英语全球化的功与过

One of the odd stories to come out of the French-speaking province of Quebec last year was the announcement that intensive English courses would be offered to students in state schools. Odd, because in the past half-century, much of the Québécois identity has been built on resisting English. Authorities throw the book at people for doing things that would be normal elsewhere in Canada. Last autumn, the Montreal newspaper La Presse revealed that two real estate executives had made presentations in English to a Montreal-based pension fund, violating the province's language laws, which give workers the right to a French-speaking environment.

去年，以法语为官方语言的加拿大魁北克省传来了一则不同寻常的消息：该省宣布将在公立学校中面向学生开设英语精读课程。之所以说它不同寻常，是因为在过去半个世纪中，魁北克人的民族认同在很大程度上建立在抵制英语这一基础上。在加拿大其他地方被视为正常的事情，在魁北克却会受到当局最严厉的惩罚。去年秋天，蒙特利尔报纸《La Presse》曝光了一件事：两名房地产行业的高管使用英语向一支总部位于蒙特利尔的养老基金做报告。这种行为违反了魁北克省的语言法。在该省，员工有权享有一个讲法语的工作环境。

Now, school authorities in Quebec City are questioning whether the time is ripe for introducing those English classes after all. Their hesitation has left French-speaking parents angry. On one hand, those parents want their children to cherish their own community and its language. On the other hand, English is the international language of business, and their children will have a hard time climbing the social ladder without it.

如今，对于引入此类英语课程的时机到底是不是已经成熟，魁北克市学校当局提出了质疑。他们的犹豫不决令那些讲法语的家长们感到愤怒。一方面，父母希望子女珍视他们自己的社交圈和语言。另一方面，在英语已成为国际商务语言的情况下，如果不会讲英语，他们子女在提高自身社会地位的过程中将遭遇重重障碍。

Self-contradiction besets all governments as they try to work out a role for English in their national culture. Long-time Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad was, as a young man, a promoter of Malay. He made it the language of school instruction two decades ago. But in 2003, he came up with a plan to teach mathematics and science in English, reasoning that most technical literature on those subjects was in English. It was a flop. English-language ability, among both teachers and students, had dropped more precipitously since independence than Dr Mahathir cared to admit. But when the government suggested discontinuing the programme in 2009, parents flew into a rage.

那些试图在自身文化中为英语寻找到合适定位的政府，都无法摆脱这种矛盾。长期担任马来西亚总理的马哈蒂尔•穆罕默德(Mahathir Mohamad)年轻时曾是马来语的推动者。20年前，他使马来语成为了学校的教学语言。但2003年时，他又提出一项新计划，也就是用英语来教授数学和科学，原因是这些学科的大部分技术文献都是用英语撰写的。此举彻底受挫。马来西亚教师和学生的英语能力自该国独立以来已急剧下滑，尽管马哈蒂尔博士本人不愿承认下滑得有那么厉害。然而，当2009年马来西亚政府建议中止该计划时，家长们却强烈不满。

Not all cultures have the same historical anguish over English that Malaysians and Québécois do. But almost all are being dragged ineluctably towards giving English a bigger role in their societies. More than a dozen EU countries require that English be taught in schools. In Thailand and China, the government has fostered English-language learning circles. Francophone Rwanda switched over in 2009 to English school instruction. English spreads wherever there is democracy or markets or even the slightest inclination towards them.

在英语这个问题上，并不是所有文化都遭遇了马来西亚人和魁北克人遭遇的那种历史痛苦。但如今，几乎所有的文化都不得不在各自的社会中赋予英语更加重要的角色，这已成为一种不可避免的趋势。已有十余个欧盟(EU)国家要求本国学校教授英语。在泰国和中国，政府对英语学习圈子进行了扶持。法语国家卢旺达2009年时将学校教学语言改为英语。一个地方只要拥有民主或市场、甚至只要具备向民主或市场靠拢的最轻微倾向，英语就会该地蔓延开来。