28/09/2006

Language Skills Lacking

The recently-held European Day of Languages has highlighted just how bad the UK is when it comes to embracing languages other than its own – as Re:locate magazine highlighted in a recent article on language support. According to a new YouGov survey of 2,500 UK employees commissioned by Rosetta Stone, the provider of online- and CD ROM-based language courses, 80% of employees have never been offered the opportunity to learn a second language at work, despite EU expansion and tougher competition from European businesses. Rosetta Stone concludes that this reluctance might explain why the UK was recently ranked bottom of the league table of 28 countries for language ability by CILT, the national languages centre and why, according to the British Chamber of Commerce, 20% of UK businesses have lost business opportunities because of their failure to embrace new language skills.

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