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LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

Arabic more important than French for the UK

France may be its nearest neighbour, but for the UK the most important language for the future is not French, according to a new report by the British Council this week, that highlighted the ongoing inability of most Britons to master a foreign language.

Arabic more important than French for the UK
Time to crack the books, it would seem. Three quarters of British adults cannot converse in a foreign language, and Arabic is now more important in the UK than French. Photo: Tim Green

France may be still be the most popular foreign language to learn in Britain but according to a new report by the British Council (below), it is no longer the most important.

That mantle is taken by Spanish.

French has been pushed into third place, perhaps surprisingly by Arabic, but comes in ahead of German (5th) and Mandarin Chinese in 4th.

The rankings were worked out by looking at a number of indicators from business and economics to the interests of the public, as well as cultural, educational and diplomacy factors.

When all the indicators were combined, French finished on a score of 47, a long way behind Spanish on 76 and Arabic on 54.

While the Spanish language's strong showing is partly to do with the fact that Spanish is the second most spoken native language in the world, the reason Arabic came in second had much to do with business and diplomacy.

“Arabic has emerged as one of the priority languages for the Foreign  and Commonwealth Office. It is their intention to increase the number  of diplomats trained in Arabic by 40 percent,” the report concluded.

"Six Arabic speaking countries appear  among the UK’s top 50 export market  in goods, with a combined value to  the economy of over £12 billion in  2012 – more than the value of UK  exports to Spain, China or Italy," The British council notes.
 
However it might be an important language but there's a long way to go before Britons are speaking are bragging about how good their Arabic is – currently only percent of the population can hold a conversation in the language.
 
Despite French being third most important, it continues to be the language that most people in Britain attempt to master, although unsurprisingly only a small percentage appear to succeed.

As a whole, the stats to do not paint a flattering picture of the linguistic abilities of British people, with 75 percent of the UK’s adult population unable to hold any kind of conversation in a foreign language.

A measly 15 percent say they can hold a conversation in French, six percent are able to have a chat with a German, four percent would be able to engage with a Spaniard and two percent would hold their own on a trip to Rome.

VIDEO: The world leaders who mastered French

French, however, remains the most popular language to learn in the UK. Although the numbers of students opting to read a degree in French is declining, it remains the most popular language to study at A-level and Scottish Highers.

And at primary school level, 74 percent of schools offer pupils tuition in French.

Despite the rising importance of Chinese, Arabic and Spanish, the British Council has not written off the importance of French, especially in terms of tourism.

“French is extremely important for both inward and outward tourism as France is the second most popular destination for people from the UK travelling abroad and the UK’s biggest market for incoming tourists (3.8 million visits in  2012, spending £1.5 billion) with Belgium also in the top ten with more than one million incoming visitors,” the report concluded.

The British Council also notes that French is an official language of many international organisations including the United Nations and the WTO and it’s also important in the world of work.

And cutural and ucational organisation pointed out that French “is the most sought after by those employers looking for language skills (49 percent). It was also the second most frequently requested language in a survey of job advertisements carried out in 2012."

A survey carried out by the British Chambers of Commerce of its members in 2012 revealed that: “French is the most commonly spoken language, but only four percent of business-owners surveyed claim that they are able to converse fluently enough to conduct business deals.”

So what does the British Council recommend to improve the embarrassing fact that 75 percent of British people cannot have a conversation in another language?

Well, for a start they have called on the government and business leaders to get their heads together to come up with an educational policy.

Businesses should also invest in language learning, and schools should introduce new languages to the curriculum, according to the British Council.

And in the final conclusion of the report, and one that will strike a chord with many expats in France,  UK adults have been told to make more of an effort to learn a language.

So for those struggling to learn French, here's ten top tips our readers. (click on the image below)

Ten free and easy ways to learn French

Read the British Council report "Languages for the Future" in full, here.

Languages for the Future – British Council by TheLocalFrance

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FRENCH WORD OF THE DAY

8 favourite French words of the Day

More words and phrases from the fabulous French language – including a useful argument phrase, the poetic term for ugly crying, one phrase that is a warning of an impending temper tantrum, and a handy guide to online terms...

8 favourite French words of the Day

Every weekday The Local publishes a French word or phrase of the day. We try to focus on colloquialisms, slang, sayings (and a bit of swearing) – you know, the type of French you won’t learn in the classroom, but will hear all the time in the street.

This daily habit means we have a very extensive back catalogue – find it here – and we’ve picked out eight of our recent favourites.

N’importe quoi

If you are ever involved in an argument in France, and the chances are you will be, you are going to need this French expression that means one of ‘no matter what’, ‘anything’, ‘whatever’, ‘nonsense’, ‘rubbish’ – or even ‘bullshit!’.

We get to the bottom of how that all works, here.

Éclater en sanglots 

Honestly, the French language is routinely much more poetic than English, as its version of ugly crying beautifully and … well, poetically … demonstrates.

Éclater en sanglots – roughly pronounced ay-clah-tay ahn san-glow – means to burst into tears (or sobs). Éclater is the verb to burst, while sanglot is a wonderful term for the ‘spasm causing contractions of the diaphragm and accompanied by tears’.

Try not to blub as you read more, here.

Zut

It’s a bit old-fashioned now, but this polite exclamation of frustration is always fun… And no, it’s not ‘zut alors‘ despite what your school textbooks told you.

Read more, here.

En lice

This phrase, dating back some 800 years or so, is a good one to know for the end of the French rugby or football seasons, and the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris.

The expression actually refers to being part of a competition or tournament. In English, we might say ‘in the running’ or ‘in the fray’. 

Get up to speed with the term here.

Péter un câble

You may want to make like Homer Simpson and back away carefully into a hedge if you hear someone say “je vais péter un câble”. Because it means they’re very close to losing their temper in a dramatic and not entirely constructive manner…

We explain, here.

Raccrocher au nez

If you feel the urge to hang up on the 15th cold caller to offer you protection juridique, and miss the days when you could slam the phone back down on its cradle, rather than simply pressing a button, this is the phrase for you.

Wait… don’t hang up… find out more, here.

L’effet waouh

Don’t be fooled by the odd spelling – l’effet waouh is no false friend: it really does mean the ‘wow factor’. Similar to the English-language version, in French it can basically be used for anything that elicits a sense of surprise, shock or curiosity – from red carpet outfit to the age of the French Prime Minister…

Learn about the French version of wow factor, here.

Brûler les étapes

Not something you usually want to do – even if you’re in a rush – “burning the steps” means to cut corners, as we explain (in full) here.

One final thing – as we’re nearly a quarter-of-a-century into the 21st century, it’s probably time to catch up on some key French online terms.

How to talk email, websites, social media and phone numbers in French

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