Education Secretary Michael Gove has signalled the possible return of a compulsory modern foreign language at GCSE. Launching a national curriculum review in England, he cut the list of subjects guaranteed to remain compulsory to English, maths, science and PE. A panel of experts will decide how many more subjects should be required study, and […]

Today is the European Day of Languages. European funding provides 50 million Euros per year to support language activities and projects. English is by far the most-used language in the EU institutionally, also in print and online. But I don't get a cent. Humph.

The Welsh language was heard, and interpreted, at the European Union for the first time this week. Welsh Heritage Minister Alun Ffred Jones, represented Britain at a meeting of European culture ministers and introduced them to the wonderful world of Welsh. (Welsh is spoken by approximately 600,000 people worldwide.)

According to the UN's cultural agency UNESCO, of the 6,900 languages spoken in the world, some 2,500 are endangered. We've already lost Manx in the Isle of Man, Ubykh in Turkey and last year Alaska's last native speaker of Eyak, Marie Smith Jones, died. An endangered language is a language that is at risk of […]