Given the chance, many teenagers in England would prefer not to learn a foreign language. For the past few years – ever since the government decided to make the subjects voluntary for 14-year-olds – young people have been running for the door marked sortie.

This week’s results of the GCSE exams for 16-year-olds showed that the languages of two of the UK’s most important neighbours are in free fall in schools. French is down 37 per cent since 2001 to 216,718, German is down 40 per cent to 81,061 over the same period.