Problems for British children being monolingual


Nowadays, people all over the world speak English. It became world's lingua franca. Although, one might expect that this would be an advantage of all native speakers of English, there are some British critics who do not think that this is an advantage at all. Especially in Britain the number of children who are choosing to learn another language has dropped dramatically. The British children do not feel the urge to learn a foreign language because they think that almost everyone can understand them all over the world. This thought is wrong according to Jacques (2006) who states that not everyone speaks English. He argues that 'English ranks only second in the world in terms of those who speak it as a first or second language: there are twice as many Mandarin speakers' (Jacques, 2006, p.2 ). Due to the decline in the number of British children who are learning a foreign language, more British are monolingual. This monolingualism has several problem according to criticasters which will be discussed in the following part.
According to Jacques 'language is not merely a tool of communication, it is the means by which one accesses a culture' (Jacques, 2006, p.2). The consequences of being monolingual is that it is not easy for British children to enter the era of globalisation. To understand a people or to communicate with a people are two different things. Another problem is that the present status of English can change in the future. As Jacques states '[i]t is reasonable to assume that the rise of China will be accompanied by the rise of Mandarin: indeed, this process is already underway' (Jacques, 2006, p.2). It will have negative consequences for all monolingual Britain when the linguistic texture of the world will change in the next 50 years. 
Holt predicates another problem due to the monolingualism of British children. Holt, who is a teacher of foreign languages, states that learning another language deepens the understanding of their own language. Someone who learns another language is also learning to think more analytically rather than just instinctively. According to Holt it is important for all students to work on their analytical competences regardless what subject a student is in. It is also important to consider that 'the less people that study languages the less people will be qualified to teach them in the future' (Holt,2006, p.3). Which ensures that the problem of monolingual children will be maintained. 



References
Holt, R. (2006, October 13) Why bother learning foreign languages? The Guardian
Jacques, M.  (2006, December 16). Does it matter if we only speak English? The Guardian