Langauge Training: Important

An important case for teenagers studying languages has to be made following Schools Minister Jacqui Smith’s announcement that 50% of pupils are expected to take a language to GCSE, or GCSE equivalent, at 16. While around 75% of British people think everyone should be able to speak another language, and 92% of adults consider it an important part of every child’s education, there are still significant barriers to be overcome if languages are to move up the priority list for headteachers, parent and school governors as well as for the young pupils themselves.

A new book from CILT and the Association for Language Learning provides facts and figures, ideas for 'selling' languages to kids, and arguments to convince even the most sceptical of young learners that language training is important. ‘There are still too many people ready to believe that certain children 'don’t need' to study languages,’ says Linda Parker, Director of the Association for Language Learning.

This prevailing view, as observed by Parker, is a dangerous view to take as Britain's linguistic capability looks set to hit its lowest ever standard just when Mandarin eclipses English as the international language of business. Chinese courses in London are increasingly in-demand as China's vast economic expansion hits the business pages of British newspapers, day in, day out. British businessmen are choosing to learn Chinese in London in their droves as this exciting new market opens up to multinational business interests. The last time something like this happened was when Russian communism crumbled and their unregulated markets were opened up to international business. So many businessmen chose to learn Russian in London that almost every Russian course in London was full of businessmen! Of course, the dream has turned rather sour in Russia in the years since the introduction of free trade. A great amount of Russian wealth is held in relatively few hands and the majority of people are little if any better off than under communism as illustrated in this chart of Per Capita income. This seems unlikely to happen in China as the country is far more economically and socially developed than Russia in the early nineties.

International trade is presently conducted mainly in English, whether wedding photographers dealing with weddings, or stockbrokers dealing with stocks and shares. This isn't stopping mature learners from taking up a new language in record numbers. This trend is set to continue as more young people finish school with no grasp of foreign languages. It will become increasingly popular for people to learn Spanish as adults because a state education cannot promise this any longer. One upshot of this situation is that language teaching jobs have shifted from state schools into the private sector. Another upshot is that more people are choosing to learn Spanish in London, while demand for business Spanish in London also looks set to rise with the reduction of language teaching in schools.

After France's farm subsidies became front page news in Britain, the number of people choosing to learn French in London was expected to take something of a dip. As it happens, French courses in London have been relatively unaffected by the British media's bigotry. Unfortunately, this will make little difference to the British workforce's linguistic capability in years to come if young people no longer learn languages!