Tuesday 27 November 2012

ZUT ALORS! ¡Qué lástima! Mamma Mia! 不得了!


Know any of those? Not many British people do (Mamma Mia doesn’t count). It’s official – English students are officially the language dunces of Europe. In June, a survey taken by the European Commission revealed that we are at the bottom of the language league for reading, writing and listening.  As for speaking, only 9% of 14 and 15 year olds can hold a conversation in French – comparing to an average of 42% across Europe. So what (or who) is to blame for this total lack of enthusiasm for language? And with the economy as bleak as it currently is (although, when is it ever good?) why are we knowingly disabling ourselves for the ever looming World Of Work?

Well, this sudden decline followed the Labour government’s decision to make foreign languages optional to learn (way back in 2002) once children made their GCSE choices – resulting in the number sitting a modern language falling by more than 200,000 between 2002 and 2010. So now it’s optional, why does learning a foreign language appeal to so little teenagers? There’s the obvious – ‘too much effort.’ True. Truth is, learning a foreign language is far easier said than done – you have to learn about tenses you never even knew existed in English (pluperfect anyone?), not to mention an accent with pronunciations completely opposite to English and the irregular verb conjugations that often seem like a cruel joke just to test you. Oh yes, do not underestimate the commitment to fluency of a language.
Furthermore, there’s the ignorant ‘two beers please’ attitude that surrounds the subject of foreign languages in England - that English people don’t have to learn another language. To be fair, the statistics seem to suggest this too – after all, English is the official language of the European Union.
So why should we learn languages? Personally, I believe sticking to our native tongue is not fulfilling our human potential – our brains are incredible things and too many people aren’t using them to their full advantage. In addition, and you can only understand this once you’ve had a proper conversation with a foreigner in their own tongue, there is the extreme gratification of learning a language and then putting it into practice with a native – and they actually understand you.
Don’t have the time to dedicate to becoming fluent in a language? You don't need to be fluent in a second-tongue to boost your chances in the job market. The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) found that 74% of employers recruit applicants with conversational ability rather than those who are word perfect. They believe this can "help break the ice, deepen cultural understanding, and open business access to new markets."
So why not give it a go?! There are always evening language classes but if you’re still too busy for them, the Internet can be pretty good to improve (or learn from scratch) conversational abilities. Try out www.hellomylo.com for Spanish, French, German and Chinese…
Bises, Riona


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