Kingsbridge

It has become a common misconception, amongst a large population of the UK at least, that everybody understands the English language, and thus we need not bother learning any foreign tongues.

However, according to the CIA World Fact Book, only a tiny 5.6% of the world's population speaks English as a primary language.

That number more than doubles if people who speak English as a secondary or tertiary language are also included, but that still leaves a huge majority of people in the world who do not speak English.

Therefore it would seem that learning a foreign language would be a sensible idea, helping to improve our ability to understand other cultures and communicate with the world around us.

Grasping the concept of a foreign language is much easier to learn at a younger age, and that is why we should look to our education system to help promote the learning of foreign languages.

However, only 17% of secondary schools have so far acted on the Government’s requirement to set a benchmark for participation in language learning after fourteen.

Over half of secondary schools now have fewer than 50% of pupils continuing with a language in Key Stage 4, and those with the lowest take-up are the most reluctant to set targets to improve.

The findings from CILT's annual survey of secondary schools, carried out in conjunction with the Association for Language Learning and the Independent Schools’ Modern Language Association, show there is a gulf in practice between schools where languages are well supported, particularly Specialist Language Colleges, grammar schools and independent schools, and others where languages have been allowed to decline to extremely low levels.

It seems that the UK has quite simply become lazy about learning languages, with little realisation as to what this may mean for the future.

Clearly English has now become a global language, and there has been a massive growth in English learning throughout the world. But that doesn't mean that because we already speak English, we can fore go the opportunity to learn other languages.

The rest of the world is becoming more multilingual - and monolingual English speakers are being left behind. Those that have learnt English as a foreign language have every right to compete for jobs in the English speaking market, and if they are more qualified than those that speak English as a primary language, this could leave a huge chunk of the UK population without jobs.

Many think of languages as a non-vocational option of study, but in reality learning a foreign language can open up a vast array of career opportunities, ranging from work with well-known multinational companies to international organisations or charities, with the added benefit of travel abroad.

When it comes to the languages being learnt in UK schools today, French and German have long been in circulation. The UK's close proximity to France would make French seem a sensible language to learn, although German has a higher number of native speakers than French.

Spanish is becoming ever more popular, with more schools now offering Spanish than German, although in terms of pupil numbers German still has more candidates for GCSE.

Other languages taught in schools in the UK include Italian, Russian, Portuguese and Arabic, although the variety of subjects on offer will hopefully increase as the government aims to reach its benchmark of 50-90% of students learning a second language at Key Stage 4.

Of all the languages in the world, Mandarin Chinese has the largest number of native speakers. Although Chinese is a language which is not commonly taught in UK classrooms, the current rapid economic and social growth of China could see this change in future years to come.

They say that information is power, but what if that information can't be communicated? Unless the UK steps up its commitment to learning foreign languages, we could all be left powerless.

The article The language of ignorance? originally appeared on 999 Today