Language proficiency in China remains at a low level, despite record investment in school programs
尽管中国给与了学校项目破纪录的投资，但是中国的语言水平仍然较低。
Liu Jian started learning English while in middle school at age 13. It was a compulsory subject, and he took classes in it every day.
刘健（音）从初中开始学英语，当时13岁。当时这是一门必修课，他每天都会上英语课。
He continued to learn the language in high school and college, until he began a master’s degree program in 2009.
后来他在高中和大学也继续学习英语，直到2009年开始攻读硕士学位。
Now, at age 30, he says he is still not confident in his English ability.
现在在30岁的年龄，刘健表示说仍然对自己的英语能力不自信。
"To be honest, I worked very hard when learning the language at school and got satisfactory test scores," said Liu, who works at a State-owned petroleum company.
刘健在一家国有石油公司工作，他说道：“老实说，在学校时我很努力地学习这门语言，并且对考试分数感到很满意。”
"But I still need to look up words in dictionaries when I read English books. I can’t speak fluently and confidently when I have to talk with a native English speaker. And what’s more, I sometimes can’t understand the English news on TV."
“但是当我读英语书籍的时候，我仍然需要用字典查单词。当我不得不和一个英语母语的人交谈时，我不能流利地说英语，也很不自信。更糟糕的是，我有时看不懂电视上的英语新闻。”
Liu’s feelings are typical for people his age. In the sixth English Proficiency Index, recently published by Swedish education company Education First, China ranked 39th out of 72 countries and regions.
刘健的感觉对他那个时代的人来说很典型。最近瑞典一家教育公司Education First出版了第六版《英语能力指标》，在全部72个国家和地区中，中国只排在第39位。
The level of English proficiency among Chinese remains at a low level globally and lags behind a number of other Asian countries such as South Korea and Japan, according to the report.
据这份报告显示，从全球来看，中国人的英语能力水平仍然处于较低水平，而且还落后于诸如韩国、日本等一些亚洲国家。
Despite China’s low ranking in the Education First report, Chinese have historically spent a lot of time and money on learning English.
尽管中国在Education First的报告中排名很低，但是中国人一直在学习英语上花费了很多时间和金钱。
A report by Shenzhen-based consultancy CIConsulting showed that with almost one-fourth of its population learning the language, China is the world’s largest market for English education.
据深圳咨询公司CIConsulting的一份报告显示，中国大约四分之一的人口在学习英语，中国是全世界最大的英语教育市场。
The report said Chinese people spent 30 billion yuan ($4.3 billion) on learning English in 2013, a figure it projected would increase by 15 percent each year.
报告指出2013年中国人在英语学习上花费了300亿人民币（约合43亿美元），而这一数字还将以每年15%的速度增长。
A series of regulations released in 2001 by the Education Ministry called on the nation’s primary schools to start teaching English in the third grade. That is earlier than Liu and his peers began learning, but in reality, many schools in first-tier cities such as Beijing begin English courses even earlier, from the first grade.
2001年教育部发布的一系列规章制度号召全国小学从三年级开始英语教学。那要比刘健和他的同龄人开始学习英语时早得多，但是事实上，诸如北京等一线城市的许多学校的英语课程要开始得更早，从一年级开始。
Parents are also keen on having their children learn beginning at younger ages.
家长们也热衷让他们的孩子从更小就开始学英语。
A survey by First Leap, an English-language education institute for Chinese children aged 2 to 15, showed 88 percent of parents choose to send their children to study English before age 5, because of the belief that children are better at picking up languages between 3 and 5 years old.
据一家专为中国2到15岁儿童服务的英语语言教育机构“励步（First Leap）”的调查显示，88%的父母选择在孩子5岁前送他们去学习英语，因为他们相信孩子在3到5岁的时候学习语言的能力更强。
Why, then, has China had such seemingly low returns on its investments? It is a question Chinese educators have pondered for years.
那么，为什么中国给与了这么大的投资但是回报却很低呢？这是一个中国教育者们多年以来一直在思考的问题。
Han Baocheng, an English professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University, who is also deputy director of the National Research Center for Foreign Language Education, has called for a closer look at the textbooks and teaching materials used in schools.
北京外国语大学(分数线,专业设置)英语教授、国家外语教育研究中心副主任韩宝成（音）呼吁对学校使用的教材和教学材料进行更仔细地考察。
He said most textbooks teach only "survival English", such as introductions, shopping and asking for directions, which are useful for studying abroad.
据他表示，大多数教科书都只教“生存英语”，例如自我介绍、购物和问路等，这些东西对留学有用。
But for students in China who seldom have the opportunity to practice such English in their daily life, this content is impractical, according to Han.
但是据韩宝成表示说，对于那些很少有机会在日常生活中使用这些英语的中国学生来说，这些内容不切实际。
