COMMENT: Languages so important in post-Brexit business

The answer is badly. Yet at precisely the time when British companies need to be preparing to target the export market across Europe and beyond, we discover there has been an alarming drop in the number of students taking German and French at GCSE and A level.

Meanwhile applications to study foreign languages in higher education are also experiencing a steep decline.      

So while pupils across the Portsmouth area wait nervously to discover their results, fewer than ever will have sat a languages exam.

The implications are worrying. Because fewer language students means fewer translators in the future to help British firms do business, making it harder to do deals and therefore damaging our economy.  

In Portsmouth, companies such as Brittany Ferries rely on employing people with good language skills. Plus, in a multi-cultural society, there's the impact on our healthcare and legal systems if we don't have enough interpreters.

So what is the answer? How can we halt the decline in studying languages?

Well, the government has a lot to answer for when some schools are suspected of removing Modern Foreign Languages from the curriculum, or not encouraging students down this path, because they feel focusing attention on other subjects will give them a better chance of meeting Ofsted-driven targets.

We need more teachers like the award-winning Tom Surgeon at Horndean Technology College, which has bucked the national trend by seeing a massive increase in the uptake of Modern Foreign Languages, particularly German.

But for that to happen, a career in teaching has to be made a more attractive option.