Language skills 'important in chasing job vacancies'

17/02/2009

The National Centre for Languages (CILT) has said British people are reluctant to learn a foreign language and that could have a big impact on career prospects.

Teresa Tinsley, director of communications at CILT, said: "Many people - including teenagers - feel that there is simply no need to learn another language because of the perception that everyone speaks English.

"However, by making this assumption they may be missing out on work opportunities and promotion, as many businesses and organisations will often favour staff who speak more than one language."

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) education and skills survey in 2008 revealed that 75 per cent of firms want staff to be conversational fluent in another language, with 25 per cent demanding full fluency.

Speaking another language can open up job vacancies all over the world with Mandarin/Cantonese and Spanish becoming increasingly useful alongside traditional languages such as French and German, according to the same research.

CILT reports that the number of children doing language GCSEs in England has declined steeply to 44 per cent in 2008 from 78 per cent in 2001.

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