why don't the british learn foreign languages?

Why do the Brits just not bother with learning foreign languages?

Jay Doubleyou: britain is bottom of the class when it comes to second languages

Jay Doubleyou: immigrants with no second language? it’s true britishness

Is it because they don't really need to?

Jay Doubleyou: do the brits really need to learn a foreign language when everyone speaks english?

Or is it because they don't want to speak anything 'foreign'?

Jay Doubleyou: brexit: and what the british think of themselves

Here's the opening of a recent piece which asks these questions:

Why are foreign languages so taboo for Brits?

Language learning in most UK schools is both feared and loathed

 by Olivia Stringer

 12/10/2020

Foreign languages have always been tricky for most Brits, but that shouldn’t be a reason for the government to discourage them.

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Diminishing opportunities for language learning

Since the British public in 2016 voted to leave the European Union there has been an increasing rise in racism and xenophobia. A report by the Home Office found that in the 2016/2017 reporting period the UK experienced a 27 per cent and 35 per cent increase in racially and religiously motivated hate crimes, respectively.

There appears to be a correlation between this and the dramatic decrease in the number of students choosing to study languages in recent years.  A report by the British Council suggests that just over a third of state schools noted that leaving the EU has had a negative impact on student motivation and/or parental attitude towards language learning.

A further issue is that the government have increasingly prioritised STEM subjects, while cuts to education have had a devastating impact on language courses in schools. The NEU reports:

‘the cumulative impact of funding cuts since 2011 meant by November 2017, 50% of colleges and schools that responded to a survey had dropped Modern Foreign Language courses’.

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Why are foreign languages so taboo for Brits? | Shout Out UK

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