The strategic importance of language should not be ignored. With languages frequently taking a back seat in the curriculum, the UK will undoubtedly get less from the EU. Chances of employment increase with knowledge of the language: why would an employer want to employ someone who cannot understand them? Moreover, why would the Government want to reduce the potential job pool available to UK people? The situation is in dire need of review.
This is not another tirade against the uselessness of language teachers as a whole, but more the lack of emphasis that is really placed on languages: the removal of it as a compulsory subject a few years back highlights this remarkably well. Yet even if this was to be rectified, my experience of learning German was a mixed one. The teachers cared, yet often the class did not. Obtaining a B in GCSE German I emerged not being able to have a conversation with a German. Memorised phrases regarding my dog and brothers were, largely, irrelevant to me; although no doubt swathes of narcissistic 16 year olds were very happy to rattle off their 3 minute speech to any native speaker that would listen, I doubt many people could reliably have a real conversation with anyone. Transition, therefore, to A level German was a huge shock. Armed with knowledge of how well I got on with my parents, I felt like I was certain to succeed. I didn't. AS German was one of the hardest things I'd ever done, and the step up from dogs to renewable energy sources was a large one. I was lucky, out of the 200 people in our 6th Form Cohort only 6 decided to take German: 3 were native German speakers. As such, I was able to benefit from a tiny class filled with people that actively chose to do German. I improved, but my 5 years of German paled in comparison to the amount I had to learn, and I was left with the haunting realisation that after GCSE I knew very little. This incredibly steep learning curve can only further the difficulty in persuading people to continue learning languages, or at least be open to the idea of returning to it later on in life.
Whilst the idea is hardly novel, I am convinced that the only way to get languages recognised by the UK is to make them actively relevant; after all, that's why Europe is actively embracing English – films and music cement the language's relevance day after day. I do not see why English 'filler' subjects such as PHSCE (physical, health, social and citizenship education - or however many more letters they've added these days), Core IT and Core RS cannot be taught in a different language. At A level it could even extend to General Studies. In fact, it need not go as far as the IB (where several lessons are taught in foreign languages), but simply needs to reassert the relevance of the language. Languages are surely the easiest thing to integrate into other subjects, whilst shoehorning maths into an English lesson wouldn't be easy, merely requiring one foreign poem to be compared with an English equivalent is surely not beyond the reach of most schools.
So, to return to my original point regarding the strategic importance of languages, whilst we get the most out of the free movement of goods throughout Europe, the UK is ignoring the benefits of having a workforce which can move around. People on benefits, for instance, should be offered the chance to learn languages. Of course they will not be forced out of the country, but it will almost definitely open new doors; moreover it will change the way they perceive themselves. Learning a language is like going to the gym, the more you do it, the better you get. There is no way that if you are speaking a language that you are going to get less adapt at it – although I suppose there could be a case for colloquialisms, but I see these as 'Quirks' of the language and therefore a more advanced understanding of it. Therefore it instils a sense of renewed pride, and, unlike learning maths or English a new language can feel like a completely different experience every time – yes, teaching can make the former two feel different, but the latter IS actually different – the building blocks of Spanish and German cannot be reconciled with each other, learning one is simply not going to be the same as learning the other.
With rising unemployment for people in the UK, where people cannot find work because their trade is in decline, people are understandably disillusioned with the UK; the country has not given them the tools with which they can move away from the problem. As maths, English and the sciences are seen as the enablers of employment, so, too, should a language: it has a direct economic impact. Recently the government cut subsidies for those fitting solar panels, without another language hundreds of people are placed in a precarious position; their particular skill which they have learnt is now, largely, made redundant. Yet in Germany the business is still going strong, would it not be better if these people were confident enough in another language to want to carry out their business abroad instead of signing on?
As you can guess, I am not for removing the UK from Europe, the premise of a union of countries without restrictions on trade or workers is advantageous. But I think that unless we start taking advantage of everything that it has to offer, the EU will also lose relevance for many and the UK will find itself increasingly losing the benefits which it should be utilising. To continue to ignore this is not only myopic, but damaging to the economy and the UK's stance in the modern world.
