中文摘要：

新华网2019年5月12日发表英文文章《聚焦:美国教育专家表示，中文将美国学生与全球的未来联系在一起》（Potlight: Chinese Language connects U.S. Students to a global future, say U.S. education experts），将目光投向了第5月9日在美国加利福尼亚州海滨城市圣迭戈开幕的12届全美中文大会。作为北美地区规模最大的汉语言年度盛会，来自美国各地以及其他7个国家的1300多名中文教师、教育官员以及行业专家，在“走向全球化的未来”主题下，就加强美国中文教学、深化中美教育领域合作进行探讨及交流。

美国亚洲协会副会长安东尼·杰克逊在致辞中说，美国学生对于外部世界、尤其是亚洲仍然缺乏了解。语言学习是了解其他国家文化与历史的途径，必须大力加强美国的汉语教学，这也将有利于美国学生的成长。他表示，他们的重要工作之一就是使更多美国各界人士充分认识到中文学习的重要性，使更多人受益于中文学习和全球化教育。在之后的讨论中杰克逊也指出，外语学习目前在早期教育（小学和幼儿阶段）中的缺失表明了一个信号，即外语并不那么重要。美国需要一项要求早期语言学习的教育政策，需要找到将整个世界知识融入美国整个教学体系中的方法，这样才能确定美国学生的全球能力缺陷，并努力改进它们。国际教育研究所（Institute for International Education）的研究和战略主管Rajika Bhandari则指出，有数据证明，学习外语的学生能获得更好的职业发展。

美国国务院正在积极推广汉语，将汉语列为“关键语言奖学金计划”的15种主要语言之一，并向愿意学习汉语的美国公民提供奖学金。美国的一些州已经遥遥领先。犹他州在10年前为响应犹他州商业界的要求，采用了全州范围的普通话课程。犹他州教育厅的Stacy Lyon对新华社说：“犹他州的企业由于没有足够的汉语使用者来帮助他们与中国市场上的同行交流而遭受了巨大的损失。”他指出，将汉语引入犹他州的学校系统是很重要的。

英文原文：

SAN  DIEGO, the United States, May 11 (Xinhua) -- More than 1,000 educators,  administrators, civil servants, and policy-makers from across the  United States and seven other countries met this weekend in the U.S.  coastal city of San Diego, California, with one shared goal: to promote  Chinese language and culture in the United States.

They  came together at the 12th annual National Chinese Language Conference  at the San Diego Sheraton Convention Center to share and discuss the  trends and challenges facing globally-oriented education in general and  Chinese language and culture in particular in a rapidly changing world.

In  collaboration with the Confucius Institute Headquarters, this year's  event was co-organized by the College Board and Asia Society and is  themed "Connecting to a global future." The three-day conference, which  will come to an end on Saturday, covered a wide-range of topics related  to Chinese language studying in the United States.

Anthony  Jackson, vice president of Education at Asia Society, applauded the  organization's core mission to enhance employability and citizenship in  ways that help prepare American students to compete in the tightly  interconnected world of the future.

But  he warned that "American students were dangerously uninformed about  international issues, which is particularly glaring in the case of  Asia."

Calling  this knowledge deficit and the under-appreciation of languages like  Mandarin "Dangerous," he added that the Asian Society was working hard  to increase teachings in these areas.

"It  is through language one acquires understanding and appreciation for the  history and culture of a people," he affirmed, "And that is the basis  for good judgement as we go forward in the future."

Adela  de la Torre, president of San Diego State University told Xinhua,  "Foreign languages have always been a big part of San Diego's strong,  diverse community and we understand how valuable they will be to  preparing our students to compete globally."

Though  panelists felt there had been a sea change in the educational community  as more and more educators grasped the importance of global-centric  education, they pointed out that, in practical terms, foreign  language-learning is still relegated to college, high school, and at  best, middle school levels, and still not included at earlier stages  when children first begin their formal education.

Its  absence in primary schools sends a signal that foreign languages are  not as important, Jackson contends. He also stressed that knowledge of  the world will not be prioritized in classrooms until it is integrated  into the standardized tests that students must take.

"To  send a signal of how important this is, we need an educational policy  that calls for early language learning. We need to find ways to  integrate the entire world into our whole curriculum and into our  testing procedures, so we can identify our student's global competence  deficiencies and work to improve them."

Rajika  Bhandari, Research and Strategy Director for the Institute for  International Education, which was established in 1919 with the founding  premise that international exchange could make the world a more  interconnected place - describes what her organization has discovered  about what motivates the younger generation of students to.

"Gen  Z-ers are savvy consumers. They and their families want to know what  the return on investment is for foreign language study. Well, we have  the data to prove that students with foreign languages experience much  better career outcomes," she told Xinhua.

The  U.S. Department of State is actively promoting the Chinese language,  listing Mandarin as one of the 15 key languages in its "Critical  Language Scholarship Program," and offering scholarships to U.S.  citizens willing to study it.

Some  U.S. states are already well ahead of the curve. Utah adopted a  state-wide Mandarin program ten years ago in response to the urging of  the Utah business community.

"Utah  businesses were suffering significant losses due to not having enough  Chinese language speakers to help them communicate with their  counterparts in the Chinese market," Stacy Lyon from the Utah State  Office of Education told Xinhua, noting that it's important to bring  Mandarin to the state's school system.

"It  really gives our student a leg up and makes them more competitive in  the global market," added Marybeth Fuller of Utah's Washington County  School District.

       Holly Chang, Senior Advisor of the "Committee of 100," an organization  of influential leaders in the Chinese-American community, concurs,  "Growing company in the United States can't prosper and compete if they  don't understand the Chinese market too. That's a huge career advantage  for American students who speak Mandarin."