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Your excellent critique of the marginalisation of languages in British education nevertheless fails to stress their full importance for research, especially in the humanities. Researchers need languages not simply to facilitate international networking and studies related to other specific countries, but also in order to draw on international work already done in their subject.

Competence in at least one foreign language should be a prerequisite for tenure in the humanities at any research-intensive university, and could be evidenced by the publication of at least one review of a book in that language.

David Grumett, Research fellow in theology, University of Exeter.