Fewer than one in ten British workers can speak a foreign language well enough to hold even a basic conversation, research has revealed.
Only nine per cent of Brits can count to 20 in any language other than English.
Fewer than half of the 1,500 workers asked knew how to say "How are you?" in French while 20 per cent thought "Quelle heure est-il?" meant "What day is it?"
And in true British fashion, 80 per cent thought they did not need to know a foreign language for work because "everyone speaks English".
London, Manchester and Edinburgh had the highest proportion of foreign language speakers, 40 per cent in each city.
The research, by recruitment firm Office Angels, found women were more likely than men to be able to speak a foreign language.
The news will be another blow to companies which say the ability to speak a foreign language - especially Chinese, French, Italian, Japanese and Spanish - is increasingly vital.
Thursday July 29, 2004
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