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The Problem with the British

The British economy is losing £48bn every year

So, who’s to blame? The Tories? Dave? Boris? The banks? People spending too much time on social media?

The people who are at fault in this particular case are the Brits themselves. Everyone knows that the British don’t speak other languages, and this small fact is costing the UK economy £48bn every year. Whether this is from laziness (everyone speaks English anyway) or arrogance (everyone should speak English anyway) before you complain about the lack of job opportunities you may want to consider the following truths:

75% of UK private sector employers see a need in having foreign language skills
– UK attributes 16% of the total job vacancies to shortages in foreign language skills
57% of UK employers recruit from other countries in the EU (language skills being a key factor)
31% of SMEs cite languages and foreign cultures as the biggest barrier to export growth
45% of the largest companies listed in the UK now have non-British chief executives

One argument highlighted by BrExit supporters is the lack of influence the UK has in Brussels. Quite possibly this may have something to do with the fact only 5% of the jobs in the European Parliament and Commission are taken by British workers – although the UK contains 12% of the EU’s population. The reason for this being poor foreign language skills among the British workforce, leaving the UK grossly under-represented in European Union institutions.

So, what language should you be learning?

These are the top 8 languages that employers are looking for:

• French
• German
• Mandarin/Cantonese
• Spanish
• Russian
• Arabic
• Portuguese
• Japanese

These are the top 8 languages in demand according to job vacancies:

• French
• Spanish
• Italian
• Russian
• Swedish
• Portuguese
• Danish
• Norwegian

Help yourself and the British economy by taking an evening language course with Cactus Language. Cactus runs courses in more than 15 languages across 15 UK city-centre locations.

Book Now For Your Free Skype One-to-One Lesson using code FS16

Receive a FREE one-hour one-to-one Skype Language Lesson and 5% off your course – when you book your Cactus evening language course. For bookings made 7th – 18th March 2016 only, using code FS16. Cactus Language offers evening language courses, private tuition, language holidays abroad, and TEFL courses in more than 200 locations worldwide.

For more information call 01273 830 960 or contact us by email.

Sources
http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/dec/10/language-skills-deficit-costs-uk-economy
http://www.bbc.co.uk/education-13314147
http://www.ucml.ac.uk/sites/default/files/pages/160/State_of_the_Nation_REPORT_WEB.pdf

Cactus language offers the following types of language courses:

Evening language courses: 19 different languages in 15 UK locations
Language holidays: worldwide immersion courses in the country of the language
Private tuition: tailor-made and corporate language training solutions throughout the world
TEFL: teacher training courses for both English and other languages all over the world
Online courses: for teacher trainingEnglish and French

Cactus offers language courses to all levels. To book any of our courses please call us on 01273 830 960 or email us. Our multilingual team will be happy to answer any questions you may have. Visit our language course questions page for our evening courses.

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