The death of modern foreign languages

2,600 students started a French degree in 2012/13. Two years later it was half that

by Alex Dean / October 27, 2016 / Leave a comment

Year 12 students during French class at the top school in the country, Lawrence Sheriff School in Rugby, after the league tables for English schools was released today ©Rui Vieira/PA Archive/PA Images

Year 12 students during French class at Lawrence Sheriff School, Rugby ©Rui Vieira/PA Archive/PA Images

In our September issue, Richard Dawkins proposed his own remedy for our “monoglottish disgrace.” Read it here

In October last year, to outcry from the global academic community, the University of Northumbria announced it would no longer be offering French and Spanish at undergraduate level. The reason, the university explained, was the “fall in demand across the sector over the past 10 years.” The university’s students’ union criticised the decision in stark terms, shocked that it had decided to “abolish our only standalone foreign language programme.” The closure came despite the department’s impressive standing: it ranked 13th out of 61 university departments (and first among post-92 institutions) for modern languages and linguistics in the UK last year.

Northumbria is not the only British university that has struggled to recruit students onto language degrees recently. Ulster announced the closure of its entire modern languages school last year, citing lack of demand. This means that soon, no university in Northern Ireland will offer German at undergraduate level. In 2013 Salford closed nearly all of its modern foreign language (MFL) courses. And the examples go on.

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Comments

Peter Russell
October 27, 2016 at 20:06
Oh bloody hell. The Welsh speaker on a bus urban myth again. It is also told as Navajo mistaken for (Mexican) Spanish in the USA, and Urdu for Scottish Gaelic here in Scotland. In fact that version was used by Alex Salmond to much ridicule on his LBC programme.
Reply
Hounddogman
October 30, 2016 at 13:36
There has been a problem with languages, especially 'minority' ones such as Russian or Italian, for quite some time. The root of the current difficulties, however, as noted here goes back directly to that decision by Morris in 2004. There is a tendency in some 'progressive' circles (and certainly among teachers) to a nostalgic view of her tenure in Education, in fact she was a disaster: naive, ill-informed and indecisive (I was a civil servant in DfES during her time as SoS) on this and many other issues. The numbers studying languages at GCSE collapsed immediately afterwards, then large areas of the country became, virtually overnigh,t deserts in terms of language teaching, impossible to pursue beyond GCSE. Not the least problem is the widely prevalent view, referenced here, that language learning at an advanced level is best seen as a preparation for a career as either a teacher or a translator - what more depressing prospect could you have?
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Isa F.
November 4, 2016 at 14:26
I did two languages at A-Level and then studied another language at degree level back in the 90s. I love languages. But the reality i encountered on leaving university is that there is little demand in the UK employment market for languages. Most international companies (or at least the ones that operate in the UK) do their international business in English. A modern languages degree was seen as something akin to a degree in English literature or art history. I suspect that's even truer now and if students are shelling out thousands of pounds on fees they need to feel sure that the degree they're going to end up with is going to get them a job which will enable them to pay off that debt. Where companies need speakers of languages other than English they tend to recruit them from the countries where those languages are spoken natively. UK learners of foreign languages struggle to compete because where we do learn foreign languages those languages are often introduced late in the education system and standards are low. UK children learning foreign tend to have less exposure to their target language and fewer opportunities for immersion compared to children learning English who will probably hear pop music etc in English and may in some countries have some subjects taught in English. That is linked to the other disadvantage that UK students have: less necessity of learning a foreign language. It's a kind of sad circle: lack of opportunities and need leading to lower standards being accepted leading to lower prestige leading to lower opportunities and demand.
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1. Lisa
  November 4, 2016 at 15:18
  Isa I am really surprised to read your comments. I too studied 2 languages at A level in the 90s and went on to study another 2 at Uni. I am not a professional interpreter, but a business woman who speaks several languages. Every job I have had with international companies has been because I speak several languages fluently. The companies recruited me specifically to do business with those markets...in their language. The friends I made at Uni who studied languages, have also had successful careers using their languages. Perhaps our success is part due to the fact we all seem to have moved to work for international companies which are based in or around London? These are big brand name international companies and range from international law firms, pharmaceuticals and finance companies...so across the board. Either way, while I agree that English is 'the international business language', there appears to be an assumption that other countries teach good English to their young. This isn't always true. Specifically I was employed to work in Milan, Rome, Turin, Verona, Frankfurt, Paris, Madrid and Malaga owing to my language skills. One would 'expect' from the media, that those areas spoke good English...but it is entirely due to the individual at the company you are working for as to their level of English.I don't know of any company that doesn't value multilingual employees. This is because they value our knowledge of the culture and our human understanding and tolerance that flies with speaking a language and truly getting to know a country and its people. This is something that non-linguists will never understand as they do not have that 'access' to another culture. I am willing to make a bet that the vast majority of Brexiters and government employees alike, will be monolingual...
  Reply
Isa F.
November 4, 2016 at 14:27
You know it would be great if Prospect's comment boxes supported paragraph breaks. Great things, paragraph breaks.
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Jeremy Baer
November 5, 2016 at 09:50
1) I studied French and Spanish to 'A' level during the so-called golden era of MFL teaching and left school scarcely able to manage a conversation of more than a few sentences in either. 2) Effective cross-cultural exchanges with our neighbors do not require English speakers to master other languages though obviously fluency in say Estonian or Basque will help if you happen to be somewhere where those languages are actually spoken 3) recognition of the current predominance of English worldwide should not require native English speakers to wear sackcloth and ashes and engage in knee jerk bemoaning of their lack of linguistic skills 4) Prospect should spend less time on language and instead introduce paragraph breaks in its comments section
Reply
José Manuel Sánchez Gómez
November 7, 2016 at 19:11
Dear English speakers. If you take the trouble to learn, say, Spanish, I shall be more than happy to let you practice on me. So, no more excuses. By the way, I am also signing the petition for paragraph breaks, please!JMSG
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