THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES: TWO PLEAS FOR MULTILINGUALISM COMPARED

English is what is called a lingua franca, the most used language in the world, not in the least by people who do not speak English as a native language. In our global age, English rose to prominence as the 'chosen language' that bridges cultural gaps of understanding all over the world. Hence it is not surprising that native speakers of the English tongue increasingly drop studying foreign languages, not feeling the need to be capable of expressing oneself in, say, German or French. However, this tendency, far from being undisputed, is not received well by a number of British intellectuals and politicians. This paper dives into the debate, comparing two advocates of learning foreign languages by British people, namely Martin Jacques (in his article Does it matter if we only speak English?1) and Richard Holt (author of the opinion piece Why bother learning foreign languages?2).
Both Jacques and Holt mourn the decrease of the number British people that speak a second language, but they counter the development in quite different ways. Fierce in his rejection of the monolingualism of many British citizens, Jacques confronts his compatriots with the 'deeply arrogant attitude' underlying the phenomenon: "[f]ar from demonstrating [British] worldliness it is testimony to [British] parochialism."3 According to Jacques, the British who only speak English fail, no matter how proud they are on their global outlook, to integrate with the rest of the world. Jacques substantiates his stance with three arguments: first, not everyone speaks English, it is not even as widespread as Mandarin Chinese; second, language is more than just a means for understanding each other, it is 'the expression of a culture'; third, the prominence of the English language will decline, while Mandarin, Hindi, Arabic and Spanish will gain popularity. Against this background, Jacques calls for compulsory learning of a second language, higher availability of Chinese and more interaction with 'newer citizens' who only speak foreign languages, in order to "make integration a two-way process"4.
Holt comes up with a more pragmatic approach to the problem of British monolingualism. He considers the English-speaking upbringing of British people as an 'important global advantage', given the status of the English tongue as lingua franca.5 This being the case, Holt powerfully advocates the need for British people to learn a second language, arguing that "it forces [...] to think analytically rather than just instinctively"6. Studying foreign languages, Holt asserts, increases the understanding of the own tongue; that is why learning a second language is highly important.
1 Martin Jacques, 'Does it Matter if we only Speak English?', in The Guardian, Friday 15 December 2006 
2 Richard Holt, 'Why Bother Learning Foreign Languages?', in The Guardian, Friday 13 October 2006
3 Jacques, 'Does it Matter?' 
4 Jacques, 'Does it Matter?'
5 Holt, 'Why Bother Learning Foreign Languages?'
6 Holt, 'Why Bother Learning Foreign Languages?'