Universities, schools and businesses took part in a national language festival to celebrate their passion for language learning

The 2013 British Academy Language Festival flew the flag for languages throughout November. Schools, universities, policymakers and businesses came together to debate, discuss and celebrate language learning. Here is a selection of activities that took place during the festival.

Britons came joint-bottom in the European Commission’s 2011 rankings showing the number of languages learned in each member country – proof that the UK lags miserably behind its European neighbours when it comes to language learning.

But encouraging an interest in languages isn’t just the responsibility of schools – higher education institutions also have a key role to play. “Students often arrive with very little foreign-language education,” says Dr Terry Lamb, of the University of Sheffield. “A lot of the time it’s not because they didn’t want to study languages – it’s just they wanted to do something else more. It’s very important for them to have the opportunity to learn a language when they are at university, alongside their degree.” More.

See: The Guardian

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