British workers’ poor foreign language skills are holding them back from jobs in European Union institutions, an official said this week.

While British workers account for twelve percent of the EU population, they hold just five percent of positions in the European Parliament and Commission, leaving them vastly under-represented in the EU workforce.

Michael Shackleton, who runs the European Parliament’s UK communications operation, told the BBC, ‘People like me are coming to retirement and it’s very clear there are not enough people to take our places.To understand what people are thinking about you also have to get a sense of them and how they see the world.’

This endemic lack of cultural and linguistic knowledge is not only detrimental to British workers, but also to British trade and export. Without the confidence to communicate effectively abroad, it seems British business is missing out on huge potential foreign export markets. Indeed, another recent report by the British Chambers of Commerce found that British SMEs export less than the European average, while a BBC survey found that three quarters of British businesses that don’t export believe their products are unsuitable for foreign markets.

This lack of confidence in the ability of British business to trade in foreign languages is hampering the growth of the UK economy at a crucial time. And the fact is that Britons could be testing the waters in foreign markets for minimal financial risk by trading on the foreign language internet - it’s the most accessible and affordable strategy available to significantly boost the UK’s export revenue.

So what’s the answer to Britain’s ailing foreign language skills? Well, a more international outlook is the logical solution, which should be starting at school. While studies show that children are capable of learning a foreign language from as young as three, language lessons are only compulsory in the UK between the ages of 11 and 14.

For most of us, however, it’s much too late to go back to school. Instead, we should be opening up our horizons to a multilingual future, both in terms of personal employment and national export.

After all, our jobs could depend on it.

tags: Employment, European Union, Export, Foreign Language Internet, International Trade, language