Two-thirds of Britons cannot say anything in a foreign language - with one fifth even unsure of what "bonjour" means, a study claims.
Overall, 64 per cent of those polled admitted they did not know a single word in any language other than English.
And just one third - 34 per cent - said they were willing to make an attempt at speaking a foreign language while on holiday.
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.
And 63 per cent had no idea what the Dutch word "goedemorgen" meant, despite the obvious similarities to our own "good morning".
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.
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.
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.
Yet only one in ten of those polled considered themselves able to speak one of them.
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.
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.


据英国《每日邮报》11月18日报道，一项研究宣称，三分之二的英国人一句外语也不会说--五分之一的人甚至不知道"bonjour"（法语：你好）的意思。
总体而言，有64%的受访者承认，除了英语外，他们不认识其他任何一种语言的哪怕一个单词。

仅有三分之一的人--占总数34%--表示，他们愿意尝试在出外度假时讲外语。

五分之一的人（占总数19%）不知道法语中表示"你好"的单词的意思，但这个单词是世界上最有名的外国问候语之一。
还有63%的人不知道荷兰语中的"goedemorgen"是什么意思，尽管这个单词和英语中的"good morning"有如此明显的相似之处。

调查发现英国的年轻人在努力说外语方面表现得最为糟糕，16岁到24岁之间的年轻人将近有一半--具体为47%--承认，他们从未说过在学校学到的外语。
但是旅游网站Hotels.com调查了2000名成年人后发现，55岁以上的人中有45%表示他们愿意尝试在出国时说当地的语言。

在英国，所有学生到了14岁时都会被强制要求学习一门外语，法语、德语和西班牙语都包含在国民课程中。
然而仅有十分之一的受访者认为他们还能讲出一种曾经学过的外语。

其中，四分之一人仅能问问"日常问题"，21%的人说他们仅限于说说"你好"和"再见"，有五十分之一的人表示，他们能够听懂别人对他们说的每一句话，但是无法作出回应。


不想说当地语言的原因包括不想被外来语音干扰，害怕犯错以及期望当地的主人能够说英语。

• willing [´wiliŋ] a.情愿的，乐意的 (初中英语单词)
• despite [di´spait] prep.尽管 (初中英语单词)
• obvious [´ɔbviəs] a.明显的；显而易见的 (初中英语单词)
• spoken [´spəukən] speak的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
• abroad [ə´brɔ:d] ad.海外；到处；广泛 (初中英语单词)
• unable [ʌn´eibəl] a.不能的；无能为力的 (初中英语单词)
• learned [´lə:nid] a.有学问的，博学的 (高中英语单词)
• compulsory [kəm´pʌlsəri] a.强迫的；义务的 (高中英语单词)
• limited [´limitid] a.有限(制)的 (高中英语单词)
• trying [´traiiŋ] a.难堪的；费劲的 (英语四级单词)
• speaking [´spi:kiŋ] n.说话 a.发言的 (英语六级单词)