The most in-demand foreign languages in the UK

[ppelk]

In case you are in the UK and are considering a new language to learn..

The British Council has a fairly recent (2017) report on what they believe to be the most important foreign language skills for the UK workforce, given the current business, diplomatic and cultural needs. This wouldn't automatically apply to other English-speaking countries.

Their conclusions?

Top 5 languages to learn: Spanish, Mandarin, French, Arabic, German.

The next 5: Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Japanese and Russian.

The full report is here: https://www.britishcouncil.org/research ... uture-2017

The report has many interesting facts on language skills in the UK, and the case is made of each of the 10 languages above. You might for example be surprised by the inclusion of Dutch, which is a relatively small language, but it is listed due to the importance of UK-Dutch trade and business.

[Note: Reposted from Duolingo forum Nov 2020]

[Kelikaku]

I wonder why Welsh, Irish, Gaelic and the like were not included.
I know that Ireland is already bilingual, and Wales is as well?
What about Scotland?

Also, I believe that there are sections of Manchester in which English is a foreign language.

[AdamBlack1993]

Irish is not widely spoken in Northern Ireland (the part of Ireland which is in the United Kingdom).

Welsh speakers almost all speak English.

Scottish Gaelic is only spoken in the Highlands and Islands and the majority also speak English. We also speak Scots here.

None of these languages are necessary for someone to be part of the workforce, which is what the report was about.

There are no parts of the United Kingdom where English is a foreign language. I don't know what would make you think the people of Manchester don't speak English.