British teenagers will be able to learn languages such as Urdu and Mandarin as the government tries to make classes more relevant in an age of globalisation, officials said on Sunday. Students have to study a second language between the ages of 11 and 14, although many state schools only offer European languages such as French, German and Spanish.

But education secretary Alan Johnson is now set to accept an official recommendation that major languages from around the world are routinely offered alongside these, the education department said.

Johnson said that Urdu or Mandarin could be "as important" as European languages in the global economy.

"We need to raise our game in languages in schools if we are to compete in an increasingly globalised economy," he added.

Pakistan's national language, Urdu, is one of India's 23 official languages and is thought to be spoken by 160 million people world-wide. Mandarin is China's official language and is the most spoken language in the world, with over 800 million speakers.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2007