Why We Cannot Afford to Abandon Languages

Image - Korng Sok

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I have always loved learning languages. A combination of passionate teachers and encouragement to engage with the world around me led me to jump at the opportunity to study French and German at GCSE. Then, when choosing my A-Levels, I was told that my sixth form, which previously held languages specialist school status, couldn’t run the German course. We needed at least 5 students for it to be viable. There were 4. At university, I was thrilled to be able to study dual languages again: French and Hispanic studies. So, when, on 6^th November 2025, the University of Nottingham announced it was suspending its language courses, along with a number of others, it confirmed a pattern to me. Growing up in the East Midlands, I attended the Ambition Nottingham course run by the university, which is what inspired me to study languages in the first place. As Professor Cecilia Goria put it, this closure will leave the East Midlands a ‘Linguistic Desert’ following similar closures at Leicester and Nottingham Trent. This isn’t just a problem at the University of Nottingham. It’s a national cultural shift.

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In the 2019/2020 academic year, 77,750 students across the UK enrolled into language and area studies, by 2023/24 this number was down to only 65,175. Twenty-eight universities have closed their languages departments entirely. Modern Languages stopped being compulsory at Key Stage 4 in 2004 and since then there has been a 35% decrease in GCSE Language entries. The rates of Modern Languages teachers leaving the state funded sector have consistently topped the charts between 2016-2022 at 10.9% and the teacher recruitment rate has only achieved 43% of its target. When you can’t recruit or retain teachers at a time when young people should have the access to the widest range of subjects they’ll ever study, a downward spiral is inevitable.

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Brexit compounded this crisis. The UK’s withdrawal from the Erasmus+ scheme means that students in the UK are stripped of grants and free movement for their years abroad. The Turing scheme, meant to be the UK’s replacement, has fallen short, only reaching 58% of its target participants acing reports from 80% of universities about difficulties with the application process. British students are now paying hundreds of pounds for visas and have lost the Erasmus grant, which, for EU students, is around €350 per month.

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But what can universities do? According to the Financial Times, English universities are losing £2,500 per student per year on domestic students, relying on international students to fill the deficit. And with courses like Modern Languages, which are much less likely to attract international students, we can only expect for them to be the first to go. But the funding model itself is broken. Undergraduate students in the UK face the highest tuition fees in the OECD averaging $13,135, compared to $9,569 in the United States. But with all the pressure on the upcoming budget, major changes to student funding seem unlikely, especially given that from 2026 tuition fees are set to go up with inflation.

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So, we can’t afford to deliver these degrees, but what will that cost us? According to a 2022 RAND Europe study, if just 10% more students studied Arabic, Mandarin, French or Spanish, the cumulative increase in GDP could be at least £40 billion over the next 30 years, with the results finding a 2:1 benefit-to-cost ratio for each language. In one article, Werner Patels observes, “You simply cannot recruit top language professionals in Britain anymore.” We can’t afford to teach languages, but we could lose billions from not speaking them.

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While we cannot ignore the impact that Generative Artificial Intelligence and Large Language Models are having on language learning, we often misunderstand what language education truly provides; most universities are not just teaching vocabulary and grammar but also offering deep engagement with history, politics, and the arts. AI cannot replicate the cultural literacy that emerges from years of study, and the RAND study underscores that human skills remain irreplaceable.

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But, unfortunately, the consequences go so much deeper than this. This matters for democracy, not just the economy. At a time when democracy faces constant threats, academic humanities play a crucial role in fostering a strong democratic culture. With the rise of isolationist, populist movements which thrive on simplistic “us vs them” discourse and anti-pluralist views, we cannot abandon the value we once placed on language learning and cultural studies. While correlation doesn’t prove causation, when people stop caring to learn about the world around them, they become vulnerable to those who profit from division.

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This goes beyond our borders. As global power shifts towards China and India, and as UK’s aid budget shrinks, a post Brexit UK is no longer producing globally literate citizens. I’m proud to live in one of the most diverse countries in Europe. But rather than embracing multilingualism as a strategic and cultural asset, we take for granted that others will learn English while we don’t learn theirs. This isn’t just about teaching foreign languages, we need to rethink how we approach linguistic diversity. Communities across the UK already speak hundreds of languages, which we must nurture through institutional support. Yet political rhetoric around immigration currently demands complete conformity, framing diversity as a threat rather than one of the UK’s best assets. If we close language departments and ask immigrants to abandon their heritage, we guarantee the UK’s decline on the world stage.

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The democratic and economic case for languages education is compelling what we are missing the political will. But solutions do exist: making languages compulsory until KS4, increasing language learning in primary schools, retaining qualified teachers through proper compensation, re-joining the Erasmus + scheme and treating universities as public institutions rather than businesses.

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However, policy alone isn’t enough. We must rebuild a culture that values linguistic curiosity by encouraging young people to engage with cultures beyond their own. The question isn't whether multilingualism benefits Britain. It’s whether we’ll act in time to protect it.