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A-level results 2013: foreign language courses in 'freefall'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/10245143/A-level-results-2013-foreign-language-courses-in-freefall.html

Examination boards said they were working on a rescue plan in an attempt to revive interest in the subject following a year-on-year fall in entries over the last decade.
The inquiry is likely to look into areas such as the types of students studying a language and why relatively few A-levels are awarded a top grade.
It came after French and German – traditionally the two most popular language courses in schools – both appeared in a list of the 10 fastest declining subjects this summer.
Some 11,272 pupils studied French in 2013 – a drop of 10 per cent in a year and a near 50 per cent decline over the last decade.
German entries fell to a record low of just 4,242. It was a drop of 11 per cent in 12 months and a halving of numbers overall since 2000.
Figures show that other modern languages – which include Mandarin, Arabic and Italian – also dropped this year from 9,136 entries to 9,087

This is sort of worrying, how few Brits take up foreign languages. French, being utterly useless in the modern world, is understandable in its decline, and German's decline is also understandable. But languages like Mandarin and Arabic should be on the up, as these languages are valuable to future careers. Good to see Spanish, which is a fantastic skill, on the up though.

Language learning is hard, but we are somewhat lucky in this country that English is the lingua franca of the world, and subjects like sciences are far more likely to benefit our economy. However, languages are valuable skills for employers, and they open a window on another culture.

Reply 1

Kalapatato

Original post by navarre

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/10245143/A-level-results-2013-foreign-language-courses-in-freefall.html

This is sort of worrying, how few Brits take up foreign languages. French, being utterly useless in the modern world, is understandable in its decline, and German's decline is also understandable. But languages like Mandarin and Arabic should be on the up, as these languages are valuable to future careers. Good to see Spanish, which is a fantastic skill, on the up though.

Language learning is hard, but we are somewhat lucky in this country that English is the lingua franca of the world, and subjects like sciences are far more likely to benefit our economy. However, languages are valuable skills for employers, and they open a window on another culture.

Please don't be so ignorant. French is an official language in 29 countries across 5 continents and is also an official language of international organisations such as the UN and the EU.

Learning a language is a valuable skill for anyone so it would be nice to see a turn around in the number of people taking language A-levels.

Reply 2

wildrover

I don't know why schools are pushing German at the minute, very few countries speak it.

Reply 3

navarre

Original post by Kalapatato

That French is 'official' in 29 countries, yet so dangerously in decline, only serves to emphasise its uselessness. But I agree that language A-levels are very valuable skills- just that some are more valuable than others.