I'm the first to admit that I don't really use my Italian language skills in my job. I'd love to - but I don't. However, that's not to say I don't use what I learnt during my Italian degree every day. My year abroad in Italy and understanding of the language introduced me not only to Italian food, art and culture but to a relaxed, happy approach to life (in the sense that if you enjoy what you do each day, you will get a huge amount out of it) and effectively a new way of thinking, all of which has changed me for the better and is thanks to my language degree.

As yet another BBC news item about the decline in the study of Modern Languages in the UK emerges, I thought I should write a post to explain my opinion on why this is and also to propose a solution. I think there are two reasons that students choose non-language courses at university - one is quite obvious, but the other is never mentioned in the press (despite its importance) and TYA can help.