UK employers barely bother with language training for their staff, a YouGov survey of 2,500 employees has found.
The research, carried out by the online pollster on behalf of language training company Rosetta Stone, found 80% of those polled said they had never been given the chance to learn foreign languages at work. Only 8% of Scottish employees surveyed said they had been offered language learning by their employers.
James Pitman, managing director at Rosetta Stone, said the findings were “shocking”. “Our survey clearly shows that UK businesses are stuck in a time warp in terms of language learning and are apathetic about the situation.”
German and French were rated by respondents as the two most important business-relevant languages, while only 2% thought it important to learn Russian. Some 9% of respondents rated Welsh as the most difficult language to learn.