Languages considered least important for children to learn

According to research published by YouGov, school children benefit least from learning languages at school. That’s according to the adults surveyed. We were shocked to hear this, as we believe that languages are essential to a child’s learning and prove very beneficial in later life.

Of those surveyed, 95% considered maths to be the most important subject to study, 94% considered English Language to be important with IT and science following closely with 91% and 90% respectively. This may not be a surprise, but what is was the finding that only 43% of adults believe French an important language to learn. Learning German was seen as even less important with 31% followed by Spanish with just 30%.

In fact some subjects which were seen to be far more important than languages were home economics,technology and woodwork! Although it would be nice if everyone could bake a nice cake or whip up a park bench I think languages are a far more valuable skill set!

We recently blogged about the plight of languages in A Level choices and this data goes some way in showing why this may be the case. If adults see languages as unimportant they are less likely to encourage their children to take these up when they are given the choice at school. We know that languages can put you ahead of other candidates in the job hunt and provide rewarding careers but these statistics show that we have a lot of people to convince.

What are your thoughts? Do you see languages as unimportant? We hope not!

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Jobs market improves for linguists

Towards the end of 2009 Euro London was busy putting together its biannual ‘European Hiring Trends Report’ – a survey of employment markets across the areas we operate in (London, Windsor and Manchester in the UK and Paris, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Munich, Luxembourg and Zurich across mainland Europe.)

The results? Overall the message was positive – conditions are improving slowly but surely and the jobs market looks set to improve throughout 2010.

Here’s a summary of what we found in the UK:

• French and German remain the most popular languages, although there has also been a strong demand for Dutch and Scandinavian languages
• Most sectors improving slowly
• Demand has grown for sales and marketing professionals, especially in the digital marketing arena and inbanking and finance
• iGaming and betting remains buoyant
• Continued lack of high quality candidates but bigger pool of talent has led to employers being less flexible
• Increased confidence about the year ahead

Elsewhere, Germany has been experiencing stronger growth, especially in IT. Along with France it has also seen a boost in sales and marketing, and accountancy remains quite strong. Most countries also found that the decision making process was a long one when it came to hiring new staff, often leading to businesses losing out on the best candidates.

The full report contains details of recruitment trends in each region – for your free copy just click here: http://bit.ly/85FRbI.

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Languages could keep you young

If ever there was a reason to speak more than one language, this has got to be a good one. Researchers at Bangor University in Wales are looking for people who speak both Welsh and English as well as monolinguals to see what benefits being bilingual brings. Professor Virginia Gathercole says “The very act of being able to speak, listen, and think in two languages and of using two languages on a daily basis appears to sharpen people’s abilities to pay close attention to aspects of tasks relevant to good performance…Some researchers have also found that bilingualism could also play a role in guarding against the decline in our brain’s abilities with ageing.”

The researchers will be looking at over 700 people between the ages of 2 and 80, but still need some over 60s to take part – and you’ll get £10 for taking part. If you’re interested then contact Ms. Leah Jones, leah.jones@bangor.ac.uk, 01248 388892, or Ms. Emma Hughes, emma.hughes@bangor.ac.uk , 01248 383820, for further information.

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Best paid city?

Need some more money in your bank account? It’s not surprising according to a recent UBS survey on the highest paid workers in Europe, which shows that London has slipped into 21^st place, when only three years ago it occupied the number two spot. “The falling pound has made London employees for multinational companies around 25% cheaper in the first half of 2009 than they were three years ago” according to Forbes.

However if you’re after a higher paid job, pay a visit to our Swiss office – the two best paid cities in Europe are Zurich and Geneva, in first and second position respectively. Workers in Zurich earn an average of $22.60 per hour, compared to a poor $2.40 in Kiev, which equates to being able to buy an IPod Nano in nine hours compared to eighty two – quite a shocking statistic.

It’s good to know that four of the top ten locations are also home to Euro London offices – Zurich, Luxembourg, Munich and Frankfurt. The survey also looks at number of days holiday, tax and wages in over 70 countries worldwide, although all figures are quoted in US dollars. For a full copy of the ‘Price and Earnings’ report, click here – it makes an interesting read.

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