London has become a multicultural city, and is known as one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world. Evidence of this is; in 2007 there were over 300 languages spoken and a community with a population over 10,000. In 2011 London had 8,173,941 citizens, around half were White British (44.9%), 37% born outside of the UK, and 24.5% born outside of Europe.
University language courses have been changing, with more opportunities for students to study a language from scratch. Some being Russian, Chinese and Arabic, but are also now being extended to include more familiar, European languages: such as Spanish, French and German. In some universities, such courses have been around for many years, but others have begun adding them due to increase in their diversity. Oxford started offering beginners’ German for the first time in 2016; King’s College London, went further and started offering German from scratch with a range of subjects.
Schools have also been introducing more languages for GCSE, as well as more people speaking/learning a wider range of languages, resulting in more acceptance of other cultures, thus development in places such as China Town.
China Town, one of London’s hotspots, by the late 1960s, was established as the epicentre of London’s Chinese community - now numbering in the tens of thousands as more and more Chinese workers arrive from the British territory of Hong Kong. The community holds several festivals throughout the year, which many people from all ethnicities go to, and boasts around 100 restaurants with cuisine from across East Asia, resulting in a greater understanding of the Asian culture.
