There is absolutely no getting away from the fact that English remains the most popular language in the world today. Although countries like China are becoming very dominant in the way they are doing business worldwide, Mandarin really is not catching on - perhaps this is because it is too far removed from European languages and we fail to identify with it.
With this in mind, many European countries insist on students studying English to a very proficient level. It is not uncommon for those who struggle with the language to study an ingles en verano which if you speak Spanish, you will know this means an English course during the summer.
Indeed this is very popular with foreign students and it means that they can experience the United Kingdom, first hand, whilst taking in the language at the same time. This is often considered to be the best way to truly grasp any language - by immersing yourself into that country and being forced to speak the language.
As far as we Brits are concerned, it is such a shame that we are very lazy with foreign languages, compared with our continental counterparts. In fact, a few years ago, the learning of a foreign language became optional under the Labour Government and this meant that these skills were lost even further. However, this may well be changing now and compulsory language learning appears to be back on the National Curriculum.
