在中国这个世界人口最多的国家，英语对人们来说不再陌生，从北京的会议室，到云南保山的小巷，英语随处可见。

　　But it’s not the same as conversing with native speakers, according to two winners of a big English language competition for undergraduate students in China.

　　但对于从中国大学生顶级英语演讲赛事的走出来的两位获奖者而言，与那些母语是英文的人交流却完全是另外一回事。

　　“We say, ‘long time no see!’” says Shen Jiahui, 20, who placed second in this year’s 21st Century Cup competition.

　　“我们说，‘long time no see!(好久没见)’。”获得 本届21世纪杯英语演讲比赛一等奖第二名、20岁的沈家慧说道。

　　“That’s Chinglish. People are not speaking like this [any more].”

　　“那是中式英语。现在人们不再这样讲了。”

　　Ms Jiahui is on a study tour of Sydney with fourth placegetter Wang Taojun, courtesy of competition sponsors Navitas English.

　　沈家慧以及获得本次大赛一等奖第四名的选手王陶钧正在进行悉尼游学之旅。此次行程由大赛赞助商——澳大利亚Navitas英语集团慷慨支持。

　　This year’s competition attracted nearly 10,000 entrants from 850 universities in China and others in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea and Japan.

　　本届大赛共吸引了近万名选手参加，他们分别来自中国大陆850所高校、港澳台地区以及泰国、韩国和日本。

　　Now in its 18th year, the competition was established in the wake of Beijing’s failed bid to stage the 2000 Olympic Games.

　　如今是大赛开办以来的第18个年头，当年北京在申办2000年奥运会时失利， 此后“21世纪杯”全国英语演讲比赛应运而生。

　　“One reason Beijing failed was that there were not many English speakers at the time,” says Shen Gang, deputy editor in chief of the English language newspaper 21st Century.

　　“北京申奥失利的原因之一便是当时说英语的人还不是很多。”《二十一世纪英文报》副总编辑申钢说。

　　He says the competition was created to encourage Chinese university students “to open their mouths and use English as a language for communicative purposes, not as a language only learnt in classrooms”.

　　他表示，该项赛事旨在鼓励中国大学生“开口说英语，并把英语当成一种交际性语言来使用，而不仅仅限于课堂学习。”

　　China now has more people learning English as a second language than any other country, Mr Gang says, with lessons mandated from the third year of primary school.

　　申钢表示，比起世界上其他国家而言，中国现在有更多的人把英语当做第二语言来学习，小学三年级便要求开设英语课。

　　But in practice this only happens in the cities because there aren’t enough English teachers in rural areas. And the vast majority of teachers are Chinese-born.

　　但实际上，目前仅仅在城市中做到了这一点。因为农村地区的英语教师十分缺乏。而且大部分教师都是土生土长的中国人。

　　“There’s a term called ‘mute English’ in teaching and learning cycles,” Mr Gang says.

　　申钢表示：“在教学圈中，有一个术语叫做‘哑巴英语’。”

　　“A lot of students can only read instead of open their mouths and communicate with English. The [main] reason is there are not many foreign language teachers in China.