Britons are notoriously bad when it comes to speaking other languages. Indeed, a survey from the European Commission found that 62% of Brits can’t speak anything other than English. This compares to the EU average of 56% speaking at least one other language.

Research from the University of Cambridge demonstrates just how beneficial improving this picture could be for the British economy.  Indeed, the study suggests better language education could boost the economy by billions of pounds.

Learning the language

The research reveals that the benefit-to-cost ratio of languages, such as Mandarin, French, and Arabic is about 2:1, thus providing a return of £2 for each £1 spent.  If pupils in the UK could increase their learning of Arabic by about 10%, this would correspond to GDP growth of up to £12.6 billion over 30 years.  A similar boost in Mandarin would see a £12.3bn gain to the economy, with French and Spanish producing £9.5bn and £9.7bn respectively.

“Languages play a significant role in international trade, and having a common language can, all else being equal, reduce trade barriers and foster trade,” the researchers say. “This study provides a new economic estimate for some of the UK’s untapped language potential.”

“However, the UK has experienced a sharp decline overall in the uptake of languages since 2004. At a time when the UK Government seeks to reset its global economic relationships, such a decline in language skills could impact on the UK’s ability to compete on a global stage.”

Not only does language education produce economic benefits, but the authors also believe that they are crucial if the UK is to compete internationally.  This is despite the country enjoying a comparative advantage due to the role of English as the lingua franca of the world.

“The analysis presented in this study demonstrates that investing in languages education could recoup its cost. But the idea behind the analysis was not in any way to substitute or diminish education in STEM or other EBacc subjects and replace them with languages,” the authors conclude. “The intent is to demonstrate the value of improving the quality and quantity of languages education of secondary school pupils across the UK.”