The fall of the German language... and how it's fighting back
By Luke Alsford
The German language is slowly disappearing from Britain's classrooms.
Fewer schools are teaching it, fewer young people are choosing to study it and German teachers are less accessible than ever.
For more than a decade, this has been a story of decline.
Now, German businesses, cultural institutes and the embassy are making a new push to popularise their language.
Der Fall
The Fall
At the beginning of this century, German was the second most popular language in British schools, closely behind French.
The status of the major modern languages in the curriculum has dramatically shifted since then, with German paying the price.
In the past decade, the number of pupils in England taking German GCSE has steadily fallen by a third, from over 50,000 to just over 30,000.
Spanish, on the other hand, soared from 85,000 GCSE entries in 2015 to over 127,000 in the most recent summer exams.
French teachers also have a lot to smile about; the subject is at its most popular for eight years and had the most entries of any language in 2024, with over 129,000.
These numbers, and the fact German GCSE entries rose by 3% from 2023 to 2024, tell only a fraction of the story conceal the true depth of the decline German has faced since the millennium.
One decision changed the face of language learning in the UK.
In 2004, the Labour government abolished the requirement to study a language in Key Stage 4, which is beyond year 10 and the age of 14.
Ofsted has since admitted the number of entries for GCSEs in modern foreign languages (MFL) has 'declined significantly' following that new policy.
Since then, entries into German GCSE in England have dropped more than 65%, from a healthy 101,000 to less than 35,000.
The trend is just as dramatic at A-level, with the number signing up to take German more than halving since 2005, from 5,500 to 2,300.
No other language has suffered more than German since language learning became non-compulsory at GCSEs. This trend, however, goes deeper than exams decisions.
German is severely underrepresented in British primary school classrooms.
According to the British Council's yearly report on language learning, only 3% of schools teach German to Year 5 and Year 6 children.
That figure stood at a slightly healthier 10% in 2008, education researchers found.
German has also found its way out of state secondary school curriculums. While 80% offer French and 79% offer Spanish at Key Stage 3, only 37% provide German.
State secondary schools are also half as likely to have a German teaching assistant, at 11% of those surveyed, compared to one for Spanish or French.
German language learning has been caught in a vicious cycle since the early 2000s, according to Alexander Bleistein of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).
The organisation's Deputy Director said: "The government's decision to make language learning non-compulsory at Key Stage 4 was short-sighted.
"It really, really left a mark on the German language and foreign language learning overall in schools. The decline is continuing.
"It's getting more and more difficult to recruit qualified staff. Less people taking it at school translates into less people studying at university to become a teacher.
"Increased visa requirements also make it more difficult to recruit from abroad as well.
"If a headteacher sees there's no qualified teachers available, then probably they decide to scrap it."
The DAAD, which first opened an office in London in 1952, is celebrating its 100th year of supporting academic exchange. During this time the service has funded over 3 million students and researchers to go to Germany.
Bleistein laments that dwindling German learning in the UK is limiting access to German opportunities and culture.
He added: "It's a loss overall to not have German language skills anymore because I feel it is a huge asset to anyone's CV but also personal development.
"German gives you access to a rich culture and literature, as well as educational opportunities.
"When we speak to undergrads and A-level students, we point out that studying in Germany is low cost but high value.
"You don't have to pay any study fees, so that's a great argument for studying in Germany at undergraduate level, where most of the courses are still offered in in German."
"Learning German transformed my life"
Carley Lannert says learning German 'quite literally transformed my life.'
The 37-year-old from south east England loved languages and studied Spanish and Italian at university, but chose not to study German when she had the option in Year 7 and 8.
She attributes that decision to the reputation the language had as being overly harsh sounding and tricky to learn, a claim she disagrees with now.
Her outlook on the language changed when Carley met her German boyfriend while studying abroad in Italy.
She then turned to German language courses once back in the UK, a project she continued with after she moved to Germany to join her future husband.
It was as she sought to work in events management in Germany when she was confronted with the importance German ability has on career progression.
Carley 'had to take a lot of steps back' to land her desired job, and was helped up the career ladder by improvements in her German.
She added: "In day to day life it is easier when you speak German.
"Doctor’s appointments, official appointments, you are not going to meet people every day who speak English.
"One of the good things about Germans and Germany is they are very forgiving of bad German.
"If you are showing you are trying to speak German, they are happy to speak slowly to you or to help you or forgive your mistakes."
The German language opened countless doors for Carley. Now, the language lover is sad more young people are rejecting German as she once did.
"That is really sad. Kids need a wide range of subjects and need to discover that languages are cool."
"If you really want to do business in Germany, you have to have a better understanding of the country, and therefore know the language."
British businesses are losing out because of falling German language skills, according to Ulrich Hoppe, Director General of the German-British Chamber of Industry and Commerce.
British companies are deeply involved in the German economy, which is the UK's second largest export market worth £63 billion.
Germany is also the UK's second largest trading partner overall, accounting for 8.7% of the UK's total trade in 2023. This Anglo-German exchange totalled over £150 billion that year.
Knowledge of German is still crucial for these businesses looking to make a profit in the country.
"Once you start to serve the German market as a British business, you need to have a cultural understanding of Germany," Hoppe said.
"For that, it's important to know a bit of the language.
"If you just want to communicate an issue, you can get away with the English and you can communicate issues and facts.
"But if you really want to know how to do marketing in Germany, how to reach out to people, how to understand consumer preferences, you have to know the language."
The reverse is also true for the plethora of German businesses operating in the UK, of which there are around 2,500 that employ over 500,000 people.
"If you don't have staff with the linguistic capabilities or cultural understanding, businesses then lose opportunities."
These businesses, which include Lidl, BMW and Siemens, need a bilingual workforce to link up the German and British arms of their operations.
However Hoppe argues Brexit and the end to freedom of movement is changing how these German companies recruit bilingual employees.
Hoppe said: "Before Brexit, it was relatively easy for German companies to find a young German living in the UK, so they could 'buy in' mother tongue speakers.
"But that will become more difficult with the abolition of the freedom of movement.
"It is more difficult for young Germans to come to the UK to work , study and stay here.
"So German companies need to have much more of an interest now in finding British people who can speak German."
"With the end of freedom of movement, German companies have much more interest now in finding British people who can speak German. That should motivate British kids to learn German because there will be more opportunities for them."
German-speaking Brits will increasingly be in demand, which is why German businesses are concerned about falling numbers of language learners.
"Some German companies are already offering language classes to their employees," notes Hoppe.
"Sometimes they support individual schools who offer German.
"It's an upward struggle. But even if it is an upward struggle, it's still worth pursuing it to make Germany more interesting for young Brits."
Das Comeback
The comeback
Efforts are intensifying to reverse the decline in language learning and bring German back into classrooms.
"There is certainly a momentum, coming not only from foreign actors in the country, but also from the government," said Bleistein.
The DAAD held a conference last November with over 120 stakeholders, from the Department of Education to leading universities and international embassies, all to galvanise German language provision.
This set piece event was a show of confidence after a string of successes, which it is hoped will protect the German language in the long term.
Bringing languages back to schools
The Department for Education dedicated £15 million in March 2023 to tackle the systemic decline of pupils learning foreign languages.
The funding went towards a National Consortium for Languages for Education (NCLE), which has three years to set up a network of language hub schools across the country.
German is at the forefront of this agenda. The Goethe-Institut, which promotes German language and culture in the UK, is one of the three lead groups in the NCLE, alongside University College London and the British Council.
Languages are also being made attractive for school kids to study.
Ofqual, England's exam watchdog, graded German and French GCSEs more generously last summer, awarding more Grade 9s, 7s, and 4s to match results in Spanish.
The move was designed to improve the popularity of both languages, which have suffered from a reputation of being harshly marked.
New initiatives to promote German
An integral part of the German offering in the NCLE is GIMAGINE.
Funded by the DfE, German Federal Foreign Office and Friends of the Goethe-Institut UK, GIMAGINE began promoting German language learning in 2023.
Since then, they have reached more than 10,000 pupils and 1300 teachers with their offers of scholarships, German events, classroom materials and teaching resources.
Wuschel auf der Erde
GIMAGINE's big push into primary schools came in a collaboration with the illustrator of the world famous The Gruffalo.
Axel Scheffler launched a new book with his distinctive illustrations, called Wuschel auf der Erde: A New Adventure in Learning German.
The book, commissioned by the Goethe-Institut, was sent to schools around the UK, and was accompanied with learning resources incorporating its characters.
In December 2024, the Goethe-Institut piloted new online taster sessions for primary schools in Wales, involving German games and activities with Wuschel.
#ShoutOutForGerman
2025 will see a new initiative to celebrate and promote German across the education sector.
The German Embassy, the Goethe-Institut and the DAAD have joined forces to run the very first #ShoutOutForGerman week from March 17 to March 21.
Andrea Pfeil, the Goethe-Institut's Head of Language Development North West Europe, said: "It is really a celebration of German language in United Kingdom.
"We are hoping for a whole week full of exciting activities across the country, with new ideas for promoting German and learning more about the language.
"We are reaching out to schools and offering them a variety of different opportunities during the week.
"We are working with artists and musicians to go into schools to engage school kids in the language."
Image credits: Goethe-Institut London
"German is a most difficult language, and it seems to me that if it is to remain as it is, it ought to be gently and reverently set aside among the dead languages, for only the dead have time to learn it."
As Carley Lannert, this author, and thousands of other Brits can attest, German is indeed learnable while alive.
But Mark Twain's witty putdown of the German language increasingly reflects the viewpoint of school children throughout the country.
German is also enduring in the music of Beethoven, the philosophy of Kant and the poetry of Goethe, as well as being the language of Britain's second largest trading partner.
The language is also launching a spirited comeback in Britain's classrooms.
German is down, but not out.
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