Leading article: Let a hundred languages bloom

A "Confucius Classroom" could be coming to a school near you. Beijing's Chinese Language Council has teamed up with Britain's Specialist Schools and Academies Trust to promote the teaching of Mandarin in British schools. A handful of state schools around the country have been chosen to be pioneers for the scheme. They will host language teachers from China, and their pupils will have the opportunity to take part in exchange schemes.

Until now, independent schools like Brighton College have been in the vanguard of promoting Chinese classes. It is heartening to see that the state sector is getting involved too.

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The potential material benefits for those who learn Mandarin are self-evident. China represents an enormous business opportunity. It is on course to become the world's largest economy by the middle of the century. UK exports to China are expected to quadruple in the next few years. Those Britons who are able to converse in Mandarin could find themselves at a distinct commercial advantage in the coming years.

Chinese classes can be useful in other ways too. Researchers from the Wellcome Trust found a few years ago that learning Mandarin (which relies heavily on intonation to denote meaning) activates a different part of the brain than is mobilised by studying most European languages. In addition, the grammar of the language is less complicated. This means that those who consider themselves "bad at languages" can sometimes find Mandarin easier to pick up than traditional subjects such as French or German.

But the truth is that every form of language provision in our schools is to be encouraged. And the more choice the better. It was a mistake for ministers to make learning a foreign language up to GCSE level non-compulsory in 2003. The numbers studying languages has fallen dramatically since then. And the greater provision of language teaching in primary schools, which was introduced at the same time, has not yet fed through the system.

We must hope that eventually it will. And in the meantime, cultural exchange schemes such as the Mandarin idea unveiled yesterday can surely play an important role in turning children on to the benefits and sheer enjoyment of learning another language.

There will be scoffing, of course. Some will wonder how the British, who often struggle with basic French, and who are so spoiled by the rest of the world's growing ability to speak English, can be seriously expected to take to a complex language like Mandarin? But we prefer optimism. For as Confucius himself once put it: "It is better to light one small candle than to curse the darkness."