VOA慢速英語: 全世界通曉英語的人數(shù)增長

全世界通曉英語的人數(shù)增長

The world’s understanding of English appears to be getting better. The private education company EF recently released a report called English Proficiency Index. The report ranks English language proficiency in 63 countries into five categories or classes. They are: “very high proficiency, high, moderate, low and very low.”

全世界懂英語的人水平越來越高。私立的教育機(jī)構(gòu)——英孚教育最近發(fā)布一篇英語水平指數(shù)的報道。報告把63個國家的英語水平排名分為五個類別：非常高、高、中、低、非常低水平。

Minh Tran is EF’s Director of Research and Academic Partnerships.

Minh Tran是英孚研究和學(xué)術(shù)部的主任。

“At the global level, we are seeing a consistent improvement year after year. I think that many countries that are looking outward, that are looking to internationalize their economies are seeing the importance of English.”

“全球范圍內(nèi)，我們可以看到英語水平逐年在持續(xù)提升。我認(rèn)為許多國家在尋求經(jīng)濟(jì)全球化，同時也認(rèn)識到英語的重要性。”

The English Proficiency Index says Denmark is the top country for English as a foreign language. Poland and Austria have joined Denmark and other northern European countries with the “very high proficiency” ranking.

英語水平指數(shù)顯示作為一門外語，英語水平最高的國家是丹麥。波蘭和奧地利已經(jīng)加入到丹麥的行列，其它一些北歐國家英語水平也是接近“非常高水平”的排名國家。

Malaysiaand Singapore have the best ranking in Asia with “high proficiency” in English. Joining them is Argentina, the only Latin American country to rank as “high proficiency.” English levels in the rest of Latin America remain low.

在亞洲，馬來西亞和新加坡是高水平英語級別的國家。而阿根廷是拉丁美洲唯一一個英語高水平排名的國家。拉丁美洲其它國家的英語水平仍然比較低。

South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong have invested a lot of time and money in English education. But these countries have not improved since the last study came out in 2007.

韓國、日本、臺灣和香港在英語教育方面已經(jīng)投入很多時間和金錢。但是自從2007年的調(diào)查研究結(jié)果出來后，這些國家英語教育水平并沒有取得什么進(jìn)步。

Minh Tran has this to say: “I think they are not improving because they have not made any significant reform to the way they teach English. In Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong. They still rely quite heavily on rote memory. And there’s a strong focus on grammar and vocabulary acquisition, but not so much on the actual communicative skills.”

Minh Tran說：“我認(rèn)為他們英語沒有取得進(jìn)步的原因是在英語教學(xué)方面他們沒有做出切實有效的改革。”在韓國、日本、臺灣和香港，他們?nèi)匀豢總鹘y(tǒng)的記憶模式路線。他們太關(guān)注語法、詞匯的掌握，而不是真正的交流技巧。

English language proficiency has actually fallen in many countries in the Middle East and North Africa, partly because of wars in the area.

中東、北非的很多國家，由于地區(qū)戰(zhàn)爭的影響，英語水平已經(jīng)下降。

For its report, EF used online test results from 750,000 adults in 63 countries. The test takers were adults who chose to take the company’s online test. They were not a random sample of the total population. For that reason, the results might be biased toward people who are interested in English and use the Internet.

英孚教育使用36個國家的75萬成人在線測試結(jié)果得出這個結(jié)論。測試人員都是選擇英孚在線測試的成年人。他們不是從63個國家的人口中隨意挑選出來的。所以，測試結(jié)果也許偏向于那些對英語感興趣以及使用互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的人群。

Dr. Clive Roberts is the Director of Assessment, Analysis & Research at ELS Educational Services. He does not know about the report’s research methods, but he thinks the study is helpful.

克萊夫·羅伯特博士是ELS教育機(jī)構(gòu)的評估、分析和研究部的主任，他不知道這篇報道的調(diào)查方式是什么，但是他認(rèn)為調(diào)查研究是有用的。

“…Conducting such research enables countries, regions, organizations to sort of assess their own position relative to other places. What trends are happening…, then they can sort of re-assess their own situation and figure out a strategy.”

“進(jìn)行這樣的調(diào)查研究可以讓一些國家、地區(qū)和組織相較于其它國家，評估自己的位置。接下來會有什么發(fā)展趨勢，他們可以重新評估他們的情況，找出應(yīng)對策略。”

Improvements have also been noted on average scores for the TOEFL, the Test of English as a Foreign Language, and IELTS, the International English Language Testing System.

英語水平的提升還體現(xiàn)在托福的平均成績上，托福是檢定非英語為母語者的英語能力考試。

Eileen Tyson is Executive Director of Global Client Relations at the Educational Testing Service. ETS produces the TOEFL. Ms. Tyson agrees that English proficiency is rising worldwide. Average TOEFL scores have risen by two points in the past nine years. But she thinks it is not wise to compare countries by average TOEFL scores. She says many things can influence test results.

艾琳·泰森是美國教育測驗服務(wù)社的全球客戶關(guān)系的執(zhí)行董事。美國教育測驗服務(wù)社舉辦托福英語考試。泰森贊同英語水平在世界范圍內(nèi)有所提升這一觀點。但是她認(rèn)為通過平均的托福成績來比較各國的英語水平有點不明智。她說很多因素會影響測試結(jié)果。

“For example, the age at which students start to learn English. …Some native languages are closer to English…How many hours per week a student spends learning English, and what kind of curriculum they use. So all of these combine …we feel strongly that you really can’t use TOEFL scores for comparing general proficiency across countries.”

“例如，學(xué)生什么年齡開始學(xué)習(xí)英語…一些本土語言更接近英語…學(xué)生花多長時間來學(xué)習(xí)英語，他們使用哪種課程。把所有這些因素綜合起來考量，我們認(rèn)為不能僅僅用托福成績來比較各國的英語水平情況。”

In 2005, ETS made big changes to the TOEFL. It went from a paper test to a test that required use of a computer and an Internet connection. Notably, ETS cut the grammar section and required test takers to record spoken responses to questions.

2005年，美國教育測驗服務(wù)社對托福進(jìn)行了大的變革。從紙質(zhì)測試變成一個需要用電腦和互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的考試。很明顯美國教育測驗服務(wù)社把語法部分砍掉，要求參加測試的人用口述表達(dá)來回答這些問題。

Eileen Tyson thinks the new TOEFL encouraged many teachers to make their classes more interactive.

艾琳·泰森認(rèn)為新的托?？荚嚪绞綍詈芏嗬蠋熥屗麄兊恼n程更多一些互動。

“We think it did help teachers to look at how they were teaching English, to make it more communicative, to make sure they were teaching speaking and writing. And we’re actually kind of proud of the fact that we’ve helped to influence language teaching and language learning worldwide.”

“我們認(rèn)為這樣的托福考試確實會讓老師去尋找他們教授英語的方式，讓英語更具交流性，確保他們教授英語的讀說、寫能力。對于在全球范圍內(nèi)影響到英語語言的教學(xué)，我們感到非常自豪。”

The British Council estimates that 1.75 billion people speak English today. The group expects that number to grow to two billion by 2020 -- about one-fourth of the world’s population.

英國文化協(xié)會估計當(dāng)今有17.5億人講英語，預(yù)計到2020年，這一人群數(shù)量會增長到20億——占全球人口總數(shù)的四分之一。

I’m Jonathan Evans.

我是喬納森·伊凡斯。

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Words in This Story

proficiency - n. the state of being good at something

rote – n. mechanical or unthinking routine or repetition; the use of memory with little intelligence

acquisition – n. the act or process of gaining skill, knowledge, etc.

random sample – n. a sample in which every person in the population has an equal chance of being chosen

bias – n. to have a strong and often unfair influence on (someone or something)

re-assess – v. consider or assess again, especially while paying attention to new or different factors