The Guardian viewon languages and the British: Brexit and an Anglosphere prison
衛報觀點：英國脫歐與英語圈國家的自我封閉
Editorial
A protester holds a sign reading "Freedom, we want you back at home" during a demonstration in Barcelona. Catalan national feeling has been fuelled by the struggle to keep the Catalan language alive. Photograph: Josep Lago/AFP/Getty Images
Anglosphere：a group of English-speaking countries that share common roots in British culture andhistory, usually the UK, the US, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada 一組被英國歷史和文化影響甚深的說英語國家; 例如：英國，美國，澳大利亞，紐西蘭和加拿大
The English language may seem an asset for Britain. But its dominance may also cut theBritish mind off from what the rest of the world is saying.
英語對於英國來說是一項財富，但是英語在全球的統治地位也許讓英國人忽略了世界其他地方的聲音。
The language (orlanguages) spoken in a society help to define its identity. That is as true ofBritain as of every other nation. Most countries, like Britain, have one orsometimes more official languages. To become British, for instance, a personmust prove knowledge of English. Equivalent provisions exist in almost allother countries.
在一個社會中，其語言定義了了它的身份，對於英國是如此，其他國家亦然。大多數國家，像英國，有一種或多種官方語言。例如，想成為英國人，首先要證明你熟知英語。在其他國家也有同樣的規定。
Language rulescan be positive or negative in effect. In linguistically polarised Belgium, therival tongues are a permanent source of tension. In others, they are a sourceof vibrancy; Catalonia’srenewed sense of itself, for example, is grounded in the distinctness of itslanguage and by a history of discrimination against it. Elsewhere, the issuesare more tangled. Sinn Féin’s current demands for Irish language parity inNorthern Ireland are holding up the restoration of devolved government there.They do not reflect widespread Irish speaking (only 6% of Northern Irish peoplespeak Irish) so much as a determination not to be defined, through the languagespoken by unionists, as British.
語言規定是一把雙刃劍。在語言兩極化的比利時，對立的語言往往造成衝突。在其他地方，它又是有很多活力的。加泰隆尼亞重新煥發的自我意識，本省就根植於它語言的獨特性和歷史上對它的歧視。其他地方，這個問題更加錯綜複雜。北愛爾蘭的新芬黨要求區分不同的愛爾蘭語，主張重建自己的政府。他們不能反映出愛爾蘭語者多到能夠決定自己不是英國人。（只有百分之6的北愛爾蘭人說愛爾蘭語）。
Modern Britainhas a decent tradition of nurturing minority languages. But Britons have longbeen getting more parochial about speaking foreign ones. Three-quarters of UKresidents can’t hold a conversation in any language other than English. This linguistic monoculture would be even more hegemonic if itwere not for bilingual migrants. It reflects many things, but the decline inlanguage teaching is one of the most important. GCSE entries in most foreignlanguages tend to fall each year. A long decline in the numbers with languagequalifications has translated into a loss of those able to teach them.
現代英國一直有一個優良傳統：培育一種少數人的語言。但是英語人長期以來都不願意使用外語。四分之三的英國人只能用英語談話。如果不是有雙語移民（進入英國），這種語言單一將會更加嚴重。它可以反映出許多東西，但是越來越少外語教學是尤為關鍵的。持有（英國）普通中等教育證書（GCSE）的人中，會外語的人數每年都在下降。越來越少的人有語言合格證書，導致越來越少的人有能力去教授這種語言。
The upshot isthat the UK is mired in the relegation zone of European linguistic proficiency. Across the European Union,just over half of all students (51%) study two or more foreign languages. InFinland, France, Romania and Slovakia the proportion studying two or morelanguages is 99%, and in Luxembourg a heady 100%. In Britain, by contrast, thefigure is a dispiriting 5%.
結果就是英國處於歐洲語言能力的降級區裡。在整個歐盟，只有百分之51的學生學習兩種或兩種以上的外語。在芬蘭，法國，羅馬尼亞和斯洛維尼亞，這一比率是百分之99。在盧森堡則是百分之100。在英國，這個數字只有可憐的百分之5。
The standardexcuse for Britain’s neglect of foreign languages is that English has becomethe world tongue. What this really means is that English is the world’spreferred second language, not its first. In the EU, for example, 94% oflanguage students take English, with French a distant second on 23%. In suchcircumstances, some in this country (though not British business leaders) say:why should Britain bother to learn other tongues when so many have learnedours?
對於英國在外語上的忽視有一個標準解釋：英國是世界語言。英語是世界上最受喜愛的第二語言。例如在歐洲，百分之94的學生學習英語，只有百分之23的人學習法語。為什麼英國人還要費心去學習其他語言，而其他國家在學習我們的語言？
There are severalanswers to that. The most important is that the lack of foreign languages risksthe British mind becoming locked inside an Anglosphere of Britain, Ireland (sometimes), the BritishCommonwealth and above all the United States. These are significant links. Butthe famous remark that Britain and America are two nations divided by a commonlanguage holds true, especially in the Donald Trump era. The Anglosphere is aminority of the world, its wisdom and its trade. While other countries speaktheir own languages and English too, the British just speak English. Where’sthe advantage there?
對此，有幾個答案可供參考。最重要的是，外語學習者的缺乏會使英國把自己的思維局限在英語圈的國家（英國，愛爾蘭，美國，澳大利亞，紐西蘭和加拿大）。有一個著名的言論說得特別好：英語這個共同語言把英國和美國分裂開來，特別是在川普執政時期。英語圈國家在世界的貿易和智慧中，只能算是「少數民族」。當其他國家在說自己的母語和英語，而英國只說英語。所以，我們的優勢去哪了？
Theresa May’sgovernment talks about 「global」 Britain. On the Brexiteer right, this tends tomean an Anglosphere within which the privileged and prejudiced can nurture areactionary fantasy of British greatness. Mentally and materially it is aretreat from the world, not an engagement – as much a prison as a liberation. Agenuinely engaged Britain must not just hunker down in the Anglosphere, theAtlantic and the past. It must remain wholly engaged with the real world, withEurope above all, because that is where these islands are – and that meansunderstanding what our neighbours and allies are saying too.
特蕾莎梅說要讓英國成為「全球」的英國。在支持脫歐者眼中，這不過是那些所謂特權階層和偏見者中所孕育的對於偉大的大不列顛的幻想，意味者一個只在英語圈中的英國。在思想和物質的層面，這是脫離世界而不是迎接世界，是一個牢籠而不是自由。一個真正與世界建立聯繫的英國絕不能封閉於英語圈中，於大西洋中，於過去的輝煌中。它必須真正保持與世界完全的聯繫，不僅僅是歐洲。而這意味這要去明白我們的鄰國，盟友的語言。
原文連結：https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/03/the-guardian-view-on-languages-and-the-british-brexit-and-an-anglosphere-prison