David Cameron: Ditch French and German for Mandarin lessons

The Prime Minister, speaking on the last leg of his visit to China, urged them to “look beyond the traditional focus on French and rman and get many more children learning Mandarin”. His comments follow a report by the British Council late last month which put Mandarin Chinese in the top five of the ten most important languages that should be taught in UK schools. It was given second place ahead of French and German - and behind only Spanish. Yet the report acknowledged that only per cent of people in Britain are fluent enough to conduct a conversation in the language. As the Prime Minister ended his visit, it emerged agreement had been reached between the British Council and the Hanban (the...