Here we have a great article from El País (Spain) on the importance of learning new languages and the inevitable sharing of cultural wealth it brings
https://elpais.com/educacion/2020-07-29/hacia-una-europa-plurilingue.html
Here is its translation into English:
Towards a multilingual Europe
The educational reform currently underway could open the door to learning new languages and cultures.
I remember the teachers from school, and latterly my college, speaking to me about the importance of learning languages. But in the end, the one certain thing was that all that baggage, when reduced to its essence; it was just a way of promoting English. It’s a totally practical language, converted years ago into a lingua franca, but with the passage of time, the Eupropean institutions have come to realise that a single foreign language in a globalised world is not enough. The European Council already stipulated in December 2017 the necessity for member states to engage in incentivising the learning of at least two foreign languages in its conclusions regarding ‘Multilinguism and the development of linguistic skills‘ . Moreover, that those subjects ought to be taught in schools from an early age.
However, in Spain, always quick to pay lip service to Europe, things don’t seem to be going down the same route. We’ve seen in Andalucia how French classes have been replaced in favour of other subjects, especially Religious Education or, like in Madrid, where the regional president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, promoted a third lesson of Physical Education, taking away the second foreign language. For now, the measure hasn’t been implemented, but in order to roll it out, one might suppose that the teachers would have to teach this subject in a single hour over the course of a week. Excuse me, if you will, but I wouldn’t be able to manage it.
What purpose does a second language serve? Currently in the Spanish education system, one can choose from French, German, Portuguese and English. If you observe, those four languages correspond to the four major countries of the European Union with which Spain maintains an important cultural, economic, political and social interchange.
In the case of the French language, we encounter the only language, along with English, that is spoken on five continents, official language of European institutions and bodies like the International Olympic Committee, fifth most spoken language in the world and second in international relations. It has over 300 million speakers, but according to some estimates and thanks to the momentum of the African nations, French could become the most spoken language in the world by 2050 with 700 million.
In Spain, the second language is abandoned. Only 46% of secondary students take it up, according to the European office of statistics, Eurostat, while in countries such as Finland – the system admired by all and sundry – or in Italy, it is obligatory.
We currently find ourselves in the process of a new education law, another attempt at transforming the educational system into a shining example. As such, and from examining the data, it becomes paramount for Lomloe (the new Spanish educational reform law) to highlight the necessary obligatory nature of a second foreign language; for the good of our students, for the sake of getting a better job, in order to secure a sense of belonging to Europe, to be acquainted with different cultures, different concerns, different views of life. It was Charlemagne that once said, “To speak another language is to possess another soul“. And all the better if it is through a second foreign language.
Article by Gregorio Marlasca, French teacher at Ojeda Boedo de Herrera de Pisuerga public institute.
Translation by Simon Laing