The importance of languages

• The proportion of the world which does not speak English as its first language is:-... • It will increase your job opportunities • With the growth of the European Union, there is a m

The Importance of Languages

• How many languages are spoken

throughout the world?

• In London alone, more

than 300 languages are spoken.

• The proportion of the world which

does not speak English as its first language is:-

What proportion of the world speaks no English at all?

How many UK companies are losing business because of

English is not

enough!

How will studying languages

help you?

• It will increase your job opportunities

• With the growth of the European

Union, there is a much greater need for people who have a foreign

language.

• 60% of all UK trade is with non

English-speaking countries

It will boost your brain power

• Researchers from University

College London studied the brains

of 105 people – 80 of whom spoke

a foreign language.

• They found that learning another

language improved the brain in the same way that exercise builds

muscle

It will give you more money

• Learning a language can boost an

average worker’s earnings by up to 20%

• For a person earning the average

national salary, that would mean an extra £200,000 over a working life.

It can even improve your love

life!

• A survey of 270 dating

agencies found that

people who speak a

foreign language are

more attractive to the

opposite sex!

French is spoken as a native

language

in:-• France Luxembourg Monaco

• Switzerland Canada ( Quebec)

• Guadeloupe Martinique Benin

• Guinea Mali Ivory Coast

• Niger Senegal Togo

• French Guiana Central African Republic

• Burkina Faso Congo Gabon

• La Réunion New Caledonia Haiti

• French Polynesia Saint Pierre

Mayotte

French is the only language other than English which is spoken on 5

continents

• French is the second most

frequently used language on the

internet

• French is ranked the second most

influential language in the world

French, along with English, is the official working language

of:-• The United Nations

• The International Olympic

Committee

• The International Red Cross

• The Council of Europe

• The European Court of Justice

France is visited by more tourists than any other country in the world

• The Eiffel Tower is the

most visited tourist

attraction in the world

• The following people have

one thing in common …

• They all speak French !

Johnny Depp

Orlando Bloom

Jarvis Cocker

Ellen Macarthur

Robin Williams

Mick Jagger

Uma Thurman

John Travolta

Tina Turner

Elton John

Sol Campbell

Davina McCall

Jamie Oliver

Madonna

Matthew Perry

Lisa Kudrow

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Kylie Minogue

Which other celebrities speak foreign languages?

Jonathan Ross

Russian

Lucy Liu Japanese and Chinese Mandarin

Gary Lineker Spanish and Japanese

Gwyneth Paltrow Spanish and Italian

J K Rowling French, Spanish and Portugese

Arsene Wenger English German Italian Japanese Spanish

Christopher Lee French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian,

Greek and Swedish