Why English-speakers should not give up on foreign languages
Governments that cut funding for language study will come to regret it
ASTON UNIVERSITY in Birmingham is closing the department that teaches languages and translation. The University of Sheffield stands accused of sending its language students on dumbed-down courses to save money. Fewer pupils at British schools are taking foreign-language exams (a drop in French, the most popular choice, accounts for most of the decline). A hasty analysis might see this trend as a nationalist, populist, post-Brexit mindset at work. But it has been gathering for a long time, not just in Britain but in America, and not just in the Brexit and Trump eras, but well before them.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Dictionary blues”
From the May 22nd 2021 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionMore from Culture
Witty and wise, “A Real Pain” is a masterpiece in a minor key
Jesse Eisenberg’s deceptively slight film asks big moral questions
Now it’s all about TikTok. But Huawei led the way
The Chinese telecoms firm was the first to raise America’s hackles
Want to spend time with a different American president?
Five presidential biographies to distract you from the news
Los Angeles has lost some of its trailblazing architecture
How will it rebuild?
What firms are for
The framework for thinking about business and capitalism is hopelessly outdated, argues a new book
Greg Gutfeld, America’s most popular late-night host, rules the airwaves
The left gave him his perch