I ADMIT my heart sank when I read your report on the teaching of Mandarin (“Mandarin lessons to be offered at primary age”, The Herald, July 27). I felt a similar frisson when I read in The Herald a few weeks ago that the Japanese consul was asking for his language to be taught here too (“Call for Japanese language lessons in Scottish schools”, The Herald, July 4).

My dismay comes despite the fact that I was a languages teacher and then a development officer in languages in local authorities in Scotland for a long time. The authority I worked in latterly was one of the first to take part in the Confucius project. Surely I should be happy to see language provision expand in our schools?

The expansion of the teaching of Chinese is put forward as being an economic necessity: China is a huge and developing market for Scottish goods and services. It’s very important to invest in this way. And yet, we seem to be happy to ignore the huge market on our doorstep that is the EU, with a population of 503 million. In Scotland’s schools, German is nearly off the timetable. Italian is struggling to keep a foothold. Even French is being abandoned by large numbers of secondary school pupils. It seems the only European language that is prospering in our schools is Spanish.

Over the years, I’ve taken part in many “experiments” to revive interest in languages in schools and all have foundered on the same rocks of lack of proper investment in teacher training and lack of support for languages from the wider community. We as citizens of Scotland don’t seem to understand that we are in foreign language terms unbelievably ignorant. More than 50 per cent of the population of the world is bilingual but Scotland can’t even produce a cadre of young people who can get by in the main European languages.

So now we’re planning another experiment: taking Chinese into primary schools. That will have some success. Chinese is “sexy’”right now and will have the appeal of novelty. And the Chinese government is footing at least part of the bill by supplying the teachers. But will there be continuity of provision; after however many years of learning Chinese in primary school, will learners be able to continue their studies; and, most important to my mind, will the teaching of Chinese be embedded in the school timetable or continue as a “frill”?

Worryingly, we may be further diluting the time available for teaching of languages for little or no gain.

And in the midst of all this are the languages teachers in our primary and secondary schools, all well-trained and some downright inspirational whose abilities are too often not being put at the disposal of learners - The very learners who could be acquiring not just a language or two but respect for other language speakers and knowledge and understanding of other cultures.

Jean Nisbet,

Flat 35 Walton Court, Maryville Avenue, Glasgow.

TO quote Nicola Sturgeon, “evidence suggests early language learning improves literacy and that young children learn languages more easily”. This from the SNP Government which has engineered a 40 per cent drop in the number of language qualifications achieved by school pupils and a catastrophic fall in literacy standards at every level in primary school.

What evidence would that be, Ms Sturgeon? We can only assume that the introduction of Mandarin into primary schools will be every bit as successful as every other SNP education policy. The early indoctrination of young people by Chinese teachers with a distinctly political agenda is simply the icing on the cake.

Carole Ford.

Former president, School Leaders Scotland,

132 Terregles Avenue, Pollokshields, Glasgow.

THE headline reference to Confucius (“Critics say Confucius Classrooms help support undemocratic regime,” The Herald, July28) prompted me to a wee google of the man himself and his sayings, where I came across: "In a country well-governed poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed wealth is something to be ashamed of".

So where are we now?

R Russell Smith,

96 Milton Road, Kilbirnie.