谁是英语普及的受害者？

The report points to various reasons why India's English has fallen behind China's. First, India's colonial heritage has left it with an ambivalent attitude to English, along with a desire to preserve local languages. Second, much Indian schooling is poor and the teaching of English is often inadequate.
报告提到了印度说英语人数落后于中国的诸多原因。首先，印度的殖民地历史，使其在对待英语的态度上十分矛盾，同时它还希望保留当地语言。其次，大多数的印度学校教育落后，英语教学往往不足。
　　
This year, the government of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu asked the British Council to test the English-speaking skills of a group of primary teachers. The teachers had Bachelor of Arts degrees in English, which meant they were above the average. Yet, while most were able to make themselves understood, they made the sort of mistakes that cause misunderstandings. Very few had reached the level of English that would have allowed them to play an active role in a business meeting or academic seminar.
今年，印度泰米尔纳德邦政府请英国文化协会测试一组小学教师的英语口语技能。这些教师拥有英语专业的文学士学位，这意味着他们高于平均水平。然而，尽管大多数人能够让人明白他们想说什么，但他们犯下了一些会引起人们误解的错误。很少有人能够达到在商务会议或学术会议上活跃发言的那种英语水平。
　　
No one is sure how many Indians speak English. In one survey, over a third claimed to be able to. The consensus figure of those who really do is 5 per cent, although the Indian National Knowledge Commission this year put the proportion who speak it well at 1 per cent.
没有人确切知道有多少人印度人会说英语。在一项调查中，超过三分之一的印度人声称自己会说英语。人们的普遍看法是，真正会说英语的印度人比例约为5%，不过今年印度国家知识委员会表示，流利使用英语的印度人比例为1%。
　　
This is troubling because, the British Council report says, it is not only technology and outsourcing workers who will need English. If Indian tourism is to develop, taxi drivers and waiters will need it too.
这种情况令人不安。因为英国文化协会报告指出，需要英语的不仅是技术人员和外包工人。要想发展印度的旅游业，出租司机和侍者也要会英语。
　　
The suggestion that the number of English speakers in China is higher than in India is an estimate, but it does indicate how much effort the Chinese are putting into learning English and how serious China is about becoming the world's leading economy. The report says that China's government schools are better-equipped than India's.
中国说英语人数高于印度的说法只是一个估计，但它的确说明了中国在推动英语学习方面是何等努力，以及对于成为全球领先经济体的目标是何等严肃。英国文化协会的报告认为，中国的公办学校条件好于印度。
　　
The key for any country that wants its children to learn English, the report says, is to start teaching them in the first years of primary school, to teach at least part of the secondary school curriculum in English and to provide some university courses in English or ensure that students can read English-language text books.
报告认为，对于希望孩子学习英语的任何国家来说，关键是要在小学头几年开始教授英语，在中学至少开设部分英语课程，并提供大学英语教育，或保证学生能够阅读英语课本。

As English continues to sweep the world, there could be another set of losers: native English speakers. The rest of the world is not just learning English. It is becoming multilingual. International companies are already full of senior executives who manage in English, but speak Italian or Spanish or Urdu too. Even if only 1 per cent of Indians speak English well, that is still millions of bilingual or multilingual people for native English speakers to compete with.
随着英语继续风靡全球，可能存在另一类输家：英国本土的说英语者。全球其它地区的人不只是在学习英语，他们正成为讲多种语言的人。跨国企业中已经到处是用英语进行管理的高管，但他们也说意大利语、西班牙语或乌尔都语。对英国本土英语使用者来说，即使只有1%的印度人可以流利地说英语，也意味着自己不得不与数百万双语或多国语言使用者进行竞争。

Mr Bolton is a talented stock-picker, but he does not speak Chinese. Good luck to him.
波顿是一位天才的基金经理，但他不会说汉语。祝他好运！