報導稱,今年有3334名學生報考了漢語A-level考試。選考漢語的報名人數比去年增長了8.6%。
According to the report, 3,334 students have taken the Chinese A-level exam this year. The number of applicants for Chinese language selection increased by 8.6% compared with last year.
培生集團高級官員德裡克·理查森說,漢語「逆轉」了現代語言受歡迎度下降的「趨勢」。「入學考試中像法語、德語和西班牙語這樣的主要現代語言,報考的人數大幅減少。這也意味著現在漢語比德語更受歡迎。也許年輕人開始思考未來哪些語言對他們來說更有用。」
Derek Richardson, a senior Pearson Group official, said that Chinese "reversed" the "trend" of the decline in the popularity of modern languages. In languages we are seeing some significant decreases in entries for the main modern languages: French, German and Spanish, he said. "What this means is now Chinese is more popular than German. So maybe young people are beginning to think about what languages will be useful to them in the future."
英國的孔子學院學生在倫敦書展現場朗誦中文詩詞
British Confucius Institute students at the London Book Fair spotted Chinese poetry
英國文化協會學校和技能總監馬克·赫伯特對報考漢語人數增加表示歡迎。
Mark Herbert, the British Council's School and Skills Director, welcomed the increase in the number of Chinese applicants.
「在整體呈下降趨勢的背景下,漢語卻越來越受歡迎,這證明我們的年輕人是可以充滿熱情地學習語言的。」他說。
"Against this overall downward trend, the increasing popularity of Chinese proves that our young people can be enthused to study languages." he said.
「一個開放的國際化國家需要新一代的年輕人熟悉海外貿易夥伴的語言和文化。」
"An outward looking global nation needs a new generation of young people comfortable with the language and culture of our overseas trading partners."