The Economist – Staff Writer
“IF AN Englishman wants to speak a foreign language, runs the old joke, he can always go abroad and speak English. Over the past decade the number of secondary-school children in Britain passing exams in modern languages has almost halved. Just 30% bother with French, by far the favourite second language (see chart). On March 22nd a House of Lords committee called for compulsory language-learning in primary and secondary schools.”(more)