§ Mr. Bellengerasked the Secretary of State for War what modern languages are taught in the Army; and what numbers of officers and other ranks are proficient in the various foreign languages.
§ Mr. HeadAbout 1,000 serving officers and other ranks have passed proficiency tests in the 14 languages which we are teaching today. In addition over 300 officers have qualified as interpreters in languages not taught by the Army. The commoner European languages, which can easily be learnt elsewhere, and less useful languages are not taught, and we concentrate on Oriental and Slavonic languages which fewer people learn as a matter of course.