British students are failing to learn foreign languages, according to the CBI which has blamed the UK’s education system.
Foreign language ability is prized by a growing number of British businesses and likely to continue to grow in importance as companies look to break into new, fast-growing markets.
Nearly two-thirds of around 300 UK firms surveyed by the business lobby group said they preferred to hire staff with some foreign language skills.
Some 41% of businesses said foreign language fluency was beneficial, while 28% believed language skills would help to build relations with overseas contacts.
French (50%), German (49%) and Spanish (44%) were identified as the most useful languages.
But Mandarin (31%) and Arabic (23%) are growing in importance. Others identified Polish (19%), Russian (18%), Cantonese (16%) and Japanese (15%).
The EU is Britain’s largest export market, accounting for the need for German, French and Spanish.
Gaining ground in new markets calls for the need to communicate in other languages, such as Russian and Cantonese.
CBI deputy director general Katja Hall said: "The jury remains out as to whether recent government initiatives can help spur a resurgence in language learning.
A Department for Education spokeswoman said: "This government is overseeing a languages revival after a decade of damaging decline.
"From this September, languages will be compulsory from the age of 7, rather than 11 at the moment.
