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E C O N O M I C S
w i t h E D W A R D T R I M N E L L
February 21, 2008
UK schools change linguistic priorities
From the online version of This is London:
Languages such as Bengali and Mandarin should be given the same priority in schools as French and German, the education watchdog Ofsted says today.
Schools no longer have to offer lessons in a major European language, but can opt to teach other world languages instead.
A Government review last year said it will be crucial to teach minority languages as China and India grow in economic influence.
I can certainly agree with this one. Don’t get me wrong: German and French have their place. But the foreign language emphasis of the English-speaking world is about fifty to sixty years behind the times.
Language study priorities should be based on commercial and foreign policy priorities. This still leaves a place for French and German, of course. But the major emphasis should be on Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, Russian, Japanese, and Brazilian Portuguese. Farsi (Persian) and Hindi aren’t far behind.
This has nothing to do with vague notions of multiculturalism or politically correct hand-wringing over our linguistic studies being “Eurocentric.” This is simply an acknowledgement of the changing world in which we live.
