72% of UK businesses value foreign language skills, according to a recent CBI/Pearson survey. The language rated as 'most useful to the organisation' was German (50%), closely followed by French (49%). Spanish was next at 37%, then it was Mandarin (25%), Polish and Arabic (both 19%), Cantonese (12%), Russian and Japanese (both 11%), Portuguese (6%) and South Korean (3%).
Here's the story.
Susan:
I expect the language preference is geo-political. Although I haven't seen any surveys, I suspect Spanish would be number one in the US.
Posted by: Marc Leavitt | June 17, 2012 at 02:47 PM
Yes, I agree with you, Marc. EU countries are the biggest trading partners of the UK, I think, so that would explain why German and French were described as most useful.
Posted by: Virtual Linguist | June 19, 2012 at 03:36 PM
To be fair, when talking about exports, the top 3 partners of the UK are the USA, Germany, and France, with Netherlands following close. When talking about imports, in order are Germany, the USA, China, with Netherlands coming close behind, too. Didn't know Netherlands was such an important trading partner
Posted by: David | November 15, 2012 at 11:59 AM
Thanks for that info, David. No, I didn't know that about the Netherlands, either.
Posted by: Virtual Linguist | November 15, 2012 at 12:40 PM