It goes without saying that ever since the Government removed foreign languages as a compulsory part of the curriculum in England, the take up of such subjects has suffered a sharp and damaging decline. The UK was already regarded as an ignorant nation, where the education in foreign languages was concerned, and this disastrous move by the previous Labour Government has only made things far worse.
Whether it is working out what the Spanish word Chinches means, or being able to conjugate French verbs fluently, we Brits are now total idiots when it comes to us trying to communicate abroad.
We have all been there: when checking-in at a foreign hotel, you can usually guarantee that there will be a Brit next to us speaking to the foreigner as though they are stupid - shouting and inserting pigeon variations of the language - thinking that this will make all the difference when it comes to the foreigner understanding them.
This is enough to make anyone wince with embarrassment. It shows our nation up to be lagging way behind the rest of Europe where this is concerned.
We may well speak one of the most recognisable languages in the entire world, but this is not an excuse for us to become downright lazy where the education of foreign languages is concerned. Many people believe that it is imperative for the Government to place languages back onto the curriculum in a compulsory capacity.