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The Languages of Others: Britain's reliance on foreigners' willingness to learn English is self-defeating. Five years ago Estelle Morris, then the Education Secretary, ended the requirement for all GSCE students to learn at least one foreign language. Last year she acknowledged that this had been a mistake, at least in its timing. It was, in fact, disastrous in every respect.
The Telegraph responds to the Times: Why are the British so bad at languages?. The Times is making a common error: it is mistaking a decline in French and German for a general decline in language learning. Overall, the number of children studying languages is down. But look more closely at the statistics, and you will see that increasing numbers are sitting exams in Spanish, Turkish, Arabic, Urdu, Farsi, Chinese and Japanese. Pupils are rational consumers. It no longer makes sense for them, as it did for us, to learn the languages of Britain's immediate neighbours.
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
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