Britain's Language Record to Worsen Even Though We Are Already Dunce of the Class

6.29.40pm UTC (GMT +0000) Sat 11th Dec 2004

Britain is the only one of the 25 EU member states to be relaxing the requirement to learn foreign languages even though we already have the worst EU record for speaking foreign languages, according to the EU Commission. While many EU countries are increasing the requirement for language learning, Britain has become one of only 3 member sates to drop compulsory languages up until the age of 16.

In parliamentary answers to Hampshire's Liberal Democrat MEP Chris Huhne, the EU Commission says 27 per cent of British people can converse in another language compared with an EU average of 63 per cent. The best is Luxembourg, where 97 per cent speak another tongue.

But the Government dropped the requirement to study a foreign language between the ages of 14 to 16 from September. The only other EU member states not to insist on a compulsory foreign language at this age are Ireland and Italy, which have a language learning record nearly as bad as Britain's.

The EU Commission undertook a study, to be published shortly, that shows many EU countries are moving in the opposite direction to Britain by introducing longer and earlier compulsory foreign languages. Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Germany, France, Italy and Austria have all extended or toughened language learning since 2002. 'Britain's poor record on languages has a real cost' Mr Huhne said. 'Seventy two out of the UK's top 100 companies are unable to deal with telephone calls made in French or German according to a survey of FT-SE companies in April 2002 by Thebigword.

'The German, Italian, Spanish and French Ambassadors wrote to the press in recently to express concern at the state of British language teaching. They said that 1 in 10 UK businesses was losing contracts because of poor staff language skills. Languages matter' he said.

'Fewer language skills also mean fewer people open to outside influences, and more likelihood of little england attitudes' he said.

'Yet we are now going backwards in foreign language learning and teaching. The number of students taking any modern language at GCSE fell by 2.2 per cent this year. French and German fell by 16,634 in 2004. This was only partly offset by a small rise taking Spanish. Moreover, the Government has taken languages out of the core national curriculum post-14, downgrading them to the same status as design and technology.

A recent survey of 800 secondary schools across the country found that fewer than one in three schools now requires GCSE-age students to do a foreign language.

'A foreign language is a window on another cultural world, which also enables us to understand and appreciate our own all the more. Many English-speakers only formally learn English grammar through learning the grammar of French and German' Mr Huhne said.