Irish students need to learn more foreign languages

This is an interesting read from the Irish Times 08/11/2011:

"Ireland is miles behind when it comes to foreign language skills – a major drawback for students and the economy


THE BANK of alternate words for saying “hello” and “goodbye” among the majority of Irish people is often limited to “bonjour” and “au revoir”. Exporters, investors and educationalists blame our limited word bank on a “historical hangover” with French.

But now it is becoming clear that a country with conservative foreign language ambitions must latch on to emerging trends, stockpile the language bank and exchange pleasantries – and much more – in a variety of languages.

Russian, Chinese and Spanish have become the second language of choice for schoolgoers world-over as countries seek to tap into the markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China.


Ireland is miles behind. Here, French remains the language of choice for 26,766 (49 per cent) of Leaving Cert students this year, even though France is not one of our major trading partners and French does not appear in the top 10 most commonly spoken languages globally......Read the rest of the article in the Irish Times