Shedding the outdated and erroneous stereotype of Britain as a monolingual country will mean harnessing our existing talents as well as providing opportunities for more people to develop their language skills. CILT’s recent survey of community languages found an astonishingly wide range of languages being spoken all over Britain, not just in London. In Manchester, which will host some of the Football, at least 129 languages are spoken, in Scotland there are more than 106 languages. Even in Dorset, which will host Sailing at Weymouth and Portland, 41 languages were recorded, including Bengali, Nepali, Chinese and Turkish as well as European languages. In the country as a whole at least 61 of these languages are being taught to children, either in mainstream schools or in classes organised by the communities themselves. There are increasing opportunities to gain certification in a diverse range of languages through Asset Languages qualifications.

Employers can draw on these language skills to improve service to customers and increase staff morale and motivation. A study at Heathrow airport showed how identifying and putting to use the languages spoken by staff could be hugely beneficial in tackling the dual challenge of a multicultural workforce serving a multicultural clientele – and also improve relations with the local community.