奧林匹克催生英語學習熱潮大綱

English is no longer alien in the world's most populous country, with the language in common use from Beijing boardrooms to the back streets of Baoshan.

在中國這個世界人口最多的國家，英語對人們來說不再陌生，從北京的會議室，到雲南保山的小巷，英語隨處可見。

But it's not the same as conversing with native speakers, according to two winners of a big English language competition for undergraduate students in China.

但對於從中國大學生頂級英語演講賽事的走出來的兩位獲獎者而言，與那些母語是英文的人交流卻完全是另外一回事。

"We say, ‘long time no see!'" says Shen Jiahui, 20, who placed second in this year's 21st Century Cup competition.

"我們說，‘long time no see!（好久沒見）'。"獲得 本屆21世紀杯英語演講比賽一等獎第二名、20歲的沈家慧說道。

"That's Chinglish. People are not speaking like this [any more]."

"那是中式英語。現在人們不再這樣講了。"

Ms Jiahui is on a study tour of Sydney with fourth placegetter Wang Taojun, courtesy of competition sponsors Navitas English.

沈家慧以及獲得本次大賽一等獎第四名的選手王陶鈞正在進行悉尼遊學之旅。此次行程由大賽贊助商——澳大利亞Navitas英語集團慷慨支持。

This year's competition attracted nearly 10,000 entrants from 850 universities in China and others in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea and Japan.

本屆大賽共吸引了近萬名選手參加，他們分別來自中國大陸850所高校、港澳臺地區以及泰國、韓國和日本。

Now in its 18th year, the competition was established in the wake of Beijing's failed bid to stage the 2000 Olympic Games.

如今是大賽開辦以來的第18個年頭，當年北京在申辦2000年奧運會時失利， 此後"21世紀杯"全國英語演講比賽應運而生。

"One reason Beijing failed was that there were not many English speakers at the time," says Shen Gang, deputy editor in chief of the English language newspaper 21st Century.

"北京申奧失利的原因之一便是當時說英語的人還不是很多。"《二十一世紀英文報》副總編輯申鋼說。

He says the competition was created to encourage Chinese university students "to open their mouths and use English as a language for communicative purposes, not as a language only learnt in classrooms".

他表示，該項賽事旨在鼓勵中國大學生"開口說英語，並把英語當成一種交際性語言來使用，而不僅僅限於課堂學習。"

China now has more people learning English as a second language than any other country, Mr Gang says, with lessons mandated from the third year of primary school.

申鋼表示，比起世界上其他國家而言，中國現在有更多的人把英語當做第二語言來學習，小學三年級便要求開設英語課。

But in practice this only happens in the cities because there aren't enough English teachers in rural areas. And the vast majority of teachers are Chinese-born.

但實際上，目前僅僅在城市中做到了這一點。因爲農村地區的英語教師十分缺乏。而且大部分教師都是土生土長的中國人。

"There's a term called ‘mute English' in teaching and learning cycles," Mr Gang says.

申鋼表示："在教學圈中，有一個術語叫做‘啞巴英語'。"

"A lot of students can only read instead of open their mouths and communicate with English. The [main] reason is there are not many foreign language teachers in China.

"很多學生只會讀，而不會開口用英語交流。主要原因在於中國並沒有很多的外語教師。"

"Most English major students get their first native speaker teacher when they reach first year in university."

"很多英語專業的學生在大一時纔有了第一位母語是英語的外教。"

He says learners use tapes and videos to imitate pronunciation and intonation.

他提到，很多學習者通過聽磁帶、看錄像來模仿語音和語調。

"That's one reason President Barack Obama is very popular with teenagers, because people can download his speeches for his pronunciation."

"這就是爲何美國總統巴拉克•奧巴馬在青少年中頗受歡迎的原因之一，因爲人們能夠下載他的演講資料學習發音。"

Mr Gang says English now dominates as the foreign language of choice and the only one required by the Chinese Ministry of Education.

申鋼說，如今英語成爲學習外語的首選語種，也是唯一一門經中國教育部規定的外語必修課。

"French, German, Japanese, Russian, Spanish and others – these languages are regarded as third languages, but English is always second."

"法語、德語、日語、俄語和西班牙語等等，這些語言被視爲第三語言，而英語一直是第二語言。"

He says young people have started to mix Chinese and English as "kind of a fashion trend". The term "nihao are you?" – a fusion of the English greeting with the Chinese nihao – is commonly used in Beijing, especially to address foreigners, after it was popularised by a Radio China International announcer.

他表示，年輕一族開始把中、英文混雜作爲"一種潮流"。現在北京有種說法十分流行，尤其是在和外國人講話時被廣泛使用，那就是："nihao are you?"，其中將英文問候語與中文"你好"融合起來，該說法此前曾被中國國際電臺的一位播音員大力推廣。

Mr Taojun, who prefers the name Daniel while in Australia, is studying translation and interpretation as a third-year student at Sichuan International Studies University.

在澳大利亞，王陶鈞更喜歡用丹尼爾這個英文名字，他現在在四川外語學院讀大三，專攻翻譯與口譯。

"English is a little bit like the working language in multicultural working environments," says Daniel, 21.

21歲的丹尼爾說："英語有點像多文化工作環境中的工作語言。"

"In big companies, many documents are in English. So young people who want to find a better job in giant companies, they'd better speak good English."

"在大公司中，很多文件都是英文的，所以那些想在大公司中找到好工作的年輕人最好能說一口流利的英語。"

Daniel and Ms Jiahui, who go by the names of Lily, are on their first trip outside China. They're attending English classes between visits to Sydney's tourist attractions.

對於丹尼爾和莉莉（沈家慧的英文名）來說，這是他們第一次出國旅行。他們在悉尼觀光之餘也參加了英語課學習。

"The teaching method here is quite different from what we have in China," says Lily, a second year international business student at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies.

"這裏的教學模式和我們在中國所接受的大不相同。"來自廣東外語外貿大學國際貿易專業大二年級的莉莉表示。

"Teachers have more interaction with the students, and the students are engaged in the whole process. It's quite different."

"師生間的互動更多，學生參與到整個環節之中，與國內完全不同。"

Daniel says the local courses explore topics never covered in China, such as the history of pop music. He says the students are from all over the world and are forced to use English because it's the only common language.

丹尼爾說，悉尼的課程探究了許多此前在中國從未涉及的話題。比如流行音樂史。他說學生來自世界各地，他們必須使用英語，因爲這是唯一的通用語言。

The total immersion continues after class, with many students staying in homestays. Lily says chats with her host family have improved her proficiency.

很多學生都住在當地的寄宿家庭中，這樣一來課下時大家依舊完全沉浸在英語環境之中。莉莉表示與寄宿家庭聊天提高了自己英文的熟練程度。

"You don't learn [some] words from your books or academic English. You can only learn from daily interaction."

"有些詞是你從書本或課堂中學不到的，你只能從日常交流中汲取。"