Universities blame ‘societal shift’ for axing foreign language degrees

Numbers taking languages at A-level and beyond has been falling for decades, although Duolingo says young people are using its app more than their elders

Universities are blaming a “societal shift” for the axing of dozens of foreign language degrees and even entire departments, citing a lack of demand among students – but can years of study be easily replaced by AI or online translation tools?

Not so, according to Michael Lynas, the UK country director for the Duolingo language app, who argues there is no good substitute for the hard graft of learning a language as a way of seeing another country’s culture from the inside.

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Source: www.theguardian.com

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