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Saving a career superpower: language learning under threat

A hand-picked team of multilingual superheroes is on a mission to show the next generation that learning modern foreign languages can be fun — and fire the imagination of future employers.

Many teenagers are turning down the opportunity to study a language at GCSE with pupils put off by an uninspiring curriculum and a perceived lack of real-world relevance. 

Schools and universities across the country are cutting courses and limiting opportunities with languages experts pointing to a potentially damaging impact on the UK's workforce.

But a group of like-minded students from two of the world’s top universities have joined forces to fight back in the battle to boost language learning. 

“We need to make modern foreign languages exciting and creative,” insists Bryony Fishpool, a creative translation ambassador at Oxford University.

“We need to show teenagers how the likes of Netflix and social media can bring languages alive and how learning a foreign language can help them to develop a rewarding future career.” 

Bryony, who studies English and Spanish, is part of the innovative Creative Translation Ambassadors programme.

Founded in 2019 by the Queen’s College Translation Exchange (QTE) at the University of Oxford, and now delivered in both Oxford and Cambridge, this initiative prepares student linguists to visit local state primary and secondary schools to breathe new life into language learning.

And the fully trained ambassadors aim to bust the myth that learning modern foreign languages is no longer worthwhile by delivering workshops focusing on culture, community and employability. 

“It’s clear that there is a lack of interest in learning languages in school right now,” adds Bryony’s fellow creative translation ambassador Éilis Mathur. “That has to change.”

The German and Linguistics undergraduate is considering a career in journalism following a successful placement with a news organisation in Germany. 

And Éilis believes education chiefs need to radically reconsider the way languages are taught in the UK in order to attract creative minds and build the multilingual workforce of the future. 

“I do wonder if the lack of interest is because many students can find languages, at an early level, very inaccessible,” she adds. 

“When you find something hard it's human instinct to not want to keep doing it. And I think that whenever you're confronted with lists of complex vocabulary and complicated grammar it blunts your creative instincts. 

“Through the Creative Translation Ambassadors programme, QTE puts forward a more imaginative approach to learning languages. 

“Creativity is encouraged and there’s a wider emphasis on how languages are connected to culture, communities and the global economy. 

“Children can see how learning a language can be fun and have a positive impact on their future. It’s wonderful to see how excited they find languages once they’ve taken part in our workshops.” 

More than 50 per cent of students give up languages at the first opportunity — aged just 14 — with many claiming GCSE courses in French, Spanish and German are neither relevant nor relatable. 

The ambassadors represent the diverse range of languages spoken in communities across the UK — many of which have their own GCSE qualifications.

This year’s cohort speak more than 20 languages including Cantonese, Gujarti, Icelandic and Polish, and QTE believes motivating more young learners to maintain their connection with foreign languages should be a cornerstone of the new national curriculum. 

It is hoped the popular Creative Translation Ambassadors programme can point the way as policymakers plan a fresh approach to language learning. 

“Creative translation is an inclusive approach to language learning that raises academic and professional aspiration for pupils interested in languages,” explains Charlotte Ryland, Director of QTE, based at The Queen’s College, Oxford. 

“It highlights the inspiring literary and cultural content that is limited in the current languages curriculum.   

“Our activities are accessible to students of all levels and capitalise on pupils’ diverse backgrounds and languages, with specific benefits for pupils who have English as an Additional Language. 

“The programme also connects students at Oxford and Cambridge Universities to their local communities and fuels a civic mission to support widening participation and language learning.” 

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Rushworth .