Chinese language tests, like the HSK, a Chinese proficiency test.

2010年，聯(lián)合國(guó)新聞部宣布啟動(dòng)聯(lián)合國(guó)語(yǔ)言日，旨在慶賀多種語(yǔ)言的使用和文化多樣性，并促進(jìn)6種官方語(yǔ)言在聯(lián)合國(guó)的平等使用。其中，新聞部將中文日定在了農(nóng)歷二十四節(jié)氣之“谷雨”，以紀(jì)念“中華文字始祖”倉(cāng)頡創(chuàng)造漢文字。而在聯(lián)合國(guó)設(shè)立中文日之后，許多國(guó)家紛紛開(kāi)始了學(xué)習(xí)中文的熱潮。

The United Nations (UN) in 2010 suggested a Chinese Language Day which falls on April 20 each year to celebrate multilingualism and cultural diversity as well as to promote the equal use of all official languages.