Edited by Patrick Andrews, Tuesday, 5 Apr 2011, 12:00
Patricularly interesting part is
" It is worth mentioning that, of these examples, only the Luxembourg business was conducted mainly in English. I was dismayed to learn recently that neither the Middle East director in the Foreign Office nor two of our ambassadors in important Gulf countries can speak Arabic."
Lack of languages in embassies
Patricularly interesting part is
" It is worth mentioning that, of these examples, only the Luxembourg business was conducted mainly in English. I was dismayed to learn recently that neither the Middle East director in the Foreign Office nor two of our ambassadors in important Gulf countries can speak Arabic."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/jul/22/ambassadors-relations-diplomacy-cameron
This does seem to show a lack of awareness of the importance of languages among the people in power.