Ireland bottom of class in languages

IRELAND is bottom of the EU class when it comes to learning a foreign language, and the lack costs the economy billions of euro a year.

A miniscule 3% of primary schoolchildren have language lessons compared with an average of 79% across the EU.

In secondary school, just over half the students take a language, the lowest percentage among the 27 member states with the sole exception of Britain.

The numbers learning to express themselves other than in English or Irish have dropped in the past few years, while the number of languages students were studying has increased generally in the EU.

The best results were found in countries where primary schoolchildren must learn a language from their first day in school, such as in Luxembourg, which has three official languages.

Gaeilge does not count in the study since it and English are official languages.

English on the other hand is the most popular language throughout the EU, with more than 90% of pupils learning it, including almost 70% of Danish primary schoolchildren.

Ireland’s poor efforts at learning a foreign language is costing small and medium-sized enterprises in particular valuable business, a second study has found.

Overall, an estimated 11% of the EU’s 945,000 SMEs are losing money because of communication barriers. The average loss per business over a three-year period was calculated to be €325,000, but the real figure may be much greater.

While Irish people believe that English is the key language for gaining access to export markets, the facts show the reality is not as simple.

For instance, Russian is extensively used in Eastern Europe, along with German and Polish. French is used in areas of Africa while Spanish is the primary language when dealing with Latin America.

“Longer-term business partnerships depend on relationship-building and relationship-management. To achieve this, cultural and linguistic knowledge of the target country are essential”, the EU report said.

Even with big multi national companies, where English is the main language, there is a growing demand for other languages. “The demand for languages other than English was greater than the demand for English itself – Spanish and other global languages were a significantly higher priority for them for the future compared to how they were perceived by SMEs”, the report said.

SMEs investing in language management, recruiting native speakers and staff with language skills and using translators could increase their exports 45% more than those who do not make the investment.

Commissioner Androula Vassiliou said: “Improving the overall level of language skills in Europe will contribute to creating a smarter economy with greater growth and jobs.”