欧洲人只是因为美国才说英语吗?如果美国不说，他们会说吗?
Do Europeans only speak English because of the USA? Would they speak it or not if the USA didn’t?
译文简介
各国说英语，决定因素是英国还是美国？
正文翻译
Do Europeans only speak English because of the USA? Would they speak it or not if the USA didn’t?
欧洲人只是因为美国才说英语吗?如果美国不说，他们会说吗?
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Out of curiosity when the US invented it’s language and sent it to Europe, why did they call it “English” ?
我很好奇。如果是美国发明了这种语言并把它传到欧洲，为什么他们叫它“英语”?
You have to wonder at the intellect of some OPs. Europeans speak a wide range of languages, their own and very often English as a second language, because having a second language is quite common in countries outside the USA.
Mostly they speak English because the United Kingdom is quite an important factor in world affairs. That's one of the reasons why the USA decided to adopt English, rather than the more logical Spanish.
你不得不对某些题主的智慧感到惊讶。欧洲人说各种各样的语言，他们有自己的语言，英语通常作为第二语言，因为在美国以外的国家有第二语言是很普遍的。他们大多说英语，因为英国在世界事务中是一个非常重要的因素。这就是为什么美国决定采用英语，而不是更合乎逻辑的西班牙语的原因之一。
When the US was founded, Spanish was not a major language spoken in the original states (most Spanish-speaking settlers were in areas that at the time belonged to Spain and later Mexico. The occurrence of Spanish as the most common primary language for US residents besides English is a much later development. The UK’s influence on English becoming widely spoken comes from their colonial history, and the 20th century shift of world-power from the British Empire to the US cemented English as important for international affairs. So yes the dominance of English is a combination of interwoven history between the UK and the US, but there was never a competition between Spanish and English in the US at the point of making the decision, Spanish was not even a viable option as the ‘local’ language within the US at the time
美国建立之初，西班牙语并不是各州的主要语言（大多数说西班牙语的定居者居住在当时属于西班牙后来属于墨西哥的地区)。除了英语，西班牙语成为美国居民最常见的主要语言是很晚的一个发展。英国对英语广泛使用的影响来自于其殖民历史，20世纪世界力量从大英帝国向美国的转移又巩固了英语在国际事务中的重要性。所以，是的，英语的主导地位是英国和美国历史交织影响的结果，但美国在做决定的时候，西班牙语和英语从来没有竞争过，当时，西班牙语在美国甚至还不是一种可行的“当地”语言。
It is my experience, especially in Europe, but while English may be widespread, the most common second language is French. I have also seen this in other parts of the world with possible exclusion of China. I speak both English and German, but frequently, especially in smaller towns and villages in Europe, neither of those languages is used to any great extent; this goes for rural areas in just about every continental country. However, frequently I am asked if I speak French as opposed to the local language, such as Flemish, Dutch, Spanish, etc.
以我的经验，尤其是在欧洲，虽然英语可能很普遍，但最常见的第二语言是法语。我在世界其他地方也看到了这种情况，可能不包括中国。我会说英语和德语，但通常情况下，尤其是在欧洲的小城镇和乡村，人们很少使用这两种语言;这条规律适用于几乎所有大陆国家的农村地区。然而，经常有人问我说的是法语还是当地语言，比如佛兰芒语、荷兰语、西班牙语等等。
English would just be another language in Europe if it were not for the USA. it has become the common second language all over the world by the USA's ‘economic, military, and especially cultural power. I worked at an English language school in China. Generally, parents would come over to “ check out” the English teacher. They vastly preferred an English teacher that spoke “American English” I asked them why and they generally answered along the lines of,” We want to speak like the super power, not some less significant country.”
如果没有美国，英语在欧洲只算是另一种语言。由于美国的经济、军事，尤其是文化实力，英语已经成为全世界通用的第二语言。我在中国的一所英语学校工作过。一般来说，家长会过来“检查”英语老师。我问他们为什么，他们更喜欢说“美式英语”的英语老师，他们的回答大致是这样的----“我们想要像超级大国一样说话，而不是一些不那么重要的国家。”
It’s easy for other nationals to choose a second language, because English is the most common. Lots criticize the English for not speaking a second language…… but which language would we choose? You could speak six languages, and still not have the right one when you need it.
对于其他国家的人来说，选择英语作为第二语言很容易，因为英语是最常见的。很多人批评英国人不会说第二语言，但我们要选择哪种语言呢?你会说六种语言，但在你需要的时候仍然没有掌握正确的语言。
The Scandinavian countries teach English as a second language, along side their native one from a really young age.
Although I should point out that for hundreds of years the upper classes of Europe spoke in Latin. English Kings from William the Conqueror to Edward III only spoke French as a first language, English was a very basic second language. Richard I only spoke French. Richard II spoke English very well, but again only spoke it as a second language, French being his first. Henry IV was the first English King to fully communicate with his court and with the people in English. It was from him when English became the first language of English Kings, while French, Latin, Greek etc were second languages.
斯堪的纳维亚国家在他们很小的时候就把英语作为第二语言来教授。不过我要指出的是几百年来欧洲的上层阶级都说拉丁语。从征服者威廉到爱德华三世，英国国王只把法语作为第一语言，英语是非常基础的第二语言。理查五世只会说法语。理查二世英语说得很好，但还是把英语作为第二语言，法语是他的第一语言。亨利四世是第一位完全用英语与朝廷和人民交流的英国国王。正是自他开始，英语成了英国国王的第一语言，而法语、拉丁语、希腊语等成了第二语言。
The English language existed before America was invented and established. Meditate on that notion.
英语在美国被发现和建立之前就存在了。想想这个概念吧。
Bruce Buirkke（回复楼上）
（然而）就像生活中的许多事情一样，现在的情况通常比过去的情况更重要。
That doesn’t change the fact that English was spoken in Europe for centuries before the US, and that the Pilgrims on the Mayflower were from the UK, where the english language was formed and developed, don’t you think? Past circumstances shape the future…
这并不能改变英语在欧洲比美国早几个世纪使用的事实，还有，五月花号上的清教徒来自英国，英语是在那里形成和发展的，你不这么认为吗?过去的情况决定未来……
Of course they do,but the CURRENT popularity of English is largely because it is the language of the mightiest superpower in history. The USA dominates culturally, scientifically, militarily on and on. The British had their day, and certainly got the ball rolling, but currently we are in an age of giants, USA, China, and Russia. Look at French it was once a must have for the elites, but has become less popular, except in Africa, but some of them are changing to English. So languages wax and wane who started it is not the determining factor, or at least not the main factor.
对，但英语现在如此流行，很大程度上是因为它是历史上最强大的超级大国的语言。美国在文化、科学、军事等方面占据主导地位。英国人有他们的时代，但风水轮流转，现在我们处在一个巨头的时代，美国，中国和俄罗斯。看看法语，它曾经是精英阶层的必备品，但现在已经不那么受欢迎了，除了在非洲，非洲一些人也正在改用英语。所以由谁开始并不是语言兴衰的决定因素，或者至少不是主要因素。
I am sorry but I fail to see the relevance of superpowers, old or new, and the english language. If modern superpowers dictate the cultural norms, why don’t we all speak Chinese or Russian? They are building very powerful empires! Soon they will overtake the West. If India, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand, the US and most of Africa speak english it’s because of the past, not the future. The same can be said about the French. You don’t seem to understand history, and how it has shaped and influenced the world we live in now.
我很抱歉，但我没有看到新旧超级大国与英语语言之间的关联。如果现代超级大国主宰了文化规范，为什么我们不都说汉语或俄语呢?他们正在建立非常强大的帝国!他们很快就会超过西方。如果印度、巴基斯坦、澳大利亚、新西兰、美国和大多数非洲国家都说英语，那是因为过去，而不是未来。同样的道理也适用于法语。你似乎不了解历史，也不了解它是如何塑造和影响我们现在生活的世界的。
Good that you brought up Madarin. 20 years ago few Westerners studied the language, but now many Westerners are studying and more so every year. This directly correlates with China's rise and it's increasing economic power. So power and language use are connected.
The future is a moving target what is widespread and considered important can become less or more important as time passes, for example Latin.
很好，你提到了中文。20年前，很少有西方人学习这门语言，但现在有很多西方人在学习，而且每年都在增加。这与中国的崛起及其日益增长的经济实力直接相关。所以权力和语言使用是联系在一起的。未来是一个不可捉摸的目标，随着时间的推移，广泛的和被认为重要的东西可能变得不那么重要或更重要，例如拉丁语。
Latin is the base for all names of plants and flowers (botany) and a significant amount of medical terminology derives from Latin! Another example of how the past has shaped and influenced the present. I don’t know what else to add… I think maybe Americans have a very different sense of what history entails than Europeans. I cannot see Mandarin being more widely spoken then English anytime soon,and as you pointed out The United Kingdom lost all its colonies long time ago!
拉丁语是所有植物和花卉(植物学)名称的基础，大量医学术语源自拉丁语。这是过去如何塑造和影响现在的另一个例子。我不知道还有什么可以补充的，我认为美国人对历史的理解可能与欧洲人非常不同。我不认为在短期内中文会比英语更广泛地被使用，正如你指出的那样，英国在很久以前就失去了所有的殖民地!
Stupid egocentric question.
English was the international language of commerce since before America was formed. French was the language of diplomats.
The British Empire covered over a quarter of the globe
愚蠢的以自我为中心的问题。在美国形成之前，英语就是国际商业语言。法语是外交官的语言。大英帝国占据了全球的四分之一领土。
Yes, that is pretty much correct.
Before World War Two most trade was in French and most cross Atlantic trade was done by Europeans. So French was the second language in many countries.
After the War, with the bankruptcy of many shipping companies, cross Atlantic trade came in the hands of Americans.
Since most Americans didn't know any French and since the crappy American education system couldn't compensate, Europeans had to learn English.
European schools quickly included English in their curriculum.
This combined with American songs and films increased the European interest in English. Only proper English was given, not Americanese.
是的，非常正确。
在第二次世界大战之前，大多数贸易是用法语进行的，大多数跨大西洋贸易是由欧洲人完成的。所以法语是许多国家的第二语言。战争结束后，随着许多航运公司的破产，跨大西洋贸易就掌握在美国人的手中。由于大多数美国人不懂法语，而糟糕的美国教育体系无法弥补这一点，所以欧洲人不得不学习英语。欧洲的学校很快就把英语纳入了他们的课程。英语又与美国的歌曲和电影相结合，增加了欧洲人对英语的兴趣。他们只教正规的英语，而不是美式英语。
Do you know that there are 44 countries in Europe? There are over 200 languages spoken, English is only one of them and you should not be surprised to know that English is the native language of England, but also spoken by the Scottish Welsh and the Insh. The English language has been spoken here in one form or another for many hundreds of years, long before the USA was born.
你知道欧洲有44个国家吗?世界上有超过200种语言被使用，英语只是其中之一。你应该不会惊讶于英语是英格兰的母语，而且苏格兰威尔士人和因什人也说英语。在美国诞生之前，英语已经以这种或那种形式在这里使用了好几百年。
English as a Germanic language, same as Scandinavian, spread throughout the world due to the British colonies covering 1/4 of the world. Americans being just one of those colonies. USAs influence on the language around the world are minimal compared to the British.
英语作为日耳曼语，与斯堪的纳维亚语一样，由于英国殖民地占据了世界四分之一的面积而传播到世界各地。美国只是其中一个殖民地。与英国人相比，美国人对世界语言的影响微乎其微。
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English is the lingua franca of this era because it is the language of the main power in the world, namely the USA. The British Empire has sown the field, but today's geopolitics intervenes in the concrete reality. Let's imagine a scenario where the population of UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand suddenly disappears. I’m not sure it would change much for the status of the English language. Let's imagine a scenario where the US population suddenly disappears or changes language. You can imagine the consequences. Among other things, if we consider only native English speakers, the USA has a population that far exceeds that of the other 5 countries mentioned above put together. Then it is true that English is a particular language with a grammar that makes learning easy at a basic level and that it has a hybrid Latin-Germanic lexicon that helps the learners coming from the two main European language families. It is also true that Europeans study British English more often than American English.
英语是这个时代的通用语，因为它是世界上主要强国，即美国的语言。大英帝国播下了这块土地的种子，但今天的地缘政治干预了具体的现实。让我们想象一个场景，英国、爱尔兰、加拿大、澳大利亚和新西兰的人口突然消失了。我不确定这对英语的地位会有多大的改变。再让我们想象一个场景，美国人口突然消失或改变了语言。你可以想象后果。除此之外，如果我们只考虑以英语为母语的人，美国的人口远远超过上述其他5个国家的人口总和。英语确实是一种特殊的语言，它的语法I在基本水平上很容易，它混合了拉丁和日耳曼词汇，帮助来自两个主要的欧洲语系的学习者。欧洲人学习英式英语比学习美式英语的几率高，这也是事实。
Great Britain is an important part of contemporary Europe and historically of the world in general. That’s enough of a reason for Europeans to speak English. And it would be the same if the USA spoke Spanish…
英国是当代欧洲和世界历史的重要组成部分。这已经足够让欧洲人说英语了。如果美国说西班牙语，情况也会一样。
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Are you fucking dumb? Where does English come from again?
你他妈傻吗?英语是从哪里来的呢?
Just because something comes from or is created in a certain place does not mean it will be widely practiced. It is more recent circumstances that determines that.
仅仅因为某样东西来自或创造于某个地方，并不意味着它就会被广泛地应用。现今的情况才能决定。
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If America didn't exist, large parts of the world would still speak English! Because of fucking England, obviously!
如果美国不存在了，世界上大部分地区还会说英语!显然是因为他妈的英格兰!
Obviously, but in assessing it's degree of dominance, not just in numbers, but largely the language of business and science, that is largely the result of the existence of the USA. Otherwise English would have been weaker, less prominent. French is a good example.
对，很显然是这样，但在评估它的主导程度时，不能仅是从数量上考虑，至少在商业和科学语言上，很大程度上是美国存在的导致的。否则，英语就会更弱，更不突出。法语就是一个很好的例子。
The Netherlands was also near England before the USA became an independent country. Even though English became more important because the USA became a superpower it was always an important language to learn for people in the Netherlands. German and French too.
在美国成为独立国家之前，荷兰就地近英国。尽管由于美国成为超级大国，英语变得更加重要，但对荷兰人来说，英语一直是一门重要的语言。还有德语和法语也重要。
Well now, I speak English and have done so for nearly 60 years. The country I came from speaks many variations of English and the country I now live in do pretty well at speaking English it's as almost as if they invented and exported the language around the world. Oh I forgot to mention I was brought up in Scotland and I now live in England the land of the English. If the USA decided to Speak Spanish we would still speak English. The other European countries don't use English as their first language but speak it so very well when required. Thank you for the question.
现在，我会说英语，而且已经说了将近60年了。我来自的那个国家说多种英语，我现在居住的国家英语说得也很好，就好像是他们发明了这种语言并把它输出到世界各地一样。我忘了说我是在苏格兰长大的，现在我住在英格兰的土地上。如果美国决定说西班牙语，我们仍然会说英语。其他欧洲国家不把英语作为他们的第一语言，但在需要的时候说得非常好。谢谢你的问题。
English is the home language of several countries - the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand and now English has become the world’s shared language.
People learn it and speak it because it’s a shared language - because it’s become the language of international business -
英语是几个国家的母语——英国、加拿大、澳大利亚和新西兰，现在英语已经成为世界共享语言。人们学习和使用它是因为它是一种共同的语言——因为它已经成为国际商务的语言。
The UK speaks English because they “invented” it, the rest of Europe speaks English because they learn it in school and they learn it in school since it is a common language all over the world. Not specifically because of the USA, it might still be common if the USA spoke something else.
英国人说英语是因为他们“发明”了英语，欧洲其他国家的人说英语是因为他们在学校学习英语，他们在学校学习英语是因为英语是全世界的通用语言。不是特别因为美国，如果美国人说别的语言，英语可能仍然很常见。
There is also an English speaking European country, the United Kingdom, so Europeans would learn English even without USA. It is true, however, that English has become a Lingua Franca in international affairs, especially in the business world, and this is probably caused by American domination of today’s western culture.
还有一个说英语的欧洲国家，叫英国，所以即使没有美国，欧洲人也会学习英语。然而，英语确实已经成为国际事务中的通用语，尤其是在商业世界中，这可能是由美国主导了今天的西方文化造成的。
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No, English comes from Great Britain, not from America. Great Britain colonised many countries and many other countries found it much easier to learn English. The USA could have picked another language but as many of them came from English speaking countries, it followed that they continued to speak English so new immigrants learnt English as well.
不，英语来自英国，不是来自美国。英国殖民了很多国家，许多其他国家发现学习英语要容易得多。美国本可以选择另一种语言，但他们中的许多人来自英语国家，接着，他们继续说英语，所以新移民也学习英语。
Any English is necessary to conduct business with any country. It has become the universal business language. Secondarily, English is used in general as a tool to communicate personally to cross cultures. English is not a perfect language to express all feelings of all cultures. Filipinos tend to mix English with Tagalog for expressive purposes.
说英语对任何国家做生意都是必要的。它已经成为通用的商业语言。其次，英语通常被用作个人跨文化交流的工具。用英语来表达所有文化的所有情感时，它并不是一种完美的语言。为了表达，菲律宾人倾向于把英语和他加禄语混合在一起。
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English would have been a significant language in Europe irrespective of its status in USA, at the same time we cannot dismiss the fact that USA certainly elevated its standing as the world language it is today.
USA itself spoke English because of the UK, and they didn’t choose to speak German or Spanish. USA picking English has its language helped it grow faster and attract more talents to its shores. Thanks to British institutions and common law. Example, all IVY league schools has its origins during English colonial times.
The reason India or Australia or Kenya or Jamaica or Ireland speaking English is NOT because of the USA and we all know it is because of the British Empire.
Again, USA certainly catapulted its growth, but a concrete base was created well before that by the British empire on which the sun never set on 4 corners of the world.
无论英语在美国的地位如何，英语在欧洲都会是一种重要的语言，同时我们不能忽视这样一个事实，即美国提高了它作为当今世界语言的地位。因为英国的缘故，美国人自己也说英语，他们没有选择说德语或西班牙语。美国人选择英语是由于英语帮助它更快地发展并吸引更多的人才到美国。多亏了英国的制度和普通法。例如，所有的常春藤盟校都发轫于英国殖民时期。
印度、澳大利亚、肯尼亚、牙买加或爱尔兰说英语不是因为美国，我们都知道是因为大英帝国。
再说一次，美国确实实现了快速增长，但在此之前，大英帝国已经建造了一个混凝土地基，在这个基础上，世界上的四个角落都是日不落的。
Europeans do not usually speak Webster’s English (American), which is a dumbed down version of English. most are better educated.
The USA is totally irrelevant to the spread of English globally. English became the universal trading language because until just after WW2, the British had a vast empire, scattered across every continent on the planet, impacting about a third of the global population.
欧洲人通常不讲韦伯斯特英语(美国英语)，这是英语的一种简化版。大多数人受过更好的教育。
美国与英语在全球的传播完全无关。英语是世界通用的贸易语言，因为直到二战刚刚结束时，英国还拥有一个庞大的帝国，分散在地球上的每个大洲，影响着全球约三分之一的人口。
It has undoubtedly helped that the USA speaks it. But the fact that Australia, Canada, India, Pakistan, and many other countries around the world do has been an equally, possibly greater motivation.
Add to these reasons that many other nations use English as a second language and English must seem essential for trade with the Middle and Far East.
美国说英语无疑是有帮助的。但事实上，澳大利亚、加拿大、印度、巴基斯坦和世界上许多其他国家也在这么做，这同样可能是一个更大的因素。加上这些因素，许多其他国家才使用英语作为第二语言，在与中东和远东的贸易中，英语似乎是必不可少的。
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The USA speaks American, an English dialect not used anywhere else. Europe does not have a common language, all countries speak their native languages (French, Italian, German and so on) with small percentage of people also speaking English.
美国人说的是美式英语，一种其他地方不使用的英语方言。欧洲没有一个共同的语言，所有的国家都说他们的母语(法语，意大利语，德语等等)，还有一小部分人也说英语。
European, generally, speak the language of their own country. With the exception of the Irish Republic Europeans do not routinely speak English.
Of course you realise that the USA only speaks English because of Great Britain and would not speak English if it hadn’t been for the British?
欧洲人一般讲他们自己国家的语言。除爱尔兰共和国外，欧洲人通常不讲英语。当然，你要知道美国人说英语只是因为英国，如果没有英国人，美国人就不会说英语了。
I was in Italy recently… Lake Garda. Because it is only hours from Southern Germany, most of the tourists were Germans with a few Austrians. I didn’t see any British tourists (or French for that matter). The Germans and Italians spoke to each other in English.
我最近在意大利…加尔达湖。因为这里距离德国南部只有几个小时的路程，所以大多数游客都是德国人，也有几个奥地利人。我没有看到任何英国游客(也没有看到任何法国人)。德国人和意大利人用英语交谈。
The US being the big western winner of WW2 was certainly a reason, but there was other reasons.
Even though the British empire was breaking up, the constituent parts were either English speaking or had English as a second language.
German which had been the international scientific language experienced a sudden decline in popularity and had to be replaced.
French had also been loosing prestige for a long time, even though it was the international diplomatic language. It was seen as a language for the upper classes, whos influence were dwindling all over Europe.
OTOH was English not encouraged in Eastern Europe after WW2.
美国成为二战的西方大赢家当然是一个原因，但还有其他原因。尽管大英帝国当时正在解体，但组成部分要么说英语，要么把英语作为第二语言。德语曾是国际科学语言，但它的受欢迎程度突然下降，不得不被取代。在很长一段时间里，法语的声望也在下降，尽管它是国际外交语言。它被认为是上层阶级的语言，但影响力在整个欧洲都在减少。另外，二战后东欧不鼓励使用英语。