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Hello, my name is John Worne and I'm the Chief Executive Officer of the Chartered Institute of Linguists. And I just wanted to say a few words of congratulations to everyone here today. It would be hard to think of two more important families of languages to learn, speak and master than the English family of languages and the Chinese family of languages.

大家好，我是约翰·沃恩，英国皇家特许语言家学会的首席执行官。今天，我想向在座的各位表达我的诚挚祝贺。难以想象有哪两种语言家族比英语和汉语更加重要，值得我们去学习、掌握并精通。

Chinese and English are each spoken by well over 1 billion people in the world, and that's a significant proportion of the whole world's population. But the best communication is always person-to-person communication. And every person who can speak another language adds to the possibilities for universal understanding, which is the Chartered Institute of Linguists’ motto. That's why we are so proud to partner with our longstanding friends, Grouphorse and of course, the British Council to sponsor this competition. The Chartered Institute of Linguists was founded over 100 years ago to contribute to international goodwill by encouraging the effective study and practice of languages. Our Royal Charter was granted by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and our Royal Patron is His Royal Highness, the Prince Michael of Kent, who is himself an accomplished linguist and a speaker of several languages.

全球讲英语和汉语的人数各自超过了十亿，这在全世界人口中占有显著的比例。然而，最佳的沟通方式永远是人与人之间的直接交流。每位掌握第二语言的人，都为增进全球间的理解开辟了新的渠道，这也是英国皇家特许语言家学会的座右铭。因此，我们深感自豪能够与我们的长期伙伴策马集团以及英国文化教育协会合作，赞助这场比赛。英国皇家特许语言家学会成立于一百多年前，旨在通过鼓励语言的有效学习与实践，促进国际间的友好关系。我们的皇家特许状是由伊丽莎白二世女王颁发的，我们的皇家赞助人是肯特的迈克尔王子，他本人也是一位杰出的语言学家，精通多种语言。

We're pleased to say that Prince Michael of Kent takes a personal interest in all of CIOL's awards and he has written to say that he is delighted that we support this prestigious competition, a royal stamp of approval on what has been a very special day for us all.

我们荣幸地分享，肯特的迈克尔王子不仅亲自关注英国皇家特许语言家学会的所有奖项，而且他还特意致信，表达了对我们支持这一声望卓著比赛的极大喜悦。这份来自皇室的认可，为我们大家共同经历的这个特殊日子增添了非凡意义。

Everyone who's taken part in this year's competition should be proud of themselves, as should tutors, friends and families and all who have helped them to get here. So thank you to Grouphorse, the British Council, to all of our other judges and congratulations, most of all, to all of our contestants. Thank you.

所有参赛者及其导师、家人、好友和支持者们，都应以他们所取得的成绩和所付出的努力为荣。在此，我要向策马集团、英国文化教育协会及所有评委表示衷心的感谢，最重要的是，向所有选手致以最热烈的祝贺。感谢大家。

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