Let’s make learning languages cool again

It would seem that the young people of Britain

prefer studying sciences and economics to

foreign languages. The latest A-levels figures

show that foreign language studies have fallen

to their lowest levels in years. This raised the

concern among universities and industry, and

quite rightly so.

How can the UK be a major player in the world

economy when its future captains of industry

can't communicate with the rest of the world?

Nobody denies the importance of learning new languages, but the British seem not to be concerned

with this. As long as English is seen as the default global language, why would they need to bother?

I want to suggest a solution to this problem

The first step of solving a problem is to admit its existence. A generation of British people who are

monolingual in a world where global communication is becoming ever more important will be a

disaster for the economy and culture in a very proud nation. Most non English speaking countries

already insist on their children learning at least one other language, their governments realise that

keeping their population isolated by language is a huge error.

So why do British children avoid studying languages?

1. Languages are complex subjects and may be unpredictable, unlike maths or other exact

sciences.

2. Languages may be marked too harshly, which leads to lower overall performance of pupils -

and nobody wants this.

3. Pupils might not consider language learning a useful thing, due to the overall notion that

everybody else speaks English.

4. The 'stiff upper lip' attitude still prevails heavily in Britain. So trying something very publicly,

like speaking in a foreign language in front of your peers, causes a lot of embarrassment.

How can we make British teenagers opt for learning languages?

Well, even though learning a second language is optional for the British schoolchildren, it is still an

option. Let's MAKE them choose it. Young people, British or not, are highly impressionable by

whatever they consider cool.

So let’s make language learning cool.

Learning a language is like a role play, you could be:

A French artisan discussing philosophy and the meaning of life

Volunteering in Africa helping people in turbulent areas

A Chinese entrepreneur at the forefront of new technology

Exploring the jungles of Indonesia discovering new plants and animals

A Latin American rapper bringing new blends of music to the world

The joy of language learning lies in the freedom it gives you as a person. Speaking a different

language gives your mind a change of clothes.