The growing importance of Spanish in England
Well it looks like Spain is getting even more important to the British than ever before. Spain has been the UK main holiday destination and the place to move too for quite a few years now. But what we are seeing now is an academic shift as well. According to an article in The Independent Spanish has replaced German as the second most popular language learnt in schools!
According to the census reported in the article, the figures show that 75 per cent of state schools now offer Spanish compared with 67 per cent offering German.
Supposedly businesses fear the demise of German because the country is one of the UK’s largest non-English speaking trading partners. This seems like a foolish statement to me. Most of the UK’s exports to Germany are in the form of specialised manufacturing parts and make up only a small percentage of the total GDP of the UK. Also few of the people involved in these industries would be in contact with their German counterparts/clients. It should also be noted that as Germany is an extremely important exporting nation and English being the main international language, takes priority in their schools as the main foreign language taught.
And let’s face it, the British are not know for their linguistic skills. Supposedly 99% of schools offer French, yet how many English actually speak the language with any fluency?
By contrast to German, Spain can be seen as a “language of leisure”. Spain level of trade with the UK is lower than Germany’s, but it is the main holiday destination for the British public. So why not teach a language that will be more relevant to the student’s life. It is also my opinion that, by learning Spanish and then having the chance to use it while on holiday or working in Spain will have to positive effects. A better understanding of Spanish might allow brits on holiday to appreciate and enjoy Spain people and culture better. And by learning a language that will actually be used might lead to a better appreciation for learning other languages including German.
Regards
Andrew
As far as learning a second language is concerned, can I put in a word for Esperanto?
Although it is a living language, it helps language learning as well. Five schools in Britain have introduced this neutral international language, in order to test its propaedeutic values.
The pilot project is being monitored by the University of Manchester, and the initial results are very encouraging. These can be seen at http://www.springboard2languages.org/Summary%20of%20evaluation,%20S2L%20Phase%201.pdf
An interesting video can be seen at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8837438938991452670 and a glimpse of Esperanto at http://www.lernu.net