British School Children Must Learn Languages To Boost UK Economy In The Future
The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) recently said that it should be compulsory for British school children to learn languages at school right up until they are 16 years old. The need for the next generation of school children to learn languages comes from their concern that the UK is not taking advantage of new markets such as India, China, Russia and Brazil.
The lack of people in the UK with the necessary language skills could potentially hinder business with these fast-growing markets.Their concern comes as a high number of British companies do not export internationally due to a lack of language skills. This lack of language skills in the workplace is seen as one of the main barriers to trading internationally which ultimately means missing out on potential economic growth. The BCC also recommends that the Government offer tax breaks as an incentive for UK companies to give their staff much-needed language training.
The BBC Director-General said 'Re-establishing foreign languages as core subjects within the national curriculum and in workplace training would mean that the next generation of business owners are 'born global' with language skills'.