Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron has said British schools should teach Mandarin instead of French or German. He will double the number of students studying Chinese in the UK to 400,000 by 2016. He will also give extra money to schools that teach Mandarin. Mr Cameron said: "I want Britain linked up to the world's fast-growing economies, and that includes our young people learning the languages to seal tomorrow's business deals."

Mr Cameron explained that by the time children leave school, China will be the world's largest economy, so he wants to change from French and German to Mandarin. The British Council and the Chinese office for teaching Mandarin as a foreign language will double the number of Chinese language assistants in the UK. The British Council said Mandarin is one of the top five most important languages for British children to study for their future job hunting.