Parlez-vous français? No, but my AI can. Is this the end for foreign language learning? England’s school-leaving A-level exam results this week included a 1.5 per cent yearly drop in entries for modern foreign languages, with sharp falls in French and German, extending a long downward trend. Student and teacher numbers have dwindled so far that some leading UK universities are looking at merging their language courses. Britons, like Americans, have long been linguistic laggards, sheltering behind English’s status as the global language of business and popular culture. Internationally, demand to learn English, and expanding languages such as Mandarin, remains robust. Even so, young people may question the need when translation apps can do the job. Une grosse erreur!
“Parlez-vous français（您会说法语吗）？”——不会，但我的AI会。这是否意味着外语学习的终结？本周英格兰中学毕业A-level考试结果显示，现代外语科目报考人数同比下降1.5%，其中法语和德语跌幅尤为明显，延续了长期下滑趋势。学生与教师人数双双缩水，以至于一些英国的顶尖大学正考虑合并其语言课程。英国人和美国人一样，长期在语言学习上落后，仗着英语在商业和流行文化中的manbetx app苹果 地位而停滞不前。在国际范围内，学习英语以及普通话等正在扩张的语言的需求依然强劲。即便如此，当翻译应用能够代劳时，年轻人或许会质疑学习的必要性。Une grosse erreur!