素有“英国高考”之称的A-level考试8月16日正式放榜。今年报考外语科目的A-level考生中选考汉语的人数首次超过德语。

Chinese A-level has overtaken German for the first time, as it becomes the UK’s third most popular language.

在英国今年的A-level考试中，选考汉语的考生人数首次超过德语。汉语成为英国第三大热门语言。

This year 3,334 students took Chinese A-level, compared to 3,058 taking German. While entries for Chinese have increased by 8.6 percent since last year, German entries have declined by 16.5 percent.

今年有3334名学生报考了汉语A-level考试，德语有3058人。选考汉语的报名人数比去年增长了8.6%，而德语则减少了16.5%。

Derek Richardson, the senior responsible officer at Pearson, said Chinese has “bucked¹ the trend” of the fall in popularity of modern languages.

培生集团高级官员德里克·理查森说，汉语“逆转”了现代语言受欢迎度下降的“趋势”。

“In languages we are seeing some significant decreases in entries for the main modern languages: French, German and Spanish,” he said

他说：“我们看到一些主要现代语言的报考人数大幅减少，包括法语、德语和西班牙语。”

"But what we are also seeing is an increase in entries across some of the other languages that people study.

“但是我们同时也看到，报考其他一些语言的人数有所增加。”

“What this means is Chinese…is now more popular than German. So maybe young people are beginning to think about what languages will be useful to them in the future.”

“这意味着汉语现在比德语更受欢迎。也许年轻人开始思考未来哪些语言对他们更有用。

French remains² the most popular modern language A-level followed by Spanish, but both have seen a fall in entries compared to last year by eight and four percent respectively.

法语仍然是A-level中选考人数最多的现代语言，其次是西班牙语。但是与去年相比，这两种语言的报考人数分别减少了8%和4%。

Russian has also increased in popularity since last year by 3.4 percent, from 1,122 to 1,160. Arabic, however, has declined by 5.4 percent, from 782 entries last year to 740 this year.

俄语的报考人数也比去年增加了3.4%，从1122人增加到1160人。阿拉伯语的报考人数减少了5.4%，从去年的782人减少到今年的740人。

Suzanne O'Farrell, curriculum and assessment³ specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: "We're seeing German just moving into extinction⁴ really. It is in severe decline."

英国校长协会的课程与评估专家苏珊娜·奥法雷尔说：“我们看到报考德语的人数正在大幅减少，情况真的很严重。”

Barnaby Lenon, chair of the Independent Schools Council (ISC), said that whereas pupils used to be told “It will really help your career if you learn German” this is no longer the case.

英国私立学校理事会主席巴纳比·莱农说，过去，学生们被教导说“学习德语，真的会对你的事业很有帮助”，但是现在情况不再是这样了。

“In the 1960s, 70s and even the 80s, Germany was the economic powerhouse of Europe,” he told The Daily Telegraph.

“在20世纪60和70年代，甚至到了80年代，德国在欧洲经济发展中一直起着重要作用。”

“Pupils were strongly encouraged to study German because of the importance of the German economy. Although it is still strong, that argument has faded, and China has emerged in the last 25 years as the fastest growing economy in the world.”

“以前，因为德国经济的重要性，学生被大力鼓励学习德语。现在，尽管德国经济依然很强，但是这种观点正在逐渐消失，中国在过去25年中已经崛起为全球发展最快的经济体。

Mr Lenon, a former headmaster at Harrow School, said the rise in Chinese A-levels is partly driven by private schools, many of which have invested in the subject in recent years.

曾担任哈罗公学校长的莱农说，报考汉语人数增长一定程度上是私立学校推动的，许多私立学校近年来都对这一学科加大了投入。

“It is not the case that large number of states schools are now teaching Chinese A-levels. They are not,” he said.

他说：“但是，并不是说有大量公立学校现在开始教授汉语A-level课程，并不是这样。”

He said many of the entries will be Chinese native speakers, adding that independent schools have attracted “large numbers” of Chinese pupils in recent years.

他说，很多报考汉语的考生母语是汉语。私立学校近年来吸引了“大量的”中国学生。

Aspirational⁵ middle class families sending their children to be educated in the UK has fuelled a steady increase in Chinese students, with number at fee-paying schools almost doubling in five years according to ISC data.

中国一些有抱负的中产阶级家庭把子女送到英国留学，来自中国的留学生人数稳步增长。英国私立学校理事会的数据显示，私立学校的中国留学生数量在5年内几乎翻番。

Mark Herbert, director of schools and skills at the British Council, welcomed the rise in Chinese A-level entries.

英国文化协会学校和技能总监马克·赫伯特对报考汉语人数增加表示欢迎。

“Against this overall downward trend, the increasing popularity of Chinese proves that our young people can be enthused to study languages,” he said.

他说：“在整体呈下降趋势的背景下，汉语越来越受欢迎证明我们的年轻人可以充满热情地学习语言。”

“Our research shows that Mandarin⁶ will be one of the most important languages for the UK’s future prosperity and global standing⁷ – but we mustn’t neglect Spanish, French and German which will still be vital post-Brexit.”

“我们的研究显示，汉语将是对英国未来繁荣和全球地位最重要的语言之一，但我们绝不能忽视西班牙语、法语和德语，它们在英国‘脱欧’之后仍将非常重要。”

Nick Gibb, the schools minister, said: “It has never been more important for young people to learn a foreign language than now.

英国教育部国务大臣尼克·吉布说：“现在对年轻人来说，学习外语比以往时候都更加重要。”

“An outward looking global nation needs a new generation of young people comfortable with the language and culture of our overseas trading partners.”

“一个开放的国际化国家需要新一代的年轻人熟悉海外贸易伙伴的语言和文化。”