Meet the linguists: the new French government is packing some pretty intimidating skills

One of the most striking features of the 2017 French presidential elections and the subsequent nomination of a new prime minister and his cabinet has been the attention paid by the French media to the linguistic competences of the nation’s politicians in English and, in particular, in German.

This feature looks at this phenomenon, contrasts it with the limited linguistic competence of United Kingdom politicians and, more broadly, highlights the wider significance of such skills in a wider cultural understanding.