(Newswire.net — September 7, 2015) — The marketplace has gone global. Business is no longer restricted by as many geographic or language boundaries. In order for the UK to be able to compete as a major player in the future global economy they will need language skills. But the number of students studying languages in secondary education is declining and thus causing worry about the UK’s future place in the world market. polylinguisticism.
The demand for German and French translation
Last year, UK prime minister David Cameron argued that it may be worthwhile to scrap European languages from the UK curriculum and concentrate on Arabic and Mandarin. Though the number of students currently interested in languages may reflect this, the demand for such languages may not.
UK business translation company London Translations quotes French translation as its most popular request, far surpassing Arabic and Mandarin.
The EU is the UK’s biggest export market and thus French, German and Spanish language skills are still very much of importance and will continue to be so. It should not be taken for granted that most Europeans will have English as their second language.
The rise of Arabic and Mandarin will not make up for lack of EU zone language skills
Arabic and Mandarin have risen in popularity with British students. This is good news as these languages are very important to the UK’s future. Though Cameron may have been off the mark by suggesting that the UK curriculum should dispense with European languages, he was not wrong about the importance of Chinese Mandarin and Arabic.
Unfortunately the increased business interest in these languages doesn’t help the overall decline in students studying foreign languages at school. The decline has spread from secondary education up to degree level.
At university level it can be seen that interest in studying non-EU languages has risen while interest in European languages has dropped.
Language skills are becoming even more important
Language skills are coveted by many companies. As the internet reinforces the globality of the working world, businesses can handpick employees more easily from a larger recruitment pool. The majority of non-English speaking countries have a very good grasp of a second or even third language, so UK students may become less desirable future employees.
Britain could lose its footing on the global business ladder if this trend continues. As the importance of foreign language skills grows each year, the UK government will need to introduce more rigorous schemes to generate interest.