Nearly two-thirds of businesses in the UK want to recruit staff with foreign language skills. French is still the most highly prized language, but Spanish and Mandarin speakers are more in demand than in the past.

Katja Hall, CBI deputy director-general, said that, given the EU was the UK’s largest export market, it was no surprise to see European languages so highly valued. “But with China and Latin America seeing solid growth, ambitious firms want the language skills that can smooth the path into new markets,” she said.

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