No habla Español

I love foreign languages. They fascinate me, and I like to learn as many as I can. Language helps us communicate with those around us and, sometimes, with those in other countries than our own. So it was with great frustration that I read this today:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article7129116.ece

For the first time, studying a second language is not mandatory in British schools, and pupils that study German are down to a shocking 9 %. Not only does this show a shocking arrogance and idleness amongst students, it will also very likely contribute to Britons being even more isolated from the rest of Europe - and, what's worse, feeling content with that.

The reason so many Britons choose to refrain from studuying a foreign language is obvious; but knowing you can go virtually anywhere in the world and speak your mother tongue should be an even BIGGER reason to want to learn something new! For your own intellectual stimulation, if nothing else. Because the world is not one big Great Britain, and a language is very much a part of a culture - a culture we should be taught to want to discover, but that we won't, unless studying a second language is made compulsory.

There's a whole world out there. Let's go discover it, shall we?