Britain struggles to learn Chinese

As the British government seeks to build economic ties with China, teaching students Mandarin is now a top priority.

It is common for British adults not to speak another language. Having command of a single language carries no stigma and isn't seen as essential to one's employment prospects. In fact, some Brits speak of their lack of language skills with a certain amount of pride. Much of the world speaks English, doesn't it?

Not quite. Successive British governments have desperately tried to arrest a long-term decline in the numbers of students studying a second language to A-level ¬¬–– Britain's pre-university qualification.

Despite many initiatives to encourage languages, most have met with limited success due to the continual change in priorities that is the nature of government policy in a parliamentary democracy. The number of students starting a languages degree at university actually fell by 16 percent between 2007 and 2013.

French and German have generally been the languages schools have offered over the past few decades, having been priority languages for past British governments.

Yet there is evidence that there is a demand from UK employers for Mandarin speakers, and this is expected to grow rapidly over the next decade. But there's a problem –– there is a dire shortage of language teachers.

The simple fact is that most schools are simply unable to offer Mandarin as an option to students. As of 2010 only around 100 teachers were qualified to teach Mandarin. At the time, the then education secretary Michael Gove announced a program to train a further 1,000 teachers over a 5-year period.

However, it would be generous to suggest this represents a serious commitment to developing students' Mandarin skills.

Even if the government managed to acquire a Mandarin teacher for every school, students would still be able to give up the language at age 14. And in any case, the way languages are taught in Britain arguably leaves a lot to be desired, with very little classroom time, and with many parents prioritizing the three key subjects –– mathematics, English and the sciences.