One section of the Guardian contained a weekly feature article in a European language, recalls Paul TattamTrevor Stevens notes that your editorial (4 November) lamenting Britain’s lack of competence in foreign languages “was devoid of solutions to this problem” (Letters, 7 November). In the 1990s, however, one section of the Guardian contained a weekly feature article in a European language which, as a linguist and secondary school teacher, I regularly used as a stimulus for spoken and comprehension work with examination classes. Another simple technique to promote engagement with foreign languages is for news media to be encouraged to broadcast more subtitled interviews, so that listeners can hear the original Catalan, Chinese, German etc. Vorsprung durch Brexit vielleicht? Paul TattamChinley, Derbyshire• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com• Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters

Source: The Guardian November 08, 2017 18:33 UTC