哪國人英語最爛？我被結果驚呆了…

A global study of English language proficiency in 60 nations revealed that the ability of the French to master the language of Shakespeare is actually declining. And France's fear of losing its culture is to blame.
一項針對60個國家進行的全球性英語流利度研究指出，法國人掌握莎士比亞語言的能力竟然在衰退，而這應歸咎於法國人害怕失去自己的文化。

While most countries in the world are slowly improving their English proficiency skills, France is one of the few nations where standards are actually declining, a new study has revealed.
一項新研究指出，當世界上多數國家在慢慢提高國民英語水平的時候，少數幾個國家卻降低了對英語水平的要求標準，法國則位列其中。

The English Proficiency Index ranked France 35th out of 60 countries where English is not the main language, putting it behind China and Italy and just ahead of the United Arab Emirates in the “low proficiency” grouping.
在英語爲非主要語言的60個國家中，根據英語熟練度指數，法國排在了第三十五位，位居中國和意大利之後，在“英語流利度較低”的國家中，法國略領先於阿拉伯聯合酋長國。

Most notably it was ranked last out of the European nations studied, falling behind the likes of Germany (14th) and Spain (23rd).
值得注意的是，在所研究的歐洲國家中，法國排在了最後，落後於德國（第14位）和西班牙（第23位）等國家。

Perhaps unsurprisingly Sweden topped the league table ahead of Norway and the Netherlands.
在排行榜中，瑞典超過了挪威及荷蘭，位居榜首，這也許並不出人意料。

“What makes the situation more remarkable is that most of Europe has either improved or already demonstrates consistently high English proficiency. France currently has the weakest English skills in Europe,” the study said.
研究指出，“讓這個局面更顯著的是，歐洲多數國家要麼在不斷提高英語水平，要麼已經證明了其國民較高的英語技能。目前，在歐洲國家中，法國人的英語技能最薄弱。”

The main problem lies with France’s fear of losing its own culture and language. The mentality of trying to protect Gallic culture has knock-on effects that harm the chances of French people learning English.
主要問題在於法國害怕失去自己的文化和語言。試圖保護法國文化的心態間接影響了法國人學英語的機會。

One of the problems lies in the French school system.
還有一個問題來自於法國的學校制度。

“French schools lack the resources compared to European neighbors. Young pupils learn English in primary school, but often the teachers’ level of English is not high. They are qualified as primary teachers, not language teachers, so often their English is just basic.”
“與歐洲鄰國相比，法國的學校缺少資源。雖然年輕的學生在小學的時候就學英語，但老師的英語水平往往不夠高。他們是合格的小學老師，卻算不上合格的語言老師。所以他們的英語往往只是初級水平。

外國友人是如何看待法國人的英語問題的？

I think it is mostly because they don't care; there's even blatant animosity towards the English language in France. The French, more than most other nations, take great pride in their language, so there's no perceived prestige in learning a language they subconsciously regard as inferior to their own. There's simply no incentive for them to improve their English.
我認爲，主要是因爲法國人不在乎英語，甚至有許多法國人對英語懷有公然的敵意。與其他大多數國家相比，法國人爲自己的語言而感到自豪，因此，去學一門他們潛意識裏認爲不如自己母語的語言，對他們來說並沒有什麼吸引力。他們只是沒有動力去提高英語。

“France's fear of losing its culture is to blame.” I think this is quite debatable. The Swedes generally speak very good English but at the same time are extremely proud about their own culture.
“（法國人英語不好）應歸咎於法國人害怕失去自己的文化。”我認爲這是很有爭議的。瑞典人英語就很好，但同時他們也非常爲自己的文化而自豪。
另一個小夥伴對此提出了異議。

The Swedes may be proud of their culture as much as they want but the point is: would you be willing to learn even a bit of Swedish given that you already speak good English? Maybe yes, but most of people would not because English is sufficient to communicate with the Dutch or the Swedes.
也許瑞典人像他們想要的那樣以自己的文化而自豪，但問題是：如果你的英語已經很好了，你還會願意學哪怕一點兒瑞典語嗎？也許會，但多數人不會，因爲講好英語已經足夠跟荷蘭人或瑞典人交流了。
日本人的英語也被吐槽了。

I would say that Japanese people's English pronunciation is bad, from my personal experience. This is, as somebody mentioned before, because of the numerous consonant clusters that exist in English, whereas such clusters do not exist in Japanese.
從我個人經驗來看，我得說日本人的發音很爛。就像某個人先前提過的那樣，因爲英語中有許多輔音連綴，而日語中沒有這樣的輔音連綴。
有人說中國人的英語很難懂，但也有外國小夥伴不同意這種說法。

I disagree that Chinese speakers' English is difficult to understand - yes, they might have a strong accent, but I think that in general, their English accents are very understandable, and they speak better than the Japanese. This is a very 'sweeping' statement, as I know fully that there are Chinese speakers who speak English so badly that they cannot be understood and Japanese speakers who speak English with no accent at all.
中國人的英語很難懂，我不同意這種說法。是的，他們可能有很重的口音，但我認爲，他們的英語口音基本上是可以理解的，而且與日本人相比，他們的英語更好。這是一種非常“以偏概全”的說法，因爲我完全清楚，確實有些中國人的英語很差，讓人無法理解，而且也有日本人講英語完全沒有口音。