Two-thirds of Britons cannot say anything in a foreign language – with one fifth even unsure of what "bonjour" means, a study claims.

一項研究宣稱，三分之二的英國人一句外語也不會說——五分之一的人甚至不知道“bonjour”（法語：你好）的意思。

 

Overall, 64 per cent of those polled admitted they did not know a single word in any language other than English.

總體而言，有64%的受訪者承認，除了英語外，他們不認識其他任何一種語言的哪怕一個單詞。

 

And just one third – 34 per cent – said they were willing to make an attempt at speaking a foreign language while on holiday.

僅有三分之一的人——占總數34%——表示，他們愿意嘗試在出外度假時講外語。

 

One fifth (19 per cent) did not know the meaning of the French word for hello, one of the most recognisable foreign greetings in the world.

五分之一的人（占總數19%）不知道法語中表示“你好”的單詞的意思，但這個單詞是世界上最有名的外國問候語之一。

 

And 63 per cent had no idea what the Dutch word "goedemorgen" meant, despite the obvious similarities to our own "good morning".

還有63%的人不知道荷蘭語中的“goedemorgen”是什么意思，盡管這個單詞和英語中的“good morning”有如此明顯的相似之處。

 

Young Britons were found to be worst at making the effort, with nearly half – 47 per cent – of those aged 16 to 24 admitting they have never spoken the foreign language they learned at school.

調查發現英國的年輕人在努力說外語方面表現得最為糟糕，16歲到24歲之間的年輕人將近有一半——具體為47%——承認，他們從未說過在學校學到的外語。

 

But 45 per cent of the over-55s said they liked to try to speak the local language when abroad, the poll of 2,000 adults by travel website Hotels.com found.

但是旅游網站Hotels.com調查了2000名成年人后發現，55歲以上的人中有45%表示他們愿意嘗試在出國時說當地的語言。

 

It is compulsory for all pupils to study a foreign language up to the age of 14 and French, German and Spanish are all on the national curriculum.

在英國，所有學生到了14歲時都會被強制要求學習一門外語，法語、德語和西班牙語都包含在國民課程中。

 

Yet only one in ten of those polled considered themselves able to speak one of them.

然而僅有十分之一的受訪者認為他們還能講出一種曾經學過的外語。

 

Of these, a quarter could ask only "everyday questions", 21 per cent said they were limited to "hello" and "goodbye", and one in 50 claimed they could understand everything said to them in another language, but were unable to reply.

其中，四分之一人僅能問問“日常問題”，21%的人說他們僅限于說說“你好”和“再見”，有五十分之一的人表示，他們能夠聽懂別人對他們說的每一句話，但是無法作出回應。

 

Reasons for not trying to speak a local language included not being bothered, fear of making a mistake or expecting hosts to be able to speak English.

不想說當地語言的原因包括不想被外來語音干擾，害怕犯錯以及期望當地的主人能夠說英語。