研究顯示 中文系學生在英國成了香餑餑

Chinese has overtaken French, Spanish and German to become one of the most lucrative foreign languages for jobseekers in the UK.
現如今，中文已經超越法語、西語、德語，成爲幫助英國求職者獲取最高收入的外語之一。

Research shows graduates in Chinese earn an average yearly salary of 31,000 pounds or more.
研究顯示，學中文的畢業生平均年薪達3.1萬英鎊以上。

For students today, saddled with rising debt, a degree in Chinese promises to set them apart in the workplace.
如今學生們揹負的助學貸款越來越重，一箇中文專業的文憑能確保他們在職場脫穎而出。

Chinese students set themselves up for a different university experience from their peers who are taking traditional subjects. While an English student may have as little as six hours of contact time a week, those studying Mandarin are in class for most of the day.
中文專業學生的大學經歷有別於選擇其他傳統專業的同齡人。英文系學生每週課時可能只有6小時，而中文系學生卻幾乎整天都在上課。

"I had a lot of friends on other courses who didn't do much in first or second year. You can't blag Chinese. You literally have to spend hours and hours writing characters," says Hannah Jackson, who graduated in Chinese Studies from Sheffield University in 2009.
2009年畢業於英國謝菲爾德大學中文系的漢娜·傑克遜表示：“我認識很多其他專業的朋友，他們前兩年基本沒什麼壓力。但是學中文真的沒辦法偷懶。你每天都需要花大把時間寫漢字。”

"The first year was really difficult. Most of my friends admitted at one point to crying in the first week because of the intensity. I was almost told at one point that I might want to reconsider and drop out."
“大一是最最艱難的，我身邊大多數朋友都曾表示，由於學習強度太，第一週都掉眼淚了。甚至有人曾經勸我重新考慮，要不要放棄。”

Liberty Timewell, who graduated in Chinese from Cambridge University in 2012, spent at least eight hours a day studying during her degree, which increased to 18 hours a day at times during her finals.
利伯蒂·泰姆韋爾是劍橋大學中文系2012級畢業生，她曾經每天至少要花8小時學中文，每天學20個漢字，而學期末有時一天的學習時間能達到18小時。

So are the evenings in spent learning characters while your friends are at the student bar really worth it? Despite the ups and downs of their degrees, the two graduates think so.
當你在熬夜學漢字時，你的朋友們卻在學生酒吧，你覺得這樣真的值得？儘管在求學之路上經歷各種曲折，但這兩位畢業生都認爲，那些辛苦是值得的。

They each use Chinese in their chosen careers, and would not be in the jobs they do now without their knowledge of the language.
他們在選擇職業時都用到了中文，並且憑藉相關知識找到了各自心儀的工作。

Liberty now works for the civil service in Beijing. She earned a place on the Department for International Development graduate scheme a month after finishing her degree, and was earning a salary of over 30,000 pounds within two years.
利伯蒂現在在北京從事公務員工作。畢業一個月後，她在英國國際發展部的畢業生項目中獲得了一個位置，並在兩年之內年薪就超過了3萬英鎊。

"The degree was absolutely worth it. The slog has paid off," she says.
她表示：“中文學位，絕對值得擁有！當初的辛苦已經得到了回報。”