Industry News
Expert calls for greater foreign language skills
Posted on 4th June 2007
Multilingualism is something that schools should encourage to improve foreign language skills to a level commensurate with Britain's peers, according to one expert.
John Clifford, a proponent of multilingualism and honorary consul for Austria for Scotland, said that children are more than capable of being bilingual from an early age, despite fears that this could hamper their ability to learn.
In a column for the Edinburgh News, Mr Clifford explained that the UK has demonstrated a tendency to value foreign cultures less, as demonstrated by the paucity of books translated into English from other tongues.
Consequently, Britain has become "astonishingly remote" from its European neighbours, he said.
"Multilingualism is a skill which advances the process of education but which our education system seriously undervalues," remarked Mr Clifford.
"It is essential to begin at the earliest age at school and continue throughout the years of education," he concluded.
A survey from travel company Expedia found that Britons are unpopular holidaymakers in foreign countries, partly because of their infamously poor foreign language skills.