How many chose German university courses in the UK in 2008?
The answer is far too few.
For a population of 60 million, it’s sad to see that only 602 people chose to study German at university in 2008 – down from 2288 ten years ago.
It’s not only at the higher levels that an interest in foreign languages has declined in the UK - the number taking French at GCSE has halved in the last 8 years.
September 1st, 2008 at 21:09:17
Interesting news!
I would suppose the drop in studying German is a reflection of the world’s economic shift. We are getting more global and so are the language majors such as Chinese etc.
My son, ever since he was nine years old, has been studying Chinese (private lessons).
On the other hand I know quite a few Britons working as teachers of German right here Frankfurt International School. Well, they came here about twenty years ago at a time when it was still popular in Britain to graduate with a degree in German.
What language should we learn next to keep up with the times….:)
Any suggestions?!
September 1st, 2008 at 22:09:17
Well, I must admit that I can’t get enthusiastic about learning Chinese or Russian, as I’m too lazy to start learning a new language if I have to learn a new alphabet or set of signs as well. But Ruth and I have been learning Spanish for the last 4 or 5 years. That’s a language which is useful in many countries around the world, more useful than English in fact, looking at the number of people who speak it!