AGL 37.85 Decreased By ▼ -0.30 (-0.79%)
AIRLINK 123.88 Increased By ▲ 2.37 (1.95%)
BOP 5.69 Decreased By ▼ -0.16 (-2.74%)
CNERGY 3.74 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.27%)
DCL 8.59 Increased By ▲ 0.19 (2.26%)
DFML 40.54 Decreased By ▼ -0.35 (-0.86%)
DGKC 86.93 Increased By ▲ 2.33 (2.75%)
FCCL 33.80 Increased By ▲ 1.10 (3.36%)
FFBL 66.00 Increased By ▲ 0.50 (0.76%)
FFL 10.16 Increased By ▲ 0.11 (1.09%)
HUBC 103.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.30 (-0.29%)
HUMNL 13.50 Increased By ▲ 0.25 (1.89%)
KEL 4.65 Increased By ▲ 0.22 (4.97%)
KOSM 6.90 Decreased By ▼ -0.19 (-2.68%)
MLCF 38.70 Increased By ▲ 1.20 (3.2%)
NBP 60.51 Increased By ▲ 0.26 (0.43%)
OGDC 178.50 Increased By ▲ 6.25 (3.63%)
PAEL 24.86 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (0.24%)
PIBTL 5.70 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
PPL 150.99 Increased By ▲ 9.30 (6.56%)
PRL 22.69 Decreased By ▼ -0.03 (-0.13%)
PTC 14.98 Increased By ▲ 0.24 (1.63%)
SEARL 66.60 Increased By ▲ 2.04 (3.16%)
TELE 7.07 Decreased By ▼ -0.07 (-0.98%)
TOMCL 35.48 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-0.06%)
TPLP 7.32 Increased By ▲ 0.03 (0.41%)
TREET 13.99 Decreased By ▼ -0.21 (-1.48%)
TRG 50.80 Decreased By ▼ -0.95 (-1.84%)
UNITY 26.21 Decreased By ▼ -0.39 (-1.47%)
WTL 1.23 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.82%)
BR100 9,670 Increased By 186.4 (1.97%)
BR30 29,125 Increased By 753.7 (2.66%)
KSE100 90,599 Increased By 1632.3 (1.83%)
KSE30 28,350 Increased By 522.9 (1.88%)

Despite decades of European integration, less than one in two teenagers in the 27-nation bloc speaks a foreign language well enough to hold a conversation, the European Union executive said Thursday. Tests in 14 countries showed only 42 percent of teenage pupils competent in a first foreign language and just one out of four able to converse in a second foreign language, a European Commission study showed.
"We must do more to improve the teaching and learning of languages," said education commissioner Androulla Vassiliou. "Being able to communicate in a foreign language broadens your horizons and opens doors." Worst offenders are in Britain, where only nine percent of teenagers are competent in French, followed by France, where just 14 percent of students of English can hold their own in a conversation.
In Malta and Sweden on the other hand, where English is the first foreign tongue, a huge 82 percent speak it well enough for a conversation. Though 53 percent of Europeans use languages at work and 45 percent believe foreign language skills are key to landing good jobs, the number of Europeans who say they can communicate in another language has dropped slightly in a decade, from 56 to 54 percent, according to a separate survey, by EU pollster Eurobarometer.
But this was partly due to the fact that Russian and German were no longer compulsory in schools iin central and eastern Europe Countries showing the most notable increases since 2005 in the number of people saying they are able to speak at least one foreign language were Austria, up 16 points to 78 percent, Finland, up six to 75 percent and Ireland, also up six to 40 percent. The five most widely spoken foreign languages remain English at 38 percent, French at 12 percent, German at 11, Spanish with seven percent and Russian at five percent.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2012

Comments

Comments are closed.