Iranian officials have banned the teaching of English in primary schools.
伊朗官方禁止在小學教授英語。
Mehdi Navid-Adham, chief of Iran’s High Education Council, informed state television of the ban last Saturday.
伊朗高等教育委員會主席梅迪?納維德?阿達姆上周六將這一禁令通知給了國家電視臺。
The move came after Islamic leaders warned that early learning of the English language has led to a Western 「cultural invasion」.
該舉發生之前，伊斯蘭領導人就曾警告過早學習英語會導致西方「文化入侵」。
「Teaching English in government and non-government primary schools in the official curriculum is against laws and regulations,」 Navid-Adham said.He added that the government may also stop non-curriculum English classes.
「在公立和非公立小學官方課程中教授英語是違反法律和法規的，」納維德?阿達姆說道。他還說，政府可能還會禁止課外的英語課。
The reasoning, Navid-Adham said, is that the groundwork, or basis, of Iranian culture should be taught to young children.
納維德?阿達姆說，原因是年齡小的兒童應當學習伊朗文化基礎。
In Iran, English language training is usually offered in middle school, to students from 12 to 14 years of age.However, in some primary schools, students may begin taking English classes at younger ages.
在伊朗，英語課程一般在中學開設，學生年齡是12到14歲。然而，在一些小學，學生在更小年齡時也開始上英語課。
Some Iranian children also attend foreign language classes at private education centers after normal school hours.
一些伊朗兒童也會在課後去私人教育中心上外語課程。
Iran’s Islamic leaders have often warned about the dangers of 「cultural invasion.」
伊朗的伊斯蘭領導人經常警告「文化入侵」的危險。
In 2016, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei voiced concern over the 「teaching of the English language spreading to nursery schools」.
2016年，伊朗最高領導人哈梅內伊就表示過其對「英語教學會滲透到幼兒園」的擔憂。
In a speech to teachers, Khamenei said that his concern, 「Does not mean opposition to learning a foreign language,but (this is the) promotion of a foreign culture in the country and among children, young adults and youths.」
在一次面向教師的演講中，哈梅內伊表示了他的擔憂：「不是說反對學習外語，但是這樣是在全國的孩子、年輕人和青年當中推崇外來文化。」
Khamenei accused Western countries of promoting their cultures with Iranian youth as a way of expanding their influence in Iran, according to his office’s website.
哈梅內伊指責西方國家在伊朗年輕人中推崇他們的文化，以此來擴大他們在伊朗的影響力，哈梅內伊辦公室網站表示。
In the same speech, he urged Iranians to spend more time and money on the teaching of the Persian language, instead of English.Last Saturday, Navid-Adham told state television that government officials want to strengthen 「Persian language skills and Iranian Islamic culture at the primary school stage.」He added that it would now be against the law to teach English at the primary school level, either during or outside of normal school hours.
還是在這一場演講中，他敦促伊朗人民把更多時間和金錢花在波斯語的教學上，而不是英語。上周六，納維德?阿達姆告訴國家電視臺，政府官員想要加強「小學階段波斯語言技巧和伊朗伊斯蘭文化」的教育。他還說，現在在小學階段教授英語是違法的，無論是課內還是課外。
The Reuters news agency reported that in the past, other languages have also been targeted by Iranian officials.In 2017, Iran’s intelligence agency banned the publication of a Kurdish-language instruction book.
據路透新聞社報導，之前其他語言也曾成為伊朗官員的目標。2017年，伊朗情報部門就曾禁止庫德語教學用書的出版。
In his announcement, Navid-Adham did not link the new language education rules to recent anti-government protests.Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have blamed foreign enemies for the unrest.
在聲明中，納維德?阿達姆沒有把新的語言教育規則和最近發生的反政府抗議聯繫。伊朗革命衛隊指責這場騷亂是外國敵對勢力挑起。
A video dealing with the announcement of the ban was widely shared on social media on Sunday.A number of Iranians have jokingly called it 「The filtering of English.」Some compare it to the blocking of the popular app Telegram by the government during the protests.
周日，公布該禁令的視頻在社交媒體上廣泛轉載。許多伊朗人開玩笑，稱其為「過濾英語」。一些人還把它和政府在抗議示威期間禁止的熱門應用「電報」相比較。
I’m Phil Dierking.
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