'Forget French, learn Chinese,' David Cameron urges as he ends China trip
David Cameron winds up his tour of China with a message for British school students
Forget French, it’s time to learn Putonghua, said David Cameron as he wrapped up a visit to China on Thurday, accompanied by six government ministers and the largest trade mission ever led by a British prime minister.
“Learning English is a key part of schooling for these Chinese 6-year-olds. More British children should learn Mandarin”, Cameron posted on Twitter and Facebook as he sat in the classroom of a Sichuan primary school.
Learning English is a key part of schooling for these Chinese 6-year-olds. More British children should learn Mandarin
“By the time the children born today leave school, China is set to be the world’s largest economy. So it’s time to look beyond the traditional focus on French and German and get many more children learning Mandarin,” Cameron was quoted as saying.
The British government has announced an expansion of the UK-China School Partnerships programme, which will provide funding for study visits to China for 60 British head teachers and aims to double the number of Chinese learners in Britain to 400,000.
The most common languages on offer in British secondary schools are currently French, Spanish and German. Only 9 per cent of 15-year-olds are competent in their first foreign language beyond a basic level, according to a recent European Commission study.
A report by the British Council found that 1 per cent of the British adults surveyed were able to speak Putonghua well enough to hold a conversation.
Speaking of the need for British to learn Chinese, Cameron quoted Nelson Mandela. “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language that goes to his heart”.