The other day I was lazily browsing through the web, when I stumbled into this news and, although you might know already, I thought that it was important to share this with you. The University of Westminster has decided that, due to the substantial financial cuts affecting the university, this excellent course that has run for almost 50 years will stop running from the next academic year. As the lady who wrote the blog post points out, we are not talking about some obscure and mediocre course, but rather about one of the best ones of its kind in the UK as well as in Europe.

I was very upset when I read this post, and compared the situation in Westminster with the one in Swansea University. There will be significant cuts here too, and there was quite a big student protest about it. However, my concern goes beyond the fears of a language lover. In the future, this decreasing interest in studying languages, as well as in interpreting and translating, is very likely to result in the loss of jobs. This article already shows that British people are under-represented in the EU bodies because of their lack of language skills. Although I am sure that there are several people who know at least one language apart from English, I think that language learning should be encouraged and not considered as a side subject to be dropped after GCSE.

I have always found it fascinating that in Britain it is possible to study a language together with another subject, such as business, politics or English. If things keep going this way, then graduates from combined honours will definitely have an edge over people who do not know a second language, so think about it when you choose your course! Also, learning a foreign language is fun and keeps your brain fit. Give it a go!

And finally, if you want to leave a comment on the Wall, a Facebook group has been created to express concern about the closure of the course in Westminster, so you might want to have your say about that, let’s show our support!!!

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