Learning a new language is one of the first – and greatest – challenges of relocating to another country. Acquiring the fundamentals before you move to your new location will put you and your family ahead of the game.
I
n today’s global economy, more businesses are expanding overseas and looking for employees who speak foreign languages. A 2014 CBI and Pearson survey found that 65 per cent of companies had a requirement for skills of this kind.
DECLINE IN LANGUAGE GCSES Since
2004, when the UK government decided to
make languages optional at GCSE, there has been a slow but steady decline in the number of pupils taking both modern
foreign and classical languages. In 2010, 43 per cent of pupils studied a foreign language at GCSE, compared with 76 per cent in 2000.
According to the British Council’s 2015/16 report on language trends, entries for A Level French have declined by about a third since 2002, and those for German by nearly half. Although more pupils are taking A Levels in Spanish and other languages, these increases do not offset the shortfalls in French and German.
