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In Britain there is a view that languages are essentially the preserve of clever clogs. At a conference focusing on reviving this language in Scottish schools there was some debate on this issue. But as you know, the best points on any issue at any time can often be heard in the ladies' loos. A teacher told me that as a teenager on an exchange with a German family she was for a short time in the house on her own and answered the door to a chimney sweep. When she indicated in faltering German that she didn't understand him he replied in fluent English.

In fact in many countries there is an expectation that anyone in any job will have a decent grasp of at least one other language. Here there is (up from 900 nine years ago). . But just , 33 Mandarin and as for in the last nine years.

The rising popularity of Spanish is widely held to be down to the rising popularity of sunny holidays and the relative ease with which the language can be learned. It is unlikely to be because of an expectation of many jobs and much trade with Spain as it has one of the most fragile economies in Europe. True, Spanish and its near relative Portuguese are the languages of choice in many other parts of the world with stronger economies but on the face of it, it is puzzling that there is such a pronounced slump in German when it is Scotland's largest trading partner in Europe and is the third largest economy in the world. (Companies like , , and obviously but also ones you might not have thought of as German eg. the energy giant ).

In the last few years the focus of partly because of the stunning growth in the Chinese economy. It seems a fascinating language with I'm told helpfully no gender for nouns (imagine never having to remember if something is le or la!). But with to learn as opposed to 26 letters in the alphabet, attempting even a simplified form of the language seems a daunting task.

Faint heart that I am, it is far more likely that I would embark on learning a European language such as Italian. , as Gregory said in celluloid of Gregory's Girl. I saw this for myself when filming last week in in Glasgow where the . The youngsters speak Italian for two hours a day while learning 40 per cent of their subjects (eg, history, singing, art and even English). Their accents and confidence in the language are impressive.

who heads up the explodes myths and highlights interesting cognitive and social research on the pluses of being more than monolingual. It is easier for bilingual children to pick up extra languages but it also appears to make them generally more mentally agile as they are used to changing track as it were frequently and filtering out information that is not relevant at the time. Research also indicates the children are mature for their age with empathy for others that lasts throughout their lives. This is attributed to the fact that from a young age they have to work out all the time which individual they are speaking to and which language they understand at what level of difficulty.

It suggests that you don't have to be clever to learn languages. Learning them seems to make you clever.

As ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Four dedicates four new series to the art, landscape, culture and history of Germany, gauge your German and pick up a load of lingo at the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Languages website. While You and Yours asks is it worthwhile learning another language?