Reasons for learning a language
Why should we learn a foreign language? After all, the whole world speaks English! Ladies and Gentlemen, there's some truth in this argument - but only some! Allow me to give an example from the area which I can perhaps judge best: diplomacy. British diplomats generally have an excellent reputation as extremely professional and efficient. And that specifically includes language skills. Before they're posted to a new country, British diplomats are trained in its language, sometimes for up to a year.
Why do they do that? When you come to a new post, you can only really make full use of your professionalism and efficiency in your host country's language. You can't just rely on English. So having a foreign language in addition to English is vital - as indeed it is in so many other professions.
Educational reasons
Learning a foreign language at the earliest possible age, and by that I mean from between 4 and 5 years old - that is, at nursery and primary school - opens up a whole new dimension for children: it greatly benefits their reading and writing in their own language; there's evidence that, like musical education, it contributes significantly to the development of individual intelligence; and concretely it improves overall results at school.
Cultural reasons
A new language opens up a whole new culture. A foreign language gives us access to another culture, and our lives take on a new dimension. The great German poet, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, said in 1827: "Whoever is not acquainted with foreign languages knows nothing of his own." Seen like that, learning a language is almost comparable to a journey of discovery - and if we remember the great explorers and the 18th century gentleman's grand tour, you might almost call it a British invention.
Conversely, to lose a language is to lose a whole culture. This realisation has led to determined efforts to preserve minority languages, including, for example, in Britain, with the renaissance of the Welsh and Gaelic languages. There are similar widespread efforts in Britain to promote community languages, for example by providing application forms in Urdu or other languages. It is a fundamental truth that cultures define themselves through languages.
Personality
By learning a new language, you gain new horizons, but at the same time you reinforce your own identity, and therefore also your self-confidence. A foreign language can contribute to a stronger personality. Apparently foreign languages are even an essential quality of a lover. In Shakespeare's great comedy "Twelfth Night" we hear a gentleman being praised: He plays the viol-de-gamboys, speaks 3 or 4 languages and hath all the good gifts of nature.
Economic reasons
The typical profile expected from future business leaders fully reflects the demands of the globalised world. British language graduates find a good job more easily than others. Knowledge of German in particular improves one's chances on the job market. Many German companies abroad, and many foreign companies in Germany and companies with close links to German-speaking countries look for employees with language skills.
In spite of all the current economic difficulties in Germany, we are now, thanks to the Government's reform policies, well on the way to overcoming our economic weakness. Germany is still the most important trading partner for almost all the European countries and many countries outside Europe. A person who speaks German will be able to communicate better with business partners in the world's third-biggest economy and one of the foremost exporting countries.
Political reasons
Politically, a positive approach in Britain to language learning would have benefits on two different levels. Firstly, it would help to enable Germany to be seen more as a whole rather than just isolated aspects, and to break down a residual antipathy or at least ignorance and indifference. That's of course our number one aim. And secondly, it would help to ensure that Britain does not remain apart in Europe. In my view, it cannot be in Britain's interests to isolate itself politically or culturally.
IV. Reasons for learning German
Let me finally answer one last question: which is actually the most important language for British young people to learn? After long and careful consideration, I've come to the absolutely honest and objective conclusion that it has to be German (Vorsicht Ironie!)
I know that almost all of you speak a little German. Vorsprung durch Technik, Kindergarten, Oktoberfest and so on. And I'd rather not mention all those words from a certain period of our history that some people here never seem to get enough of. But there really seriously are good reasons for learning German.
Importance for communication in Europe
Over 100 million Europeans speak German as their native language. German is spoken not only in Germany, but also in Austria and in large parts of Switzerland. After English, German is the most spoken language in the European Union. In the new member countries of the European Union in central and eastern Europe, above all in Poland, which stands out with its population of over 50 million, German plays an important part both culturally and economically.
German as a language of culture
If you know German, you have access to one of the great European cultures in the original. German is the language of Goethe, Mozart, Bach and Beethoven, and of Thomas Mann and Günter Grass - but also of Michael Schumacher and of the film "Goodbye Lenin", which in the last few months has been the most successful non-English language film. Each year there are 60,000 new publications in the German book market - that's 18% of all the books published each year in the world. That puts Germany at third place among the world's book producers.
Germany as a country of culture
Germany is a highly attractive country for travel, with a great variety of natural beauty, from Bavaria to the lakes and coast of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. (And by the way, there's no problem getting a towel onto a German beach!)
Germany also has a great cultural heritage, from the Middle Ages to the modern period. In Wittenberg you can visit the house of the great reformer Martin Luther. Germany has a vast number of theatres, choirs and symphony orchestras, in Munich, Cologne, Bamberg and elsewhere. Germany has produced great contributions to art and architecture, from Romanticism through Bauhaus and the classical modern period to some of the most interesting developments in modern art, such as Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter or Sigmar Polke, who can be seen at this very moment in a superb and very popular exhibition at Tate Modern in London.
V. Conclusion
If language skills are to improve here in Britain, everyone needs to play their part:
parents - must recognise the importance of foreign languages, encourage their children to take an interest and demand that schools give their children the opportunity to benefit from all that languages have to offer;
teachers - I'd like to thank them for all their dedicated work under sometimes difficult conditions, and encourage them to keep it up; universities - should promote language departments wherever possible, even under difficult financial circumstances; Government, Local Education Authorities and Schools - must give language learning a firm place in school life and enable as many pupils as possible to benefit from the opportunities it creates. In my personal view, this is also a matter of social justice, because languages facilitate social mobility; lastly, the general public and the media - should recognise the value of language learning for future generations and support it accordingly.
So all that was good news, and now the bad news:
There's unfortunately one great problem with foreign languages. You have to learn them. There's no escaping that. I'm fascinated by courses with names like "Polish Made Easy", "German in Three Weeks", "Chinese in Tuscany over the Weekend" - but I'm afraid these are usually empty promises.
