西班牙政府表示决定将向每个年轻人提供多达1000欧元(680英镑)的资金来帮助其学习英语。
The Spanish government will give young people up to 1,000 euros (680 pounds) each to study English.
西班牙首相萨帕特罗5月30日在向议会所做的年度国情咨文中表示,资助计划的受益对象为那些年龄在18岁到30岁之间的年轻人。他说:“我已经将克服西班牙人在外语学习上的传统弱点视为自己必须着手完成的一项任务。”其实,萨帕特罗本人并不会讲英语,但在一次于法国国民议会内发表演讲时也曾尝试使用并不熟练的法语。
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero homed in on his country's linguistic failings in his annual State of the Nation address to Parliament on Tuesday, in which he announced the subsidy for people aged from 18-30. "I have set myself the task of overcoming our traditional shortcomings with regard to languages," said Zapatero, who cannot speak English but once tried his uncertain French in an address to France's National Assembly.
报道说,尽管英语一直是西班牙各级学校内的必修课,该国规模庞大的旅游产业和飞速发展的经济也相应带来了对英语人才的巨大需求,但根据欧盟委员会的统计,目前只有不到20%的西班牙人会说英语。而这也几乎使得西班牙成为了欧盟各成员国中国民外语水平最低的国家之一,甚至还不如英国和爱尔兰。
English is compulsory in Spanish schools but, according to the European Commission, fewer than 20 percent of Spaniards can speak the language despite the needs generated by a massive tourism industry and a fast-growing economy. That puts Spain near the back of the European Union class for foreign languages, beaten in the dunce stakes by English-speaking Britain and Ireland. |