Recently I have been consistently told by my teachers at school how languages are important nowadays. It will “heighten your chances” of obtaining a good job in the future and broaden your career prospects, and apparently, employers are very much interested in bilingual or even multilingual people. Even the government is encouraging young people to study at least one language at GCSE, as I am sure many of you have heard the persuasive adverts on the radio and seen posters around schools.

Some people argue how speaking just one language across the world would facilitate things for everyone. It would just be so much easier. No cultural barriers, or even the need to enrol yourself in that dreaded Spanish course. But then there would be no challenges? Or a sense of achievement. Learning a language can be very self fulfilling, and I have firsthand experience in saying how exciting it can be, being bilingual myself.

Moreover, the world would be rather boring having just one language. Cultural differences such as languages are what make the world we live in what it is. Don’t you think?