Global spread of English is a "threat to the UK."

Adam   Wed Feb 15, 2006 9:32 am GMT
Global spread of English 'a threat to UK'

Matthew Taylor, education correspondent
Wednesday February 15, 2006
The Guardian


The global dominance of English, which has brought economic and cultural benefit to Britain for the past 100 years, now poses a major threat to the UK's international standing, according to research published today.

The study commissioned by the British Council reveals that as the number of people around the world who speak English nears 2 billion, the advantage traditionally enjoyed by UK citizens is disappearing, with millions of students in other countries speaking English and at least one other language.

The report's author, David Graddol, says UK students should be encouraged to learn Spanish, Mandarin and Arabic, "languages of the future", if they want to keep up with international competitors.

"This trend has major implications for the UK where many people do not speak another language with any great proficiency. When we are in competition economically, educationally or culturally, conversing in English alone is no longer enough." The report found that English is not taught as a foreign language in many countries, including China and India. Instead it is seen as a "basic universal skill."

In China, 60% of primary school children learn English and more people in India and China speak the language fluently than anywhere else in the world.

Digby Jones, the director of the CBI, has repeatedly called for more students to study foreign languages beyond A-level to improve competitiveness. Last night the British Council said the report was a "call to action for the UK".

"In terms of dealing with the future that Graddol predicts we've already kick-started Mandarin teaching in the UK and have pioneered programmes to encourage language learning and student/teacher exchanges both in Europe and the Arab world and further afield," said John Whitehead of the British Council. "It is absolutely essential for British children to learn other languages and we will be working hard to put further strategies in place to ensure this happens."

guardian.co.uk
Guest   Wed Feb 15, 2006 10:52 am GMT
Your point being...
Guest   Wed Feb 15, 2006 12:00 pm GMT
Its a showdown between the English Nationalist (Adam) and the American Nationalist (Eric).

And who thought Adam was unique?
javier   Wed Feb 15, 2006 12:04 pm GMT
The report's author, David Graddol, says UK students should be encouraged to learn Spanish, Mandarin and Arabic, "languages of the future", if they want to keep up with international competitors.

I don't know why a firefigther or solicitor from the UK needs to know Mandarin or Spanish
Stan   Wed Feb 15, 2006 12:38 pm GMT
Now, that is an article that makes a lot of sense, very close to the point I've been trying to make.

<< ..if they want to keep up with international competitors. >>

euphemism for --if they want to keep their jobs--

<< English is not taught as a foreign language in many countries, including China and India. Instead it is seen as a "basic universal skill." >>

That makes perfect sence; an absolute truth.

<< ..the advantage traditionally enjoyed by UK citizens is disappearing >>

That indeed has some Nationalisitic overtones, and it casts a dark shadow on the intents of the article. I strongly object and reject that.
Aimar   Wed Feb 15, 2006 3:32 pm GMT
So where is the threat? If all people in the world learn English and eventually can speak it, why should English people learn other languages?
Uriel   Wed Feb 15, 2006 8:01 pm GMT
<<Its a showdown between the English Nationalist (Adam) and the American Nationalist (Eric). >>

???? Eric appears to be British as well, Guest. He's certainly not American.
Guest   Wed Feb 15, 2006 8:07 pm GMT
"Eric appears to be British as well, Guest. He's certainly not American."
American, British. It’s basically the same.
Travis   Wed Feb 15, 2006 8:09 pm GMT
Yeah, Eric also definitely seems like a British nationalist, and most definitely not an American nationalist, to myself, since many of his comments are even more stridently pro-British than those of, say, Adam, at least when it comes to the English language itself.
Uriel   Wed Feb 15, 2006 8:37 pm GMT
<<American, British. It’s basically the same. >>

Oh sure, give or take 4,000 miles and 200 years and 230 million people -- we're identical!
Tom K.   Wed Feb 15, 2006 8:46 pm GMT
I was glad to see Arabic, Mandarin, and Spanish singled out as "languages of the future." Especially Mandarin and Arabic. Those languages are extremely important in today's world but public schools are still teaching French and German, which at this point in time are not nearly as important as they once were.
Guest   Wed Feb 15, 2006 9:15 pm GMT
"Oh sure, give or take 4,000 miles and 200 years and 230 million people -- we're identical!"
Now you're writing with some sense. Glad to see you are coming around to my way of thinking. Thats a good girl.
Damian in Edinburgh   Wed Feb 15, 2006 10:02 pm GMT
Aye...the UK and the USA are mirror images of each other....so much so in fact that you can physically fit the entire UK into the State of Texas two and a half times and the population of Texas is roughly two and a half times that of the West Midlands conurbation .......on a Bank Holiday weekend. Oh...and the sun shines in Texas as well...like it does here, except on Bank Holiday weekends and on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursday, Fri............etc etc

Btw: Adam is NOT NOT NOT a British nationalist! He is an ENGLISH nationalist, and therein likes a world of difference!

The English Language.....it's definitely a handicap to have the UK as it's home base and it's official Language, a Language which is now more or less the lingua franca of much of the commercial world. It's a handcap from the point of view of not having the need or desire among its citizens to learn any other Language. It has bred a kind of arrogance in that many British people really think it's pointless to learn other Languages when "everybody speaks ours".
Guest   Thu Feb 16, 2006 8:31 am GMT
"it's"? Surely not.
Damian in Edinburgh   Thu Feb 16, 2006 8:52 am GMT
Och!!!.....not indeed...just a wee slip of the digit. I must have totally ignored the following letter from somone in Berkshire who had this letter published in yesterday's Independent newspaper:

Its noticeable

Sir: "Europe you will pay. Your 9/11 is on it's way" was on a placard in the unruly Muslim protest in London recently. Whoever wrote it was clearly educated in a British school. If he was a foreigner, he would have been taught the difference between "its" and "it's".

Guest (its silly....are you shy? why remain anonymous for heaven's sake???) may have a point. Its a case of Damian the Brit and Guest the foreigner....so the heading has it's merits.