学习法语还有用吗 A winner inthe battle of global tongues

What is the point of learning French? In a notoriously monoglot nation such as ours, the answer is usually something along the lines of the old justification for forcing cod-liver oil down children’s throats: it is good for you.

学法语的意义何在？在像英国这样众所周知的单语国家，答案通常是类似强迫孩子把鱼肝油吞下去的古老理由：这对你有好处。

It is time to realise that in many parts of the world, being expected to learn French is positively bad for you. If you were to emerge from school unable to add up, you would, rightly, be furious. Yet it is possible to finish schooling all over the world fluent in French but ignorant of the skill absolutely necessary get by in the global economy: English.

是时候意识到这一点了：在世界很多地方，被期望学法语对你确实有坏处。如果你从学校毕业却不会做加法，你理所应当地会感到愤怒。然而，在世界各地都可能发生以下这种情况：你在完成学业后能说一口流利的法语，却不会说一门在全球化经济中生存绝对必须掌握的语言——英语。

There is one big culprit for this absurd state of affairs. The bloc known as “La Francophonie” passes itself off as a pale imitation of the Commonwealth, if you can imagine anything quite so etiolated. Actually, the comparison is unfair to the Commonwealth , which is a well-meaning, low-key organisation doing good by stealth. La Francophonie has a more strident tone, promoting “active solidarity” (whatever that is) between member states, based on “the French language and its humanist values”.

这种荒谬的事态有一大罪魁祸首。名为“法语国家组织”(La Francophonie)的联盟假装自己是一个类似英联邦(Commonwealth)一样的组织——如果你能设想如此苍白无力的模仿的话。实际上，这种比较对英联邦而言是不公平的。英联邦是一个悄悄做好事的善意、低调的组织。法语国家组织的风格更为激烈，旨在促进成员国之间基于“法语语言及其人文主义价值观”的“积极团结”（谁知道这个词是什么意思）。

There is nothing inherently evil in promoting the teaching of French and its “humanist values”. And there is nothing wrong with encouraging the cultivation of dahlias. But we might look askance at an organisation which proclaimed that growing dahlias was the way to thrive in the 21st century.

促进法语教学及其“人文主义价值观”教育在本质上并没有什么不好。鼓励栽培大丽花也没有什么错。但如果一个组织宣称种植大丽花是在21世纪取得成功的方法，我们或许会用怀疑的眼光打量它。

In many of the countries where French is most actively taught — one thinks immediately of north Africa — the indigenous tongue is very different. So learning a foreign language which uses a different alphabet is no mean feat. The problem is not that French is impossible to learn: you can hear it spoken perfectly in Tunisia, Algeria or Morocco. No, the real problem with French is that it is a useless language.

在法国教学最积极的国家（人们马上会想起北非）中，很多国家的母语与法语截然不同。因此学习一门使用不同字母的外国语言是一种了不起的成就。问题不在于法语不可能学会：在突尼斯、阿尔及利亚或者摩洛哥，你都能听到人们说一口流利的法语。不，法语真正的问题是它是一门无用的语言。

Let us block our ears to the middle-class English and their forelock-tugging deference to France’s highly subsidised rural living, high-speed trains and “marvellous food”. Homage to Escoffier is no principle for modern life.

让我们堵住耳朵，不去理会英国中产阶级以及他们对法国的高补贴乡村生活、高速列车和“绝世美食”的敬意。对顶级大厨奥古斯特•埃斯科菲耶(Auguste Escoffier)的崇敬并不是能够指导现代生活的原则。

No one is going to deny that, historically, France has enhanced civilisation. European culture would be a thin thing without Montaigne, Descartes, Debussy and Cézanne, to say nothing of the dictator’s dictator, Napoleon Bonaparte. The problem is that it is all long past and the new world is anglophone. In the centuries-long struggle between English and French there is one victor, and to pretend otherwise is like suggesting that Johnny Hallyday is the future of pop.

没人打算否认法国在历史上促进了文明的发展。如果没有蒙田(Montaigne)、笛卡尔(Descartes)、德彪西(Debussy)和塞尚(Cézanne)，更不必说第一个现代独裁者拿破仑•波拿巴(Napoleon Bonaparte)，欧洲文化将单薄得多。问题在于，这些早已成为过去，英语是新世界的通用语。英语和法语长达数世纪的斗争决出了一个胜者，假装结果不是这样就像是说约翰尼•阿利代(Johnny Hallyday)是流行音乐的未来一样。

There is really no reason for the British to gloat about this victory, for it is much more to do with the legacy of an empire built generations ago, and with the dominance of the US in the modern world. But the outcome of the struggle is clear: English is the language of science, technology, travel, entertainment and sport. To be a citizen of the world it is the one language that you must have.

对于这场胜利，英国人真的没有什么理由沾沾自喜，因为决定这场胜利的，主要是一个在数代人以前建立的帝国的遗产以及美国在现代世界的主导地位。但这场斗争的结果很明确：英语是科学、技术、旅行、娱乐和运动的语言。要当一个世界公民，英语就是你必须掌握的那一门语言。

How the French government chooses to spend its money is its affair. For most of us, the only important question is whether promoting French language and values does any good. When the one-time German South West Africa attained independence as Namibia, it sensibly adopted English as its official language, for the very good reason that it would give its citizens a future.

法国政府选择如何花钱是它自己的事。对我们大多数人来说，唯一重要的问题是推广法语及其价值观能否带来任何好处。当曾经的德属西南非州(German South West Africa)以纳米比亚的身份获得独立后，该国理智地采用英语作为官方语言，因为一个充分的理由：英语会给该国公民一个未来。

The truth is that while other imperial powers were running down their flags around the world, France never really decolonised. Promotion of the French language and its supposed values is just another form of imperialism.

真相是，当其他帝国主义国家在全世界各地降下自己的旗帜时，法国从未真正地去殖民化。推行法语及其所谓的价值观只不过是帝国主义的另一种形式。

There is absolutely nothing wrong with studying any language as a hobby or mental discipline. But let us not pretend that understanding Sanskrit has great practical value.

作为一种爱好或者头脑训练方式学习任何语言当然没有任何过错。但让我们不要再假装懂得梵文有很大的实用价值。

If you are a native English speaker, by all means learn Chinese or Arabic or Spanish. If you must, study French, because it is a beautiful language. But let us have no truck with suggestions that it is much worth learning as a medium of communication.

如果你的母语是英语，请务必学习中文、阿拉伯语或者西班牙语。如果你非要学法语，那就学吧，因为它是一门美丽的语言。但请拒绝接受法语作为沟通媒介非常值得学习的说法。