Vicky Gough of the British Council said: “For too long people from the UK have suffered from a reputation that we are lazy linguists. Speaking another language is crucial to understanding another culture – so let’s overturn our poor record in language learning and show that we’re ready to engage with a multilingual world.”
Professor Nigel Vincent, Vice-President for Research and Higher Education at the British Academy said: “The hard thing about learning a language is getting started. 1000 words can easily lead to 5000 or more, or indeed to 1000 words in a different language. The benefits for the nation if people are persuaded to take this step will be immense.”
Mike Kelly, Director of the Routes into Languages programme, said: “Learning 1000 words will be a vaccination against the tongue-tied monolingualism that holds us back in the global world. And it is a brilliant keep-fit exercise for the brain.”
Related Posts:
UK: Language campaign urges everyone to learn 1000 words | The British Academy partner zone | theguardian.com
