An answer to the belief that British People cannot learn languages A. Every so often, the educational supplements of our broadsheets devote an entire issue to the danger the British face of falling behind in Europe because so few of our school kids take up the study of foreign languages. Most recently, the German ambassador Bombasted us for only ever speaking English, a rebuke echoed by his French and Spanish counterparts. B. The truth is that foreign languages are phenomenally unpopular in secondary schools. Poor teaching and the late introduction of the subject are often cited as the main reasons youngsters are so loath to study them. Another factor for our notorious laziness vis- à -vis other tongues has to be that we are brought up to believe that the whole world speaks English, so why bother? Why indeed? Struggling to communicate in another language is, for all but the committed and enthusiastic linguist, a frustrating experience, which, if not necessary, is best avoided. And yes, when millions of Brits take their annual holidays abroad, local tourism, travel, catering, and retail staff are all trained in at least rudimentary English. So, again, there is little motivation to learn more than a couple of words for a few day’s stay. All this is true, and yet illuminates only part of the picture. British teenagers are generally bored by French or German verbs, but the underlying reasons are more complex than a vague assumption that they only need to speak English because everyone else does. Their leisure activities revolve around pop music, sport, computers,television, and films. These things are already in English; translations and subtitles are the exception. Furthermore, the most powerful country in the world happens to speak our language, and we absorb its cultural exports easily and readily. So. For us, language is not a major issue. C. Of course, should the world situation change,and the United States become a Hispanic country, as some boffins have predicted, the British would see the benefit of learning Spanish and do so. Not so long ago, knowledge of French was more widespeard here, and eagerly acquired, when that language was of paramount international importance. D. The belief that we will lag behind our European business partners also needs to be dissected. The canard here is that we lose out because our businessmen and women can’t keep up with the locall ingo. But surely, it’s competitiveness and the attraction of lucrative offers that count. After all, American executives don’t wring their hands at their lack of linguistic skills. Read the headings A to D and match them to the four parts A, B, C and D in the text respectively.