News, August 2005

Spanish language learning ousts German in the UK

27 August. Spanish has overtaken German as the nº2 foreign language at A level, the English university entrance qualification. But British interest in foreign languages is falling.

The popularity of Spain as a holiday destination over the past 30 years may have something to do with the choice of Spanish as a second language, as also the mere number of Spanish speakers in the world, now approaching 400 million. British kids may also be astute - Germans are much more likely to know English!

French remains top of the list, with Spanish and German together about equalling it, yet together they account for only about 2% of the subjects sat at A level or Highers. The British remain very insular, despite the fact that the children concerned were born into the then EEC. But then, religious studies is equally out of favour, also gaining 2%.

Source: El País