On 14 July, journalist Sophia Smith Galer posted a video to her TikTok and Instagram pages where she discussed the use of multiple languages during the swearing-in ceremony in the House of Commons.
She highlighted that MPs are obliged to first say the oath of allegiance in English and, if they choose, they can then recite it again in another language. The other languages that were used by MPs in their second recitation were Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, Cornish, Ulster Scots, Punjabi, and the Scots dialect of Doric.
A multilingual nation
This spotlights a growing understanding of the true multilingual nature of a nation that for so long has been characterised as monolingual. But the sources of this multilingualism vary. Some can be minority languages native to the UK such as many of the languages used in the swearing-in ceremony. Others can be community languages brought over through immigration. However, the appetite for language learning among native English speakers in the UK must also be considered, even if most efforts to do so are unsuccessful.
Minority languages revival efforts continue
The usage of these minority languages aligns with efforts inside and outside of the House of Commons to increase the presence and recognition of them.
One such example is Cornish, where all six of Cornwall’s MPs recited the oath again in the language. This comes 27 years after Andrew George, the MP for St Ives, became the first to speak Cornish in his maiden speech in the Commons. George also successfully pushed for Cornish to be allowed as an option for use in the Oath of Allegiance. Additionally, in parliamentary evidence submitted by Cornwall Council, it was revealed that 26 schools in the county are now partaking in the Go Cornish programme and that the number of people both speaking and learning Cornish is on the rise.
The Celtic revival
The revival efforts for both Welsh and Scottish Gaelic have been on a larger scale. The languages have 737,000 and 593,000 learners respectively on Duolingo, but the recent fates of both languages have been starkly different. Welsh has had revitalisation efforts dating back to Plaid Cymru co-founder Saunders Lewis’s famous Tynged yr Iaith (Fate of the Language) radio address in 1962. In the speech, Lewis called for urgent efforts to prevent the extinction of the Welsh language. Since then, there has been a great expansion of the use of the Welsh language with examples including the creation and growth of the S4C television channel, the increasing use of the language in media within and outside of Wales, and the Welsh government’s plan to hit one million Welsh speakers by 2050.
Meanwhile, Scottish Gaelic was deemed in 2020 to be on the verge of collapse with only eleven thousand speakers, many of whom are over 55. However, there has recently been growing optimism about the survival chances of Scottish Gaelic with the creation of the Duolingo course as well as increased interest in the language and culture.
A growing array of languages
The use of Punjabi by Manchester Rusholme MP Afzal Khan highlights the growing profile of languages brought over through immigration to the UK. This is not the first time that a community language has been used for swearing in as former Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf took his oath in Urdu in 2016.
This is indicative of the growing number of languages spoken in the UK as a whole, aligning with the increasing number of non-British nationals living in the country. The 2021 census found that compared to 2011, the number of people who speak Romanian as a main language has skyrocketed from 68,000 to 472,000. Additionally, the number of Polish, Punjabi, Urdu, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic and Italian speakers has also risen. In comparison, the number of Bengali, Gujarati, French and overall Chinese (Mandarin, Cantonese etc.) speakers has fallen.
Eleanor Morgan from The Guardian spoke to parents living in London and whose mother tongues are not English, namely Italian, Dutch, Farsi, German and Portuguese. The families explained that they do their best to ensure that their children are able to communicate in English to make life easier for them in the UK. However, they also want them to be able to speak their heritage languages so they can connect with their culture and their non-English speaking family members.
Language learning on the rise
It should also be noted that a large number of native English speakers who grew up monolingual have taken an interest in learning a language. A 2023 YouGov poll of over 2,000 UK adults shows that 49% of people regret not putting more effort into language learning at school and that 35% did not have the option to study the language they wanted to in their schooling.
When it comes to language education in schools, there is a divide between public and private education regarding the resources at hand. Private schools have more capacity to teach numerous languages, whereas 66% of state schools are only able to offer one. This has had a knock on effect on language learning at GCSE level, with German being particularly affected.
However, Spanish has grown in popularity and Mandarin has also proven to be an increasingly popular choice. This is indicative of a changing landscape in language learning for a country which has long struggled with language acquisition among its monolingual population.
Despite the linguistic diversity the UK enjoys, the majority of the population are still monolingual. This has been flagged as both an economic and national security concern, with questions being asked about what can be done to promote lifelong language learning inside and outside of the classroom.
