UK Adults 'Forget School French'

26/09/2008 05:20
Half of adults in the UK have forgotten the languages they learned at school, a survey suggests.

Two fifths of the 1,000 people polled by ICM regretted not keeping up their language skills after leaving school.

Most people thought languages were important in everyday life and 52% said they were important to a career.

The survey findings are published as children across Europe are celebrating language learning as part of the European Day of Languages.

Many secondary schools will use the day to promote the importance of learning languages, as fewer students have been taking traditional modern languages at GCSE in recent years.

The latest figures show the number taking French has slumped by a third in four years, although language experts say they hope the trend is now slowing.

Details here.

SINC SAYS:

I took four years of French in high school. Why? Because I had to. Never used it my entire life, don’t remember but a word. Merci.