Schools can choose which languages to teach, but the government want the options to reflect the changing face of business. Last year a survey found 38% of firms wanted recruits who could speak Mandarin or Cantonese. One in five wanted Russian speakers and 15% Arabic.
Schools Secretary Ed Balls also called for all primary schools to provide a foreign language option from this year. It comes a year ahead of foreign languages becoming compulsory for over-sevens.
Speaking yesterday, Mr Balls commented: "In this new decade our ties with emerging economies like China will become even more important. We need the skills."
From this year, a GCSE in Mandarin will be available to secondary school students - a language which came third in a poll by the CBI to find the languages employers were most looking for.
The move comes following a sharp drop in the number of pupils opting to study modern foreign languages after ministers made the subject optional at GCSE level in 2002.
