Fremmedsprogslæring i Storbritannien

Give an outline of the different views on the state of foreign language learning in Britain presented in the texts.

Text 1: Will Hutton think that Britain’s future economic and political wellbeing is being hamstrung by their reluctance to learn foreign languages.

He said “It shows a willingness to work hard at understanding another culture, its language and mores. Real Americans do not do that. The British are infected by the same culture, but we do not have the excuse of being the globe’s dominant power and of occupying a continent” which mean that Britain should not act similar to America, as they are not as big and have its own continent. Britain is a part of EU and in that case it is essential for them to demand openness and exchange.

Text 2: David Hughes does not consider the problem with British people who does not speak a foreign language is a problem they need to solve. In the text he tells about his travels, and people in many of the countries he visited spoke English, and in that case why shall British people then learn other languages if they can speak with f.eks a Japanese man, then there is no need of practicing a foreign language. English is the first foreign language we learn in mostly every school in EU, so that also mean that it is the language we use when we want to communicate with people who is not from our country.