“Servus”: that was the first German word Harry Kane uttered when he recently introduced himself as a newcomer to FC Bayern Munich. Although the language is difficult to learn, he wants to take up the challenge, the English soccer star said at his first press conference in Munich. “I want to try to make the culture and the country my own,” says the 30-year-old.

The insights of Harry Kane, who certainly has huge financial incentives for his newfound love of the German language, are rarely found among the English. Fewer and fewer students are learning German. Year after year, this is demonstrated by the number of registrations for GCSE and A-level examinations in the United Kingdom.

5.7 percent decrease

Just under 34,000 schoolchildren from across the country had enrolled in the German subject for the final secondary school exam, the results of which were published on Thursday. This is a decrease of 5.7 percent compared to the previous year. In 2005, more than 100,000 children in England had registered for the GCSE exam in German. The decline of German is even more dramatic than it appears at first glance, because overall the number of test takers has increased due to the baby boom cohorts. Only 2,200 girls and boys took the A-Level exam in German, 17.2 percent less than the previous year.

It wasn’t always like this: interest peaked in 2001, when 571,000 young people signed up for German as a test subject for the GCSE exam. But at least since the then Social Democratic government abolished the obligation to choose at least one foreign language as an exam subject in 2004, interest has been steadily declining.

Katharina von Ruckteschell-Katte, director of the Goethe Institute in London, is disappointed by the new decline. “We hoped that at least the figures would stabilize,” she told the German Press Agency. It is “of course very, very unfortunate” that things are going downhill again.

Learning foreign languages ​​is not compulsory

The main problem remains that the government does not make foreign language learning compulsory, he said. There are no signs of a change of course here either. It is considered comparatively more difficult to obtain a good grade in the final exam in a foreign language. Grade point average plays an important role in later educational careers. Therefore, a reintroduction of compulsory foreign language teaching would be unpopular. And German is considered especially difficult.

It is even more important and better “that the initiatives are launched now”, affirmed the director of the cultural institute and was cautiously optimistic. The economic consequences of Brexit, now becoming apparent, have led the London government to rethink its situation.

Several initiatives are now trying to stop the downward trend, not only in German, but French has also been in decline for years, although not as dramatically. The government wants to counter this trend with a National Consortium for Language Education (NCLE) led by University College London. In England, 25 schools will become focal points for foreign language teaching, with repercussions for other schools.

Germany as a bilateral partner

London will contribute 14.9 million pounds (about 17.4 million euros) for the next three years. The German plays a special role in the initiative with a special budget. Von Ruckteschell-Katte also sees in this a sign that Germany is gaining importance for Britain as a bilateral partner within Europe. The Goethe-Institut is responsible for the implementation of the program with the GIMAGINE project, aimed at schools, teachers and students, with motivational programmes, material and organization of meetings, among other things. The kick-off for this will be in October.

At the same time, the government has revived a scholarship program designed, among other things, to attract future German teachers to Britain. According to the British Council, between 20 and 30 applicants are likely to have been successful this year.

Whether the initiatives will bear fruit remains to be seen in the coming years. At least there are reasons to be optimistic that the Goethe-Institut sees increasing demand for its in-house language courses after years of decline. The courses are aimed at adults, who at least seem to be interested in German again. Whether this is contagious remains to be seen.