The cost of Britons’ failure to learn foreign languages | Letters

Native English speakers can't simply rely on the rest of the world's desire to learn their language, say Gabrielle Hogan-Brun and Jennifer Jenkins, while Jane Sjigren quotes Nelson Mandela on the importance of linguistic skills and Trevor Stevens says learning a foreign language should be compulsory at GCSE

The UK is not only "mired in the relegation zone of European linguistic proficiency" (Editorial, 4 November); there is also an enormous cost to British businesses from reliance on English. Government figures show that the UK economy loses about 50bn a year in failed contracts because of a lack of language skills in the workforce. Yet studies abroad show that GDP can increase by about 10% if native bilingualism is exploited. But that is not all that is lost. In the words of Richard Hardie, senior adviser of the investment bank UBS: "A deep understanding of foreign languages is often essential to the combination of cajolery and seduction many companies require in their international negotiations."

Native English speakers cannot simply rely on the rest of the world's desire to learn their language. Just as monolingual Britons will not grasp the subtleties of interactions in international business, they will not know what gets lost in translation either. After Brexit, trade agreements with China, Russia and other developing markets will lead to missed deals for the UK if negotiations are only conducted in English.