英國發起學外語活動 每人至少會一千個外語詞

由英國文化協會、英國工業聯合會、英國科學院以及多家大使館和語言教學機構共同發起的“與未來對話”活動向全體英國人發起號召，希望每個人至少掌握1000個外語單詞，以免在未來的國際貿易往來和就業市場中被淘汰。英國文化學會的薇琪•高富女士表示，英國人長久以來都揹負着“語言懶漢”的惡名，而會說一門外語在瞭解另一種文化的過程中起着關鍵的作用；所以，“我們應該扭轉形象，告訴大家我們已經準備好迎接多語言的世界”。組織方表示，之所以把單詞量定爲1000個是因爲掌握這麼多單詞基本可以進行一些簡單的對話，而且這個目標也比較容易實現。該活動負責人表示，如果每個人都能掌握至少1000個外語單詞，整個社會態度和經濟前景都會得到明顯提升，年輕人在面對全球化的挑戰時也更加胸有成竹。

Everyone in the UK should learn at least 1,000 words of another language, urges a new campaign.

The 1,000 Words Campaign stems from concerns that the country is losing out on international trade and jobs because of poor language skills.

It aims to confront the view that only the brightest can learn a language.

"For too long people from the UK have suffered from a reputation that we are lazy linguists" said supporter Vicky Gough of the British Council.

"Speaking another language is crucial to understanding another culture", said Ms Gough.

"So let's overturn our poor record in language learning and show that we are ready to engage with a multilingual world," she urged.

The group say a vocabulary of 1,000 words would allow a speaker to hold a simple conversation.

The challenge is part of Speak to the Future, a wider campaign backed by organizations including the British Council, the CBI, the British Academy and a range of embassies and language teaching bodies.

This year's A-level results showed a continued fall in those taking French and German, down by 10% and 11% respectively - though Spanish bucked the trend with a 4% rise in entries.

By contrast entries at GCSE for French, German and Spanish were up 16.9% on last year, reversing a long-term downward trend.

This has been put down to the introduction of the EBacc, a league table measure of pupils who achieve GCSE grades A* to C in maths, English, two sciences, a foreign language and history or geography.

However Teresa Tinsley of Speak to the Future told BBC News that because the EBacc is for pupils who achieve good grades, there is evidence that some schools are focusing their language teaching on more able students, whereas businesses need people with language skills at all levels of the workforce.

"Top managers often have language skills but in fact staff whose jobs involve chasing invoices or buying stock abroad also need to speak another language", said Ms Tinsley.

"A worrying divide is opening up".

Campaign director Bernadette Holmes said: "The idea that everyone can learn the basics of another language is both realistic and attainable.

"We are not expecting instant fluency. Yet if everyone were capable of at least 1,000 words in a new language, social attitudes and economic prospects would be significantly enhanced - young people would be better prepared for the challenges of globalization and our cultural and intellectual levels would be raised.

"I urge everyone in a position of influence to join the campaign and help us achieve this aim."

Speak to the Future is funded by the British Academy and the university-based programme Routes into Languages.