Olympics brings English to China

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English is no longer alien in the world`s most populous country, with the language in common use from Beijing boardrooms to the back streets of Baoshan.
在中国这个世界人口最多的国家，英语对人们来说不再陌生，从北京的会议室，到云南保山的小巷，英语随处可见。
But it’s not the same as conversing with native speakers, according to two winners of a big English language competition for undergraduate students in China.
但对于从中国大学生顶级英语演讲赛事的走出来的两位获奖者而言，与那些母语是英文的人交流却完全是另外一回事。
“We say, ‘long time no see!’” says Shen Jiahui, 20, who placed second in this year’s 21st Century Cup competition.
“我们说，‘long time no see!（好久没见）’。”获得 本届21世纪杯英语演讲比赛一等奖第二名、20岁的沈家慧说道。
“That’s Chinglish. People are not speaking like this [any more].”
“那是中式英语。现在人们不再这样讲了。”
Ms Jiahui is on a study tour of Sydney with fourth placegetter Wang Taojun, courtesy of competition sponsors Navitas English.
沈家慧以及获得本次大赛一等奖第四名的选手王陶钧正在进行悉尼游学之旅。此次行程由大赛赞助商——澳大利亚Navitas英语集团慷慨支持。
This year’s competition attracted nearly 10,000 entrants from 850 universities in China and others in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea and Japan.
本届大赛共吸引了近万名选手参加，他们分别来自中国大陆850所高校、港澳台地区以及泰国、韩国和日本。
Now in its 18th year, the competition was established in the wake of Beijing’s failed bid to stage the 2000 Olympic Games.
如今是大赛开办以来的第18个年头，当年北京在申办2000年奥运会时失利， 此后“21世纪杯”全国英语演讲比赛应运而生。
“One reason Beijing failed was that there were not many English speakers at the time,” says Shen Gang, deputy editor in chief of the English language newspaper 21st Century.
“北京申奥失利的原因之一便是当时说英语的人还不是很多。”《二十一世纪英文报》副总编辑申钢说。
He says the competition was created to encourage Chinese university students “to open their mouths and use English as a language for communicative purposes, not as a language only learnt in classrooms”.
他表示，该项赛事旨在鼓励中国大学生“开口说英语，并把英语当成一种交际性语言来使用，而不仅仅限于课堂学习。”
China now has more people learning English as a second language than any other country, Mr Gang says, with lessons mandated from the third year of primary school.
申钢表示，比起世界上其他国家而言，中国现在有更多的人把英语当做第二语言来学习，小学三年级便要求开设英语课。
But in practice this only happens in the cities because there aren’t enough English teachers in rural areas. And the vast majority of teachers are Chinese-born.
但实际上，目前仅仅在城市中做到了这一点。因为农村地区的英语教师十分缺乏。而且大部分教师都是土生土长的中国人。
“There’s a term called ‘mute English’ in teaching and learning cycles,” Mr Gang says.
申钢表示：“在教学圈中，有一个术语叫做‘哑巴英语’。”
“A lot of students can only read instead of open their mouths and communicate with English. The [main] reason is there are not many foreign language teachers in China.
“很多学生只会读，而不会开口用英语交流。主要原因在于中国并没有很多的外语教师。”
“Most English major students get their first native speaker teacher when they reach first year in university.”
“很多英语专业的学生在大一时才有了第一位母语是英语的外教。”
He says learners use tapes and videos to imitate pronunciation and intonation.
他提到，很多学习者通过听磁带、看录像来模仿语音和语调。
“That’s one reason President Barack Obama is very popular with teenagers, because people can download his speeches for his pronunciation.”
“这就是为何美国总统巴拉克•奥巴马在青少年中颇受欢迎的原因之一，因为人们能够下载他的演讲资料学习发音。”
Mr Gang says English now dominates as the foreign language of choice and the only one required by the Chinese Ministry of Education.
申钢说，如今英语成为学习外语的首选语种，也是唯一一门经中国教育部规定的外语必修课。
“French, German, Japanese, Russian, Spanish and others – these languages are regarded as third languages, but English is always second.”
“法语、德语、日语、俄语和西班牙语等等，这些语言被视为第三语言，而英语一直是第二语言。”
He says young people have started to mix Chinese and English as “kind of a fashion trend”. The term “nihao are you?” – a fusion of the English greeting with the Chinese nihao – is commonly used in Beijing, especially to address foreigners, after it was popularised by a Radio China International announcer.
他表示，年轻一族开始把中、英文混杂作为“一种潮流”。现在北京有种说法十分流行，尤其是在和外国人讲话时被广泛使用，那就是：“nihao are you?”，其中将英文问候语与中文“你好”融合起来，该说法此前曾被中国国际电台的一位播音员大力推广。
Mr Taojun, who prefers the name Daniel while in Australia, is studying translation and interpretation as a third-year student at Sichuan International Studies University.
在澳大利亚，王陶钧更喜欢用丹尼尔这个英文名字，他现在在四川外语学院读大三，专攻翻译与口译。
“English is a little bit like the working language in multicultural working environments,” says Daniel, 21.
21岁的丹尼尔说：“英语有点像多文化工作环境中的工作语言。”
“In big companies, many documents are in English. So young people who want to find a better job in giant companies, they’d better speak good English.”
“在大公司中，很多文件都是英文的，所以那些想在大公司中找到好工作的年轻人最好能说一口流利的英语。”
Daniel and Ms Jiahui, who go by the names of Lily, are on their first trip outside China. They’re attending English classes between visits to Sydney’s tourist attractions.
对于丹尼尔和莉莉（沈家慧的英文名）来说，这是他们第一次出国旅行。他们在悉尼观光之余也参加了英语课学习。
“The teaching method here is quite different from what we have in China,” says Lily, a second year international business student at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies.
“这里的教学模式和我们在中国所接受的大不相同。”来自广东外语外贸大学国际贸易专业大二年级的莉莉表示。
“Teachers have more interaction with the students, and the students are engaged in the whole process. It’s quite different.”
“师生间的互动更多，学生参与到整个环节之中，与国内完全不同。”
Daniel says the local courses explore topics never covered in China, such as the history of pop music. He says the students are from all over the world and are forced to use English because it’s the only common language.
丹尼尔说，悉尼的课程探究了许多此前在中国从未涉及的话题。比如流行音乐史。他说学生来自世界各地，他们必须使用英语，因为这是唯一的通用语言。
The total immersion continues after class, with many students staying in homestays. Lily says chats with her host family have improved her proficiency.
很多学生都住在当地的寄宿家庭中，这样一来课下时大家依旧完全沉浸在英语环境之中。莉莉表示与寄宿家庭聊天提高了自己英文的熟练程度。
“You don’t learn [some] words from your books or academic English. You can only learn from daily interaction.”
“有些词是你从书本或课堂中学不到的，你只能从日常交流中汲取。”

catfelix

You don’t learn some words from your books or academic English. You can only learn from daily interaction.