South: Rosetta Stone highlights language implications of Brexit

With Brexit dominating the headlines, senior European Union officials have questioned whether English should remain one of the official languages of the EU. Since the number of native speakers of English in the EU is set to drop from 14% to around 1% when the UK leaves, this idea had gained more traction.

Rosetta Stone, the language-learning enterprise, has questioned whether, with businesses having an increasingly international outlook, the UK might have to take heed of the official EU language policy that "every European citizen should master two other languages in addition to their mother tongue”.

Panos Kraniotis, regional director for Europe at Rosetta Stone, said: “This is a critical moment in EU language history. It will be interesting to see how events unfold once article 50 is triggered. Will English remain a main EU language in the years to come, or will French or German take its place? It’s important that businesses realise the value of equipping their employees with language skills to prepare them for the future.”