I was at a comprehensive in South Wales until a few years ago, and we were required to take French and Welsh for the first three years (iirc, there was also two years of Spanish). For GSCEs, the only required language was Welsh, but we could split those lessons with another subject and get half a GSCE in each ( ). Urdu was also offered, but it was entirely voluntary and didn’t even appear on the syllabus.
Welsh was a joke. I got a D on my GCSE despite not knowing more than a couple of dozen unrelated words, which were forgotten the moment my last exam finished.
Like the others say, the small children under 12 (especially in an urban multicultural school) might learn a few words of their classmates mother tongues, but they hardly have to spend hours compulsarily learning Urdu.
Most exam boards offer GCSEs or A-levels in various languages likely to be spoken by immigrant communities. The reckoning being that you should give the bi-lingual or tri-lingual kids some credit and an extra qualification. Schools may allow these students to substitute this exam for another, non-compulssory one (eg general studies or Religious Education) or allow them to study for it at home and take it as an extra subject. My friend took a Cantonese GCSE because that was her mother tongue, and she says it’s the only reason she can read or write any of her first language.
Hence the FUNCTIONALLY in my post. There are very few places that a Brit (or other English speaker) is likely to go abroad where the people he/she will be dealing with (hotel staff, waiters, barmen etc) don’t speak enough english to get by and transact what needs to be done.
Those places where they simply speak no English probably won’t speak any other language we might know.
This is why we are so pony at languages. We don’t have the economic necessity to learn another, unlike, for instance the Dutch or the Danes, never mind Russians, Chinese etc.
I can think of no institution in the UK (unless specifically tailored) that requires a foreign language. However I beleive that in France and Spain it is all but impossible to get into a university without a good grasp of English (at least this is what I am told by my continental colleagues/contacts).
I have a decentish grasp of French and whenever I try to converse with Francophones in a business environment they insist on doing business in English, as they need to practice, whereas I really don’t need to, as it wouldn’t be the end of my career if my french completely atrophied.
I’ve encountered people without enough English to transact in Spain, Serbia, Mexico and Germany. Maybe it’s because I tend to avoid touristy spots like the plague, but I reiterate, there are plenty of such people out there.
There are, but in reality most of the time that someone is travelling it’s for business or as a tourist. In both occasions the person at the other end has a vested interest in being able to make a basic deal with you - even if it is just selling you a beer.
If you’re clarifying your position to “most people who work in an environment in which they come in frequent contact with tourists have a functional command of English”, I’ll agree this is closer to the truth than your original statement. Still not 100% though.
Not only is the claim in the OP complete nonsense, it is almost entirely opposite to the sad truth – that foreign language teaching is rapidly disappearing from our schools. Sorry, I mean, of course, that there have been changes to disapplication arrangements at key stage 4 - I forgot that plain English is also being outlawed :rolleyes:
). Urdu was also offered, but it was entirely voluntary and didn’t even appear on the syllabus.